Rumours and Stuff

[Poupou Escobar]

I reckon Taka is a genuine nrl player and him and his manager know it. Not over the hil age wise. And proven himself.
I doubt he signed for anything less then 250k+ Deff not signed for back up money.

The fact he's never played for Wenty proves he's top 17.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yeah but at centre his speed is less of an issue and he has a winger outside him to turn and chase kicks.

Camping him out on the wing would be a disaster IMO because it would be so easy to get kicks in behind him. Plus it exacerbates his poor defensive decisions and when he inevitably gets caught out he's absolutely no hope of turning and recovering the situation.

When an outside back jams against numbers (what all the big ones are coached to do) it's not their job to turn. The players inside them slide behind to cover the ball getting past.

That wasn't supposed to sound so dirty.

 

[Bazal]

When an outside back jams against numbers (what all the big ones are coached to do) it's not their job to turn. The players inside them slide behind to cover the ball getting past.

That wasn't supposed to sound so dirty.

Suuuuuuure it wasn't.

I'm not suggesting it's his job to completely recover the situation himself, but it's also not his job (for example) to just stand there and watch it unfold once he's beaten. He's gotta turn and add something to the scramble, maybe play a part in cutting off a pass back on the inside. I don't see Taka being able to do that, and I see him jamming off the wing a hell of a lot and getting it wrong a lot because his decisions at centre are already poor quite often.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Suuuuuuure it wasn't.

I'm not suggesting it's his job to completely recover the situation himself, but it's also not his job (for example) to just stand there and watch it unfold once he's beaten. He's gotta turn and add something to the scramble, maybe play a part in cutting off a pass back on the inside. I don't see Taka being able to do that, and I see him jamming off the wing a hell of a lot and getting it wrong a lot because his decisions at centre are already poor quite often.

Well it's more important to make those decisions and cover ground at centre. That is three quarters of a centre's job. Wingers just jam in defence no matter what, or they follow the centre. There isn't a lot of decision making involved.

And if they're beaten of course they need to stay with the play, and we know that if Takairangi wasn't an 'effort on effort' player he wouldn't be in the top 17 every week. But more important than turning when beaten on the jam is to make sure he takes an attacker out of play. If you're going to jam on a runner you make sure you put the on the ground whether he gets the ball or not. Arthur's has said as much in in the past.

 

[oldmancraigy]

He's almost always carried a bench hooker unless he couldn't, tbh. So I'm assuming he'll continue with that. I could be wrong though. Plus King and Kritchard are both injury prone and IDG is clearly not going to play again so he might be forced into not carrying a bench hooker like he was this year

With all due respect Baz, you are mistaken!

In only 7 games this year have we had a bench hooker. 0 times in the first 10 rounds. We put one there for cover when we lost Pritchard a couple of games due to concussion (during the game).
Then after Pritchard was out for the season we had a bench hooker as cover for King. Once King was established the bench hooker was dropped.
One of the 7 games the 'bench hooker' was more likely picked as cover for French's hammy. And used as such.

I don't see how he picks one unless he can't? His history is to prefer an 80m hooker where possible.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We had a bench hooker every game last year up until both Peats and Kritchard were unavailable. Admittedly it's been different this year, but Will Smith isn't a hooker.

 

[Bazal]

With all due respect Baz, you are mistaken!

In only 7 games this year have we had a bench hooker. 0 times in the first 10 rounds. We put one there for cover when we lost Pritchard a couple of games due to concussion (during the game).
Then after Pritchard was out for the season we had a bench hooker as cover for King. One King was established the bench hooker was dropped.
One of the 7 games the 'bench hooker' was more likely picked as cover for French's hammy. And used as such.

I don't see how he picks one unless he can't? His history is to prefer an 80m hooker where possible.

And with all due respect, that's because he hasn't been able to pick a bench hooker this season....King and IDG were unable to start the season and he was obviously not sold on King when he was fit. We've still carried a player to be used at hooker in 8 games (Will Smith) plus used Brown there for stints in the first 4 or 5 rounds.

How many times did he carry one last season?

Actually I'll do it, I'm procrastinating

2014 we had Peats and Pritchard injured, needed to sign IDG mid season
2015 we carried a bench hooker (either IDG or Pritchard) in 14 games. IDG started in 4 whilst Peats was out, Pritchard once again injured
2016 we carried a bench hooker in 22 matches (between IDG, Kritchard and Nelson)

BA likes to have a bench hooker. It's just that with all of our options being injured this year he hasn't been able to.

 

[Noise]

BA likes to have a bench hooker. It's just that with all of our options being injured this year he hasn't been able to.

I can't be arsed but if you are still procrastinating I'd be interested to know how many games we won/lost with/without a bench hooker this year.

 

[T.S Quint]

TheRam is the best poster on this site!

 

[Bazal]

I can't be arsed but if you are still procrastinating I'd be interested to know how many games we won/lost with/without a bench hooker this year.

If we say that Nathan Brown played that role for the first four rounds, given he filled in at hooker off the bench and it seemed to be a plan for him to do so

With a bench hooking option we are 9-3
Without we are 6-5

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I can't be arsed but if you are still procrastinating I'd be interested to know how many games we won/lost with/without a bench hooker this year.

Probably not a very big sample either way. And this year we have Moses contributing massively to our win percentage. He was the missing piece of the puzzle, and dummy half just isn't that important to our attack.

 

[T.S Quint]

Kevin Walters is a very astute commentator.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

Objective too.

 

[T.S Quint]

You know what, this whole Taka debate is keeping people arguing enough.
I'll give it a rest.

For now.

 

[oldmancraigy]

And with all due respect, that's because he hasn't been able to pick a bench hooker this season....King and IDG were unable to start the season and he was obviously not sold on King when he was fit. We've still carried a player to be used at hooker in 8 games (Will Smith) plus used Brown there for stints in the first 4 or 5 rounds.

How many times did he carry one last season?

Actually I'll do it, I'm procrastinating

2014 we had Peats and Pritchard injured, needed to sign IDG mid season
2015 we carried a bench hooker (either IDG or Pritchard) in 14 games. IDG started in 4 whilst Peats was out, Pritchard once again injured
2016 we carried a bench hooker in 22 matches (between IDG, Kritchard and Nelson)

BA likes to have a bench hooker. It's just that with all of our options being injured this year he hasn't been able to.

But he has had the options available and opted against them.....
I don't think he sees it as a crucial thing - review the timeline, he only picks one if there is a concern with someone finishing a game.
His default position is 4 forwards, tends to pick a utility if someone isn't "good to go" in their backline spot Bench hooker came in when Moses started, when KP had a few games he couldn't finish with concussion, when King just started. Reverted back to the default 'no hooker' when King was settled.

I'll tip Will Smith is not on the bench for the first round of the semis UNLESS someone is under an injury cloud.

What he did last year with DeGois (who played a number of 80 minute wins for us) isn't directly relevant to this year is it? A write off year looking to blood someone to move on to this year? Any number of reasons as to why it was unusual. He also played Pritchard as a running back rower in 2015 - it wasn't highly successful and my guess is that he reasoned a bench hooker is no good if the main hooker is solid.

I may well be wrong? But I don't think his preference is a bench hooker. I guess we'll see in the playoffs if everyone is fit?

 

[Bazal]

But he has had the options available and opted against them.....
I don't think he sees it as a crucial thing - review the timeline, he only picks one if there is a concern with someone finishing a game.
His default position is 4 forwards, tends to pick a utility if someone isn't "good to go" in their backline spot Bench hooker came in when Moses started, when KP had a few games he couldn't finish with concussion, when King just started. Reverted back to the default 'no hooker' when King was settled.

I'll tip Will Smith is not on the bench for the first round of the semis UNLESS someone is under an injury cloud.

22/24 games with a bench hooker last year when he actually had options fit tells me otherwise. If IDG had been fit this year, and Pritchard had stayed fit, we'd have seen similar numbers.

I think if he rated King as fit enough and ready for the job we'd have seen similar numbers, at least when King and Kaysa were both fit

The fact is the years he has had options fit and ready, he has carried a bench hooker more than not.

 

[T.S Quint]

And now there's this bench hooker argument.
It's all very exciting!

 

[Bazal]

And now there's this bench hooker argument.
It's all very exciting!

Well you blokes wanted arguments!

 

[Eelementary]

Lol

I hate my phone.

 

[T.S Quint]

I love my phone.
It lets me chat with you guys while I'm on the toilet.