Pre Season Game 2 V West Tigers Game Assessment

[eels_fan]

Whilst I’d like to say Smith grabs the utility spot, I feel he needs more time in cup before he’s ready for the in and outs of weekly first grade. Before tonight u had Papalii down for the 14. Now I’m not so sure…

 

[hineyrulz]

The worry was it was some of the more experienced players which let the team down.

cartwright, Tulagi, Matto, Lussick were garbage.

Smith, Ilongi and Williams were our best on the ground. Volkman took a major step back and Tago needs to be at Leeds.

 

[Eelementary]

Tuilagi is a bum.

Been saying it for a while.

If he is seriously in the mix for our edges, we are in trouble.

 

[Wally21]

Agree with most things said here. Love Jack Williams. Hits like a freight train and amazing line speed. Riley Smith looked great.
Would have liked to see Papali play some dummy half. Think he is the perfect 14
Iongi is absolute class
Is AMS only available after round 10? Or has that rule changed? He had a mixed bag last week but is streets ahead of anything Tago can produce

Oh and don’t mention a pubic wig.

 

[lucablight]

Tuilagi is a bum.

Been saying it for a while.

If he is seriously in the mix for put edges, we are in trouble.

I think he’ll be one of our starting backrowers :/

 

[Delboy]

Ryley Smith 31 tackles 0 missed

id have him at 14 with Hands at 9 to start the season

Definitely, Lussick in Cup or SuperLeague but is an experienced back up ( possibly overpaid , but that’s his status)

 

[Zoso]

There was a lot of meh out there tonight. Forwards generally looked underdone and off the pace, edge defence was atrocious. Call it rust, call it new tactics and combos - either way Ryles and the players have some work to do to get us in shape to try and finish in the bottom end of the top eight.

Positives
Iongi - lots of talent, I think we won if you consider a straight swap for Blaize
Penisini - happy with his efforts tonight, keep it up consistently Will
Williams - I liked his efforts, happy with him being in our middle rotation (RCG who?)

Good potential
Latu - I see a good career ahead of him, hope he gets a taste of NRL during the season
Riley Smith - ditto, and would be happy with him as an NRL bench option later in the season too if needed
Twidle - this game would have helped his development, has potential but not in the first grade mix this season for mine

A bit underwhelming?
Lomax - dare I say it, maybe he just needs more games at centre to improve his contribution?
Volkman - too many missed/poor tackles in him at this level, can kick and may improve but prefer even say Hands as back-up NRL half if needed this season

Poor
Tuilagi - missed or poor tackles all night long, including directly leading to multiple tries. Probably played his way out of the first choice 17 and into Cup with that performance, poor defence probably too much of a risk for a 30min NRL bench role in Round 1.
Cartwright - not as dire as Tuilagi, but still too many missed/poor tackles on the edge to claim a starting edge spot

I think I saw Carty race up and miss twice and fall off a tackle that led to a try.
Oh, and he threw and NFL pass over the sideline.
He has it in him to be better but he was way off last night.

 

[T-Boon]

Ryley Smith 31 tackles 0 missed

id have him at 14 with Hands at 9 to start the season

How old is he. Looked good to me.

 

[Lemon Squash]

Kelma will be starting on the right edge off Moses. That has been Ryles plan all off-season, he won’t change now but yesterdays performance won’t fill him with confidence

He’s never going to be a great defender but hopefully that was just an absolute bludger of a night. It reminded me of that game against Penrith last year when Tago gave him a bath in the centres. Just as concerning I don’t remember him doing anything with the ball either.

Realistically we don’t have many other options unless we go back to Matto/Lane who we have also been complaining about for the last 2 seasons.

 

[hineyrulz]

Agree with most things said here. Love Jack Williams. Hits like a freight train and amazing line speed. Riley Smith looked great.
Would have liked to see Papali play some dummy half. Think he is the perfect 14
Iongi is absolute class
Is AMS only available after round 10? Or has that rule changed? He had a mixed bag last week but is streets ahead of anything Tago can produce

Oh and don’t mention a pubic wig.

Settle down merkin!!

 

[eels_fan]

I’d like to think Kelma will be stronger on both sides of the ball with Moses beside him. We know Moses is a strong defender for a half, and the halved playing last night are not so he may have been overthinking his positioning without faith in those outside him. I’ll give him a game or two beside Moses before I write him off.

 

[Eelementary]

I think he’ll be one of our starting backrowers :/

We're boned.

He's awful.

 

[Twizzle]

Did I miss the game already? Or is Twizz just getting in early...

Well I dont hang around home all night on my devices as I have a life outside of footy, so yes, just getting in early and thought we my try something different for a change after all its a trial game so as I said last week no point in the old 3,2,1 votes.

We'll keep doing it if you guys want, or not. See how it goes.

 

[Avenger]

I thought Penisini was crap. I’ve never really rated him. Russell was exceptional. He would be my winger in round 1. I won’t say anything yet because I haven’t seen him play with Moses but there will be calls for Lomax to play on the wing before round 10.

Greig was crap. Loved how Williams played. Ryles Smith should get a top 30
Spot. He deserves it. The less said about Lussick the better. Volkman crashed down back to earth. Kelma is a lazy merkin around the edges.

Iongi will be our rookie of the year if not the entire NRL.

 

[Hindmarshisgod2]

I'm just glad we got through without any injuries.....

 

[Matty Bhoy]

We’ve got a good’un in Iongi. The kid oozes class.

 

[Lemon Squash]

I thought Penisini was crap. I’ve never really rated him. Russell was exceptional. He would be my winger in round 1. I won’t say anything yet because I haven’t seen him play with Moses but there will be calls for Lomax to play on the wing before round 10.

Greig was crap. Loved how Williams played. Ryles Smith should get a top 30
Spot. He deserves it. The less said about Lussick the better. Volkman crashed down back to earth. Kelma is a lazy merkin around the edges.

Iongi will be our rookie of the year if not the entire NRL.

Harsh on Will, thought he made some really tough carries early out of trouble.

Bit of a make or break year for him but I thought it was a solid start.

 

[the phantom menace]

Well I dont hang around home all night on my devices as I have a life outside of footy, so yes, just getting in early and thought we my try something different for a change after all its a trial game so as I said last week no point in the old 3,2,1 votes.

We'll keep doing it if you guys want, or not. See how it goes.

It's good - I like it!

 

[the phantom menace]

Today I'm feeling glad we didn't scrape in a win somehow in the second trial...

This way Ryles and the players (mostly the forwards) can see we're nowhere near where we need to be to challenge for the lower end of the top 8 - and it hopefully gives them some food for thought and motivation for better efforts.

Unless we take a deep hard look at ourselves, Storm will tear us a new pouhole in Round 1.

 

[eels_fan]

To be fair on the forwards, neither of our starting props played. Hopgood had his first contact run in 9 months and Williams was great - so I don’t think in the long run we are looking bad up front - or at least that game wasn’t an indicator of our quality.

the rest of the forwards were pretty poor however, I guess they now have 10 days to earn a spot on the bench. I think the starting 13 is decided barring injury