Rumoured targets thread

[Silent Knight]

I'll be very much surprised if Stoney is still with us after Bennett's tenure has run it's course.

 

[Joker's Wild]

fair enough... Sounds like a Faas and Evarn. I don't like that Faas is going!! The guy got settled here and was playing great under Stone!! Also they can't be serious in considering letting Zane go!!?? The lad has been injured and in the time he had a chance he put in a great effort... he's only young, let him try his potential here, not elsewhere!!!

I love having Bennett as our coach and i believe in the future etc, but the person i hope we keep forever is Stone!! Cause I want no-one else but him to take us over when all is said and done!!

Id like to see Richie stay too but who is suggesting Tets is on the outer?

 

[Wato]

Id like to see Richie stay too but who is suggesting Tets is on the outer?

In today's herald, all those NSW cup guys have been told to test the market as we are only looking to retain House and Mase.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Yeah just read that

We would be stupid to show Tets the door. He is just about the only guy worth feeding in the NSWCup pack from what Ive seen.

 

[Wato]

Yea he was great at the end of last year in the top grade too. Hate to see him go but there is plenty of young guys coming through and will Tets even break into our side with House,Scott and Mckinnon in front of him and Stagg possibly coming here, unless he moves to prop fulltime but even then there's guys like Sims and is it Vaivai who look real good prospects.

 

[Big Tim]

I'll be very much surprised if Stoney is still with us after Bennett's tenure has run it's course.

Called it when we signed Bennett. He is just too good to stay an assistant..... this season is proving that. If we were top 4, no one would be looking at Stone.

 

[Yosh]

I thought we were having a clean out after 2013 lol, looks like half a our squad is gonna go before june 30 and be replaced. love it.

 

[K-Man]

Yea he was great at the end of last year in the top grade too. Hate to see him go but there is plenty of young guys coming through and will Tets even break into our side with House,Scott and Mckinnon in front of him and Stagg possibly coming here, unless he moves to prop fulltime but even then there's guys like Sims and is it Vaivai who look real good prospects.

That is not a back-row that fills me with any confidence. Individually I have no major issues with any of them, but as a combination it is far too small and incapable of quality hole-running and breaking tackles.

For me it's one of the major areas we need to improve with some real power and size on the fringes. Solid and reliable and intelligent is great, but at some point you need the ball in the hands of some damaging/skillful forwards not just little tackling machines with big hearts.

I'm prepared to call it this far out - if that's our best rotation in 2013 we will continue to struggle scoring points.

11. Scott
12. Houston
13. Stagg

14. McKinnon

 

[aqua_duck]

Yea he was great at the end of last year in the top grade too. Hate to see him go but there is plenty of young guys coming through and will Tets even break into our side with House,Scott and Mckinnon in front of him and Stagg possibly coming here, unless he moves to prop fulltime but even then there's guys like Sims and is it Vaivai who look real good prospects.

Hate to break this to you but there really isn't, especially not in the backrow. House is a plodder, pure and simple, he's just not damaging enough to be a wide running backrower, Stagg can tackle but he's going to make our tiny pack even smaller. Scott is tough and a great defender back thats about it. Stagg, House and Scott haven't got a line break between the 3 of them. Over the weekend I saw guys like Cordner, Nuuasala, Hoffmann, Pritchard, etc look dangerous with ball in hand, when's the last time Houston looked dangerous with ball in hand?
Sims is our best forward prospect but VaiVai looks like another Josh Ailaomoi, good when he feels like it.

 

[Johns Magic]

I can't see a place for Stagg and Houston in the same team, although that is obviously the plan.

 

[K-Man]

I can't see a place for Stagg and Houston in the same team, although that is obviously the plan.

You wouldn't throw Scott into that equation too? Stagg, Houston, Scott is not a premiership-winning back-row as far as I'm concerned - but WB may very well disagree.

Who of those 3 is going to make a line break or score a try running on the fringes? Or even attract enough defenders to create something for Tahu, Gagai etc?

I can see us becoming a well-drilled machine with absolutely zero spark in attack - so basically a more disciplined version of what we are now.

 

[Jono078]

I've always thought of Beau Scott as a tackle breaking backrower, he always carries defenders and breaks through the line (besides this year).

 

[The Showstopper]

I can see why people are uninspired by our backrow in attack for next season. We will be buying up for 2014 so i can only imagine it is stop gap measures until Wayne can get the players he realky wants. Of course Scott and Stagg are hardly stop gap players but i think it is a given we are too restricted cap wise to sign a Glenn Stewart or Pritchard type. Beau will be a massive boost for Gagai and Aku on the right edge in defence.

 

[perverse]

perhaps Willie moves back to the 2nd row to give us some power there? fix the front row and then move Willie back to where he is at his best.

 

[Johns Magic]

You wouldn't throw Scott into that equation too? Stagg, Houston, Scott is not a premiership-winning back-row as far as I'm concerned - but WB may very well disagree.

Who of those 3 is going to make a line break or score a try running on the fringes? Or even attract enough defenders to create something for Tahu, Gagai etc?

I can see us becoming a well-drilled machine with absolutely zero spark in attack - so basically a more disciplined version of what we are now.

I was referring to the fact that they are both out-and-out locks. Neither are good at running wide.

I don't mind Scott too much in attack. I think if we had him on the right, Stagg in the middle and a good attacking second-rower on the left we would have a good enough backrow. I'm hoping McKinnon kicks on to fill the void.

 

[dan121]

We need a couple of hardworking props.Then move Willie to the back row hopefully Sims is ready to go next year.

 

[K-Man]

I was referring to the fact that they are both out-and-out locks. Neither are good at running wide.

I don't mind Scott too much in attack. I think if we had him on the right, Stagg in the middle and a good attacking second-rower on the left we would have a good enough backrow. I'm hoping McKinnon kicks on to fill the void.

Fair enough, they certainly are - which makes it even stranger that WB continues to play Houston on the fringe. It nullifies the things he's good at and magnifies his shortcomings.

Let's not forget Costigan is still on the books next year, leaving us potentially with Houston, Stagg, Costigan, Hilder (and maybe even Edwards) who to me are all middle players of varying quality - an average of 1 tackle break/game between them?

I hope McKinnon kicks on too, we need him to. Proctor would be more than handy.

The prop situation gets a lot of attention, but I could live with Snowden / Mason / Poore / Cuthbertson /Sims / VaiVai / Tetevano (possibly)... a strike wide back-rower would be a huge benefit to us.

Willie to play on the left, Scott on the right and Houston in the middle (with McKinnon off the bench) seems the best I could hope for at this stage. Don't see a place for Stagg, even though on his own merits I think is a decent footballer.

 

[Yosh]

Mason into the second row and McKinnon developing could change the look of the backrow completely.

I would like to see our backrowers get the ball out to our backs more as they have plenty of attack in them.

 

[Jono078]

If Wayne Bennett is fair dinkum about turning us around and this player clean out, there should be 0% chance Joel Edwards is re-signed.

 

[K-Man]

Mason into the second row and McKinnon developing could change the look of the backrow completely.

I would like to see our backrowers get the ball out to our backs more as they have plenty of attack in them.

I would like to see opposition defences actually look slightly concerned about our backrowers so that it might help out our backs more. Houston offers virtually nothing in this regard - at least Taia is a ball-playing threat, but Houston brings zilch if he's not playing in the middle.

From what I've seen of Scott this season, nobody has had too much trouble defending him. He's a pretty tiny in the modern game, even with footwork he doesn't look like making half breaks or drawing multiple defenders into a panic situation.