Round 4 vs Eels

[Gourley's Socks]

Pretty disappointed in this news if true.

Neither Sloan nor Amone have been playing especially well but it looked to me as though they were tentative due to a lack of confidence. This can often be the flipside of the much vaunted "competition for spots".

But instead of calling them together this week and reaffirming that they are the future of the club and that they should unleash their skills without fear of being dropped, our mumbling man-manager looks to omit them from the starting side. That'll do wonders for their confidence.

What I wouldn't give for a proper coach.

 

[hewi]

IMO this is a must win game, lose today and the season is not looking good

 

[Illusion]

Firstly, if you are looking for Mbye at fullback and Bird in the halves to provide loads of points good luck to you. May stiffen up defence but will completely nullify any potential spark we might have. All you need is McCulloch back at 9 and we'll have a ready made sedative, trust me.

Sloan and Amone were identified as our future, rightly or wrongly, they were the reason we most likely didn't pursue the likes of Hynes and some of the talented backs that swapped teams this year any further. Any player going to Reggie's now is on a hiding to nothing, won't be developing getting flogged each week. Have to show the faith or it will be another lost cause of a season. So sick of this embarrassment of a club. I'm hoping against hope dropping these guys now is a lie.

If Dufty and Norman, Sloan and Amone were not the answer where was the foresight in signing up someone who could make us competitive?? Just seems wrong to me.

Agree its always the attacking players that get shafted , so all the seasoned player stay on so for me its these players that are not doing thier job in defence and not getting over the advantage line so the attacking players young blokes can do thier thing ..... Sorry to say same thing last year with Duff scored tries set them up when the 6 and 7 couldn't but soon as the defence was shot in a game we blame the attackers ...... I not sure about Hooks game plans we haven't much attack as it is so lets get rid of what we have ......

 

[BBTB]

DD, we did apparently have talks with Hynes and went after Finnucane (and Fitzgibbon for coach before all that). We keep coming up with duck eggs in that department which is its own entire problem. In reality, only got Suli on the second go as he was adamant he didn't want to play for us the first time around. Molo and Su'a were both bench/reggie players at their last teams so it was an easy choice for them to take a pay increase. I know it doesn't change the fact that they were good pick ups but never going to have the same impact as landing a marquee player who you can build a team around. I agree, we. just need to bite the bullet in this area. The lower grades don't seem to reflect the fact that we are developing a truck load of juniors a la Panthers 7 years ago. Where is this club going except for around in circles?

The media and the club itself sell us this idea that these young Sloan, Amone, Ramsey types are the future. It's frustrating feeling quite certain how good they can be and then to read that they could be dropped for some filler and made the scapegoats of what I see is a poorly coached team. Dufty and Norman were persisted with for so long last year. That right-off a year was the perfect time to give them the development in first grade they needed so we didn't face this issue now. We should have seen them much earlier in the year so that we could reap the benefits now. Feels like another coach that can't make up his mind about his team (see switching Ramsey to fb last week) and hitting panic mode. He will put it down to their inexperience but why can't our young stars take the same trajectory of the likes of Walsh, Campbell, Walker or any one of the freaks Penrith keep producing? Takes a bit of faith to begin with, and maybe some proper coaching and management. Much easier to drop them.

We should be a club on the rise by now but instead I go into the match against the Eels with zero confidence. If we can repeat the efforts of the corresponding game last year I am happy to eat my words but the Eels are licking their lips at the prospect of taking us on and that's just the cold, hard truth.

Think Hook has made the right move...
Both Sloane & Amone looked totally out of their league last week.
Couple of weeks in reserves
Will build their confidence, playing against men. If they are successful & do a killer job,back to top grade bristling with confidence.

 

[BBTB]

I can smell a 36-0 massacre

Time will tell.

 

[Rocket Rod]

Time will tell.

I hope I’m wrong
Never give up and show some tenacity today boys, hopefully the girls will give them some much needed inspiration.
Go Sowie!!!

 

[st.phil]

Why not one at a time… Amone to bench , Mbye to 6 and retain Sloan.? Less panicked and you don’t weaken second row w Sua suspended

 

[denis preston]

Surely we haven't passed make the 8 expectations with "just don't" win the spoon " yet ? It's a long season and half the form sides now , won't be in 12 weeks. At lest we wont be May champions !

 

[Spazer]

It's frustrating since it's only round 4 and the kids honestly haven't been that bad when compared to other young guns like Ilias, Campbell, Cobbo etc. Now Sloan will drop down into a team that gets flogged every week and Amone will get 10-15mins a game to work on his combinations.

Interesting, wait and see how it unfolds.

 

[kit66]

Firstly, if you are looking for Mbye at fullback and Bird in the halves to provide loads of points good luck to you. May stiffen up defence but will completely nullify any potential spark we might have. All you need is McCulloch back at 9 and we'll have a ready made sedative, trust me.

Sloan and Amone were identified as our future, rightly or wrongly, they were the reason we most likely didn't pursue the likes of Hynes and some of the talented backs that swapped teams this year any further. Any player going to Reggie's now is on a hiding to nothing, won't be developing getting flogged each week. Have to show the faith or it will be another lost cause of a season. So sick of this embarrassment of a club. I'm hoping against hope dropping these guys now is a lie.

If Dufty and Norman, Sloan and Amone were not the answer where was the foresight in signing up someone who could make us competitive?? Just seems wrong to me.

That's exactly right. 3 things killed us last week - apart from Cronulla playing great footy - 1, No McCullough, no go forward. 2. No / Wrong game plan in the wet against good team. 3. Our discipline and defence was KOE Cup quality, another binning and outdated, ineffective defensive structures.
Blaming any of that on Sloan and Amone is ridiculous, taking them out of the team is shortsighted and terrible for their confidence. The rest of the team were very poor and it filtered through to make the inexperienced guys look worse than they really are. I think the blame actually lies with Hook, he's coached the young guys to play conservative, percentage footy which just stifles their talent. Amone especially, he handled the ball about 70 times but didn't run, take on the line, very few attacking kicks, just catch and pass, catch and pass, doing what the coach told him to do, you can bet on it.
Put McCullough back and you've solved 80% of the problem. Leave the kids out there.

 

[getsmarty]

Looks like speculation to stir us up from the Herald. Which is odd. That’s more of a News move. Ducks and drakes from the 9 media.
Thanks @getsmarty

Your welcome @Shaun_Timmins

 

[kit66]

In the trial against Parra Amone was our No6 alongside Mbye ( no Hunt ), he racked up 2 try assists, 1 line break assists, 10 kicks and had all and sundry singing his praises. One poor game behind a pathetic pack and he's dropped.

I'd love to see just one game with Amone and Bud in the halves and Hunt at hooker, just one game.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Not sure about dropping these young kids but time will tell if it is a good move or not. It may be what they need to get their confidence back or pi$$ them off. If it is only for this week then I think it will work but if we are a few rounds later and have not improved with Sloan and Amone in reserves then that is a huge omen. Back to the days of Norman.

 

[matPORTS]

Sloan definitely does not deserve to be dropped.

Mbye to 6 and Amone to the bench - yep I can understand that move, even if I don't 100% support it. But we certainly need to take a different approach with Amone to try and spark his confidence.

de Belin needs to be starting at 13 with Sims on the edge with Bird. Woods and Lawrie starting front rowers. McCullough 9. Bench - Amone, Kerr, Molo, Burgess.

 

[Lovemedragons]

The bank of TAB is offering 26% interest on your investment today, some might say generous given a huge home crowd enthusiastically cheering on a confident, brilliant, well coached line up....all up against a hapless combination of has beens, never were's, other club rejects, alleged sex offenders, a rudderless spine - underprepared for battle by a dinosaur coach with no imagination, a team who will certainly drop their guts at the first inevitable bad call against them, a bad call which has already been decided upon by the referee cartel during their deliberations for this week.

Which is it ? Believe we can do this, rugby league is a funny game....or just take the $1.26 and go on a nice holiday tomorrow.

 

[blacksafake]

I haven’t expected them to set the world on fire but I’ve been disappointed with the involvement of Amone & Sloan.

Yes we’ve been so so as a team but I’d like to see them go looking for the ball.

Sloan has just been floating around waiting for something to happen & Amone has been happy catch & pass.

Having 2 rookies who have played very little footy in the last 2 years in the spine was always going to be a challenge.
As for some calling for Bud to come in & be the messiah he has played even less than the others & can’t even get onto the field.

They’ll come good & some patience is needed from supporters.

 

[blacksafake]

The bank of TAB is offering 26% interest on your investment today, some might say generous given a huge home crowd enthusiastically cheering on a confident, brilliant, well coached line up....all up against a hapless combination of has beens, never were's, other club rejects, alleged sex offenders, a rudderless spine - underprepared for battle by a dinosaur coach with no imagination, a team who will certainly drop their guts at the first inevitable bad call against them, a bad call which has already been decided upon by the referee cartel during their deliberations for this week.

Which is it ? Believe we can do this, rugby league is a funny game....or just take the $1.26 and go on a nice holiday tomorrow.

So we’re a chance then

 

[rasaint]

I don’t know if Amone and Sloan are dropped for todays game.

last week for whatever reason(s) Sloan just looked disinterested to me after a number of good games and scoring nearly a try a game in the NRL.

I have been quietly waiting to see what the hype was going to produce with Amone. I am yet to see anything remarkable.

Hoping for the best today

 

[getsmarty]

Correct me if I,m wrong...both Sloan and Amone have been selected in the 17... assuming they will both be there unless Hook is playing ducks and drakes and will drop them both...personally can't see it happening...maybe 1 on the bench as worst case scenario if Macca starts.

 

[jeffdragon]

Our best chance of winning.is with Sloan there and Burgess in the 17.looks like neither might happen.
Hook said George needs minutes.
He played in the charity shield
Ri nsw cup and r2 v penriith.
That's enough min for me.