Round 18 v Tadpoles (Sharks)

[Frankus]

Regardless of Taylor's differences with Griffin, he was quite easily the best lock forward at the club. Merrin is not and never will be a lock. Nor will Matagi or whatever other front rower he decides to play there. I know a lot of clubs are playing an extra prop or big man at 13. Kind of like Brioche burger buns - seems to be the latest hip phase.

I also think that Taylor was the only forward that isn't a hooker capable of playing 80 hard minutes at the same level of intensity from kickoff to full time. Sure Bryce and Yeo will often play 80 but both of them go into hiding for large periods.

Soward needed time in Reggies but the club made the mistake of releasing him. Segeyaro also needed a spell in reserve grade so he could get his head out of his arse. Both could have contributed for the rest of the year.

Bryce has a lot of talent but he has shown that he is one of the most inconsistent performers in our side. He runs too hot and cold. He and Peachey should not be on the paddock at the same time. I have said this for a while. Two poor defenders who both run sideways and often add little. We should be playing one or the other, not both. To be honest, I fail to see how Peachey makes our starting 13 with a decent coach in charge. He has utility value from the bench though.

Gus has forgotten more than most of us will ever know about the game but I question his appointment of Griffin over Brennan and a number of other available coaches and also not pulling Griffin up on piss poor team selections. How RCG is seemingly the first player picked every week is beyond me.

 

[TheFrog]

Soward should have been kept. If not for depth alone. What did we gain by letting him go?

The call to allow him to leave was made by balancing losing him for the remainder of this season with carrying him at $500k+ next season. Clearly it was decided that it wasn't worth jeopardising next season to have an out-of-form back up this season. Plus he wanted to leave. It seems unlikely that refusing to allow him to go would lead to a sudden return of 2014 form.

If Wallace is out were beyond f**ked.

What he does from dummy half shouldn't be that hard to replicate. It is his defence and leadership we will miss. No-one mentioned that he played on with an apparently nasty elbow injury. Not the first time either. If only a few of the other blokes in the side had a fraction of the courage and determination this bloke displays.

Apparently we had a combined total of 420 first grade games between the 17 against the Sharks. 200 of them were Wallace, who we lose this week.

 

[umina panther]

Can't agree that ET is a better lock than Merrin.

 

[betcats]

They are different players, Merrin can play prop the exact same way he plays lock. ET in the side certainly improves us defensively imo. He has been such an asset to the tigers when he has been played in his natural position and not just for his defence.

 

[umina panther]

ET would have been my lock too but after he was dropped he just gave up and didn't even try to get his spot back.

 

[Frankus]

Can't agree that ET is a better lock than Merrin.

You wouldn't but then again we don't see eye to eye on many things which is fine.

Merrin is an over priced, limited and predictable footballer. From what I have seen St George lost nothing by letting him go and all we have gained is allocation of a large chunk of cap on an ex-origin player. If he ran the ball hard, instead of backing into tackles, I might have a different opinion and so might the NSW selectors.

 

[umina panther]

Makes the most tackles and meters almost every week. He does his job

 

[Frankus]

We didn't sign him to top tackle counts and hit ups. We signed him on the premise he was a superstar forward leader. He simply doesn't stand up enough in the championship rounds like Taumalolo, Graham, Fifita, Bromwich, etc.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Merrin is by far the least of our worries.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

I like Merrin. Averages over 34 tackles & 143 metres a game. I know he is not a wrecking ball in attack but that has never been his job. He is a good workhorse that does his work. At the start of the year in my opinion he should have started up front (which he plays in the middle anyway) with Taylor at lock.
I truly believe that is what Cleary would have done. He had a plan for Merrin when he signed him and Taylor being a favourite of his wouldn't have been wasted out of position or with limited minutes on the bench.
We are where we are at the moment with questionable decisions made by Griffin & Gould.
I am not happy with the roster being ripped apart again with good talent let go and told constantly 'we are a young club success will have to take its time' I have been hearing that one since 2007.
Time will tell if those decisions are proved right. Right now I an worried.

 

[betcats]

I said last week I wanted to see more of Akaoula, ive seen enough after that sharks game back reserve grade for him.

Re Merrin, he is a class below the top forwards five or six forwards in the comp but he is doing his job imo. My only concern is he cant dominate tackles defensively but he works hard and makes good metres.

I was happy to have Carty at 5/8 but now that boat has sailed, both he and Cleary looked lost without Moylan out there getting the ball a few times a set, I cant remember seeing one half decent attacking backline movement on Sunday, what the hell is an 18yo halfback supposed to do with that? We cant rely on him to create for us at this stage in his career and forcing Cartwright to do more than just play what he sees never ends well. This muppet of a coach better pull some ideas out of his ass soon.

 

[ACTPanthers]

Griffin is a pretender - The bloke couldnt coach an under 6's side to a win - As long as he is coach at Penrith, we won't get anywhere near a premiership

The players have been trying to win despite little to no game plan - Anyone who thinks this clown is actually of FG Coach standards is blind - We have years of this left to deal with people, better get used to mediocre seasons at best. (Yes, I'm still salty as f**k over Sundays shit)

 

[umina panther]

Who thought Gus would nail the off field stuff and have no idea about the football side of things? Griffin is bloody awful.

 

[martielang]

Standard Panther LU dummy spits all round.

I'm happy to give the guy a chance... And no I don't think 15 rounds is a chance, especially given some the drama he's had to work with behind the scenes. He promotes youth and gives them a crack, something we have all been calling out for. Unfortunately with youth comes inconsistency which we are seeing now. We're in a rut but we have the time and opportunity to get ourselves out of it.

Given the majority agree it wont be our year this year, what have we got to lose trying new combinations until we find the right one? Most people were happy with Cleary/Cartwright, now after a couple of bad games everyone has the pitchfork out for Griffin for making that decision.... Same with playing Hardaker, same with releasing Seggy, same with releasing Soward etc. etc. etc.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

Lots of "same with"s there, isn't there? That should tell you something.

 

[ACTPanthers]

Oh dear... So you'll be happy with watching shit like the weekend just gone for 3 years...? You're a stronger man than I am I suppose...

Maybe you could elaborate seeing as you seem to know more about the coach than the rest of us, but what is our game plan exactly? Do you see anything that resembles a plan of attack in the oppositions 20? Because as far as I can see, it's "offload and pray" and that will never cut it at the top level. We could be wrong, and you could be right, but given our decline in quality, I honestly don't think so.

 

[martielang]

Where did I say that? If we're playing this badly next year with no improvement, I doubt Griffin will even have a job. But I also doubt we will be playing like this. All i'm saying is it's still early days, and a lot of changes he's made are changes many of us wanted but unfortunately short term inconsistency and a lack of fluency is a by-product of those changes.

 

[Kilkenny]

I don't think any of us are happy with the way our season is going but I agree with martielang I think the coach deserves more time and cannot be judged on two thirds of his first season. We were disappointing against the Tigers and woeful against the Sharks so two very disappointing results. My two bobs worth, I don't like players playing out of there best positions. Makeshifts rarely work other than on the odd occasion here and there. It will be interesting to see the side the coach comes up with for the do or die clash against the Eels. Time is running out for the side to find some form and string some wins together. I hope he selects a specialist hooker and not Peachy to replace Wallace.

 

[ACTPanthers]

Alright, I conceed that he might come good, but given the decisions made lately, I highly doubt it.

I also doubt that he'll be sacked if he fails to get results. Gus loves the guy and he'll be given a lot more leniency then Cleary ever got. Helps to be bestest buddies with the head honcho.

 

[umina panther]

Hopefully Moylan gets a lot of time at 6 for NSW and kills it. Also wouldn't mind us dropping out of finals contention as soon as possible.