Rumours and Stuff

[Happy MEel]

Plenty of good teams have a plodder at dummy half. Last year's premiers had an 80 minute plodder, as did the previous year's losing grand finalists. They lost to a team that had Rory Kostjacyn spending time at dummy half. Matt Ballin won two premierships. There's plenty of room for plodding dummy halves in strong teams. The James Segeyaros of the world aren't as important as some of you dopes think it is.

Ennis was far from a plodder last year. His running game is average but IMO he engages the markers better than pretty much every hooker (bar smith). He also has a crisper pass than IDG and reads a game much better. The fact he's effective on the field for 80 minutes also allows an extra forward or attacking utility on the bench.

Oh yeah, last year's grand finalists also had a little hooker named Jake Granville.

 

[84 Baby]

I think you merkins are confusing a lack of strength with a weakness.

I think you jerkin didn't read the rest of my post or you would have realised I basically said the same thing

 

[84 Baby]

Pou you're wrong. A good hooker can and does REGULARLY contribute to team wins, that most fans notice

Can you name these hookers who REGULARLY contribute to wins?

 

[hindy111]

How can the team who ran 4th have a better squad with losing 2 of their 4 middle forwards and signing no replacements?

Maybe other team got worse or they under performed last season or some juniors will improve.Multiple ways.

 

[Noise]

I assume your opinion is that our weakness is 'dummy half running', but running from dummy half is not essential for success - look at the Sharks last year. Running from dummy half is no different to running at first receiver - it is targeting the same part of the defensive line.

No actually i think our weakness at dummy half is the lack of ability to engage the markers / A defender. If your dummy half does this it opens up more space for the person running 1 off the ruck.

Plenty of good teams have a plodder at dummy half. Last year's premiers had an 80 minute plodder, as did the previous year's losing grand finalists. They lost to a team that had Rory Kostjacyn spending time at dummy half. Matt Ballin won two premierships. There's plenty of room for plodding dummy halves in strong teams. The James Segeyaros of the world aren't as important as some of you dopes think it is.

Ennis a plodder? He had an excellent season. He is good defensively and was outstanding in attack; 2 tries, 12 try assists, 7 LBA's and 2 line breaks.

 

[hindy111]

In same amount of MINS Kaysa ran from Dummy almost the same as Peats. And how many of those mins was Kaysa even playing dummy half? He played a total of 428 mins = 5 full games. And spent atleast 60% of that playing lock.

So people are judging Kaysa as a dud hooker based on about 2 games of footy in that position after a season out
Gee

 

[Happy MEel]

No actually i think our weakness at dummy half is the lack of ability to engage the markers / A defender. If your dummy half does this it opens up more space for the person running 1 off the ruck.



Ennis a plodder? He had an excellent season. He is good defensively and was outstanding in attack; 2 tries, 12 try assists, 7 LBA's and 2 line breaks.

Don't let stats get in the way of a good story!!!!

 

[Gary Gutful]

It all depends, merkins.

You can have a superstar somewhere else in the spine and survive with a competent 9 or you can play with a dominant 9 and have your 6 and 7 play a slightly less important role in the team.

There is more than one way to make a savoury pudding.

 

[Avenger]

Can you name these hookers who REGULARLY contribute to wins?

Cameron Smith, Michael Ennis, Isaac Luke for many games both for Souths and Warriors also Segeyaro when he was in form. Robbie Farah for the majority of his career.

 

[Happy MEel]

It all depends, merkins.

You can have a superstar somewhere else in the spine and survive with a competent 9 or you can play with a dominant 9 and have your 6 and 7 play a slightly less important role in the team.

There is more than one way to make a savoury pudding.

Sure...but whilst Norman is very good, I wouldn't class him as a superstar (and he isn't paid as one) and either are Guth and French. All three are competent but with that calibre of spine we need a better first choice hooker than what IDG offers us.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Sure...but whilst Norman is very good, I wouldn't class him a superstar and either are Guth and French. All three are competent but with that calibre of spine we need a better first choice hooker than what IDG offers us.

Or, Norman needs to up his game.

No reason why he can't become one of the top few players in the comp. He has all the skills.

 

[84 Baby]

Cameron Smith, Michael Ennis, Isaac Luke for many games both for Souths and Warriors also Segeyaro when he was in form. Robbie Farah for the majority of his career.

So the incumbent Aus and NZ internationals, a complete wanker who IMO was hard done by to not play origin over recent years, a complete wanker who was picked for origin and another with off field issues. And all of 5 players out of 16 starting hookers, one of whom has retired

 

[Gronk]

Holly crap.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...king-13-million-nrl-deal-20170128-gu0lap.html

Wests Tigers teen Moses Suli signs record-breaking deal
SMH.com.au
-
January 29, 2017 - 9:34 am

Moses Suli has just become the highest-paid player yet to play NRL.

The teenager, considered one of the most promising youngsters in the game, signed a three-year extension, believed to be worth $1.3 million, on Friday to remain at Wests Tigers. The deal is all the more remarkable given he has made just two National Youth Competition appearances, neither of which he was able to finish due to back issues.

 

[Happy MEel]

Or, Norman needs to up his game.

No reason why he can't become one of the top few players in the comp. He has all the skills.

Or, with the amount we are currently spending on our spine we should certainly be able to afford a hooker that offers competent defence and attack, which will complement Norman regardless of any improvement he has in him.

 

[Glenneel]

I'm not sure about New Zealand's ranking. Latrelle Mitchell is yet to convert his hype into week in, week out performances; and Keiran Foran - who knows when he'll be clear to play his first game, where his head is at, and how long he can remain focussed for. A real gamble in my opinion. Oh, well - at least they have a winning coach.

Ivor, Foran and gambling in the one article is a big no no. What has happened to the investigation about match fixing with Manly? (which ch 9 tried to link to us when news broke.) Gone very quite. Isn't Foran a person of interest with that?

 

[Glenneel]

Maybe other team got worse or they under performed last season or some juniors will improve.Multiple ways.

Cowboys have Coen Hess coming into team. From the little I saw of him he is a great, and probably better, player than Tamou just lacking the experience. However has a very experienced team around him.

Regarding experience has anybody done a correlation between experience (number of NRL games played by whole squad) and winning the grand final? Is there a cut off point where the odds of winning the GF is almost impossible because team is too inexperienced? If so than Parra are probably up against it has many reasonably young players.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Or, with the amount we are currently spending on our spine we should certainly be able to afford a hooker that offers competent defence and attack, which will complement Norman regardless of any improvement he has in him.

Who do you think we should sign as our hooker?

 

[Noise]

Who do you think we should sign as our hooker?

Peats.

 

[Avenger]

So the incumbent Aus and NZ internationals, a complete wanker who IMO was hard done by to not play origin over recent years, a complete wanker who was picked for origin and another with off field issues. And all of 5 players out of 16 starting hookers, one of whom has retired

Yes and there may be more.

 

[84 Baby]

Who do you think we should sign as our hooker?

If he didn't have off field issues then we should have gone for Segeyaro. But catch 22 if he wasn't a dickhead then he probably wouldn't have been off contract and been more expensive