Rumours and Stuff

[Poupou Escobar]

How do you know that? That’s you assuming without evidence.

The evidence is his date of birth, though it could be a typo. Maybe he is really in his late thirties, like Maika Sivo?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We still might. But it’s probably because he wants too much or too many years.

One year on reasonable coin and he'd be perfect.

 

[Incorrect]

I wonder about this. If Penrith think they can get the minor premiership will they go all out? Melbourne are near certainties to beat the Sharks, but they were also unbackable against us last night. If the Storm win there's nothing Penrith can do to finish first. They won't beat us by 140 points even if we send Jake Arthur out there by himself.

If Penrith decide to rest players next week is a lottery. I maybe should've waited for TLT before backing the Panthers. I had $300 on them at $1.31 but they will probably blow out if they name a reserve grade side. ffs

I'll be surprised if Cleary rests players this week. Between injury, origin and family commitments (JFH), most of the big guns have missed a few weeks and they're only now becoming available again. They weren't good today. I wouldn't be happy resting blokes and going in to week 1 of the finals after a clunky performance like that. Look like another run together would do them good tbh

 

[Joshuatheeel]

St George Illawarra are sniffing around powerful Parramatta forward Marata Niukore. The Eels backrower still has another year to run on his deal but the Dragons like what they see.

Could the Pearce name be returning to the Tigers?

There is a feeling from some at the Wests Tigers that Luke Brooks would be suited to the No.6 jersey. It’s why veteran halfback Mitchell Pearce has been floated as a potential foil.

www.smh.com.au

 

[SneakyEel]

I wonder about this. If Penrith think they can get the minor premiership will they go all out? Melbourne are near certainties to beat the Sharks, but they were also unbackable against us last night. If the Storm win there's nothing Penrith can do to finish first. They won't beat us by 140 points even if we send Jake Arthur out there by himself.

If Penrith decide to rest players next week is a lottery. I maybe should've waited for TLT before backing the Panthers. I had $300 on them at $1.31 but they will probably blow out if they name a reserve grade side. ffs

I'd doubt that Storm will lose to Sharks. Panthers would be stupid to not rest a couple of players, especially Cleary.

 

[hineyrulz]

Does Griffen know that Marata hasn’t played at the Broncos???

 

[Glenneel]

From what I saw Penisini was a good attacking player in the lower grades. I think Opacic is too much of a liability in attack for a team that struggles to score points. He’s been making too many errors lately as well. I hope Penisini can cement his position in first grade now as I suspect Opacic would have been the first choice centre if he hadn’t sustained the rib injury.

Makatoa does a lot of work. But he doesn't have the power to be of NRL level long term. Just solid fill in.
Kafusi bends the line and bowls guys over. His acceleration is also far more explosive. I reckon Kafusi was rested so he could play next week and not dropped.
I think we will see Jnr and N.Brown rested next week. Maybe even Lane.

Think Jnr will get suspended for shoulder charge (which nobody saw) on someone, in the meantime scum's Grant cops paltry fine, Brandon Smith another fine (joke) for possibility breaking Niukore's jaw and possibly 1 weeks suspension for Bromwich's bad crusher tackle. Obviously can't have Storm players suspended for finals series!

 

[Soren Lorenson]

St George Illawarra are sniffing around powerful Parramatta forward Marata Niukore. The Eels backrower still has another year to run on his deal but the Dragons like what they see.

Could the Pearce name be returning to the Tigers?

There is a feeling from some at the Wests Tigers that Luke Brooks would be suited to the No.6 jersey. It’s why veteran halfback Mitchell Pearce has been floated as a potential foil.

www.smh.com.au

I'd rather give them Matterson at this point. I think Marata is more valuable to our team than Matto.

 

[Gronk]

St George Illawarra are sniffing around powerful Parramatta forward Marata Niukore. The Eels backrower still has another year to run on his deal but the Dragons like what they see.

Could the Pearce name be returning to the Tigers?

There is a feeling from some at the Wests Tigers that Luke Brooks would be suited to the No.6 jersey. It’s why veteran halfback Mitchell Pearce has been floated as a potential foil.

www.smh.com.au

Marata would make the 17 of any club, so Hook isn't breaking new ground. I hope we can afford to keep him. I'd let Lane go over Marata.

 

[Bandwagon]

Marata is a must keep ( if there is such a thing ) .

 

[yy_cheng]

I'm a marata fan. Has good enthusiasm, leg drive and aggression

And I like how he sticks

I'd rather marwta on the right edge,matto on left and keep
Paps or jnr on the bench and come in when the defense is a little tired

 

[SneakyEel]

I'm a marata fan. Has good enthusiasm, leg drive and aggression

And I like how he sticks

I'd rather marwta on the right edge,matto on left and keep
Paps or jnr on the bench and come in when the defense is a little tired

I really like the Moses, Marata, Penisini, Fergo combo it's a very powerful and skilful edge.

 

[TheRam]

He didn't have any try assists last night either, yet merkins still think he had a good game.

If he played like that all year, he would have at least 10+ try assists by the end of it.

One good to great game is too small a sample size.

 

[lucablight]

He didn't have any try assists last night either, yet merkins still think he had a good game.

Even if he didn’t have any try assists he was involved in plays that lead to tries. That wasn’t the case earlier on in the season.

The evidence is his date of birth, though it could be a typo. Maybe he is really in his late thirties, like Maika Sivo?

How do you know Penisini isn’t mature for his age like Sam Walker?

 

[lingard]

Marata would make the 17 of any club, so Hook isn't breaking new ground. I hope we can afford to keep him. I'd let Lane go over Marata.

Lane is freshly underrated. But Marata is probably better and more versatile.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Even if he didn’t have any try assists he was involved in plays that lead to tries. That wasn’t the case earlier on in the season.

Well he was stuck on the right and we were using that side to set up our left shift. It was no different the year before when Moses was on the right. The only reason he (Moses) had a few TAs last year is because he is our primary kicker.

Year	Moses TAs	Drown TAs	Gutherson TAs
2019	25	5	13
2020	8	5	17
2021	18	2	18

How do you know Penisini isn’t mature for his age like Sam Walker?

Walker has also had some shockers, and he is really struggling at the moment. He's had one TA since they beat us a month ago, and missed 27 tackles in his last 5 games. Like I said, it's difficult for these young blokes to concentrate over a full season. The mental fatigue really gets to them.

 

[TheRam]

Agree. But still has a few dumb plays in him. Early in game when pushed out as took on the sideline.
And also around 70th minute he should of caught bomb and tried to find a pass or just run and got tackled considering 12 up at the time. A stupid punch back which ended up with Jerome Hughes going downfield and almost finding link men to make it a try. Would of made it a 6 point lead with 9 to go.
Not only halfbacks need to be aware and educated about how and what plays are important at what times of the game. It feels like everyone thinks its only the halfbacks job.
That was a high risk stupid play and not needed. I hope BA bring it up on tape.

Different story if early in game. Or if we where down by 10 at that point. Or if 30 mins to go. But terrible option at that situation.

I blame D. Brown for that as much if not more then Waqa for that play.

It was a 3 on 3 scenario and all Brown had to do was engage the first(the man on him) defender and take the space(go to the line) then pass. If he had done that he would have held up all 3 defenders that extra little bit and allowed Waqa to run straight at his man, which would have made him and the remaining winger very nervous at the least. It may have even made the defending winger come in to assist and given our winger free air. Waqa in a 1on 1 situation is very dangerous and good odds to beat his man.

But instead, Brown passed the ball without engaging the defenders and taking the space first, gave Waqa early ball and basically said, do your best, which allowed all 3 defenders to slide and take Waqa over the sideline.

At that stage, I think it was our 2nd set with the ball, I thought, oh no not again, the guy is an absolute imbecile with the ball for a 5/8th. Will he ever learn?

But from that moment on he was "almost" flawless. Now if he can continue on like he played for the rest of that game, which I think was his most complete to date, then he will be a great player and 5/8th. Besides all of our our players stepping up against the Storm, it was his stellar performance that gave us the edge that we have been missing all season to execute a more threatening attacking game. If he can repeat it in all our remaining games then we can beat anyone on the day.

If Moses once again becomes the only focal point of all our attack, then the likes of Panthers, Storm, Manly and maybe even the Rabbits will eat us alive. You can't just bash your way to victory against the heavy weights. If only we had a Hammer or Johnston at the end of our backline.

It has to be our priority in the off season surely? Scour through all the grades of everywhere and try to find that blistering pace that we are so lacking and all our major rivals possess. We just can not afford to give teams the sideline at the moment cos the odds are that they will beat us. But equally annoying is that we can rarely beat them at the blink of an eye with an overlap down the sideline.

But back on Dylbags, he had a great game on the weekend. I hope that that now is his standard going forward.

 

[lucablight]

Well he was stuck on the right and we were using that side to set up our left shift. It was no different the year before when Moses was on the right. The only reason he (Moses) had a few TAs last year is because he is our primary kicker.

Year	Moses TAs	Drown TAs	Gutherson TAs
2019	25	5	13
2020	8	5	17
2021	18	2	18

Walker has also had some shockers, and he is really struggling at the moment. He's had one TA since they beat us a month ago, and missed 27 tackles in his last 5 games. Like I said, it's difficult for these young blokes to concentrate over a full season. The mental fatigue really gets to them.

If the team is only setting up to attack on the left and isn’t able to set up on both sides then isn’t that an indictment on the coaching staff?

Sam Walker is pretty banged up atm but I’d also argue that it would be a lot more difficult to be consistent as the sole playmaker on the team rather than as a centre.

 

[yy_cheng]

If he played like that all year, he would have at least 10+ try assists by the end of it.

One good to great game is too small a sample size.

problem with Dyl is he has a good attacking game for 1 match but can't consistently keep it up.

Defense is perfect

 

[Gazzamatta]

I blame D. Brown for that as much if not more then Waqa for that play.

It was a 3 on 3 scenario and all Brown had to do was engage the first(the man on him) defender and take the space(go to the line) then pass. If he had done that he would have held up all 3 defenders that extra little bit and allowed Waqa to run straight at his man, which would have made him and the remaining winger very nervous at the least. It may have even made the defending winger come in to assist and given our winger free air. Waqa in a 1on 1 situation is very dangerous and good odds to beat his man.

But instead, Brown passed the ball without engaging the defenders and taking the space first, gave Waqa early ball and basically said, do your best, which allowed all 3 defenders to slide and take Waqa over the sideline.

At that stage, I think it was our 2nd set with the ball, I thought, oh no not again, the guy is an absolute imbecile with the ball for a 5/8th. Will he ever learn?

But from that moment on he was "almost" flawless. Now if he can continue on like he played for the rest of that game, which I think was his most complete to date, then he will be a great player and 5/8th. Besides all of our our players stepping up against the Storm, it was his stellar performance that gave us the edge that we have been missing all season to execute a more threatening attacking game. If he can repeat it in all our remaining games then we can beat anyone on the day.

If Moses once again becomes the only focal point of all our attack, then the likes of Panthers, Storm, Manly and maybe even the Rabbits will eat us alive. You can't just bash your way to victory against the heavy weights. If only we had a Hammer or Johnston at the end of our backline.

It has to be our priority in the off season surely? Scour through all the grades of everywhere and try to find that blistering pace that we are so lacking and all our major rivals possess. We just can not afford to give teams the sideline at the moment cos the odds are that they will beat us. But equally annoying is that we can rarely beat them at the blink of an eye with an overlap down the sideline.

But back on Dylbags, he had a great game on the weekend. I hope that that now is his standard going forward.

I have noticed these past 4 or so games, Waqa has been given lots of early ball even if there have been better options. It did change suddenly so Id suggest its coaches instructions. "Get Waqa early ball"!