Nines

[Blues Riff]

Who's excited? The squad looks pretty good.

- Dylan Edwards
- Corey Waddell
- Waqa Blake
- Jed Cartwright
- Malakai Watene-Zelezniak
- Nathan Cleary
- Kaide Ellis
- Sione Katoa
- Darren Nicholls
- Tyrone May
- Moses Leota
- Sitaleki Akauola
- James Tamou
- Christian Crichton
- Corey Harawira-Naera
- Isaah Yeo (c)
- Zach Dockar-Clay
- Oliver Clark

 

[PANTHERMIKE]

Not exited really at all. Just hope they all come through healthy..

 

[franklin2323]

Not exited really at all. Just hope they all come through healthy..

good to see the younger guys have a run. It's always good

 

[Blues Riff]

I reckon good move not wrapping Clearly in cotton wool. He'd be there with all the youngsters anyway, if he hadn't made his NRL debut. He'll be fine.

 

[MrBlack]

Let's see how many minutes Cleary plays....
I am expecting a lot of bench time for him.

 

[franklin2323]

Let's see how many minutes Cleary plays....
I am expecting a lot of bench time for him.

Depends if they want him to play next week or not. I think this and the Parra trial will be his only hitouts. Also depends how well we go as to if he backs up on Sunday

 

[BestHookerRein]

Not enough Rein

 

[mxlegend99]

Not enough Rein

We wouldnt throw our best player into these games...

 

[The yak]

I reckon Dylan Edwards will go well this weekend and he could have a good year. I keep hearing/reading good reports about him during the pre season. None of this training the house BS just a good attitude and high level of skilful ability has impressed many during the pre season.

 

[betcats]

The reports about his athletic ability have me keen to see him. That was the biggest question mark about him imo.

 

[franklin2323]

The reports about his athletic ability have me keen to see him. That was the biggest question mark about him imo.

same here. Never seen anything that special about that part of his game. More the Moylan style player just with more speed

 

[Kilkenny]

same here. Never seen anything that special about that part of his game. More the Moylan style player just with more speed

I agree with your assessment 100%.

Might make a stop gap winger for a game or two but not big enough to really make a go of that position in my opinion. Makes it hard for him to really see how he breaks into the side, but for injury which we all hope doesn't happen.

I do note Phil Gould on twitter said Dylan would not be part of the top tier squad in 2017 but will most likely be in 2018 when the tier is increased from 25 to 30. I assume this increase is in response to the NRL doing away with the Under 20's.

 

[GongPanther]

Panthers looked good today (Sat),especially in the second game.

Ppl are spouting every reason under the Sun why the Sharks lost,but who gives a poo.

They were defeated by a team that is a vastly inexperienced bunch of young men no older in average than 22 years old in front of a country-wide audience.

 

[Nealo 12]

Will be interesting to see what sort of team we go with tomorrow .

 

[PenrithPanther45]

Will be interesting to see what sort of team we go with tomorrow .

it's a toss up between resting players for their own safety and being more likely to then play the eels in the first round vs putting in some good players, giving us a good chance of winning and playing the easier sea eagles and being more likely to progress further

 

[maple_69]

The Sharks did look lethargic but I think we won on the basis of sound, conventional rugby league. We defended well, showed commitment, took our chances, played percentages and had good structure.

We know we have the firepower to win the comp (NRL) but regardless of how far we go (in the Nines) I'm really happy to see our squad immediately seems to be focussed and well drilled.

Can't wait to see how we go after the first proper off season we've had as a squad in years.

 

[tripster]

The Sharks did look lethargic but I think we won on the basis of sound, conventional rugby league. We defended well, showed commitment, took our chances, played percentages and had good structure.

We know we have the firepower to win the comp (NRL) but regardless of how far we go (in the Nines) I'm really happy to see our squad immediately seems to be focussed and well drilled.

Can't wait to see how we go after the first proper off season we've had as a squad in years.

That was exactly my thoughts. The team seemed very focused and disciplined - particularly given that we were playing squads of mostly young guys without any first grade experience. Bodes well for the first grade season.

Jed Cartwright looked impressive, as did Leota.

 

[maple_69]

So did CHN and May frankly. Throw in Clarke and Kikau (why didn't he go?) and our pack is set for a long long time. I think we are a bit skinnier in young depth for the backs this year but with Peachey, Edwards and Hiku (assuming he drops out when Mansour is vack at this stage) offering depth to our backs we are well covered across the park.

I notice we've gone to equal favourites for the NRL alongside Melbourne now. I can understand why. This squad doesn't really have a weakness.

 

[PenrithPanther45]

So did CHN and May frankly. Throw in Clarke and Kikau (why didn't he go?) and our pack is set for a long long time. I think we are a bit skinnier in young depth for the backs this year but with Peachey, Edwards and Hiku (assuming he drops out when Mansour is vack at this stage) offering depth to our backs we are well covered across the park.

I notice we've gone to equal favourites for the NRL alongside Melbourne now. I can understand why. This squad doesn't really have a weakness.

The only thing that may still be a problem is missed tackles but they looked better today.

 

[Blues Riff]

it's a toss up between resting players for their own safety and being more likely to then play the eels in the first round vs putting in some good players, giving us a good chance of winning and playing the easier sea eagles and being more likely to progress further

Titans could be be thinking the same, maybe rest "the Great one".
If our club really wants to prove a point, we should use no first grade players at all ... and win.