Round 21 - The Roosters

[franklin2323]

Laui was solid but not his brilliant normal self. He may be still recovering from origin and injury, Guess what I think he will EXPLODE when Nathan returns, Whatch out Storm!!

We saw tonight how good Burton and Kikau are... Luai on the other side doing different things doesn't look as explosive

 

[Munky]

Walker will have no Reynolds next season.

Be interesting to see what happens when he is the senior half.

Also, Kikau marked up on a kid with glass shoulders. Hughes in defence he ain't.

 

[Smug Panther]

Cody Walker is a flat track bully. Definitely not someone who can wrestle a game back

 

[age.s]

We have beaten the Roosters the last 4 times we played them.

Very few teams that doesn't apply to at this point.

 

[age.s]

Anyway I thought we played pretty well. Their first was pretty soft and their third was an awful miss by Staines but defensively we held up pretty well, particularly in the last 20 as they came home strong.

The Taymay/Tago combination is awesome. They had some great moments with Kikau and brought a ton of energy throughout. I hope that left edge gets time to gel next year. While Burton is still our best left centre, its good to know we don't lose much if he's needed in the halves. Taymay should be the first drop winger for the rest of the year and Charlie will need to watch his back. I say that as someone who quite likes Staines and thinks he'll make it too.

I thought both halves played well, though Burton had the game's defining moments and was my MotM. Luai looked much better I thought. Had a few of those vintage bamboozling moments (that were only stopped by some excellent reads) and looked more willing to run as the game went on. We really struggle to ice a game without Nathan though. How we didn't just slot a 1 in that set on their line is beyond me. Not the first time its happened either.

Forwards were good, especially Yeo and Martin. Kikau was great again, seems to be warming up at the right time. Api was quiet with the ball, but pretty good without it. Much better than Kenny defensively.

Edwards went ok. About as well as you can expect from a guy who eats up sfa of the salary cap. Ditto Momo. You're never going to get a squad full of superstars in the NRL and those two are value imo.

Overall pretty happy. That was a danger game given our outs and we handled it well. All but guarantees us top 3. Things will get better from this point on assuming injury gods f**k right off, preferably over to those despicable cheating merkins in purple.

 

[gurmiyrg__]

Im looking forward to a backline of:

staines (if he has a big post/pre season) otherwise turuva is a shout to
taylan
tago
critta
too

electric stuff

 

[The Realist]

Edwards....
205m
1 try assist
1 line break assist
6 tackle breaks...

Style hammered on here by the usual suspects.

Its funny cause they are brilliant numbers... id consider that a quiet night for him and he still gets pegged down on here.

Critical errors at critical times undoes most of his 'hard work'.

He stifles our attack even when he 'makes metres'. How many times do you see Edwards absolutely struggle with defenders and breaking tackles....only for him to get gang tackled and follow up with a very slow PTB?

He'd be better off just getting to ground quickly on his chest and getting a quick PTB. Might shave a few metres in his Post contact metres stats and also a few tackle breaks BUT he'd get our line moving far more quickly.

There were at least a half dozen cases tonight where he done this and it was avoidable.

 

[The Realist]

Staines let in a clear try all be it a hard stop but it shouldve been made.

That is very harsh. You would crucify one of our wingers if they failed to score one on one close to the line. Most modern wingers and backs in general score a 1 on 1 at speed close to the line.

 

[ColdWetPanther]

The Cody Walker comparision is a good one. Seems Ivan is the only one that can't see it

Someone who can pass left to right needs to play the 7. It’s not Luai’s best position, but the position we need him to play right now. It will be good for his development long term.

 

[Westernised Panther]

That is very harsh. You would crucify one of our wingers if they failed to score one on one close to the line. Most modern wingers and backs in general score a 1 on 1 at speed close to the line.

And Tupou is one solid mofo

 

[BxTom]

And Tupou is one solid mofo

Staines had two players in front of him. He dived at Tupou's legs last minute and missed. He couldn't do much more. Personally, I thought he did as good as any could have in the situation.

 

[murraymob]

We can argue black and blue Staines Tago May .but we can agree .Naden unless there are massive injuries has played his last game for Penrith and to be honest I don’t see tyron May getting back in when he returns from injury Tago can fill al the roles better

 

[betcats]

Cody Walker is a flat track bully. Definitely not someone who can wrestle a game back

Agree to extent, if they are under the pump he’s not as effective but I don’t think he’s a Mitchell Moses level flat track bully. There’s not many players more dangerous than Cody when his teams on a roll, he’s killing everyone for try assists this year.

 

[betcats]

May wasn't playing like a 7 either when he was there. We are playing different but 4-1 since Cleary went down is the main thing

Look I’m not knocking Jarome at all, just pointing out that 7 role is a lot different to playing 6 for our side, no player in the comp handles it as well as Nathan does, not even close imo.

 

[WestyLife]

For all our arguing about Staines I think it's Edwards under pressure long term. It's not as though he won't have pre-seasons and put on weight. When that happens his slam into the defence and get pushed back will turn into a tackle break or quick PTB, he's also making his tries look easy because he has the pace to get on the outside of defenders easily. Tago and May are clearly ready to go and Crichton has a top 5 player in the comp waiting to be unlocked once he realises what he's got.

 

[hindy111]

We kept the wrong one but you live and you learn

Burton had to be retained over Critchton. That reality is Dogs signed for 600k odd rumoured. And similar to Critchton. Twice the player.
He has 2yrs and a 3rd in his favour. Do you think he stays for his 3rd year? I reckon only if he is paid 1milion a season. Wouldn't be suprised if we wants an upgrade prior to going. Had he waited Brisbane prob cough up 850k a season now.

 

[hindy111]

Anyone watching storm manly still think its a 2 horse race. Idiots lol.

Fact is a if turbo stays fit manly can upset anyone.. hes that good.

I think if we get cleary back and him and too stay fit its a battle between
Melbs
Us
Sths
Manly

Agree. Nothing went Manlys way. Turbo dropping a bomb, a few of DCE kicks just going for 7 tackles restarts. Short drop out not going 10mtrs, Dropped ball off kick offs. These are errors which are rare and prob won't happen again.

Then some big ref decisions.

Storm challenge a penalty for a dropped ball and won. It was a 50/50. DCE when 2 points down and mankymon attack 10 mins to go penalised for obstruction advantage. I couldn't see it.
A Storm try where Manly player was pushed. They said not pushed hard enough but he missed grounding the ball my a centimetre.Running at that speed andy push would of effected him grounding it.

 

[hindy111]

Jesus Christ some of you are ridiculous with Momo. He did his job tonight, without being spectacular.

To somehow try and justify the Staines missed tackle try by blaming him for getting a hospital ball 70m upfield, says it all really.

He was signed as a back up to squad and doing his job.

 

[Goonji]

Was Spencer Lenui injured, he did'nt seem to play many minutes?

 

[Goonji]

Very few teams that doesn't apply to at this point.

Anytime we beat the Roosters in particular is a great day.