Rd.14 v WT

[John Hamblin]

Garner on the bench allows you to run with no back which is a massive added bonus having him in the side. Sommo should be the 14 for the moment while Kenny is playing like shit. Otherwise team picks itself with Paps and Garner in for Eiso and Laurie.

I do think we need to continue using Paps as an edge forward but by my eye, Sorenson is the better bodyguard for Talagi. I’d start with Sorro for the opening half hour and then bring Paps on for them to run amok when the game has softened up.

Kenny made a magnifcent try saving tackle on Jack Williams. He also topped the tackle count with 52. Sure he has his faults BUT his effort against the Eels was anything but shit.

 

[PennyPanthers81]

Seems like everyone has finally caught up with me and now loves Garns

Hey now, settle down, I loved him first.

 

[betcats]

Is Romey still playing on the left at Wests? He Martin and Cleary head to head will be good, bizza on that side also.

 

[maple_69]

Interesting that Alamoti has not been named in Cup. Nor has anybody in the NRL top 22 for that matter. Schneider and Toelau at least you’d expect to be named in both grades. Given both games are in Sydney it’s pretty odd.

Without those 18-25ish squad guys who many have rightly commented on here have proven to just not quite be up to it in the NRL, the Cup side looks much fresher. Throw Armstrong, Edgar and Hotere-Papali’i in next year and there’s a pretty exciting side there.

 

[betcats]

Interesting that Alamoti has not been named in Cup. Nor has anybody in the NRL top 22 for that matter. Schneider and Toelau at least you’d expect to be named in both grades. Given both games are in Sydney it’s pretty odd.

Without those 18-25ish squad guys who many have rightly commented on here have proven to just not quite be up to it in the NRL, the Cup side looks much fresher. Throw Armstrong, Edgar and Hotere-Papali’i in next year and there’s a pretty exciting side there.

Some of the nrl guys will still drop back. But yeah by next year I think we 4 or 5 guys who should progress into the cup side. I’d be hoping to see vailalo in the mix and if hokufano lemoto is a seriously prospect he should get some cup games next year, this is his second year in flegg.

Attard and Edgar both progressed to cup now, sorry to harp on but Daine needs to be out of the way by next season.

 

[age.s]

Attard and Edgar both progressed to cup now, sorry to harp on but Daine needs to be out of the way by next seseason.

How are they looking at cup level?

 

[betcats]

How are they looking at cup level?

Well keep in mind ive only seen Edgar play one full game in cup this year, the rest of my opinion on how they look in cup is based on match reports, highlights and the very basic stats NSWRL keeps.

That being said, Edgar has been very good, a stong performer and not out of place, scoring and setting up tries, he looks dangerous.

Attard went off last week after after half a game but hed scored a double, we scored 30 in the first half and Jack is very quick and a great support player so take that with a grain.

IMO Attard may shape up as the one, he is younger so it works better with Dyl, they are both similar prospects being FBs who with decent ball playing skills. Attard was getting picked at 6 a bit through the grades, he is very fast and will be a bigger body i think, great ball runner the kind of guy with great balance, speed and acceleration who just steps and swerves around guys easily. Also think Attard has more ability to come in on the wing or at centre opposed to Edgar who looks like a fb exclusively, maybe a 6.

 

[Fangs]

Tigers near last on kick return metres this year.

Its a game for Cleary. The Tigers can't match us off the boot. Keep up a good strong kick chase and win the field position. If we want to be silly and give them easy penalties out of their own end then we will lose our clear advantage.

They Tigers are at the top of the league for offloads. Namely Terrell May. Pair that with Korisau who will take plenty of runs from dummy-half. Our middle needs to be alert and aiming up in D this week.

 

[Chins]

Tigers near last on kick return metres this year.

Its a game for Cleary. The Tigers can't match us off the boot. Keep up a good strong kick chase and win the field position. If we want to be silly and give them easy penalties out of their own end then we will lose our clear advantage.

They Tigers are at the top of the league for offloads. Namely Terrell May. Pair that with Korisau who will take plenty of runs from dummy-half. Our middle needs to be alert and aiming up in D this week.

Flukey offloads were our weakness during our run. Its how Parra arsed their way to a few wins against us

 

[Fangs]

Flukey offloads were our weakness during our run. Its how Parra arsed their way to a few wins against us

Yeah but the Eels were a far better side. Had players offloading in the middle and out wide with Matterson and Lane. Bit harder to handle.

The main concern for us is Tyrell May offloading and its in tandem with Korisau finding some space. Outside of that I think we have the Tigers covered easily.

 

[Luke Bowden]

Yeah but the Eels were a far better side. Had players offloading in the middle and out wide with Matterson and Lane. Bit harder to handle.

The main concern for us is Tyrell May offloading and its in tandem with Korisau finding some space. Outside of that I think we have the Tigers covered easily.

Honestly, we “Should” have most of the comp covered.

We need to better with our discipline. That’s our biggest issue right now.

Our defence was an issue earlier in the year, that looks better, but these silly penalties have to stop.

 

[Fangs]

Honestly, we “Should” have most of the comp covered.

We need to better with our discipline. That’s our biggest issue right now.

Our defence was an issue earlier in the year, that looks better, but these silly penalties have to stop.

Yes we should. Total coach killing mistakes. Same story for pretty much the whole year.

Interesting to note the referee is Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski...from what I've read he hasn't officiated one of our matches since 2019. So not sure what to expect there.

 

[betcats]

I think we are missing JFH mobility in the middle defensively. Sounds silly but i think we now have to many middles who are easily beat with a change of direction via pass or footwork. So many times we have been trying to do our old dominant defence keeping teams to 20-30m gains and our line is working hard but 3rd or 4th tackle someone half slips a tackle picks a up a few extra metres and get a quickptb, thats all it takes to let them off the hook., So even when we are noy rolling out the red carpet with penalties we have still be struggling some games to get on top of the field position.

Moses is pretty good laterally. Fish was great with his lateral movement, he covered large area well due to his agility and his strength. The rest of our middles are big bumbling motherf**kers for the most part. Patea looks pretty mobile but Henry and Lindsay are not, they work hard but can get wrong footed easily. Even Papalii, he can move up down very quick but once he is moving he cant change direction.

 

[The Realist]

I think we are missing JFH mobility in the middle defensively. Sounds silly but i think we now have to many middles who are easily beat with a change of direction via pass or footwork. So many times we have been trying to do our old dominant defence keeping teams to 20-30m gains and our line is working hard but 3rd or 4th tackle someone half slips a tackle picks a up a few extra metres and get a quickptb, thats all it takes to let them off the hook., So even when we are noy rolling out the red carpet with penalties we have still be struggling some games to get on top of the field position.

Moses is pretty good laterally. Fish was great with his lateral movement, he covered large area well due to his agility and his strength. The rest of our middles are big bumbling motherf**kers for the most part. Patea looks pretty mobile but Henry and Lindsay are not, they work hard but can get wrong footed easily. Even Papalii, he can move up down very quick but once he is moving he cant change direction.

Yep. Smiths biggest weakness. In other threads people were putting up Smiths 'Numbers'. He had a high number of tackles, runs and metres made. What the stats don't show are things like metres conceded, Play the ball time against and little 'metrics' of similar nature. Many of these would be near impossible to quantify hence why the 'eye test' is still so relevant. Smith lumbers around out there and makes it far easier for the opposition to advance - even when he is making most of his tackles.

There was a good period against the Eel's when they were making an easy 50-60 metres upfield and we were struggling to make 40. There have been numerous times this season where I have seen Smith and Huth lumbering behind the play struggling to get onside for a tackle or two.


Contrast this to Fish, not only did he make tackles that others wouldn't even attempt, but the tackles he did make were often brutally effective resulting in a slow PtB. This allowed the rest of the team more time to reset and then push - the famed Panthers Line Speed.

 

[betcats]

Yeah i would like to see Sorro start at prop, i know thats crazy considering i think it should be his last year but i have my reasons. firstly weve tried everyone else besides garner and MArto paired with Moses at prop and secondly Sorro is mobile, he wont be brutally effective like Fish but I think he can help defensively just with his ability to cover ground, he is fit and he will absolutely get in front of people, and thirdly Pap, Martin and Garner is the edge rotation i want.

 

[Chins]

Yeah i would like to see Sorro start at prop, i know thats crazy considering i think it should be his last year but i have my reasons. firstly weve tried everyone else besides garner and MArto paired with Moses at prop and secondly Sorro is mobile, he wont be brutally effective like Fish but I think he can help defensively just with his ability to cover ground, he is fit and he will absolutely get in front of people, and thirdly Pap, Martin and Garner is the edge rotation i want.

He's been too slow for the backrow for the last 18 months really. Sure if he has move there mid game that's fine but nothing more than that.

 

[betcats]

He's been too slow for the backrow for the last 18 months really. Sure if he has move there mid game that's fine but nothing more than that.

I agree he is just lacking overall punch on the edge, i think he can still get over the ad line quick though in the middle and do a solid job hitting the ball up and i do think he could improve our d for the reasons above.

 

[Pjf04b]

I'm thinking of going on Sunday. Where are people sitting?

 

[maple_69]

Its a good point re our middle mobility. The edge defence is looking less shakey but those dominant sets ending in the opposition kicking from their 30 are really rare due to an inevitable pressure relieving run over the ad line. Sorro is definitely worth a look to address that. On the other side of the ball, his energy and play the ball speed during his years playing middle off the bench could be a nice asset. I'd split up Moses & Sorro though so we didn't have Henry/Smith/Patea on at the same time. It would also mean our first drop prop is say Henry rather than Eiso which is a big positive.

On this week's game, while Bula is a huge talent, he's got positioning/defensive issues and Nathan should absolutely work him over. Hopefully we play conservative, patient, disciplined footy again and get some of these combinations some confidence. Definitely feels like a lot of the pieces are coming back together, just quite slowly..

 

[betcats]

I wanna Nath see testing them with 4020s again also. If the winds ok Nath should have a couple cracks early, at the very least get those wingers back early and bula over chasing wherever Nath is.