Rumours and Stuff

[lucablight]

Now I hope we do it just to spite you.

If Opacic is selected in the team and we end up winning a premiership I will be extremely happy to be wrong.

But we were with Dunster at wing? I'm not big fan of Opacic but he is more experienced and at least as good a footballer as Haze Dunster.

Yes. Dunster was great at the back end of the year. He was more than a solid player and still improving. I don’t think think Opacic is anywhere near as good as him with the ball in hand and that will cost us in big games.

If Momirovski and Brenko Lee can win premierships, Opacic certainly can.

Both better players than our man. Both also played in stacked backlines where other players had X factor so they didn’t need to be. We’ve lost Ferguson (our best attacking back) now and the jury is still out on Waqa Blake and Penisini as game breakers so I don’t think we can afford to carry merely solid players who can’t break the line in the backs.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Both better players than our man. Both also played in stacked backlines where other players had X factor so they didn’t need to be. We’ve lost Ferguson (our best attacking back) now and the jury is still out on Waqa Blake and Penisini as game breakers so I don’t think we can afford to carry merely solid players who can’t break the line in the backs.

Opacic linebreaks 2021: 9 in 21 games
Momirovski LB 2021: 6 in 19
Lee linebreaks 2020: 5 in 14

Centres just aren't that important to the attack. In fact if you have a strike centre you need to twist your whole gameplan around getting him the ball with some room. Most centres, including in premiership winning teams, are there for defence and support play. This is why Penrith moved Crichton to the wing and brought Plodirovski into centre. Brenko Lee was an afterthought in the 2020 Storm attack. Centre generally run decoy lines these days while a spine player gets the ball out the back.

 

[lucablight]

Opacic linebreaks 2021: 9 in 21 games
Momirovski LB 2021: 6 in 19
Lee linebreaks 2020: 5 in 14

Centres just aren't that important to the attack. In fact if you have a strike centre you need to twist your whole gameplan around getting him the ball with some room. Most centres, including in premiership winning teams, are there for defence and support play. This is why Penrith moved Crichton to the wing and brought Plodirovski into centre. Brenko Lee was an afterthought in the 2020 Storm attack. Centre generally run decoy lines these days while a spine player gets the ball out the back.

You don’t think the other backs for Penrith and the Storm were notable reasons for their success? I thought Olam and Burton played crucial roles for their respective teams in attack. Do Gutherson, Waqa Blake, Penisini and Simmonsen have the level of potency required to cover for Opacic’s lack of line breaking ability? I think we need Sivo back in the top 17 for that reason now.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

You don’t think the other backs for Penrith and the Storm were notable reasons for their success? I thought Olam and Burton played crucial roles for their respective teams in attack. Do Gutherson, Waqa Blake, Penisini and Simmonsen have the level of potency required to cover for Opacic’s lack of line breaking ability? I think we need Sivo back in the top 17 for that reason now.

Sivo will be back eventually. Blake and Simonsson will make plenty of breaks if we can get them some room. I don't think Penisini will be much of a line breaker, but he will give plenty of metres and a few crash over tries close to the line. But Opacic was our fourth highest line breaker last year, after Gutherson and the wingers.

 

[lucablight]

Sivo will be back eventually. Blake and Simonsson will make plenty of breaks if we can get them some room. I don't think Penisini will be much of a line breaker, but he will give plenty of metres and a few crash over tries close to the line. But Opacic was our fourth highest line breaker last year, after Gutherson and the wingers.

Just shows how limited our attack was if Opacic was our fourth highest line breaker. I think you’d agree that Gutherson isn’t a huge threat with the ball in hand and doesn’t really generate his own line breaks (they usually come from his support play). I don’t think Opacic is a terrible player as he is a solid defender but after that Roosters game last season I went completely off him. His attack is too limited for us to carry him in the team with our lack of game breaking backs. I don’t think it’s a a coincidence that we started our resurgence at the end of the season with Blake and Penisini as our centres as that makes our team far more balanced. With the way our team is constructed we are stacked in the forwards but our backs aside from Moses are merely solid to above average without being out and out game breakers. I don’t think we can afford to carry too many merely solid players in the backs. If we want to beat the best we need to have weapons so I’m going to be banking on either Sivo or Russell coming good for that other wing spot with Waqa Blake and Penisini remaining in the centres. At least that way we’ll have at least some attacking threat across the park.

 

[hindy111]

I can see where you’re coming from but we aren’t winning any premierships with Opacic at centre.

Is momoroski much better?

 

[Twizzle]

He's actually a fairly safe defensive winger as well, including vs kicks, which is probably the first requirement for anyone playing there.

under the high ball maybe, but he's the laziest defender in the team by a long way

 

[T-Boon]

because you are using an add blocker

View attachment 58188

that is a good idea.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

I can see where you’re coming from but we aren’t winning any premierships with Opacic at centre.

Just play him at hooker then.

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Be careful of airborne chemical weapons and lasers damaging your skin.

That's why I have a cover for the camera on my laptop. You never know where Twizz and his minions will stop. The 'no like button' thing is just the thin end of the wedge.

 

[Twizzle]

That's why I have a cover for the camera on my laptop. You never know where Twizz and his minions will stop. The 'no like button' thing is just the thin end of the wedge.

this call is coming from inside the building

 

[Glenneel]

I dont want Waqa on the wing ... he was coming good at centre late last year. Needs to stay there
Yes I agree he’s found his mojo and is an attacking weapon …. Leave him at left centre

More importantly his D has improved immensely. And more importantly overall, from a team perspective, with Fergo gone our errors should be down so we should be defending less.

 

[Glenneel]

Centres just aren't that important to the attack. In fact if you have a strike centre you need to twist your whole gameplan around getting him the ball with some room. Most centres, including in premiership winning teams, are there for defence and support play.

Olam & Burton say hi. Is it a co-instance that both teams that utilized their centres most were also the 2 best attacking teams? Maybe their coaches thought that using all 13 players in attack rather than just 11, with the 2 centres used just in D, could actually improve their attack. Who would have thunk?

 

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

Opacic has a tackle efficiency of 90%, which is top shelf when you are playing the centres. He's not a superstar, but he can do a job.

 

[84 Baby]

Olam & Burton say hi. Is it a co-instance that both teams that utilized their centres most were also the 2 best attacking teams? Maybe their coaches thought that using all 13 players in attack rather than just 11, with the 2 centres used just in D, could actually improve their attack. Who would have thunk?

Or is it a byproduct that the best attacking teams then have highly utilised centres?
I don’t think those 2 are an apples-with-apples situation.
Given how much points Scum scored last year, I reckon if we scaled Olam’s involvement, it’d be in line with other centres in other teams. (Although of course we could scale it against anything to prove whatever we wanted).
And Burton isn’t a centre. At least, not a modern day centre. His extra involvement would be skewed by the additional skills he provides. And the Smugs also lost him to the Dogs, so perhaps winning premierships does require such highly involved centres, but that it also comes with risk of paying ransom to have them.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Olam & Burton say hi. Is it a co-instance that both teams that utilized their centres most were also the 2 best attacking teams? Maybe their coaches thought that using all 13 players in attack rather than just 11, with the 2 centres used just in D, could actually improve their attack. Who would have thunk?

Blake averaged 13 runs a game in 2021, Olam also averaged 13 and Burton 11…a pretty good indication BA also like using centre’s in attack as much as the Panthers / Storm do…….

interestingly Smith only averaged 8 runs / Momirovski 13 runs and Opacic 10 runs / Pensini 14 runs, so we probably used our centres more then the top sides.

And stats potentially indicate when we got a “better” attacking centre in Pensini, BA was willing to use our centres “more”…..

 

[Gazzamatta]

Whilst Im an advocate for Russell assuming the position, Id suggest Opacic could also do a job on the wing without moving Waqa to the flank. Last year I was all for shuffling Waqa out one but his end of season form in the centers was excellent. Just my two bobs worth.

 

[JokerEel]

How many games as Blake played on the wing for us?

What is wrong with Russell or one of the other 4 options instead of moving Blake...

Russell
Nduiki
Kamoflage
Josh With the hair

All options for the wing.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Olam & Burton say hi. Is it a co-instance that both teams that utilized their centres most were also the 2 best attacking teams? Maybe their coaches thought that using all 13 players in attack rather than just 11, with the 2 centres used just in D, could actually improve their attack. Who would have thunk?

But you're talking about one strike centre in each team, not two. Olam and Burton had Lee and Momirovski on the other side of the field.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Blake averaged 13 runs a game in 2021, Olam also averaged 13 and Burton 11…a pretty good indication BA also like using centre’s in attack as much as the Panthers / Storm do…….

interestingly Smith only averaged 8 runs / Momirovski 13 runs and Opacic 10 runs / Pensini 14 runs, so we probably used our centres more then the top sides.

And stats potentially indicate when we got a “better” attacking centre in Pensini, BA was willing to use our centres “more”…..

Exactly. Every run made by a centre is one less made by other runners in the team. There's only so much ball to go around.