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Next weeks team

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112
I've got my fingers crossed it's Ponga time again.

It's all setup for a big return and big win at home.
 

ryan.a87

Juniors
Messages
644
Take with a grain of salt,

Johns mentioned on footy show that ponga could be good to go vs warriors

I feel like Johns is kept out of the loop on some things like this, he sometimes comes across like he has no idea what’s going on behind the scenes at the club
 

Apey

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
26,750
Take with a grain of salt,

Johns mentioned on footy show that ponga could be good to go vs warriors

I feel like Johns is kept out of the loop on some things like this, he sometimes comes across like he has no idea what’s going on behind the scenes at the club
Yeah, probably talking out his ass haha.
 

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112
Barry Toohey indicating Ponga will be another 1-2 weeks away. Hasn’t trained for a month he reckons and needs to get some contact in.

I swear if Ponga KO’s himself in training…
 

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112
AOB said:
- Gamble is back next week
- Crossland and Mann will share the #9 duties

Also slightly off-topic, but early diagnosis for Brailey is a Meniscus tear, so maybe 4-6 weeks? That sounds like best case scenario.

AOB also didn't want to delve into Ponga much, but said there's a plan in place and if he does well he'll return or if they think he needs more time then they will delay it a week (or as long as it takes).
 

ryan.a87

Juniors
Messages
644
With how well Croker played at starting 13

when Elliott returns in the next couple of weeks, do we see him pushing lachie to the bench? Or maybe even shift Croker to lachies spot ?
 

Woody90

Juniors
Messages
979
I’m genuinely not sure how we best fit everyone into the team moving forward.

We can’t carry Mann, Crossland and Gamble. Too many small blokes and cooks in the kitchen. We need to sign a proper hooker desperately, but from what we have for next week my preference would be to play Mann at #9 and Gamble on the bench or lock without Crossland anywhere in sight, but then what happens if Mann gets injured or needs a break? Can anyone else play hooker?

I definitely think we had a good balance with the Miller/Gamble/Hastings combo, but also realistically against the top teams we’re probably going to need more strike power in the halves and running game. That’s where KP fits the bill brilliantly but not sure where he best fits in. Gamble worked well for us at 6 as he was a simple link man so things didn’t get over complicated. Ideally we find a way to keep the same structures in place but utilise KP to make us even better, but I’m not sure if it’s possible to recreate that with Ponga without severely limiting his impact.

Would love to have Gamble developed into a bit of a ball playing lock and link man but I feel like he’s too small and we would have way too many cooks in the kitchen for each play, especially considering our halves link up on both sides of the field.

Im really not sure what the answer is. We need Ponga’s skills in the team but I’m not sure how we best use him to the benefit of the side. The easy answer is to move him back to fullback but I’m not sure if continuously moving him is the best thing for him, and Miller does offer something (errors aside) and can’t see us dropping him.

I guess this is all redundant anyway unless we sign a new #9. I don’t think it really matters what we do with the rest of the squad if we don’t get it right at dummy half.
 

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112
For me, I'm hoping we can have the following the BYE

1 Miller
2 Marzhew
3 Best
4 Gagai
5 Young
6 Ponga
7 Hastings
8 Saifiti
9 Mann
10 Thompson
11 Frizell
12 Fitzgibbon
13 Gamble
--
14 Elliott
15 Hetherington
16 Saifiti
17 Croker

Mann the starting hooker - the best we have right now.
Elliott - back up hooker and middle/edge forward. Should someone go down I imagine Mann to move and Elliott to go to hooker.
Gamble starting lock. IS a bigger frame than most think and probably defends better in the middle than on the edge tbh. He can also be shuffled around and Croker to 13 when needed.

I think the above is our strongest team this year with the exception of Brailey missing.
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,769
How many games back from injury does Kalepo need before he starts to look like a viable option?
 

PhilGould

Bench
Messages
3,316
I'm still yet to see Kalepo play so can't comment on if he's even up to it. He played 18, 25 & 42 minutes in the past 3 weeks.
 

slotmachine

First Grade
Messages
7,152
Miller
Best
Marzhew
Gags
Dom
KP
Hastings
JSaf
Crossland
Leo
Fitz
Friz
Croker

Mann
DSaf
Hetherington
Johns

Mann gets more minutes (like 25-30) at hooker than at lock too.
 

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112
We'll be talking about Mann the same way we do about Crossland within a couple of games if he takes over as the starter. Both are fine at hooker in small doses, playing either big minutes there is asking for brain farts.
I agree with this. But I think he’s the best option now. Kalepo looks super underdone to me, but it might be worth it if he can split a game with Mann until he can get up to speed. He’s probably the best hope for us come the end of the season.
 

Yosh

Coach
Messages
11,245
Personally I was loving the work Mann was doing late in each half with his running game through the middle. Kept making 10 plus metres running in behind the ruck and getting quick play the balls...
 

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