Season officially over time to start playing the youngsters!

[TheRev]

I would have thought King, Stockwell, Green, Markito should have had more bench time this year. I also believe Hornby should have share time with Kyle, Clune, King in order to have a good look at the talant availble.

Yeah thinking back, no doubt it was a tough decision.. the thing is if Price had of axed the experienced players early season when it was needed, we still may have missed the 8, then Price would still be under pressure to hold his job.... the only way this could have worked out well is to take a 2yr big picture, and treat 2012 as a development year, and a bonus if we did better than expected. But I bet that approach would have went down like a lead balloon with Doust.

But this is all in the past now anyway, lets hope we can salvage something from the rest of the season.

I suppose not much.....But you look at the young players that this coach has given a go to this season:

De Belin
Stockwell (should be playing Toyota Cup, moved to the Cutters to play against older, more developed players)
Rein (last year we all would have laughed if someone told us he would be our starting/best option at hooker)
Kyle (granted, he was moved after round 3, but was still given a decent oppportunity)
Marketo (never seen under Bennett)
Green
King (granted injuries havent helped, but he has still been given opportunities to stake a place in the team)

Thats 7 players. Sorry i missed the memo where we are meant to promote a whole new team. You telling me these guys wont be better for this year, next year? We dont see the best of young players until they have played 20 - 30 games (unless your name is Inglis/Folau and you are a complete freak).

If i was your friend, i'd take the offer. If he is that good, the offers would have already come in.

Rein is the only one above who got serious game time this year, the others were all out of position (Kyle in particular), or played but a handful of games at most, generally with very limited game time (King fmd.. seemed like he got 5-10minutes even when he was selected).

No doubt any first grade experience is good, but they should have been given every opportunity, instead of moves like Prior/Scott to centre, winger shuffling (persistign with Vidot on the left in particular was the #1 reason we missed the finals), Fein moving in to replace Sowards when injured was another wasted opportunity for Kyle.

So apart from Rein.. they are all still very green (pardon the pun), if id been the coach, it was round 8 against the Roosters, where it became apparent that this team could not succeed with that spine... so I had a host of changes I wanted back then, the young guys would have gotten up to 15 games each at this point of the season, 20 by seasons end.

 

[gypsy]

I agree with you TheRev. It is hard to fatham what is going through Price's head regarding playing the youngsters and reserve graders.

I would have thought King, Stockwell, Green, Markito should have had more bench time this year. I also believe Hornby should have share time with Kyle, Clune, King in order to have a good look at the talant availble. Now that we are out of the final series, it would be great if we finished off the year - last three games - by giving these guys a go and resting Hornby. Soward/Clune, King/Soward etc.

Sorry but who is Clune?

 

[nrlnrl]

Sorry but who is Clune?

Sam Clune - current Toyota Cup half who has been there for at least 2 years, but this is his final season in that comp. I haven't seen him play, but would like to hear from others who have.

 

[DragonBuck]

Rein is the only one above who got serious game time this year, the others were all out of position (Kyle in particular), or played but a handful of games at most, generally with very limited game time (King fmd.. seemed like he got 5-10minutes even when he was selected).

No doubt any first grade experience is good, but they should have been given every opportunity, instead of moves like Prior/Scott to centre, winger shuffling (persistign with Vidot on the left in particular was the #1 reason we missed the finals), Fein moving in to replace Sowards when injured was another wasted opportunity for Kyle.

So apart from Rein.. they are all still very green (pardon the pun), if id been the coach, it was round 8 against the Roosters, where it became apparent that this team could not succeed with that spine... so I had a host of changes I wanted back then, the young guys would have gotten up to 15 games each at this point of the season, 20 by seasons end.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say. The only other point I would make is that most of those players all got their first crack under Bennett. Not sure if Price would have been willing to debut them this season. Actually I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have.

 

[Hoekstra]

I think what happens next with Price will be popcorn viewing. He has a choice basically, revamp the current squad and renew its ranks with promising talent and persist with it. Or run out with bascially the same cattle and tactics.

All comments by the coach seem to indicate the team is just slightly off the pace with execution etc, so I think sadly he is all in on the latter option.

Either way its going to be a tough road, running with talented youthful squad brings its own pressures. Just look at the Roosters.

 

[full steam ahead]

I liked watching Geoff Boycott.

 

[watatank]

If the perception is that young players won't get opportunities under Price then I think it's misguided, particularly if we're talking about a player who is already in the system.

It's been well documented that we have a few players on the verge of retirement and we haven't really recruited that much from the outside, where do you think our next group of players are going to come from?

I'm not sure that players would've got more opportunities under a different coach when even coaches like Bennett, Bellamy have taken a similar approach with many of their young players.

I think most of the development has around managing the player's body, players like King and Kyle have had a long history of injuries and they're only 20/21. Kyle is now injured again, probably shows it may not have been a good idea to put all our hopes with him in a key position at this stage of his career...King has missed the past two years pretty much, I think it's good that he is getting game time in NSW Cup and with Rein is doing alright there. De Belin started the year for us but he was playing in such a way that he would've burned out.

Stockwell and Green have debuted under Price this year...Stockwell has got as many opportunities as Merrin did in his debut season (same age)...It's probably frustrating that Green has not played more while we have had backrowers in the centres but I don't know if it's a major concern...that strategy obviously isn't long term and I don't know if Green would have made a significant difference had he been there?

Marketo was rarely used under Bennett but is getting more game time under Price once he got into the team.

As mentioned, Rein is getting plenty of game time.

 

[Changaman]

All this talk about Fein and Hornby being too old, and Soward should be dropped of kicked out or whatever. Take a good look at the teams doing well and you will see the common denominator is a good dominant forward pack. The Bulldogs and Bunnies have turned around their side by their coach understanding that for backs to run you need a forward pack going forward and dominating.

Costigan and Smith get shown the door, Weyman out, Beau Scott either injured or suspended or just thinking about moving to Newcastle. We have only got Merrin and Hunt, both are very good but you need a whole forward pack and bench forwards. Ben Creagh is a good player struggling for form and impact. Young's body is now too broken. This leaves us with Prior (enough said), and players like Miller, De Belin, Ah Mau, Marketo, Rein and so on. Mitch Rein is a good attacker but no defence, he is no Cameron Smith. We have no grunt, no aggression and no go forward. It should be no surprise that the back have failed this year.

With our forwards, you could put Thurston there and he wouldn't have room to move. Hornby, who is getting too old, Soward need this room to be successful.

Next year we need 2 good back rowers to replace Young and Scott, and at least one really good and big front rower. And a coach who can make them hard again.

And by the way, Nightingale should never, never kick a ball.

 

[Changaman]

I agree with you TheRev. It is hard to fatham what is going through Price's head regarding playing the youngsters and reserve graders.

I would have thought King, Stockwell, Green, Markito should have had more bench time this year. I also believe Hornby should have share time with Kyle, Clune, King in order to have a good look at the talant availble. Now that we are out of the final series, it would be great if we finished off the year - last three games - by giving these guys a go and resting Hornby. Soward/Clune, King/Soward etc.

I keep hearing how good Cameron King is, but I haven't seen this when he had his time on the park. He played against Rooster the weekend before last, and I though he was pretty dull and passing was inferior. I don't get it. What's good about him?

 

[TheRev]

I keep hearing how good Cameron King is, but I haven't seen this when he had his time on the park. He played against Rooster the weekend before last, and I though he was pretty dull and passing was inferior. I don't get it. What's good about him?

His dummy half passing is far sharper than Rein's, the ball teleports out of his hands, but he only gets a few minutes per game... its ridiculous... hows he supposed to prove himself or get any rhythm like that?

As for his selection, as an ex-halfback & junior captain, you can imagine getting experience for this kid is going to pay massive dividends for us in the near future (if we manage him well).

 

[watatank]

I'd say long minutes in NSW Cup is going to do him more than short minutes in NRL.

 

[giboz71]

Agreed. Ideally it’s not a good idea to blood youngsters so quickly, but given the state of our roster, what other choice did we have?
*
Young and Prior are probably the slowest back rowers in the NRL. Hornby, Fien and Cooper are all well over 30. No specialist right centre or fullback. And considering who we recruited – the likes of Ah Mau, Vea, Mathews, Miller and Kemp who have added nothing whatsoever. Its pretty clear to see that roster as it stands was never going to compete.
*
I’m not saying playing the youngsters would have solved the problems (it may not have), but at least give them some solid game time at least for next year. Don’t let the likes of Hornby, Fien, Young and Prior keep the young guys out. That has not only screwed us for this year, but for next as well.
*
I keep harping back to Adam Reynolds this year, DCE last year. These guys were completely unproven, but they had the confidence of their coach that the job was theirs from the start. If only we had been that way with Style, King and De Belin who I would argue probably have as much talent as the other 2 guys. Instead, none of these guys have developed at all this year which is so frustrating, given the guys keeping them out are leading a team currently coming 12th.

 

[TheRev]

Agreed. Ideally it?s not a good idea to blood youngsters so quickly, but given the state of our roster, what other choice did we have?
*
Young and Prior are probably the slowest back rowers in the NRL. Hornby, Fien and Cooper are all well over 30. No specialist right centre or fullback. And considering who we recruited ? the likes of Ah Mau, Vea, Mathews, Miller and Kemp who have added nothing whatsoever. Its pretty clear to see that roster as it stands was never going to compete.
*
I?m not saying playing the youngsters would have solved the problems (it may not have), but at least give them some solid game time at least for next year. Don?t let the likes of Hornby, Fien, Young and Prior keep the young guys out. That has not only screwed us for this year, but for next as well.
*
I keep harping back to Adam Reynolds this year, DCE last year. These guys were completely unproven, but they had the confidence of their coach that the job was theirs from the start. If only we had been that way with Style, King and De Belin who I would argue probably have as much talent as the other 2 guys. Instead, none of these guys have developed at all this year which is so frustrating, given the guys keeping them out are leading a team currently coming 12th.

+10