i reckon about 7/10 is fair for pearce/anasta/carney.
its the roosters forwards that are sh*thouse- lots of mediocre/glamour boy options in the backrow doesn't mean you'll have a quality pack. just no tough, hard workers (ie real footy players) in there who actually care, with the possible exception of myles, but he's not consistent enough.
more like 5/10.
Pains me to say it but the roosters have a talented list- pearce, carney, minicello, perret, williamson, symonds, cherrington, myles, jones, m.aubusson, skd, but the worst attitude in the comp. it might take him a season and getting rid of some bad eggs, but smith will fix that.
mind you the sharks aren't exactly going to set the world on fire. We definitely need one more quality signing to make the 8 next year, but i'm not sure we'll see that.
Backs: 5/10
Perhaps surprisingly enough for the fans of other clubs, there's some talent in this backline- more than the one that got us to the prelim last year. its just very inexperienced and and might make some defensive mistakes, and still a little slow... but will improve. Hopefully stuart keeps giving the young guys like wright a run rather than feet-for-hands pomeroy, and guys with talent like Ben Orcher and Nathan Gardner get opportunities. Dean Collis will be our best buy for next year, and dare i say it but Blake Ferguson's got a lot of Folau about him, at least in size/build and athleticism, if not achievement so far.
Halves/hooker: 6/10
Added together, Morris and Aiton equal one good hooker, and that is going to be such an improvement on what we had this year just gone. Barrett is class- he's playing the best football of his life and we will rely on him a lot. Then again, most clubs rely on a dominant playmaker, so its hardly unusual. Scott Porter is the weak(est) link... he'll either be a solid foil to Barrett with a good kicking game, be outclassed or, perhaps more likely, have his knees play up and be out for the season injured.
We're waiting for the future to develop... we've got the two nsw u18 halves in townsend and kelly in the 20s. Yay, more waiting.
Forwards: 7/10
Our strength, particularly defensively. No sharks fan would trade snowden and douglas for any pair of props in the comp, they're tireless and deserve more consideration for nsw. gallen is inspirational, tupou is class and williams has talent but needs to find his best form. behind them there's probably no one who will push for starting selection though, except for cuthbertson, but then only if we use him as a backrower. Could be more depth in the second row, but still our strength and our forwards will consistently be our best players again and keep us in a lot of games.
Prediction: 10th/11th is fair. Could scrape into the 8, but I think we'll lose too many of the close ones. Consistency of execution, not effort, will be the issue. If wright/fergo and whoever the fullback is come along really well and become consistent attacking threats then we'll have a good season. Injuries are a threat again, but that can be said about almost any club.
oh and lol@manly fans who think they can make the 8, let alone win the comp without stewart. he's going to gaol folks.
its the roosters forwards that are sh*thouse- lots of mediocre/glamour boy options in the backrow doesn't mean you'll have a quality pack. just no tough, hard workers (ie real footy players) in there who actually care, with the possible exception of myles, but he's not consistent enough.
more like 5/10.
Pains me to say it but the roosters have a talented list- pearce, carney, minicello, perret, williamson, symonds, cherrington, myles, jones, m.aubusson, skd, but the worst attitude in the comp. it might take him a season and getting rid of some bad eggs, but smith will fix that.
mind you the sharks aren't exactly going to set the world on fire. We definitely need one more quality signing to make the 8 next year, but i'm not sure we'll see that.
Backs: 5/10
Perhaps surprisingly enough for the fans of other clubs, there's some talent in this backline- more than the one that got us to the prelim last year. its just very inexperienced and and might make some defensive mistakes, and still a little slow... but will improve. Hopefully stuart keeps giving the young guys like wright a run rather than feet-for-hands pomeroy, and guys with talent like Ben Orcher and Nathan Gardner get opportunities. Dean Collis will be our best buy for next year, and dare i say it but Blake Ferguson's got a lot of Folau about him, at least in size/build and athleticism, if not achievement so far.
Halves/hooker: 6/10
Added together, Morris and Aiton equal one good hooker, and that is going to be such an improvement on what we had this year just gone. Barrett is class- he's playing the best football of his life and we will rely on him a lot. Then again, most clubs rely on a dominant playmaker, so its hardly unusual. Scott Porter is the weak(est) link... he'll either be a solid foil to Barrett with a good kicking game, be outclassed or, perhaps more likely, have his knees play up and be out for the season injured.
We're waiting for the future to develop... we've got the two nsw u18 halves in townsend and kelly in the 20s. Yay, more waiting.
Forwards: 7/10
Our strength, particularly defensively. No sharks fan would trade snowden and douglas for any pair of props in the comp, they're tireless and deserve more consideration for nsw. gallen is inspirational, tupou is class and williams has talent but needs to find his best form. behind them there's probably no one who will push for starting selection though, except for cuthbertson, but then only if we use him as a backrower. Could be more depth in the second row, but still our strength and our forwards will consistently be our best players again and keep us in a lot of games.
Prediction: 10th/11th is fair. Could scrape into the 8, but I think we'll lose too many of the close ones. Consistency of execution, not effort, will be the issue. If wright/fergo and whoever the fullback is come along really well and become consistent attacking threats then we'll have a good season. Injuries are a threat again, but that can be said about almost any club.
oh and lol@manly fans who think they can make the 8, let alone win the comp without stewart. he's going to gaol folks.
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