Rumoured Targets 3

[Frank Facer]

I think Newy, should sign Barba, play him fullback and move Ponga to 5/8. A spine of Barba, Ponga and Pearce would be very good.

 

[Spot On]

Would be nice if Barba could keep his nose clean.

Pretty sure Wests would never entertain it.

 

[Mr Angry]

Pretty sure he left the Sharks to get a premiership didn't he?

Indeed he did and is destined to never win one. Hence no thanks.

 

[Spot On]

Fego and Dugan in the same club side again.

Nice.

 

[Frederick]

If Fergo chose not to sign with us, I'd like to see him sign with the Sharks just for the glorious viewing that will be the inevitable implosion by him and dugan

 

[Spot On]

Nothing surer.

 

[Dave_]

If the club has been hiding any big recruitment news...now would be a great time to share it with the fans

 

[PhilGould]

Slade will likely miss the majority of next season too with his injury. Going to need to find a new hooker to pair with Danny or for depth.

 

[slotmachine]

There's a few like Baptiste and segeyaro available, but they have pretty similar games to levi.

Wouldn't be shocked to see brown extend buhrer and start him at 9, in which case we'll be struggling again

 

[Burwood]

Yates will be a Slade clone. Though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or what the team needs...

 

[slotmachine]

And people reckon Griffin's distribution sucks, Yates would be on another planet. Buhrer is ordinary too.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Yates will be a Slade clone. Though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or what the team needs...

Yates would be a poor man’s Slade Griffin. Slade is pretty sharp out of dummy half but I’ve never seen Yates run the ball with any real purpose. He’s a good defender I’ll give him that though.

 

[Snikt]

I disagree re: Buhrer being poor out of

And people reckon Griffin's distribution sucks, Yates would be on another planet. Buhrer is ordinary too.

I disagree re: Buhrer being poor out of DH

I think its his best position and our few good games out of last year were the ones where Jamie played the majority at 9 and directed the pigs around.

Next year we will be down on senior players with Lilly and Heigno likely gone so i think a leader like Buhrer will be valuable in the spine

Am i the only one who doesnt rate Levi? He is a decent runner but seriously lacks footy smarts and his attitude appears to terrible

 

[Hit and Spin]

I disagree re: Buhrer being poor out of

I disagree re: Buhrer being poor out of DH

I think its his best position and our few good games out of last year were the ones where Jamie played the majority at 9 and directed the pigs around.

Next year we will be down on senior players with Lilly and Heigno likely gone so i think a leader like Buhrer will be valuable in the spine

Am i the only one who doesnt rate Levi? He is a decent runner but seriously lacks footy smarts and his attitude appears to terrible

Levi had so many opportunities to run the ball on Saturday once we lost Griffin but chose to pass all night. He lacks something. Has got pace wont use it.

 

[Knight76]

Possible coach orders? Levi is quick from dummy half and from what I have seen he makes good decisions on when to make his runs. I don't like his attempted milking of penalties, and I don't like his attempted dive overs from dummy half as he mostly does those when there is really no gap anywhere there.

He is a fraction faster with his passing out of dummy half than Griff, but Griff is a better defender.

As for his attitude if your basing that on his request for a release I can fully understand him being annoyed. He was our best hooker last year easily, and earned himself a NZ test spot. Move on to 2018 and Griffin coming I imagine his thinking was he and griffin would interchange at hooker. From the trial in Maitland and Levi not getting a run until very late in the game, and from then on he has been left in reserves mostly.

I can understand his frustration.

 

[macavity]

I didn't think I would rate Griffin, and he has been one of our best. Devastated for him (and us).

I thought Levi would be primed for a big year, and he has looked like a spud all year.

We just cannot take a trick.

Yates is not playing hooker.

 

[Frank Facer]

There's a few like Baptiste and segeyaro available, but they have pretty similar games to levi.

Wouldn't be shocked to see brown extend buhrer and start him at 9, in which case we'll be struggling again

I think Segy would be a great buy for Newy. I would start with him. I think Segy is a top line hooker and one of the most dangerous dummy half's in the game. I already mentioned that Newy should sign Barba. A spine of 1 Barba, 6 Ponga, 7 Pearce and 9 Segy would look very good in my opinion.

 

[Yosh]

Doesn't Segy have a terrible defense?

 

[Swarzey]

Time to give Tom Starling a crack I reckon. It's sooner than the club expected but I feel he's ready for at least the opportunity to test himself at the NRL standard.

Levi's attitude seems to be his biggest issue. You'd think with someone like Slade coming into the club he'd be more motivated to improve, especially when he can pose a threat at hooker and the club brought in players with brilliant running capabilities in Ponga and Watson. His milking of penalties will bite us if he hasn't ditched the habit already.

 

[mozza91]

Levi had every right to be frustrated though. The fact Brown picked Lamb on the bench ahead of him at the start of the season seemingly as a token gesture to keep Lamb happy and re-sign would’ve been a kick in the guts for him.

He then gets picked once Watson goes down, does a good job and gets dropped again a few weeks later unfairly again. Then there’s talk about him being unhappy and then he’s back in FG again. Weird shit all round.

I’d love to see Levi and Starling as a rotation. Stone hasn’t set the world on fire to be honest and Buhrer is most effective playing 80 minutes on an edge anyway. He did a great job for us there early last season. We won’t see it but I’d go with the below for the Parramatta game:

8-Ese
9-Levi
10-Saifiti
11-Buhrer
12-Barnett
13-Guerra

14-Starling
15-Heighington
16-Felise
17-Yates