R1 | Knights 24-14 Warriors @ Hunter | Sat 4.30pm

[slotmachine]

Lol, what a joke.

 

[Spot On]

Are you seriously suggesting he is either the third best centre or winger in the club right now?

Have you read my thoughts re the Wayne Bennett coached version of Uate?

 

[Noname36]

Disappointing for Randall if that's the way it goes down but it's really the only way we can get both Sione and BJ into the side. We really don't need a bench hooker utility when we have Roberts. Just hopefully the shuffling won't hurt the side too much.

Good to see Randall get a contract extension though. He's going to play a lot of FG this year anyway. He'll be first choice back up for both hooker and the halves you'd think.

 

[The Showstopper]

Agreed. Randell is a kid I have high hopes for. I believe he has the right balance to be a very decent first grader at worst.

 

[The Showstopper]

OT are we all enjoying the Bennett Comeback masterclass in Brisbane! Looks like the SuperCoach might have truly lost his aura. Souths are in 2nd gear. Milford at 6 is a very very daft choice. He is brilliant but they could wreck him with that massive burden on him.

 

[Jono078]

Absolutely loving tonight. It's like the old days of hating the Broncos. Put another on them, Rabbitohs!

 

[Swarzey]

Man, that certified top 8 Brisbane team did well huh? Served half the points against them up themselves.

 

[Frederick]

OT are we all enjoying the Bennett Comeback masterclass in Brisbane! Looks like the SuperCoach might have truly lost his aura. Souths are in 2nd gear. Milford at 6 is a very very daft choice. He is brilliant but they could wreck him with that massive burden on him.

Aura? Pfft. His premierships with the Broncos were the result of having the entire QLD state of origin team at your disposal week in, week out.

As has been hammered home tonight, with plodders at his disposal he is no better than Hagan, Stuart or Kearney

 

[Frederick]

And yes, tonight was extremely satisfying to watch. Brisbane deserve the years of boring play and misery that Bennett will bring them.

I do feel slightly sorry for Milford. All the talent in the world, and Bennett will coach it right out of him

 

[Sacrolishes]

Really feel for Randall. Deserves his spot. I know Sione does too. Can't keep swapping it around though. Dunno. Guess I'd rather see Sione commit to Knights before shuffling players around to accomodate. Mamo has a bit of right to scratch his head thinking he had his hands on the fullback spot. Any who. Like I keep saying. In Stone I trust.

 

[Whats Doing]

Moving run on players to other positions to accommodate bench players is Bennett ball and we know how effective that was.

It reduces team momentum as in fact you are making 2 positional changes when only one is required.

 

[Noname36]

Moving run on players to other positions to accommodate bench players is Bennett ball and we know how effective that was.
.

In what way? We always carried two hookers under Bennett and just alternated them.

 

[Swarzey]

Better to chop and change the squad to find the best possible way to include everyone now instead of Round 13 or later.

 

[Noname36]

Better to chop and change the squad to find the best possible way to include everyone now instead of Round 13 or later.

We need to sort out a sub solution for Clydesdale as it is. This could either be a good idea that gives the side another dimension or an epic failure and if it's the latter we can shaft it after round one and go back to the 2 hooker system we had last year.

 

[Swarzey]

We need to sort out a sub solution for Clydesdale as it is. This could either be a good idea that gives the side another dimension or an epic failure and if it's the latter we can shaft it after round one and go back to the 2 hooker system we had last year.

Given Roberts over the past year at least has shown all the signs of a first class running game, the move could potentially be a massive hit. The only concern is whether or not Gidley can take a back seat and be more of a supporting halfback. As long as he doesn't go to hooker, I don't really have a problem where he is as more often then not he's decent rather than poor.

We tend to hit our strides during and after Origin, I don't think it would be too much damage overall if we give the "Sione to fullback, Gidley to halfback, Roberts to 14" experiment more than just a week.

Also, to change the topic, how f**king good does Uate look? Nice a trim, undoing all the Bennett garbage. Our backs will win the title alone if they all click (exaggerated of course but please )

 

[Big Pete]

Question is Pete, who do you drop for Sione?

1. The club captain
2. The current NSW winger
3. The touted heir to Hodges SOO jumper
4. The current Samoan centre
5. The previous Australian winger and 3(?) time Dally M winger of the year

Its a tough spot for Stone

It is but then you'd expect the coach to make those tough calls and not get sucked into the reputation of these players.

I'd pick Sione before the other five if I'm being truthful. I've got a high opinion of him and while the other have their positives, I think they all have bigger flaws than Sione, even at this stage of his career.

Realistically, Uate would have been my pick. Too unreliable, has been living on the past for too long and his past really wasn't that rich to begin with.

 

[perverse]

His past really wasn't that rich? Are you having a laugh , Pete? For 3 years he was practically untouchable. You must be judging only on his origin efforts, because at NRL level I don't think I had seen a more dominant winger in his prime. He carried our entire team on his back for a few years there and was our best prop as well as our best winger and player. Granted that the Bennett era hasn't been kind to him (although he still scores at roughly a try every game, more than just about anyone can say over this period of time), but to downplay his influence before that is criminal and false.

I can only make a rational argument to replace McManus with Sione at this point in the season, and he played for NSW. If Australia doesn't have a selection crisis last year, we don't even have this conversation.

 

[Noname36]

It is but then you'd expect the coach to make those tough calls and not get sucked into the reputation of these players.

I'd pick Sione before the other five if I'm being truthful. I've got a high opinion of him and while the other have their positives, I think they all have bigger flaws than Sione, even at this stage of his career.

Realistically, Uate would have been my pick. Too unreliable, has been living on the past for too long and his past really wasn't that rich to begin with.

Da farq?

You won't get any arguments out of us that Uate hasn't had a good previous 2 seasons. In his defence though last year when he was at his worse he had copped a very bad knee injury and it destroyed his confidence. Uate is a confidence player. When he's running high on confidence he'll destroy anyone in front of him but when he's down on it he can't even take a simple bomb.

But to say that he wasn't even good at his peak is absolutely f**king hilarious. He was single-handedly ripping teams to absolute shreds. Pretty much every game we won from 2009-2012 was off the back of Uate (or Mullen when we had an "on" game). He won the Dally M winger of the year 3 years in a row. I know people say "it's just the dally m's blah blah blah" but no other winger were even considered because he was just that far above everyone else.

Whether he can get back to that form I don't know, but from how freaking fit and confident he looks he certainly deserves the chance to retain his spot. I know it's only the Raiders but he absolutely destroyed Waqa in the trials who is certainly no slouch defensively.

Looks like Sione is going to be in the side tomorrow anyway so no harm giving Aku a chance.

 

[The Showstopper]

I have a gut feeling Stone's long term plan for this year may see Gidley switch to the utility role on the bench with Sione going to fullback eventually . Let's be honest. Gids to the bench gives unlimited options in the backs should injury occur. A hell of a weapon tactically.

 

[Noname36]

Given Roberts over the past year at least has shown all the signs of a first class running game, the move could potentially be a massive hit. The only concern is whether or not Gidley can take a back seat and be more of a supporting halfback. As long as he doesn't go to hooker, I don't really have a problem where he is as more often then not he's decent rather than poor.

We tend to hit our strides during and after Origin, I don't think it would be too much damage overall if we give the "Sione to fullback, Gidley to halfback, Roberts to 14" experiment more than just a week.

Roberts is an excellent dummy half. Obviously he can't play there all game because we don't have a better halfback at the moment and his defence probably wouldn't last there long minutes but when he came on there last season he really sparked us. Coincidently (or maybe not such a coincidence) the Indigenous All Stars sparked when he went there as well.

If Gidley didn't work in the halves for 20-30 minutes while Clydesdale gets a break Stone could even just do a direct swap between Sione and Gagai and get Gagai to stand at half as a stop gap like he did when we played the Roosters last year. Unlike Gidley, if Gagai was told to just run, pass and catch I think he'd actually do that.

I really like the idea of getting Roberts into hooker for a while either way...that allowing Sione some game time is just a bonus. The only question will be whether we can make the transition work in the halves and not cause the side too much disruption.

It's certainly worth a try I think anyway.