Rumours and Stuff

[phantom eel]

Mannah's in decline, he'll be gradually eased onto the bench this year.

It will be stated as a horses for courses decision, picking starting packs with a different mix of middle forwards to counter the different strengths and weaknesses of opposition forwards etc. But the recruitment suggests to methat come R26 2017 Mannah will no longer have his starting spot, and after that... who knows?

 

[strider]

Every team plays with about 5 or 6 middle forwards who each play between 30 and 50 minutes per game .... starting doesn't even mean you are the best in the team these days

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

I hope not. How else will we know that everything's OK?

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

Oh FFS Strider!!

 

[Twizzle]

forwards ?

maybe we should just refer to them as pawns

 

[Twizzle]

sorry, that should be middle pawns and edge pawns

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

What about garlic pawns?

 

[strider]

Wests have some pawns too

 

[Twizzle]

pawn stars ?

 

[Gary Gutful]

Hopefully these pawns have had their poop tubes removed.

 

[hindy111]

I taped it and am watching it now.

I reckon you'd blow the sex box up Gary.

 

[hindy111]

Middle forward is probably the spot with the most depth in our squad for next year.

Mannah (p)
Alvaro (p)
Terepo (p/l)
Vave (p)
Matagi (p)
Scott (l)
Moeroa (l/p)
Brown (l/p)
Gower (l/p)
O'Brien (p)

Looks like some healthy options for BA and I probably forgot someone.

Tanginoa -Twal- Hasson

 

[hindy111]

Mannah is not on the decline-He starts the year at 29yld. He is what he is. A 50 min working forward that most clubs have one of. Aslong as he isn't costing a lot.

8- Mannah
9-De gois
10 Vae/Matagi
11 Manu
12Scott
13Tepai
14 Kaysa
15 Frank
16 Brown
17 KE

Matagi is a good prop. He runs harder then any guys named. Was he that bad a defender or in a bad defensive team? Vae in the hot early games could be a weakness.

But I see it like this - If mannah was out you may look to Alvaro or Terepo . If Vae/Frank was out you may look to Matagi.One thing is for sure Matagi attitude is 110%. Not sure Vae is.........

 

[hindy111]

wentys pack at full strength could look like this -

8 Alvaro
9 King
10 Matagi
11 Gower
12 Hasson
13 Terepo

14Tanginoa
15 Obrien
16 Nelson
17 Twal

And these guys will be next in line.
Woods- Niakore - Morris - Uelsai

 

[Chipmunk]

Do you mean top 4 side Canberra who we smacked at home and nearly defeated away with half our side out??(where they got us because we had a forward defending in the centres)

Or the Cowboys who we defeated at home and just lost away as we had a player in the bin!!

Or the Sharks where we didn't disgraced ourselves yet they took advantage of KE defending in the halves which probably lead to 3 tries

Or the Broncos at home where we did ok considering we played the whole second half with our back up half and a forward in the halves

The second game against the Broncos was shocking - we had some excuses but it was the worse effort of the year.

The storm were just too good!!

(I have included 5 sides as Cowboys / Broncos finished on the same points)

Some interesting facts:
- we played top 5 sides 8 times last year, on 6 occasions our go forward was pretty similar then the opposition (either better or no worse then a 100m or so)
- the Sharks and broncos second game was our worse go forward compared to the opposition, being several 100m less
- Mannah missed 4 games against the top 5.
- Mannah also had his worse year injury wise since debuting missing 9 games.
- the 6th side the dogs we got both times. Panthers only just got us both times. We defeated Titans once and we probably had our second worse performance of the year against them the second time.

So overall I reckon our pack did pretty bloody good, considering we played a fair part of our year with out our number one prop Mannah (and number 2 prop Paulo after he left), along with our halves issues (and all the salary cap dramas).

So if the players in our pack were so good why did the coaching staff choose to go out and buy 4 forwards on more than likely all for Top 17 money????

 

[Joshuatheeel]

So if the players in our pack were so good why did the coaching staff choose to go out and buy 4 forwards on more than likely all for Top 17 money????

Wicks had to be replaced - so we signed Matagi (thus the late signing)

Paulo had to be replaced so we signed Vava (we needed a "big" boy)

Watmough had to be replaced so we signed Brown.

We lost 3 top 17 forwards so we replaced them.

And on Pritchard, he probably showed some interested in coming back maybe we us, and it was to good to refuse considering we have cap space available.

And doubt the first three are on more then who there are replacing.

Regarding forwards / cap, I reckon most squad may have a forward or two outside their top 17 on more then the minimum. It's a tough game and you probably need 3-4 more quality forwards outside your top 17, and you don't really want them to be crap!!

 

[Glenneel]

You forgot Frank The Tank

I wouldnt be surprised to see Matagi start .... probably a horses for courses approach, but I reckon Brown coming off the bench could be quite destructive

8. Mannah
10. Matagi

12. Scott
11. Mau
13. Moeroa

Bench:
Edwards
Brown
Terepo
Vave

Pritchard
Gower
Alvaro
Windscreens

Edit: f**k me i forgot krampin' kenny

Here is the problem with starting Matagi and Mannah. Both very similar without much of an offload.
Probably sitting on the bench are Brown, Edwards, Vave and F Pritchard, all skilful players and 2 big bodies. Therefor in the backend of the first half you bring on these players who could potentially blow the game open up against a team's second string forwards.
Or does one of the bench forwards start with Mannah, or is Mannah warming the bench? Which way do you go?

 

[phantom eel]

Mannah's future is in the #16, may as well kick it off that way in 2017.

Only trouble is they'll have to spin it when he's benched, because Mannah is a long-term servant of the club, is a former captain, and some fans still think he is our #1 prop/midle forward.

 

[phantom eel]

Mannah is not on the decline-He starts the year at 29yld. He is what he is. A 50 min working forward that most clubs have one of. Aslong as he isn't costing a lot.

That's the trouble right there - Tim used to be a 65min forward, first grade captain and origin rep.. and would presumably be being paid on that basis/expectation (but returning less value).

 

[Poupou Escobar]

So if the players in our pack were so good why did the coaching staff choose to go out and buy 4 forwards on more than likely all for Top 17 money????

With no strike in our starting hooker and only one genuine half we needed to improve our go forward.