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Rumours and Stuff

Joshuatheeel

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
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20,189
King-Gutho94 said:
Bodies mature and develop differently.

DCE made his FG debut after he turned 22 years of age.

He is on the verge of potentially playing the most games in the history of First Grade in the number 7 position.

Age means nothing really especially with sports science these days you cant still get a 10-12 year career if you dont start playing first-grade to 23-24.

And with 2 new teams coming in the competition is going to have find players from somewhere. So were going to see more and more of it.
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Age isn't the issue as a single indication, of course players develop at different ages....it's the fact he is 22 this year, with no NRL deal (top 30 and development) and only 4 NSW cup games, and just doing his first NRL off-season, which is the indicator.

I hope he makes it.

DCE is a poor example, he was in the NRL system and contracted. He was just being given time to develop. He was playing QLD cup at 21, was captain, additionally he also got QLD cup player of the year. All a year younger then Smith is this year.
 
Glenneel

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,818
hindy111 said:
Tigers will play finals in 2025

HINDY111 HAS SPOKEN
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I'm saying that Panthers reign will stop, the loss of Luai and more importantly JFH will mean they finish outside top 4 and not feature in final match.

Also saying Eels will finish in top 8 but not sure about Tigers - reckon 9th their usual spot.
 
JokerEel

JokerEel

Coach
Messages
13,593
Joshuatheeel said:
Age isn't the issue as a single indication, of course players develop at different ages....it's the fact he is 22 this year, with no NRL deal (top 30 and development) and only 4 NSW cup games, and just doing his first NRL off-season, which is the indicator.

I hope he makes it.

DCE is a poor example, he was in the NRL system and contracted. He was just being given time to develop. He was playing QLD cup at 21, was captain, additionally he also got QLD cup player of the year. All a year younger then Smith is this year.
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You do understand that the club was ultimately looking at Boods as the first grade hooker so Smith would have played bugger all games in NSW cup.

The fact he is training with the NRL side still says he is more than likely going to be pushing for the CUP hooker option and hopefully impresses the coaches enough to get an NRL contract.
 
Joshuatheeel

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,189
JokerEel said:
You do understand that the club was ultimately looking at Boods as the first grade hooker so Smith would have played bugger all games in NSW cup.

The fact he is training with the NRL side still says he is more than likely going to be pushing for the CUP hooker option and hopefully impresses the coaches enough to get an NRL contract.
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Since when has a club only required 1 hooker? You do realise most sides carry 2 hookers. We gave Luke 21 games last year over Smith. A aging player with zero NRL prospects.

We gave plenty of other youngsters, 20 year olds plenty of NSW cup time, when there was other players blocking their pathway, Guymer, Saunders, Pryke....

I hope he makes it. But my point is MA had zero affect on Smith's development. The MA "nepotism" blocked Smith is total bullshit!!

He was simply not rated high enough by us or any of the other 8 Sydney NRL clubs. Even now, we only have 2 hookers in our squad, he is "training" the house down, and we still won't even offer him even a development contract after the new coaching "brains" trust have had 3 months to see how he goes.
 
King-Gutho94

King-Gutho94

Coach
Messages
15,763
JokerEel said:
You do understand that the club was ultimately looking at Boods as the first grade hooker so Smith would have played bugger all games in NSW cup.

The fact he is training with the NRL side still says he is more than likely going to be pushing for the CUP hooker option and hopefully impresses the coaches enough to get an NRL contract.
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Our number 1 training observer said last night NSW Cup team have struggled ever since Jake Arthur left.

So its no wonder we had to play Boods to keep them competitive last year otherwise it would have been worse.
 
Poupou Escobar

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
91,771
Joshuatheeel said:
Age isn't the issue as a single indication, of course players develop at different ages....it's the fact he is 22 this year, with no NRL deal (top 30 and development) and only 4 NSW cup games, and just doing his first NRL off-season, which is the indicator.
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He is certainly behind in his milestones.

Merkins are raving about his speed, as though that’s the defining feature of modern dummy halves. But they fail to note that Smith wasn’t retained by Penrith in favour of plodder Kenny, who is also slower than Brendan Hands, another hooker they let go.

Modern hookers are about decision making and defence, with running game a bonus for the players who have the first two things squared away. Smith is at least very fit, which is good for his work rate. His speed would come in handy for leading the line, unless he lacks the strength to be effective in initial contact. Then he would just be a speed bump.
I hope he makes it.
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I hope so too, for our sake. Lussick and Hands are very ordinary.
 
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Poupou Escobar

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
91,771
King-Gutho94 said:
Brad got lucky with what he had at his disposal he should have won Dally M Coach of the year around 7 times.

No wonder Leeds were so keen on the Super-Coach and not any of the 16 other clubs.
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Arthur’s win rate since 2019 has been very good. His win rate before then was quite poor. It’s like he coached two different clubs. What changed around 2019?

#resources
 
Poupou Escobar

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
91,771
Joshuatheeel said:
Since when has a club only required 1 hooker? You do realise most sides carry 2 hookers. We gave Luke 21 games last year over Smith. A aging player with zero NRL prospects.

We gave plenty of other youngsters, 20 year olds plenty of NSW cup time, when there was other players blocking their pathway, Guymer, Saunders, Pryke....

I hope he makes it. But my point is MA had zero affect on Smith's development. The MA "nepotism" blocked Smith is total bullshit!!

He was simply not rated high enough by us or any of the other 8 Sydney NRL clubs. Even now, we only have 2 hookers in our squad, he is "training" the house down, and we still won't even offer him even a development contract after the new coaching "brains" trust have had 3 months to see how he goes.
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Great post mate. Let’s watch it all get ignored in favour of nepotism claims. Remember when Trent Barrett gave Arthur his NRL debut? Nepotism
 
King-Gutho94

King-Gutho94

Coach
Messages
15,763
Poupou Escobar said:
Arthur’s win rate since 2019 has been very good. His win rate before then was quite poor. It’s like he coached two different clubs. What changed around 2019?

#resources
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Commbank Stadium was a big game changer in 2019.

The passionate blue and gold fans who turned up every week helped create an atmosphere that spurred the players on and turned into a fortress.
 
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