Our Back Row

[Eelementary]

Depth wise - we have 4 world class frontrowers but we can probably do with another backrower of first grade experiance.

Halves - we'll be more than fine!!...Kris Keating, Daniel Mortimer, Jeff Robson and Tom Humble will assure we'll be well covered all year! don't be surprised that out of those 4 mentione, Tom Humble emerges as the find of the season.

Do we, though? We have Eric Grothe, Jnr. who is practically a back-rower anyway.

I think people's comments about our "thin back-row" are a little premature...

 

[Eelementary]

Cayless and Mannah are WORLD class front rowers ? LOL !
Price and Petero are world class front rowers..Webcke was a world class front rower..

A 1 season Rookie and an ageing Cayless are no world class front rowers..
Poore is not a world class front rower - i would call him a very good NRL prop.

Number of World Cup wins that Webcke, Civoniceva or Price have had as captain? f**k all.

f**k off.

 

[Eelementary]

Cayless was pretty badly injured in the GF. First tackle re-injured him.

What Souths are lacking is balance (so are we if we consider the halves and hookers). IMO, Melbourne is still the team to beat.

THANK YOU.

I'd like to add that, whilst I love watching props like Fui, there are other types of props - in this case, Caylo is a skilfull, ball-playing prop with a great work ethic. He doesn't always bust the line but that is not his strength. And why not play to your strengths?

 

[jk13]

taylor might end up in the centres if souths don't live up to expectations

 

[Eelementary]

As for the topic at hand, I think we have a good enough back row for the team that Anderson wants. Let me break it down:

11. Hindmarsh - I don't need to say anything we don't already know. He makes the big plays, whether it's a hit-up (an area I thought Hindy really improved in in 2009), an offload or a crucial tackle, Hindy is the heart and soul of this squad and imo our greatest ever Eel despite the fact he (as of yet) has no Premierships to his name.

12. Smith - defensively sound and has a strong work ethic. Hits very hard, too. With a good offseason under his belt I've no doubt Ando and Sharpie can coach him to offload to his outside men on the edges. He worked on his aggression with ball in hand this season, too, and he delivered well imo.

13. Mateo - a freakish talent. Can make metres with pill in hand, offload at will, throw a miracle ball and even kick. If anything he has a weakness with his defense (though he did improve dramatically). A freak,

15. Shackleton - my tip for one of our forwards of the year. A big, fiery ranga with a strong work ethic and a fair bit of skill, too. He adds some much-needed size and aggression to this pack.


And then we have the 'unknown' quantities in Horo, Hauraki and Oake. Oake, imo, is too small to be a prop but would do rather well at lock; Hauraki is probably on his last chance but if Ando can get him firing we'll be sweet (he'd add some much-needed aggression); and Horo would add a little flair and skill.

With guys like Tahu and Grothe making metres out wide and out of dummy-half, a barn-storming back-rower for our team isn't a particular need imo. We can have a back-row of Hindy-Smith-Mateo and Shackleton off the bench and we would still have go-forward and strong defense.

And you could even consider putting Cayless in the back-row - I think now we have Poore, Shackleton, Fui and Mannah we can definitely afford to move him to the back-row. Cayless's ball skills and work ethic would be sublime out wide, feeding Tahu/Inu/Reddy and keeping the ruck defensively tight. It would benefit him, too, because he wouldn't necessarily have to ram the ball up time and time again; rather, he could use his skills and brains and create havoc out wide.

Obviously these are just my thoughts, and people may disagree (and that's cool). But I feel our back-row is looking good.

 

[slammingsam]

Number of World Cup wins that Webcke, Civoniceva or Price have had as captain? f**k all.

f**k off.

LOL okay so because Shane Perry was the halfback of the Broncos when they won a comp im going to assume he is now a world class halfback..

 

[slammingsam]

bullsh*t - a statement of, "My team's dicks are soooooo much bigger than your team's dicks!" is not an argument, but a bait. And fair enough, you got me.

f**k off now.

If you consider that bait i would say your a fairly hot headed guy who cant handle your team being questioned but atleast the rest of the forum can

 

[pedge]

If you consider that bait i would say your a fairly hot headed guy who cant handle your team being questioned but atleast the rest of the forum can

how is coming on here saying that souths back row would trample on parramattas, or words to that effect, questioning our team? if anything your making a direct comparison and writing us off....
questioning would be saying is ur backrow really that strong or words to that effect etc, without needing to mentiona anyone else in comparison

 

[Eelementary]

If you consider that bait i would say your a fairly hot headed guy who cant handle your team being questioned but atleast the rest of the forum can

I am hot-headed. So what?

That was bait. Slapping a dress on it and calling it Daisy won't change that fact.

You want an intellectual discussion on forward packs, fine. But your first shot of, "You entire pack sucks compared to my team's ROFL" is not achieving that. You know it, too.

 

[slammingsam]

The original question in the thread was something about who has a stronger backrow - something along those lines..

Im argueing my team does and some people on here are taking offence to that..
In the original post - all the other teams were thrown up and im argueing for my team.

Im not doing anything wrong.
The guy swearing is the one in the wrong.

 

[sooperdooper]

I am hot-headed. So what?

That was bait. Slapping a dress on it and calling it Daisy won't change that fact.

You want an intellectual discussion on forward packs, fine. But your first shot of, "You entire pack sucks compared to my team's ROFL" is not achieving that. You know it, too.

i am pretty sure he didnt state that. I am pretty sure he thought souths were stronger and they had us covered, pretty sure he said why as well....
It is his opinion, i think they have a very strong back row... so does pretty much every team in the comp

 

[Eelementary]

LOL okay so because Shane Perry was the halfback of the Broncos when they won a comp im going to assume he is now a world class halfback..

You can go ahead and assume what you want. But the fact is Nathan Cayless has captained his country to a world cup win - something the other apparent world class players you mentioned haven't done and never will.

You may not rate him, which is another thing altogether. But the fact is Cayless, Moimoi and Poore are all world class representative players. End of.

 

[slammingsam]

I am hot-headed. So what?

That was bait. Slapping a dress on it and calling it Daisy won't change that fact.

You want an intellectual discussion on forward packs, fine. But your first shot of, "You entire pack sucks compared to my team's ROFL" is not achieving that. You know it, too.

No infact i dont know it.
Im happy for you to be passionate about your team but by looking at the responses on here - im thinking most people were fine with what i said and ill go along with that.

 

[slammingsam]

You can go ahead and assume what you want. But the fact is Nathan Cayless has captained his country to a world cup win - something the other apparent world class players you mentioned haven't done and never will.

You may not rate him, which is another thing altogether. But the fact is Cayless, Moimoi and Poore are all world class representative players. End of.

Ill let you come up with your own definition of world class.
The fact that has been articles written about him talking about his large contract and him underperforming says alot.

Poore has represented his state - dont see how that makes him " world class "

 

[Eelementary]

i am pretty sure he didnt state that. I am pretty sure he thought souths were stronger and they had us covered, pretty sure he said why as well....
It is his opinion, i think they have a very strong back row... so does pretty much every team in the comp

His first comment was something along the lines of, "Our pack will be better than anything you could throw up." No reasoning behind it at all.

You don't have to get your knickers in a knot jut because I don't rate Tim Smith an you disagree.

I, too, think Souths' pack next year, at least on paper, will be the best in the NRL. Period. But he was still trying to bait people for the sake of it. He succeeded, good on him.

 

[Eelementary]

Ill let you come up with your own definition of world class.
The fact that has been articles written about him talking about his large contract and him underperforming says alot.

Poore has represented his state - dont see how that makes him " world class "

Yes, because only "the best players" play rep footy eh. I'm sure Glenn Morrison, Wade McKinnon and up until recently Robbie Farah would have something to say to that.

A lot of people see Origin as the pinnacle of Australian rugby league. So his being able to perform on that stage more than justifies him as a world class competitor.

 

[slammingsam]

I would say thats an odd criteria you are using but each to there own.

 

[Eelementary]

Fine. How about I just call him a rep quality forward, then?

If you want the truth, I fear playing Souths next year. They hav so mch talent on board it's scary.

My initial objection was to the assertion your team will be better without qualifying it with a reason why. But overall, yes - your back-row will be devastating.

 

[slammingsam]

Well its about time we were feared !
In all honesty - i did not post here to start a fight and bait you guys..
I was offering my opinion and if i came across as aggresive or arrogant then i apologise..

I do agree you have some wonderfully blessed players.
You have game breakers in the backs in Tahu and Hayne and even in the forwards in Mateo and Moimoi.

I think 1-5 and 8-13 will be able to take care of themselves.
If i have a massive question mark over you guys its in the halves.

Goodluck for whenever we do meet.

 

[Eelementary]

I'm sorry if I jumped thegun, mate.

Yes I think Souths will be very entertaining to watch, and with a quality coach in Jonh Lang who knows what can happen?

All the best for 2010 and beyond. Apologies for going off like a prok chop.