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Sack Adam O'Brien

Mr_Knightside

Mr_Knightside

Bench
Messages
2,606
Apey said:
Saying those two are the same players as they were here sounds like massive cope to me. Watson has improved out of sight and Mann has at the very least got the weekly boneheaded errors out of his game.

That's generally just what happens when players go to clubs with an existing or developing winning culture and better players around them though like Dogs, Roosters, Storm (King), Warriors (Barnett), and coaching is no doubt part of that. I'd almost include Jenkins in that but one good game isn't enough.

The real worry is when players go to bum clubs on the same level as us and start looking great. Like To'a. Probably other examples.
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To’a has been at the Tigers for a few years though and only now are we seeing a few good games being strung together. So I’m not really looking at him as a guy who we couldn’t get firing who is now doing great elsewhere. If he is consistent for the rest of the year and into next year then I’ll concede that the Tigers turned him around, but he was pretty bog average for us and the first couple of years at the Tigers too.

In fairness he’s finally getting a crack at playing centre which is obviously his best position. But he wouldn’t have been playing centre here ahead of Best or Gagai anyway.

Although, let’s say he proves himself to be a consistent NRL quality centre. Maybe he’s worth a look as Gag’s replacement in a year or two… might not be hard to convince him to come home?
 
macavity

macavity

Referee
Messages
20,950
The Axe of Druss said:
Uate
McManus
Cross
Mullen
Albert
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First three deserved their spots, as did Albert (one game).

Uate was arguably best winger in the comp at the time and should have played more games.

McManus was only "first pick" for the spot once, in 2009. His other two games were game 3s where he was coming in to cover.

Cross played origin in his first year for us, more on his reputation from Melbourne than what he did here. Still, he wasn't out of place, and there was no one screaming to be picked in front of him.

Mullo was picked far far too early and sadly if he wasn't picked may have actually earned and kept a spot later in his career. Though again, not many stand outs for NSW in that period.

There is no Jamie Buhrer or Steve Turner type pick going on here.
 
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macavity

macavity

Referee
Messages
20,950
Mr_Knightside said:
To’a has been at the Tigers for a few years though and only now are we seeing a few good games being strung together. So I’m not really looking at him as a guy who we couldn’t get firing who is now doing great elsewhere. If he is consistent for the rest of the year and into next year then I’ll concede that the Tigers turned him around, but he was pretty bog average for us and the first couple of years at the Tigers too.

In fairness he’s finally getting a crack at playing centre which is obviously his best position. But he wouldn’t have been playing centre here ahead of Best or Gagai anyway.

Although, let’s say he proves himself to be a consistent NRL quality centre. Maybe he’s worth a look as Gag’s replacement in a year or two… might not be hard to convince him to come home?
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Outside backs are the last place we need to recruit, particularly with Dom coming back.

Every player we recruit for next year should be a large prop.
 
A

Alex28

Coach
Messages
12,220
macavity said:
other than Hughes getting picked at fullback I can’t think of any newie players who got picked even somewhat controversially. And to his credit we had no obvious fb that year and Hughes played really well for the blues.
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Brad Godden played for Australia but not NSW. Not sure it was a controversy, was certainly out of the blue…
 
A

Alex28

Coach
Messages
12,220
Mr_Knightside said:
To’a has been at the Tigers for a few years though and only now are we seeing a few good games being strung together. So I’m not really looking at him as a guy who we couldn’t get firing who is now doing great elsewhere. If he is consistent for the rest of the year and into next year then I’ll concede that the Tigers turned him around, but he was pretty bog average for us and the first couple of years at the Tigers too.

In fairness he’s finally getting a crack at playing centre which is obviously his best position. But he wouldn’t have been playing centre here ahead of Best or Gagai anyway.

Although, let’s say he proves himself to be a consistent NRL quality centre. Maybe he’s worth a look as Gag’s replacement in a year or two… might not be hard to convince him to come home?
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Surely Fletcher Hunt is looking pretty good as a future centre at this point?
 
aqua_duck

aqua_duck

Coach
Messages
18,712
Woody90 said:
Bench utility players like Mann and Watson don’t come into first grade automatically marked as a utility player. They’re usually players that have talent but don’t really fit a certain position so they’re moved around a lot and trialled in certain positions like we did with Mann before we found that his best position was through the middle. The Dogs had the luxury of seeing from what we did that he’s best in the middle. It’s a completely different scenario.

Mann had played centre already for the Storm and came through predominantly as a 5/8 so it’s hardly bizarre we played him in those positions at times before he nailed down his best spot.
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The thing is Mann was already pretty experienced when we signed him and had shown that he didn’t really have the speed and guile to be a starting outside back anymore, Brown signed him to be a utility/middle forward and I thought he was decent in that role yet AOB insisted on playing him at centre and playing To’a who was a specialist centre on the wing where he had never played before, that’s my criticism in that situation. I don’t think Mann has improved dramatically at the dogs, by the end of his time here I think AOB was able to get the best out of him to AOB’s credit.
 
Rod

Rod

Bench
Messages
3,927
The most embarrassing Knights-related Origin pick was Gidley as captain from the bench and then daylight. That one was indefensible even for the most biased Knights fans.
 
Loose Cannon

Loose Cannon

Bench
Messages
4,574
aqua_duck said:
The thing is Mann was already pretty experienced when we signed him and had shown that he didn’t really have the speed and guile to be a starting outside back anymore, Brown signed him to be a utility/middle forward and I thought he was decent in that role yet AOB insisted on playing him at centre and playing To’a who was a specialist centre on the wing where he had never played before, that’s my criticism in that situation. I don’t think Mann has improved dramatically at the dogs, by the end of his time here I think AOB was able to get the best out of him to AOB’s credit.
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Brown signed him as a hooker.

edit: To be his hooker.
 
Rod

Rod

Bench
Messages
3,927
macavity said:
gids deserved every origin jersey he ever got. But captain from the bench is not a thing.
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Yeah to be clear I didn't have an issue with him being in the team although him getting fullback over Hayne at one point was marginal. 14 was perfect for him at that level.
 
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