Rumours and Stuff

[Bazal]

You don't get much more elite then being a current origin / Australia rep and premiership winner when signing for Penrith.

Well by the same token I don't think many people would call, say, Dugan and Ferguson truly elite players....

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We were a pubic hair away from a win, yet the loss gives unneeded oxygen to a thousand theories why we are failing.

Very well said. There are plenty of reasons why we might've lost, but they are irrelevant to all those who just see it as an opportunity to indulge their pet whinge.

 

[TheRam]

They didn't win because of their middle forwards, they won because Jennings got injured and they exploited our left edge defence.

Yeah you can say what you like, the damage was done in the first half when they were playing smart and played to their strengths and our weaknesses. After that they went off script and we nearly pulled their pants down. Then they got lucky with a couple of bad calls against us and injuries and they got the momentum back to win.

Like I said, they are not a smart team at times and have discipline issues, but they are a greatly balanced team of power, speed, skill and size. We have the first three, we just need to find the last one.

Then we would be better then them due to our superior halves, especially if we can get a better dummy half as well.

Pou only notices what he wants to see.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Well by the same token I don't think many people would call, say, Dugan and Ferguson truly elite players....

I reckon they are elite. But anyhow we could probably start another thread and argue for the next year about who is elite and who isn't ......

 

[Bazal]

I reckon they are elite. But anyhow we could probably start another thread and argue for the next year about who is elite and who isn't ......

Of course. And if even if you do count Tamou, the point I was making is still valid. He'd be the only elite prop I can remember changing clubs at his peak in the last, say, decade or so.

If we want that class of player, we need to start poaching.

 

[Forty20]

We have done a better job of poaching away latter stage juniors in recent times. Ray Stone, Greg Leleisiuao, Salesi Faingaa and Reed Mahoney are examples of such work in our current Holden Cup squad. Alas none of them are props though. I guess Faingaa might make the transition at some point but he is a pure EDGE prospect at the moment.

We have a fair roster of good front row prospects coming through the SG Ball and Harold Matthews (both Caucasian and Polynesian) but they are obviously still a ways off.

As far as poaching the next big explosive forward we had an almighty crack at Payne Haas and came really, really close to snaring him but he opted to stay in Brisbane with family (he is a NSW kid but his family are up there currently).

Steve Dreesler (a recruit from last year) was shaping up as a really promising lock/prop in that sort of capacity this year before he did his ACL - his second one on the same knee unfortunately. Fingers crossed he has a great rehab. He has been a terrific clubman in his enforced layoff, getting out to support both his team mates in the Holden Cup and to barrack for the District Representative squads when ever possible.

 

[hybrideel]

Of course he's less of a f**kwit....the other blokes name is Willis.

what you talking bout

 

[Djay]

I'm not saying that we don't need a big body or two. I'm saying that people who want an entire pack of Junior Paulo will be the first to bitch about our defence being abysmal, and that our pack is far from being as bad as you and others seem to believe.

Big bodies need to be covered in defence.You need blokes to do that. You need balance. People fail to see that guys like Mannah and Alvaro are just as important as the big bodies.

Did you watch us last year? Everyone quickly forgets before the season unravelled before us we were a quality outfit who was 7 from 10 off memory and looking like a top 4 side who was gonna be there come September. Not only that but our ability to defend a lead, defend our line and line speed in general was the best I had seen from a Parra team since I can remember, we had a steel about us and we were so hard to beat.

We had Paulo, Peats, IDG, Wicks in our side, Paulo is a big body that needs help in defence yet we were so good? So I don't get your idea, because we had a big body along with a good hooker and we were a top 4 side?

This year we have no big body, a shit front row and we can't beat any team that's a contender?

Yes Mannah, Matagi, Alvaro are good WHEN we have a metre eater of course you need them. But we have too many of them, plain and simple and lacking in the big body department as well as Peats is the major difference between how good we were last year and this year's struggles.

So my point is your argument in saying we would whinge if big bodies were exposed in defence is flawed, we had one last year and one you don't seem to rate yet and we were 7 from 10 and looking a real footy team.

 

[Bazal]

Did you watch us last year? Everyone quickly forgets before the season unravelled before us we were a quality outfit who was 7 from 10 off memory and looking like a top 4 side who was gonna be there come September. Not only that but our ability to defend a lead, defend our line and line speed in general was the best I had seen from a Parra team since I can remember, we had a steel about us and we were so hard to beat.

We had Paulo, Peats, IDG, Wicks in our side, Paulo is a big body that needs help in defence yet we were so good? So I don't get your idea, because we had a big body along with a good hooker and we were a top 4 side?

This year we have no big body, a shit front row and we can't beat any team that's a contender?

Yes Mannah, Matagi, Alvaro are good WHEN we have a metre eater of course you need them. But we have too many of them, plain and simple and lacking in the big body department as well as Peats is the major difference between how good we were last year and this year's struggles.

So my point is your argument in saying we would whinge if big bodies were exposed in defence is flawed, we had one last year and one you don't seem to rate yet and we were 7 from 10 and looking a real footy team.

I rate Paulo. I just think many of you lot overrate him.We had a much better all round side at the start of last season. You put it down in large part to losing Paulo. I disagree. Last season we had a spine of Gordon, Norman, Foran and Peats. This year we replaced Gordon with a rookie who is learning the game at NRL level, we replaced Foran with an outside back, and we replaced Peats with a perennially injured rookie who is not up to NRL standard. The impact of those changes is much greater than losing Paulo.

I've said all season that I believe hooker is our biggest problem. Peats is an excellent player, and he and even IDG were excellent at leading the line and getting our linespeed up. Pritchard is not, and he is a shadow of the hooker that Peats is in attack as well. A big body in Evans can only help, and we may well sign another, but we would be doing a lot better with Peats in place of Pritchard in the squad we have now.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Well, these are the season stats for 2016.

He averaged 48 minutes ((394 tackles / .39 tackles per game) X 21 games) 112 metres, and 18 tackles per game across 2016.

For Parra he averaged 108metres per game and 21 tackles (can't get the no of minutes). 11 games
For Canberra he average 114 metres and 16 tackles. 10 games.

https://www.totalfootystats.com.au/...ders/junior-paulo&disp_year=2016#.WSJsSeuGNhE

I can't see any evidence that he played 60 minutes on a regular basis in 2016.

He's averaging 58 minutes per game this season.

He averaged 48 minutes per game with the Raiders
http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiersh...ubid/2/playerid/5173/seasonid/44/default.aspx
So that would mean he averaged 48 minutes per game with us?
For some reason I cannot seem to get his Eels stats for last year (queue conspiracy theorists!)
But 48 minutes is still a good log for a prop? Big minutes, no?

I have a strong memory of him playing a number of games for us in 2016 with minutes closer to the 60 mark.

He certainly did in 2015, his minutes for his last 8 games of that year:
60,58,58,64,53,55,55,53

So he was certainly a big minute logger with us. Definitely not a 30 minute bash and barger...

Perhaps he takes a little while to warm into his work (read get match fit)?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I remember him as playing long minutes but making f**k all runs and tackles in that time.

 

[miatch]

I REALLY hope your hunch is on the money (I kind of think it is the Meehan thing).
Lodge is exactly the type of wild physical prospect we miss in our prop rotation. Would give Brown a partner in madness out there.
Assuming he is still fit enough for the speed of first grade of course...

Sorry, but it's definitely Meehan.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

I pity the poor merkins who have to try to catch up with 10 pages of Junior Paulo/ Kane Evans/ Moses/ etc etc every afternoon when they get home from work. It's a full time job this forum.

 

[Bazal]

Sorry, but it's definitely Meehan.

Not unhappy. He's 195cm and well north of 120kg. He's exactly what people want.

My issue is he looks pretty fking unfit at the moment. Will take a lot of work.

 

[Happy MEel]

Of course. And if even if you do count Tamou, the point I was making is still valid. He'd be the only elite prop I can remember changing clubs at his peak in the last, say, decade or so.

If we want that class of player, we need to start poaching.

Woods is also leaving at the end of the year.

 

[Djay]

I rate Paulo. I just think many of you lot overrate him.We had a much better all round side at the start of last season. You put it down in large part to losing Paulo. I disagree. Last season we had a spine of Gordon, Norman, Foran and Peats. This year we replaced Gordon with a rookie who is learning the game at NRL level, we replaced Foran with an outside back, and we replaced Peats with a perennially injured rookie who is not up to NRL standard. The impact of those changes is much greater than losing Paulo.

I've said all season that I believe hooker is our biggest problem. Peats is an excellent player, and he and even IDG were excellent at leading the line and getting our linespeed up. Pritchard is not, and he is a shadow of the hooker that Peats is in attack as well. A big body in Evans can only help, and we may well sign another, but we would be doing a lot better with Peats in place of Pritchard in the squad we have now.

That is fair enough and you make good points, we now have Moses to replace Foran which I think will be a good signing, but we also have an issue at the back, do we bide our time with French or put Gutherson there? French puts us on the back foot constantly when starting sets, do we persist or do we move him to the wing, thats another issue. Peats is the biggest one for me, there is no wonder his now the SoO hooker, the guys defence is remarkable as to his work rate, his service is 10 times better then Pritchard's and he is our biggest loss no doubt. I just don't see things change even if we did recruit a good new hooker with this forward pack, we need more then Evans, potentially good yes but is he gonna be what we need? I have my doubts simply because he and he alone is not gonna solve our issues.

We would be doing much better then what we are now if we had Peats no arguments, that is why I am saying we need a new front nearly entirely. If we don't upgrade our starting prop and hooker by next year we are not gonna trouble anyone, and no Evans is not who I am talking about we need one more.

I just fail to see which Hooker and which Prop we are gonna get that is of any improvement.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

His old man used to have some involvement with the club IIRC

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Woods is also leaving at the end of the year.

They were talking about elite props

 

[Bazal]

That is fair enough and you make good points, we now have Moses to replace Foran which I think will be a good signing, but we also have an issue at the back, do we bide our time with French or put Gutherson there? French puts us on the back foot constantly when starting sets, do we persist or do we move him to the wing, thats another issue. Peats is the biggest one for me, there is no wonder his now the SoO hooker, the guys defence is remarkable as to his work rate, his service is 10 times better then Pritchard's and he is our biggest loss no doubt. I just don't see things change even if we did recruit a good new hooker with this forward pack, we need more then Evans, potentially good yes but is he gonna be what we need? I have my doubts simply because he and he alone is not gonna solve our issues.

We would be doing much better then what we are now if we had Peats no arguments, that is why I am saying we need a new front nearly entirely. If we don't upgrade our starting prop and hooker by next year we are not gonna trouble anyone, and no Evans is not who I am talking about we need one more.

I just fail to see which Hooker and which Prop we are gonna get that is of any improvement.

Honestly any hooker is an improvement on 80 minutes of Pritchard....Stagger seemed to think we'll be signing one, but not Peats. Interesting to see who, but honestly even a Rein or Lichaa, who I absolutely do not rate, would be an improvement at least in terms of line-speed and defence.

I'd have Gutherson at the back. Work on Bevan in the gym, get him bulking up to around 86-88kg, and use his speed on the wing for now. At 87kg he'll be fine at the back, that's two kg lighter than Slater (for eg). But he needs some size.

I think Mannah is fine as a starter, you need a defensive prop out there most times and certainly at the beginning of the game. But realistically I think our pack is good enough with Evans. It could be better, but at the same time there's no one worth losing our heads over to sign anyway. Evans could be exactly what we need, so could Meehan if we sign him. What we really need to do is find or poach some blokes and have some patience.

Has Nelson Asofa-Solomona re-signed? I said last year he'd be a great get....

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Not unhappy. He's 195cm and well north of 120kg. He's exactly what people want.

My issue is he looks pretty fking unfit at the moment. Will take a lot of work.

Probably why we want him to come in now. Get him playing some footy and used to the style that we want from him and then have a full pre-season to cut down. Or we could shield him in a way and start a pre-season now.