Match Discussion: Round 6 vs Cronulla @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[Alex28]

A lot of concern over our halves. Green has some nice touches (and some ordinary ones to be fair), but he's quite a liability off the ball. Slow, not great in the contact and not a particularly strong defender in general. I'm not having a crack at him, he's 34 years old on what must be a bit of a shoddy knee. We don't have a well rounded half at the club, to be honest. We really need Clifford early, so at least we can have 2 incomplete halves at any one time to maybe take the slack off each other.

Mann, as always, just isn't a half. He's a utility.

Barry Toohey keeps hinting something might happen with Clifford. Not convinced though.

 

[Apey]

A lot of concern over our halves. Green has some nice touches (and some ordinary ones to be fair), but he's quite a liability off the ball. Slow, not great in the contact and not a particularly strong defender in general. I'm not having a crack at him, he's 34 years old on what must be a bit of a shoddy knee. We don't have a well rounded half at the club, to be honest. We really need Clifford early, so at least we can have 2 incomplete halves at any one time to maybe take the slack off each other.

Mann, as always, just isn't a half. He's a utility.

Mann does some good things but I hate watching the attack die when the ball gets to him.

 

[Seage]

I just wish the club would stop pretending that Mann and Watson aren't both utilities, and that we only need one of them at the club to play in the 14. It's been plainly obvious for years. There's been a lot of pain at the club that you can sorta indirectly attribute to the fact that none of our coaches past or present can seem to figure it out (or perhaps admit it).

And Phil Gardiner talks openly about the need and desire to extend both their contracts. If they're being realistic, Watson hasn't delivered in his time here. Not enough games played, too many errors mixed in with the occasional brilliance. He is obviously talented, but if you look objectively at value for money provided it hasn't been sufficient.

 

[slotmachine]

You're kidding if you're keeping Mann ahead of Connor

 

[PhilGould]

If Connor hasn't been our best all season he's been very close to it. Last week at 5/8 was his only meh game

 

[slotmachine]

Brailey been consistently our best.
But yes Watson up there.

 

[Burwood]

That game highlights the difference that a semi decent set of halves can make to a team’s attack. Cronulla spread the ball at every opportunity, and always looked dangerous doing so.

Apart from taking the first few hit ups against a set defence each set, our outside backs hardly got any quality ball at all. Best is being wasted and is going to end up like Ramien if we aren’t careful.

 

[Old dog]

Watson played strong but gets lost in his haste, needs to think as well as run.
Can’t understand being a man down, Hunt injury, along with Ponga and Watson unwell that we only used Sue and King for short minutes. Why Sue didn’t start with Watson on bench is strange especially based on past weeks and Sue playing strong.
If Ponga and Watson were unwell when turning up to ground then why not drop Sue or King and bring in Sasagi as cover he could have sat on the bench for most of game.
Our starting pack must have played big minutes and it showed

 

[Old dog]

Think Green and Mann will be better for the run together, I’m looking forward to next weeks game and team selection, Jones and Musgrove stay in, who replaces Hunt

 

[Frederick]

Best is being wasted and is going to end up like Ramien if we aren’t careful

A merkin?

 

[Yosh]

I guess everyone sees the game differently but Watson was great in my eyes. He nearly set up Jacob with a great disguised pass. Seen him do it before this season already. Also, for a bloke his size, he made some good hard metres up the middle and there was one particular one where we needed to get out of our danger zone and he carried three lads for 20 metres.

I'm perfectly happy to see either Watson or Sue start. I just want to see a bit more offloading from our big middle forwards. That wouldd make Watson at least twice as deadly. Sue has been a godsend. I hope he gets to play more minutes in the coming weeks.

 

[smugruam]

Lol at the people waiting for Clifford arrival as some sort of saviour situation. He is infinitely worse than all of the guys presently in our halves rotation. This time next year this thread will be full of people whinging about him.

 

[Yosh]

Lol at the people waiting for Clifford arrival as some sort of saviour situation. He is infinitely worse than all of the guys presently in our halves rotation. This time next year this thread will be full of people whinging about him.

Can't be worse than what we have to be honest. We have stop gaps at best. Clifford could at least become part of the solution going forward.

 

[smugruam]

Can't be worse than what we have to be honest. We have stop gaps at best. Clifford could at least become part of the solution going forward.

Bloke struggles to make the Cowboys side. He looked passable playing nines 3 years ago aside from that he’s done nothing.

 

[Alex28]

Connor Watson isnt up to it at lock. Especially not starting lock. He gets targeted in defence, doesn't rush up to make contact and gets driven vack when he takes a hit up. Bench only for him.

He’s absolutely up to it. Perhaps give him a couple of shots at it before judging him.

 

[ryana87]

Team next week?

2. Tuala
3. Jones

15. Fitz

Then in a few weeks Lee will be back and our bench will be

Sue
Fitz
Jones
Jsaf

 

[Alex28]

And Phil Gardiner talks openly about the need and desire to extend both their contracts. If they're being realistic, Watson hasn't delivered in his time here. Not enough games played, too many errors mixed in with the occasional brilliance. He is obviously talented, but if you look objectively at value for money provided it hasn't been sufficient.

If we aren’t re-signing one of them, it’s Kurt. Connor is much more talented than Kurt, and now he’s getting some game time we’ll see how good he is.

 

[Knight76]

Brodie for MOTM, not a chance, he played a good game tonight, no doubt, but Ponga is clearly MOTM from that performance. We don't win without Ponga tonight.

Watson is the signing we should be going with out of him and mann. We have Clifford to play 5/8 next season, or this season if he arrives, and we have some youth that can sub in if need be.

Watson is the better utility and generally better player overall.

 

[Yosh]

Watson the better player but plays less than half the games Mann does due to injury. Not an easy pick.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Watson the better player but plays less than half the games Mann does due to injury. Not an easy pick.

Yeah, not as easy a choice as what most are making it out to be. It wasn't long ago that Watson played about 6 games a year and couldn't pass when running at speed. Still has a clanger or 2 in his game even now. I like his form so far this season but he's got a bit to prove on the durability and defensive front imo.