McFadden signed until 2017

[LeagueNut]

Mark - I like his cricket commentary, especially when the others are taking the piss.
Mulligan - Seems to know what he's talking about.
Devlin - I feel like he did something "memorable" or was in the news for something, but I can't remember what it was.
Johns - I have no idea who this is.
D'arcy - I have no idea who this is.
Veitchy - Needs to do a "Game Of Two Halves" reboot, he was good on that show.
Watson - I have no idea who this is.

Maybe I should listen to the radio more?

 

[hitro]

Rigga-twat
Mulligan-good
Devlin-good
Johns-boring
D'arcy-good
Vietch-phony
Watson-unbearable

 

[sup42]

Well that's five competitive games in a row from McFadden.

As such he's setting a new pace for our club.

I'm very pleased with how we are tracking. This Dogs game , with our poor execution, required immense mental toughness from the Warriors to prevent a blow out and the way they took the end minutes of an eighty minute game was exciting.

I think we are well and truly on the right path with McFadden.

 

[Iafeta]

Agreed. He's talking about intensity building consistency and it's there now. I'm confident Cappy is a great get for our club.

 

[vvvrulz]

Lets not get carried away just yet.

Don't forget Elliott had a golden run going in 2013 as well, it turned to crap very quickly.
If we play like we did today for the rest of the season we'll make the 8. The question is will we?

 

[sup42]

It's comparible to Elliots 7 game run for sure....except Elliot had the confidence mentality of the Warriors fueling that run ( they won six then one or something like that ) McFaddens run is two from five.....so not confidence fueled.
True....there's no point getting ahead of ourselves with what we have been though.

I'm excited by the next two games . top eight teams with good defence and the Titans playing above themselves.

We should take a lot from our Dogs losses. After 160 minutes of Football there were five points separating us from the top team in the NRL.

 

[JJ]

It's comparible to Elliots 7 game run for sure....except Elliot had the confidence mentality of the Warriors fueling that run ( they won six then one or something like that ) McFaddens run is two from five.....so not a confidence fueled.
True....there's no point getting ahead of ourselves with what we have been though.

.

That's a great point, playing well and losing... hopefully they don't get discouraged, and the great thing is the table stays so tight.

 

[Rich102]

Yeah, things appear good, or certainly better.
But what was with the Locke selection against the Dogs?
Against a huge pack he puts Locke on for what, 15 minutes? Havili has a lot more stopping power and would have added a lot more to the mix.
What did Mateo add?
And Johnson took very little part for 60 minutes.
Do these things again against the Titans and it may well cost us.

 

[vvvrulz]

Against a huge pack he puts Locke on for what, 15 minutes? Havili has a lot more stopping power and would have added a lot more to the mix.
What did Mateo add?
And Johnson took very little part for 60 minutes.

Don't see any point in Locke if he is going to substitute to hooker.

Martel didn't really add anything and doesn't seem to fit the game plan, and its probably just a coincidence but we started missing tackles a lot when he came on.

Neither were particularly bad though.

Thought Johnson was fine apart from that instance when he rushed T-Rex and opened up a hole he was doing a lot of tough defensive work in the first 60.

It was mostly Townsend who didn't know what he was doing on the 5th tackle. But I like his aggressive tackling and his running game, he creates half chances if others follow him.

Tomkins had an average game, and Lousi is done I think.

 

[sup42]

Locke at the end there is an interesting one.

Dummy half service was stilted before Locke came on mainly Frendy passing the ball at peoples heads....our timing was well off from that first pass, it gave the Dogs time to smother our play makers.

Feleti's ball playing was meant to counter that.....akin to injecting a default spine player at first receiver to create opportunities for halves.....really that's the hookers job to make a passing forward unnecessary.

I totally get the coach putting in another dummy half after Friend kept going left.

Locke went right , which is where we found a way to flank the Dogs, perhaps if McFadden has any regrets , one of them was leaving his defensive Dummy half in the game for too long , having said that you're trapped into countering Grind football V the Dogs.

Lockes instructions were pretty clear , go to the right early. For some reason Friend wasn't on board with that for the majority of his time out there , which is odd since he's had two games straight of finding purchase on that side of our attack.

If you watched Simon Mannering in the post match on field interview , he was smiling , relaxed , head held high and only too happy to talk about the game.....what a nice change that is for Simon after a loss......well done McFadden....therein lies the solution for us....hard to beat.....unable to break.

 

[vvvrulz]

well done McFadden....therein lies the solution for us....hard to beat.....unable to break.

Hell yes, huge attitude shift and it and showed in the defence. Some of that first half defence was crazy good.
The Dogs would have gone into the sheds 20+ against anything less.

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

Mark - Worst of the lot, arrogant, thinks he's hilarious and doesn't actually know much about sport.
Mulligan - Feel sorry for him, he's actually ok but is constantly ruined by Mark interfering.
Devlin - Nice to see him back, Telfer was amusing and knew his stuff but went off on battles too much
Johns - Good easy listening, nothing silly from him
D'arcy - The best by a mile, his wit and chemistry with Goran is awesome and he knows his stuff inside out.
Veitchy - He's ok when he's not creating a false bandwagon and stirring people up.
Watson - I don't mind him as much as Rigger, but he does overdo it and has that whiny voice.

Nailed it!

 

[Rich102]

Locke at the end there is an interesting one.

Dummy half service was stilted before Locke came on mainly Frendy passing the ball at peoples heads....our timing was well off from that first pass, it gave the Dogs time to smother our play makers.

Feleti's ball playing was meant to counter that.....akin to injecting a default spine player at first receiver to create opportunities for halves.....really that's the hookers job to make a passing forward unnecessary.

I totally get the coach putting in another dummy half after Friend kept going left.

Locke went right , which is where we found a way to flank the Dogs, perhaps if McFadden has any regrets , one of them was leaving his defensive Dummy half in the game for too long , having said that you're trapped into countering Grind football V the Dogs.

Lockes instructions were pretty clear , go to the right early. For some reason Friend wasn't on board with that for the majority of his time out there , which is odd since he's had two games straight of finding purchase on that side of our attack.

If you watched Simon Mannering in the post match on field interview , he was smiling , relaxed , head held high and only too happy to talk about the game.....what a nice change that is for Simon after a loss......well done McFadden....therein lies the solution for us....hard to beat.....unable to break.

Good points. My query is why Locke and not Havili? Havili has a good pass and has the bulk to stop opposition forwards. Plus he is ours next year.

 

[LeagueNut]

That's a great point, playing well and losing... hopefully they don't get discouraged, and the great thing is the table stays so tight.

One week can make a ridiculous difference though. We were 12th coming into this weekend, and teams 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 & 6 have all posted wins. Hopefully the Origin period helps us out too.

 

[sup42]

Good points. My query is why Locke and not Havili? Havili has a good pass and has the bulk to stop opposition forwards. Plus he is ours next year.

I might have the wrong read on this one ( It has happened one other time :lol.
But when I look at what's being done with Havili since McFadden took over the picture looks like one with Havili's welfare in mind.

The first step with Havili was McFadden bringing him into an NRL game without the responsibilities of dummy half ( that weird extra forward role ) that could only be about giving him a taste in a very controlled way surely ?

Thereafter Kearney threw him in against the Australians the following week, and he held his own....though reports from club insiders were that the Kangaroo forward pack gave Havili a bit of a hiding physically.

The Following week McFadden has Havili playing 80 at lower intensity in the NSW cup at hooker....Rohan had been mucking around with him prior to that.
I heard Havili pulled up lame from that game too , heavy icing of his shoulders which may suggest a hangover from the test.

I can see where the coach is coming from since his back up plan for a NSW cup run left Havili banged up in any case....the temptation would be to keep his development at that level this week also.

Our history of running impact hookers post Hohaia has been a bit of a fail. Mara dropped by the way....got injured and that was the end of him pretty much.....Godinet was a bit more of a gnarly NSW cup Vet , however his time at Hooker ended due to the gap being too far to bridge for a cameo role in an eighty minute Friend team.

We've been inconsistent as it is, our spine specifically , it could be a career killer for our next great hope in the number nine jumper should we bring Havili into that role before our halves and Fullback are settled.....i guess if you're responsible for Havili , the questions are :

Do the teams immediate needs out weigh his long term preparation ?

Should another player be brought in to break the strangle hold of Friends minutes till Havili is ready ?

Which player is best suited for that 'cannon fodder' part time role in taking over from Friend and blooding the team to working with another dummy half?

Is Havili likely to add enough variation from Friend right now ? more importantly play longer meaningful minutes than Locke and make the gamble worth it ?

I suspect Kevin Locke will be the player sacrificed , irrespective of his form , when McFadden thinks Havili looks ready.....as such it will be tough on Locke.....however he is the stop gap filler on his way out the door.

 

[Rich102]

OK. That makes sense.

 

[vvvrulz]

Our history of running impact hookers post Hohaia has been a bit of a fail. Mara dropped by the way....got injured and that was the end of him pretty much.....Godinet was a bit more of a gnarly NSW cup Vet , however his time at Hooker ended due to the gap being too far to bridge for a cameo role in an eighty minute Friend team.

Mara deserved better than what he got here, looked the goods whenever he rarely got on the field. The icing on the cake was playing Elijah Taylor at hooker ahead of him.

 

[JJ]

One week can make a ridiculous difference though. We were 12th coming into this weekend, and teams 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 & 6 have all posted wins. Hopefully the Origin period helps us out too.

Yep, but the points are close, and a few wins on the trot will be huge.

Lilyman will be a huge loss if the Maroons take him - they should, but I suspect they won't

 

[sup42]

Mara deserved better than what he got here, looked the goods whenever he rarely got on the field. The icing on the cake was playing Elijah Taylor at hooker ahead of him.

Yes Taylor at hooker was a bit of a mind rape. Still recovering from that one, Ben Henry in the ANZAC test went some way to repairing the trauma.

Did you see the article on Mara when Matt Elliot asked him to work on new parts of his game ?

Basically Mara said he wasn't keen on changing anything and from his point of view he was best playing his natural game.

Interesting the mind set of some of our local players. He was a very talented Dummy half runner , shame really.

 

[vvvrulz]

Interesting the mind set of some of our local players. He was a very talented Dummy half runner , shame really.

I remember Mara's debut clearly, he ripped through Manly's defence twice in a tight encounter we lost. I thought it was a sure shot sign of good things to come.