Round 3 V Newcastle

[Smug Panther]

Purtell playing a single first grade game was a failure

 

[Girds89]

Fox sports reporting fish and martin just need to get through captains run to play

 

[Fangs]

The funniest thing I've taken from the discussion was someone using "Joey Johns said" as backup to their point. Good footy player, but borderline special needs in the brains department.

I think he has a good footy brain. I've seen him do a bit of coaching and he communicates quite well. But I'm certain he is instructed the say a lot of stupid crap by his employers.

His whinging about the refs in commentary is by design. He is the obvious candidate to replace Gus. He even copies his intonation and when he chooses to speak.

Its refreshing going back and watching 90s matches. The role of the colour commentator was so much better. Now its a loud mouth with a bunch of opinions that will create discussion on Twitter after the game. Michael Ennis being the worst offender. His banal commentary drives me up the wall.

 

[Iamback]

Fox sports reporting fish and martin just need to get through captains run to play

Were always going to play

 

[snickers007]

Wasn't he 6 with Blair at 7?

Worst halves combo for the club

I irrationally love Maurice Blair. I won't hear a bad word about him.

If him and Lewis were indeed the worst halves combo ever, the blame falls entirely on that hack Lewis.

 

[WestyLife]

Fox sports reporting fish and martin just need to get through captains run to play

That is very welcome news. Big ins

 

[Iamback]

I irrationally love Maurice Blair. I won't hear a bad word about him.

If him and Lewis were indeed the worst halves combo ever, the blame falls entirely on that hack Lewis.

Hahaha the Avi

 

[Luke Bowden]

I irrationally love Maurice Blair. I won't hear a bad word about him.

If him and Lewis were indeed the worst halves combo ever, the blame falls entirely on that hack Lewis.

I’m also a massive Bob Blair fan!

Just a solid guy!

 

[soc123_au]

I irrationally love Maurice Blair. I won't hear a bad word about him.

If him and Lewis were indeed the worst halves combo ever, the blame falls entirely on that hack Lewis.

I remember he got talked up for Origin, the Toad selectors were at the game in Canberra specifically to watch Blair. That was the game we got 70 odd put on us. Dark dark days..

 

[mxlegend99]

I maintain that our Half Back stocks are better than our FB stocks. As long as our back three are getting us into good ball area, we have the half backs to get the job done.

How exactly?

SOS was pretty good in Round 1..but no better than Critter at fullback on multiple occasions.

Factor in Rounds 2 and 3 and SOS is about on par for the average backup 7.

Last year we had Burton and May as our backup halves. Both shown more than SOS throughout their careers yet despite that even Cleary with one arm was an enormous inclusion for us.

Edwards is undoubtedly our best fullback. But Crichton offers something different but also pretty fantastic and some of our best footy last year came with him at fullback.

Cleary is undoubtedly our best half. Since he's the best half in the game. SOS is a solid replacement. But what he offers is nowhere near the level of what Nathan offers. If our halfback was Townsend or Brooks i could see an argument being made for them being less of a loss than the fullback.

But we have a rep quality freakish athlete stepping in to replace Edwards when he is out. Critter is anywhere from a 7 to a 10 at fullback.

We have a solid reserve grade halfback stepping in to replace the NSW Origin #7, CCM Winner and soon to be Australian halfback Nathan.

Honestly this isnt a knock to Edwards or SOS. Critter is just a really good to gteat replacement fullback and Nathan is the best player in the game.

 

[Pomoz]

.........Personally i think critta could be a very good fb. He has a lot of the skills needed. But hes work ethic for mine is what lets him down and its where dylan shines through.

To be a great number 1 it all starts in the pre season..you have to be willing to go the extra mile. Fittest bloke on the field who can go to hell and back all day..

Its why latrell will never be a great fb. He does the flashy stuff so so well but man he can go mia when the going gets tough. He gets lazy at the back big time.. turbo is an absolute weapon in attack but boy can he be lazy in defence..

Thanks Girds, I have been trying to put my finger on what it is about Critta that makes me think he is really good, but overrated. As a centre, his defence must be close to the best in the the NRL, but....

Work Ethic. He is a bit on the lazy side. What's frustrating is that, let's be honest, I love Dylan Edwards as well but he has nothing like the talent, or physical gifts that Critta has. Critta is so athletic he really is an elite athlete. If he could improve his work ethic he would be one of the best players in the world.

But he is what he is. He isn't suddenly going to start working harder. He goes missing in the centres, so he won't be turning into a perpetual motion machine if he plays fullback. I hope he proves me wrong and goes missing less and less as his career progresses. In any case, he brings different strengths to the fullback position and he has a high ceiling, if he can be arsed to climb a few rungs on the ladder to reach it.

Dylan, on the other hand, is no silky smooth elite athlete moving like a graceful Leopard chasing prey. He is like the roadrunner, just a relentless whirring of legs and arms. Ugly to watch, ungainly even, yet the metre counter keeps ticking. 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m.....you get the point. A work ethic of 11 out of 10. The Raider's Klonstadt is the only other fullback in the same stratosphere when it comes to work ethic. Gutho coming in at third.

We are so lucky to have both players. We could have had Neil Baker and Paul Franze as a fullback-centre combination. A fullback who couldn't catch a tennis ball wearing a velcro suit, let alone a Steeden, and a centre with tunnel vision who made Momoroski look like Cliffy Lyons when it came to passing. Just thinking about those two brings me out in a cold sweat.

 

[Girds89]

Thanks Girds, I have been trying to put my finger on what it is about Critta that makes me think he is really good, but overrated. As a centre, his defence must be close to the best in the the NRL, but....

Work Ethic. He is a bit on the lazy side. What's frustrating is that, let's be honest, I love Dylan Edwards as well but he has nothing like the talent, or physical gifts that Critta has. Critta is so athletic he really is an elite athlete. If he could improve his work ethic he would be one of the best players in the world.

But he is what he is. He isn't suddenly going to start working harder. He goes missing in the centres, so he won't be turning into a perpetual motion machine if he plays fullback. I hope he proves me wrong and goes missing less and less as his career progresses. In any case, he brings different strengths to the fullback position and he has a high ceiling, if he can be arsed to climb a few rungs on the ladder to reach it.

Dylan, on the other hand, is no silky smooth elite athlete moving like a graceful Leopard chasing prey. He is like the roadrunner, just a relentless whirring of legs and arms. Ugly to watch, ungainly even, yet the metre counter keeps ticking. 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m.....you get the point. A work ethic of 11 of of 10. The Raider's Klonstadt is the only other fullback in the same stratosphere when it comes to work ethic. Gutho coming in at third.

We are so lucky to have both players. We could have had Neil Baker and Paul Franze as a fullback-centre combination. A fullback who couldn't catch a tennis ball wearing a velcro suit, let alone a Steeden, and a centre with tunnel vision who made Momoroski look like Cliffy Lyons when it came to passing. Just thinking about those two brings me out in a cold sweat.

Hard to disagree with any of that..

I love critta..defensivley hes great and he has glimpses in attack when he looks world class. But those moments are rare.

I just want to see it more from him. Hes on big coin and isnt a rookie any more. Hes been on the cusp of origin and is a nrl gf winner. He has to get involved and go looking for it more when its not coming to him. Hes started the year pretty good... id say an 8/10. Would love to see him sorta avg 8.5/10 performances on a weekly basis. Its the tough arm wrestles we need him to stand up.. any of our players can look like super stars when we smoke teams by 30.

I think a lot of the arguments for people wanting dylan out over the years was he wasnt a ball player. But critta had some shockers at the back to last year in terms of passes thrown. Yet to see any ball playing ability from staines in any grade.. thats not to say neither would be good fbs. They both just have a different set of attacking skills to dyl. But none of them are your real ball players.

Have always maintained that if we were desperate for a ball playing fb daine laurie was the one with all those skills.

But i really dont think we do need one.. yeo, cleary, and to a lesser extent api and luai are all great ball players and get the troops round the park.

There was an article last year before the gf with a lot of quotes from jim jones about how dylan is the foil that is needed to the other guys and is crucial to the winning dna of the team. Was a really great article. He spoke alot about how he used to just smash the other backs in the pre seasons. Think he mentioned waqa and dwz used to get competitive and try beat him in the individual 200m sprints so dyl would beat waqa and than without rest would race dwz and beat him too haha.

Anyway, like others are said its a good problem to have and nice we can talk about competition for spots.

The only bloke i see pushing for fb in first grade is turuva. Hes raw but something special. Think we will do it tough to keep him.

 

[Girds89]

The competition for spots this year will drive the guys on the cusp and nrl guys clinging to a spot to go harder.

Its been evident im charlies performances.

I think he knows taylan is right there on his heels..and its bringing out the best in him.

Same for a few others. Great problem to have

 

[betcats]

Critter isnt lazy, you cant be a great defender like he is and be lazy cause he'd be getting caught out of position or on the back foot and would be exposed defensively. Yes there are times he could be more involved but to say that is laziness or lack of effort is very harsh, its not uncommon at all for young centres to need to learn how to impact games more when the attack isnt coming to them, laziness would be shown up on the defensive side of the ball if it was there and you cannot say Critter is lazy defensively, his effort and application there has been very good.

 

[Alintheeast]

I remember he got talked up for Origin, the Toad selectors were at the game in Canberra specifically to watch Blair. That was the game we got 70 odd put on us. Dark dark days..

Wade graham was Bob’s partner in halves that day, Lewis and Blair had six matches together had a 3 win 3 loss record not that bad.

 

[snickers007]

I remember he got talked up for Origin, the Toad selectors were at the game in Canberra specifically to watch Blair. That was the game we got 70 odd put on us. Dark dark days..

I remember this day so well.

I'd just bought a new fridge, and it was far too big for the kitchen in our tiny rental. Was listening to the game on the radio while trying to move it into place. Got real hot and bothered (combination of the game and fridge). Ended up taking a big chunk off the corner of the kitchen bench, and also hitting the oven/stove too hard and snapping the gas connection.

Oh yeah, and we conceded 13 tries. Lol.

The fridge has gone the distance though, I've still got it today!

 

[Aliceinwonderland]

My adult daughter and I went down on the Panthers bus for the day. Saw some snow on the way down.

Oh boy it was the ultimate train wreck of a game.

 

[Luke Bowden]

How exactly?

SOS was pretty good in Round 1..but no better than Critter at fullback on multiple occasions.

Factor in Rounds 2 and 3 and SOS is about on par for the average backup 7.

Last year we had Burton and May as our backup halves. Both shown more than SOS throughout their careers yet despite that even Cleary with one arm was an enormous inclusion for us.

Edwards is undoubtedly our best fullback. But Crichton offers something different but also pretty fantastic and some of our best footy last year came with him at fullback.

Cleary is undoubtedly our best half. Since he's the best half in the game. SOS is a solid replacement. But what he offers is nowhere near the level of what Nathan offers. If our halfback was Townsend or Brooks i could see an argument being made for them being less of a loss than the fullback.

But we have a rep quality freakish athlete stepping in to replace Edwards when he is out. Critter is anywhere from a 7 to a 10 at fullback.

We have a solid reserve grade halfback stepping in to replace the NSW Origin #7, CCM Winner and soon to be Australian halfback Nathan.

Honestly this isnt a knock to Edwards or SOS. Critter is just a really good to gteat replacement fullback and Nathan is the best player in the game.

Critter is an freak of an athlete no doubt, but he doesn’t do the basics of being a fullback well. His positional play in particular is very poor. This has a big effect on the team.

For example, Edwards is almost always in the correct position to catch a kick on the full, this means his constantly returning the ball 30 odd meters, that is 30 less meters our forwards have to run to get back on side, that combined with a follow up run from a winger and the forwards are running a heap less, which keeps them fresh. This is one of the reason a lot of commentators say that we look so fit. It also means that we are generally kicking from good field position with the forwards going forward and we have great energy in defence.

We don’t have anyone in the team that can do what edwards does like that.

SOS is no where near Nathans level, but he’s good enough to kick the ball into good areas and distribute ball to our better attackers.

Its ok if you don’t agree with me, as I’ve said before, I don’t think we can win the comp if lose either.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Iamback]

Thanks Girds, I have been trying to put my finger on what it is about Critta that makes me think he is really good, but overrated. As a centre, his defence must be close to the best in the the NRL, but....

Work Ethic. He is a bit on the lazy side. What's frustrating is that, let's be honest, I love Dylan Edwards as well but he has nothing like the talent, or physical gifts that Critta has. Critta is so athletic he really is an elite athlete. If he could improve his work ethic he would be one of the best players in the world.

But he is what he is. He isn't suddenly going to start working harder. He goes missing in the centres, so he won't be turning into a perpetual motion machine if he plays fullback. I hope he proves me wrong and goes missing less and less as his career progresses. In any case, he brings different strengths to the fullback position and he has a high ceiling, if he can be arsed to climb a few rungs on the ladder to reach it.

Dylan, on the other hand, is no silky smooth elite athlete moving like a graceful Leopard chasing prey. He is like the roadrunner, just a relentless whirring of legs and arms. Ugly to watch, ungainly even, yet the metre counter keeps ticking. 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m.....you get the point. A work ethic of 11 of of 10. The Raider's Klonstadt is the only other fullback in the same stratosphere when it comes to work ethic. Gutho coming in at third.

We are so lucky to have both players. We could have had Neil Baker and Paul Franze as a fullback-centre combination. A fullback who couldn't catch a tennis ball wearing a velcro suit, let alone a Steeden, and a centre with tunnel vision who made Momoroski look like Cliffy Lyons when it came to passing. Just thinking about those two brings me out in a cold sweat.

Perfect example was Critters miss on Sat. That was just lazy and frustrating because he can do much better

 

[Iamback]

Critter is an freak of an athlete no doubt, but he doesn’t do the basics of being a fullback well. His positional play in particular is very poor. This has a big effect on the team.

For example, Edwards is almost always in the correct position to catch a kick on the full, this means his constantly returning the ball 30 odd meters, that is 30 less meters our forwards have to run to get back on side, that combined with a follow up run from a winger and the forwards are running a heap less, which keeps them fresh. This is one of the reason a lot of commentators say that we look so fit. It also means that we are generally kicking from good field position with the forwards going forward and we have great energy in defence.

We don’t have anyone in the team that can do what edwards does like that.

SOS is no where near Nathans level, but he’s good enough to kick the ball into good areas and distribute ball to our better attackers.

Its ok if you don’t agree with me, as I’ve said before, I don’t think we can win the comp if lose either.

Just my thoughts.

That is my thoughts on SOS or any 7 that comes in. Instead of kicking on their own 30m line. We mostly kick from Halfway meaning the kick is easier