SG Ball and Harold Matthews results

[TheRev]

No we cant. An embarrassment of riches. Back to the game which I have now managed to watch in full, did you happen to mention that this raw pack of Saints forwards dominated the Steelers pack. And I mean TOTALLY dominated. To a man/boy they were awesome. Had to be if their best, Corey Ackers came off the bench for only the one spell for some reason only the coach can answer. Probably an injury. But in the short time he was on boy did he do some damage with explosive carries and pile driving tackles. Threw a floating pass for a try too.
Corey Ackers is a must to retain.

Ackers is actually in our Dev squad already.. he could be picked for 1st grade tomorrow, this is the problem though.. all these kids will be in our squad in 1-2yrs..a lot of young blood at one time.

And yah the Saints team has nearly all of the big name forwards, I think at times they perhaps rely too much on that.. but you have to give the Steelers credit, they are doing as well as the Dragons are this year 'without' the big name forwards.. there must be a couple in there going better than expected.. the lock Meafou gets most of the credit but hes not doing it alone.. the Steelers do have a much stronger backline though, especially the halves, granted theyve been missing 1 or both of them for a while now.

 

[baggygreen man]

the halves,

I think Reed just shaded Kikanau, Hammoud and their 5/8 whose name eludes me at the moment. a dead heat. But neither set of halves were earth shattering. Looking forward next week to catching the Quinn/ Ward combo in a full Flegg match. Been following Quinn in dribs and drabs for past three years.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Plenty of talent in the Steelers SG ball side, not sure how it compares to other sides, but it’s a pretty young side. 8 players from starting side on Saturday are only 18 this year (borg, Kirk, Buchanan, Fitz, Reed, Smith, Langdon, Meafou plus T Amone).

 

[TheRev]

The Steelers have been missing King-Togia their #6, who sits outside Reed and inside Buchanan.. and was terrorising teams earlier in the competition.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

The Steelers have been missing King-Togia their #6, who sits outside Reed and inside Buchanan.. and was terrorising teams earlier in the competition.

Also missing centre Heidke (another 18 year old)

 

[baggygreen man]

lock Meafou gets most of the credit but hes not doing it alone.

Their edgie Treweek did some good things. I looked for Meafou to see if all the hype was justified. He must have been injured.

 

[baggygreen man]

King-Togia their #6,

Just remembered his replacement yesterday, Fitzgibbon.

 

[TheRev]

The commentators seemed to rly love Fitzgibbon, some of ther work he had done in lower grades.. but the Reed/King-Togia/Buchanan combo was all the early game highlights.. King-Togia (who had some nsw cup time last year) would poke his head thru a gap and it was on..

I'm going to be rly interested to see what they do with all these kids once the season finishes.. some will move up.. but surely they want them to keep training/playing in some capacity for the next 6 months like the higher grades do.

 

[baggygreen man]

Buchanan

He was heavily involved. The pick of the outside backs from both sides. Not as big as I envisioned.

 

[TheRev]

He was heavily involved yesterday. The pick of the outside backs from both sides. Not as big as I envisioned.

Likewise, I was hoping he was bigger.. he played his juniors in the forwards so hes tough.. but in terms of jumping up grades.. I think hes gonna need a bit more time... hes very tight and professional though.. like he seems to do make all the right decisions.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

I think Reed just shaded Kikanau, Hammoud and their 5/8 whose name eludes me at the moment. a dead heat. But neither set of halves were earth shattering. Looking forward next week to catching the Quinn/ Ward combo in a full Flegg match. Been following Quinn in dribs and drabs for past three years.

Reed was the standout of all the halves, if Reed had played behind the Dragons pack, score would have been greater.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Their edgie Treweek did some good things. I looked for Meafou to see if all the hype was justified. He must have been injured.

Meafou#13 played he was involved in the Steelers try, did more tackling in this game.

 

[baggygreen man]

I also watched the Dragons v Knights Ressies match today guys. What were your views on this one.
Couchman brothers had big games, big minutes too Toby 60 playing prop Ryan 80 #12. These boys have bulked up. Fegais brothers look more comfortable playing together, are forming a good combo. Other than Marschke who played half and dummy half, not overly impressed with the other imported halves, Glover or Ralph, tho if he works on his defense the latter could play Firsts. First time seeing Josh Coric in a full game, the big Polynesians make him look small but he has good leg drive and is a strong defender.

 

[baggygreen man]

Meafou#13 played he was involved in the Steelers try, did more tackling in this game.

Did he. I do admit I was concentrating more on the dominant side.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

I also watched the Dragons v Knights Ressies match today guys. What were your views on this one.

Not sure if you are asking me, but i haven't watched that game.

 

[baggygreen man]

Not sure if you are asking me, but i haven't watched that game.

Ok.

 

[TheRev]

I had a million comments for reserves, but ive been disciplined in putting them in the other JF/KoE thread... its a very boring side to watch that KoE side.. but what do you do.. its what we got..

And yes I fell in love with Reed in that game.. again the Steelers are doing everything the dragons have done this year without the massively hyped forward pack who all have nrl contracts already.. I thought Borg was good also, the Steelers Fullback.. fast skinny fellow, but I might have glossed over his involvements before.. but he did nothing wrong out there in a losing side... seemed up contact etc.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

I had a million comments for reserves, but ive been disciplined in putting them in the other JF/KoE thread... its a very boring side to watch that KoE side.. but what do you do.. its what we got..

And yes I fell in love with Reed in that game.. again the Steelers are doing everything the dragons have done this year without the massively hyped forward pack who all have nrl contracts already.. I thought Borg was good also, the Steelers Fullback.. fast skinny fellow, but I might have glossed over his involvements before.. but he did nothing wrong out there in a losing side... seemed up contact etc.

Borg was good he has impressed me this year, Rumble had too many errors and the big error which would have put the steelers back into the game was when they made the break and all he had to do was either double pump and pass or dummy or even take on the smaller man on, he instead threw the intercept pass which TPH took and ran back field at that stage Saints down to 12 players, would have put the steelers right back into the game, Kirk was good with limited opportunities, he can also play fullback, Buchanan had limited opportunities as well, Baldock was the other centre, didnt notice anything overly exciting, think he was involved in a bit of niggle.
If i had to pick a future back 5 from THAT game
Borg, Kirk, Buchanan, Afu, Williams..

 

[TheRev]

Just to be clear aswell Toby Rumble is perhaps Ben's little brother? I think thats only his 2nd game, so hes quite the rookie, and after that first try which was ace, he had some shockers later..

Havent heard anything from Ben Rumble all year, someone on here mentioned he had some personal issues, so I dunno what that means ongoing... but yes if hes gone I do love TPH but I suspect Borg will be ahead of him in the pecking order... Kirk is really close to Buchanan he said, theyve played outside eachother thru the grades.

 

[Dragon the chain]

I also watched the Dragons v Knights Ressies match today guys. What were your views on this one.
Couchman brothers had big games, big minutes too Toby 60 playing prop Ryan 80 #12. These boys have bulked up. Fegais brothers look more comfortable playing together, are forming a good combo. Other than Marschke who played half and dummy half, not overly impressed with the other imported halves, Glover or Ralph, tho if he works on his defense the latter could play Firsts. First time seeing Josh Coric in a full game, the big Polynesians make him look small but he has good leg drive and is a strong defender.

Toby Couchman played the first 60 straight in the middle, running for 170 m and defending well. I think he would have gone back on for last 10 if needed, but the game was done by then. Ryan also played well on the left edge, running and defending strongly.

Max Fegai was good at right centre and Mat impressed at fullback.

I agree that Marschke was good and that the other halves were not so good. I think Marschke will be no. 14 in first grade. I do not think Ralph will play firsts. Marschke would be the first backup half. After that Jack Bird would move to 6. If we had any more injuries, I think we would use the Paul Turner roster spot to get an extra half.

Coric is not tall, but he is very strong and willing. He is a good player at this level and he has only had a few games back after an ACL so he might even get better.