Mortimer extends deal

[Avenger]

Yes, and the best part of all this is DA has him in his plans. If Hagan was still at the club this year you can be certain Finch would still suck and he would be in 1st grade week in week out and Mortimer would have been signed by the Dogs.

He can offer a lot more than Finch ever did.
He has;

speed
a good pass
good kicking game

It's his speed and awareness that we need the most. You saw what a difference KK made

6. KK
7. Mortimer

It's his long kicking game that I am excited about. We have not had one since David Penna and John Simon. Even Tim Smith at his peak had an average long kicking game.

 

[caylo]

Avenger Tim Smith long kicking game was haggled by parra fans, but he found the grass more often then any other NRL player in 2005-2007. I remember reading an artical about it and it saying somthing of the sort that 4/5 of his long kicks found the grass.

 

[Raudonikis]

Yes, and the best part of all this is DA has him in his plans. If Hagan was still at the club this year you can be certain Finch would still suck and he would be in 1st grade week in week out and Mortimer would have been signed by the Dogs.

He can offer a lot more than Finch ever did.
He has;

speed
a good pass
good kicking game

It's his speed and awareness that we need the most. You saw what a difference KK made

6. KK
7. Mortimer

Yep

 

[caylo]

As long as KK starts (wether 5-8 or halfback) I dont care who is playing in the #7. Mortimore would add creativity and a better kicking game, but I woont complain atm. Mateo and Robson is not aq good combo, it has to be either KK at halfback with Mateo, Hayne or Kelly or KK at 5-8 with either robson or Mortimore.

 

[Eelementary]

Now all i have been saying is this.That i have watched him closely and i believe he has the goods and needs nrl time this season to propell him into the future. For thos that say he isnt ready well only his coach knows that but if you remember pre season there was a story where DA said "you can play nrl this year"..It is obviously the plan going forward in DA opinion..For those that say he isnt ready i ask you this,have you ever played the game? everyone is always ready to step up,its why you play the game.Time will tell but lets put our faith in the coaching staff..I mean do you really think his family would be saying he is ready if he wasnt?

I'll support him if he plays and cheer him on like any other Eel.

Like I said, I could be wrong. He could well be ready. I, personally, am not too sure at this stage.

But I'm happy to be proven wrong because it helps us out.

 

[Eelementary]

LOL, never suggested you can't share opinions, mainly objected to you trying to be a smartarse with me for not agreeing with yours, after all, I have my own over valued opinions.:lol:

As for the rest, meh, of no significance.

Faor enough.

 

[Eelementary]

Same way that hopeless little defender Soward has steered the dragons to a few wins this year I suppose.

True.

But with all due respect, the Eels forwards, whilst having a few good games defensively lately, aren't in the same boat at the moment as the Dragons forwards.

I could be wrong, of course, but what you could risk is having Hindy babysit Mortimer in defence and then his tackles spiral out of control and he has no energy left to attack. So then we get a good halfback, yes, but we lose a guy who can make metres up the middle.

Happy to be proven wrong. It's just a concern I have.

 

[parra-matters]

THis why the CEO should have shown the previous coach the door mid last season and we could have been in the player market then and this season wouldn't be such a write off.
Fitzy has to take some of the blame here, even thou Hagan quit late his poor preformance with a good roster should have seen him given his notice by round 16 last year.

 

[Eelementary]

Better not put him on the wing then?

The fact is that Daniel Mortimer leads the Toyota cup in try assists.

Our current team is competing really well, but struggling inside the 20m zone to put a try on. What we really need is someone who can lay one on - if only there was such a player at the club... oh wait - Dan Mortimer!

Ok - his defense could use some work - but he's making 23 tackles per contest in NYC. Sure he misses 2.5 a game and has 1 ineffective - but those are better numbers than Ben Smith had when he was defending in the centres.

At least at halfback we can put Hindmarsh next to him in the lineup or something!

Darren Lockyer is still a pretty ordinary defender in the front line, but because his teammates know it, they help out. And he had Tonie Carroll as his bodyguard for years.

I'm not saying Mortimer should definitely be selected - but I do know that Robson isn't anything more than a stop-gap for a few weeks. Sure it's a big step up to start tackling the big boys - and it might hurt the team a bit this year to have him in there, but as long as he keeps competing with ball in hand then it's well worth a year of experience!

Think about it - a year of tackling Tongans in first grade this season prepares him for next year a LOT better than a year of tackling smaller Tongans in the NYC

(I just used tongans because both tongans and tackling start with T - no racism intended there!!!)

Fair enough. Good points.

We shall see what happens.

 

[The Colonel]

Think about it - a year of tackling Tongans in first grade this season prepares him for next year a LOT better than a year of tackling smaller Tongans in the NYC

(I just used tongans because both tongans and tackling start with T - no racism intended there!!!)

I don't know about that..... have you seen the size of some of the Poly boys in NYC? They are bigger than most first graders.....:lol:

 

[Eelementary]

What better two examples to use than SBW and Folau. I believe both, by about 17 or 18 years of age were 6 feet tall (maybe even more) and definitely pushing the 100kg mark.

They're physically gifted and the size of some of these blokes is unbelievable - specially when you consider they're only 18 or 19 and they'll keep growing.

But that is a good point - if Mortimer can play in the NYC and tackle huge blokes without issues and still have enough left to attack, he should be able to handle First Grade.

I just hope nothing gets rushed into by Coach Anderson. If he's ready, awesome. If not, don't rush him.

Because of course the other aspect we need to remember is that he will be heavily scrutinised by the media because of his famous surname. If he isn't careful, and the club isn't careful, he could jeaopardise it.

 

[CrazyEel]

True.

But with all due respect, the Eels forwards, whilst having a few good games defensively lately, aren't in the same boat at the moment as the Dragons forwards.

I could be wrong, of course, but what you could risk is having Hindy babysit Mortimer in defence and then his tackles spiral out of control and he has no energy left to attack. So then we get a good halfback, yes, but we lose a guy who can make metres up the middle.

Happy to be proven wrong. It's just a concern I have.

To be honest with you I completely share your concerns.

However I have another concern as well. It seems DA, from press reports, is not looking for a 1/2 and has identified mortimer as our future. While I bow to DA's superior knowledge I do have a real concern that Mortimer could turn out like a lot of our other juniors and not be able to make the step up.

Thats why I would like to see him exposed gradually to NRL standard to find out what he is made of before we commit our whole future on him. What's it matter if he misses a few tackles at least we'll know if has what it takes to play NRL.

 

[Eelementary]

Good points.

I don't think he should have too many issues defensively - I guess you could have Benny babysit him and then leave Hindy fresh to attack.

And bringing him off the bench probably isn't a bad idea to get him used to it.

I hope the kid is up to it, whether it's this week or in 10 weeks when he debuts. He certainly has talent.

 

[mickdo]

To be honest with you I completely share your concerns.

However I have another concern as well. It seems DA, from press reports, is not looking for a 1/2 and has identified mortimer as our future. While I bow to DA's superior knowledge I do have a real concern that Mortimer could turn out like a lot of our other juniors and not be able to make the step up.

Thats why I would like to see him exposed gradually to NRL standard to find out what he is made of before we commit our whole future on him. What's it matter if he misses a few tackles at least we'll know if has what it takes to play NRL.

Well he's only just re-signed till the end of 2010 I think, so it's not as if DA has committed our future to him like Hagan did with Finch

 

[The Colonel]

Well he's only signed till the end of 2010 I think, so it's not as if DA has committed our future to him like Hagan did with Finch

Signed a three year deal with the club that would have kept him here until the end of 2010 in 2007. The further one year deal will keep him here until 2011 I believe.

 

[yy_cheng]

Any comments on defending him at Fullback and attacking at half? He's played Fullback in the past so should be ok with positioning.

However, then Burt needs to go elsewhere.

 

[oldmancraigy]

I don't know about that..... have you seen the size of some of the Poly boys in NYC? They are bigger than most first graders.....:lol:

:lol:

True!

We've got a 116kg monster in NYC don't we?
That Te Whata bloke is enormous!

And, as Roy Masters points out, there is a higher percentage of Polynesians playing NYC than first grade anyway. So if one uses that argument, then surely he's better prepared.

Where's the team sheet...

 

[The Colonel]

Kene is the biggest player in the club I believe....

 

[Kiki]

he is gorgeous and i would like to see him on tv every week. hear that daniel anderson?

 

[Stagger eel]

he is gorgeous and i would like to see him on tv every week. hear that daniel anderson?

OMG! he's just a child kiki...:crazy:

;-)