ali
Bench
- Messages
- 4,962
I'm going to lay off the first graders tonight as I am sure there will be enough anger directed their way by the rest of you. After watching both grades tonight, I believe we are a club with serious problems. I believe I'm a fairly good judge of footballers, and on paper I am sure with have a pretty decent first grade side and some good backup in reserve grade.
Which leads me too the coaching staff. Not just Raper, but all his assistants as well. What the hell were they doing all off season. We are so far behind the 8 ball across the whole club. First grade I expected would take a while to gel, as we have a few new players on top of the new coach. But reserve grade, should also be doing far better.
Now for tonight. Before i even took my seat, a North Sydney player knocked out Roy Friend in a Morley like incident. Just like Morley the Norths players was sent on his way. So Norths were down to 12 men for the whole game. The first half was a fairly even and dour affair and we went to Oranges up 8-0 after a simple try to Dalla for dummy half. The 2nd half saw more of the same but we looked comfortably on top and stretched our lead to 20-0 after Wessell crashed over under the sticks and Aitken dummied and slid his way through the defence out wide. But our play was very uninspiring. Way too much dummy half running. It was regularly 5 drives and a kick.
So we are up 20-0 with 20 minutes to go, against a 12 man side from North Sydney, who (I haven't seen the table) will probably run close to last in reserve grade. Through some slackness, Norths pulled one try back. This seemed to give them confidence, and amazingly they started carving us to pieces. They pulled back to 20-18, and whilst I was watching the Warriors - Knights finish, Norths finished us off. We lost the unloseable.
So as first grade were flogged, you might be calling for heads. But there isn't many of this lot I would like to see promoted. I will make a few comments on some individuals.
Saleh - He is a total safety first footballer. Doesn't change much from week to week. I thought he went ok, and was revving them up well from the back when we started to struggle, but I don't think the others were listening.
Pelo - He is the shining light of the lower grades at the moment. What a step, and fantastic leg drive. He even pulled out a Meli like tackle. If Merrit is not back I would promote him to first grade for the sake of his dummy half runs early in the set. Simmo is a really good young player, but he needs broken field to make metres. Pelo is pure power and aggression.
Franze - looked a bit better than the last few weeks, and did some nice things outside Aitken and inside Pelo. But his handling let him down on a couple of occcasions. He's not ready to come back, but I still think McGoldrick is worse. Kent was quiet. Emilio was dreadful, can't catch.
Aitken - The best game I've seen from him this year, though still struggles to get involved. Scored a nice try, but his defence was fairly average. Has barely made a mistake though in 5 halves of footy I've seen him play this year.
Saia Makisi - Nice player this bloke. Came off the bench and showed some typical polynesian flair. Tall with a good step, could play outwide or in the back row. Maybe one for the future.
Forwards - Newton looked good in his first stint, didn't notice him later. They struggled to control Wessell and Vagg looked fat. Neither Gibbo or Kingston impressed me, Williams worked hard, and the others were uninspiring.
John Green - Suffered a serious leg injury early in the game and I would say will be out for a fair while. I heard him scream in pain after taking a pass and just before hitting the tackle. A shame, as i noticed tonight just how much he has grown.
Flegg won 26-6, but what up and comer would play for Norths? So overall we are pathetic as a club. I would strongly consider Pelo for a first grade wing spot and I'd still have Aitken at 5/8 as i believe he will be there in the long run.
Which leads me too the coaching staff. Not just Raper, but all his assistants as well. What the hell were they doing all off season. We are so far behind the 8 ball across the whole club. First grade I expected would take a while to gel, as we have a few new players on top of the new coach. But reserve grade, should also be doing far better.
Now for tonight. Before i even took my seat, a North Sydney player knocked out Roy Friend in a Morley like incident. Just like Morley the Norths players was sent on his way. So Norths were down to 12 men for the whole game. The first half was a fairly even and dour affair and we went to Oranges up 8-0 after a simple try to Dalla for dummy half. The 2nd half saw more of the same but we looked comfortably on top and stretched our lead to 20-0 after Wessell crashed over under the sticks and Aitken dummied and slid his way through the defence out wide. But our play was very uninspiring. Way too much dummy half running. It was regularly 5 drives and a kick.
So we are up 20-0 with 20 minutes to go, against a 12 man side from North Sydney, who (I haven't seen the table) will probably run close to last in reserve grade. Through some slackness, Norths pulled one try back. This seemed to give them confidence, and amazingly they started carving us to pieces. They pulled back to 20-18, and whilst I was watching the Warriors - Knights finish, Norths finished us off. We lost the unloseable.
So as first grade were flogged, you might be calling for heads. But there isn't many of this lot I would like to see promoted. I will make a few comments on some individuals.
Saleh - He is a total safety first footballer. Doesn't change much from week to week. I thought he went ok, and was revving them up well from the back when we started to struggle, but I don't think the others were listening.
Pelo - He is the shining light of the lower grades at the moment. What a step, and fantastic leg drive. He even pulled out a Meli like tackle. If Merrit is not back I would promote him to first grade for the sake of his dummy half runs early in the set. Simmo is a really good young player, but he needs broken field to make metres. Pelo is pure power and aggression.
Franze - looked a bit better than the last few weeks, and did some nice things outside Aitken and inside Pelo. But his handling let him down on a couple of occcasions. He's not ready to come back, but I still think McGoldrick is worse. Kent was quiet. Emilio was dreadful, can't catch.
Aitken - The best game I've seen from him this year, though still struggles to get involved. Scored a nice try, but his defence was fairly average. Has barely made a mistake though in 5 halves of footy I've seen him play this year.
Saia Makisi - Nice player this bloke. Came off the bench and showed some typical polynesian flair. Tall with a good step, could play outwide or in the back row. Maybe one for the future.
Forwards - Newton looked good in his first stint, didn't notice him later. They struggled to control Wessell and Vagg looked fat. Neither Gibbo or Kingston impressed me, Williams worked hard, and the others were uninspiring.
John Green - Suffered a serious leg injury early in the game and I would say will be out for a fair while. I heard him scream in pain after taking a pass and just before hitting the tackle. A shame, as i noticed tonight just how much he has grown.
Flegg won 26-6, but what up and comer would play for Norths? So overall we are pathetic as a club. I would strongly consider Pelo for a first grade wing spot and I'd still have Aitken at 5/8 as i believe he will be there in the long run.
