Kepoa is athletically more than first grade standard he just does things that hold him back. Tackled with the wrong shoulder first tackle off a penalty, it created a quick play the ball, the next tackle he missed because of that, Raiders got a line break and later scored their second try of the back of that momentum.
Even if he didn't play wing well at the Tigers in reggiess the fact that a guy who's big enough to play second row played that there at all speaks of his athletic talent. But when he scores a try and demolishes the opposition it's that tackling with the shoulder that a coach sees that might mean they select someone fans don't rate as much. He has it in him to do stuff to kill it in first grade even last year but his floor is lower than a guy like Ivan would like right now.
Patea does a lot of good clean up work by the standards of a big impact type prop. Smarter and more hard working than your average guy of that mold who typically aren't great tacklers. Having that mindset speaks well of his potential with his talent.
Cole really put on some good shots, defended well as always. Blew a try but the foundation of his game is good. Long term I really believe fans shouldn't be concerned. He's tough and the people in the club talk about how much of a hard worker he is. He'll continually get better without a doubt.
Halfbacks are short supply these days. I don't think Schiedner is as bad as some people make him out to be. E.g He squared up the line well enough for the first try but him playing with another inexperienced half if Clearly's out besides certainly wouldn't fill you with confidence.
I think people have seen what they to want to see when they look at Guyer. To me he's always been like Cartwright was a video game character and you lowered his skill but made him a bit bigger in the upper body. He's always looked slow to me on an edge (In defense) but not tough enough to defend in the middle. I wouldn't really care about him plodding if he could defend better and I think that would be enough to really round out his game with his skill level being very good for his size.
I like Tolau but for the sake of his defense he still needs to get bigger. I don't think he's gotten big enough to consistently play in first grade over Schiedner. Schiedner is still a much better defender. If you bulk up too quickly you'll get injury prone though.
Didn't realize Fale was that big. Looks massive for an outside back with decent speed. He's got real potential.
Casey is such a gun you don't even need to say anything. Laurie played tough as always for us. Jesse athletically is first grade standard. I think he needs something more to cement himself there. The way he runs is fine if he was bigger and quicker, he's not soft or anything but to cement a spot not just at the club but anywhere I think he needs to run into the line harder. There are surplus of athletics outside backs who run hard as hell in the NRL. To compete with them you have to do that, be a freak of nature or find a way of getting better play the balls somehow like how Paul Momirovski or Anthony Don somehow got legs tackled so often.
I'm not worried about Papapli based on a trial but I did see him allowing the half to go to deep into the line and creating an overlap a bit when he was at the Eels so I am a bit wary about that aspect of his defense.
Watched to Raiders second try. Might watch the rest and say something else.
