Should / Will Mateo Start Finals Week 1?

[THE HOG]

No one seems to mention the one thing that will win us the game.....attitude.

Forget about who will start, Hindmarsh equals attitude, if the rest of the boys aim up in defeance we have more atacking ability then anyone in the comp.

BUT we have to frustrate them, give them nothing, if we can keep then scoreless in the first 30min, we have won.

Watch the first 30 minutes like your life depends on it. If we can get off to a cracking start and score the first try we will win.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Should / Will Feleti start this week? I think he was our best player last week, looked dangerous and should be given the opportunity to play as many minutes as he can instead of being used as an impact player off the bench. You would think his fitness levels are right up there now.

does a bear sh*t in the woods?

 

[Fishboy]

I'm a big believer in earning the right to play ball. We need to win the battle up front, warm ourselves up before throwing the pill around. Thats why the idea of starting mannnah and fui up front might have some merits. Last week cayless just didnt provide enough grunt up front to start the game and ultimately we were steamrolled. Their forwards rattled us and as a result we panicked and constantly dropped pill.

i'd have

13 lowrie
12 smith
11 hindy
10 fui
8 mannah

If we can be on level terms after the first 10-15 minutes, that would leave us plenty of firepower off the bench to play some second phase ball. I don't know how having the captain would sit with many people and the great man himself.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

parraboy,i noticed in a thread you are from shellharbour,im originally from there and played there while i worked at the bowlo for many years.maybe i know you?

Don't you mean god's country, had a nice chinese feed at the bowlo on saturday;-)

 

[Joshuatheeel]

When I first read this, I dismissed the idea; but come to think of it, it's not a bad idea. What to do with Jeff Robson, though? I think we lose a lot of structure and a lot of defence if we suddenly drop him. Put him on the bench for the first twenty minutes? It's all conjecture, but it's fun playing coach. I'm sure Anderson will have something up his sleeve. Well, he's got Nathan Hindmarsh and Eric Grothe for a start. Nathan Hindmarsh - our Brad Fittler, our Jonathan Thurston, our Andrew Johns - the player we can't win without. He'll make a hell of a difference!

I like the idea, I would also start with Mannah with Fui to bench. Fui finds it hard sometimes to make metres when the defence rushes up. Bring him on after 20 with mortimer

 

[Fishboy]

or maybe even putting all our eggs in one basket and have cayless start in the second row which leave smith, mateo, gaulavao and smith on the bench. I just think getting on top of and even just matching it with their forwards is the best way to fight out a victory. May even have to use eric grothe as an extra forward in some stages of the contest.

GO the EELS!

 

[yy_cheng]

I'm a big believer in earning the right to play ball. We need to win the battle up front, warm ourselves up before throwing the pill around. Thats why the idea of starting mannnah and fui up front might have some merits. Last week cayless just didnt provide enough grunt up front to start the game and ultimately we were steamrolled. Their forwards rattled us and as a result we panicked and constantly dropped pill.

i'd have

13 lowrie
12 smith
11 hindy
10 fui
8 mannah

If we can be on level terms after the first 10-15 minutes, that would leave us plenty of firepower off the bench to play some second phase ball. I don't know how having the captain would sit with many people and the great man himself.

I don't think Mannah will do better than Caylo. So we'll have the same problem again.

Mateo needs to start.

He was the only one getting his head through. If he slips a pass as well. It will take some of the pressure off Caylo and Fui.

 

[TheParraboy]

parraboy,i noticed in a thread you are from shellharbour,im originally from there and played there while i worked at the bowlo for many years.maybe i know you?

Mate I played for Port kembla, Did you ever have a onfield stoush or two with a good looking (not as good looking as HJ I'll admit ) second rower in your time? .

I only moved down this way couple of years back, in the nick of time to watch Wendell play at Ron Costello Oval :roll:

 

[TheParraboy]

does a bear sh*t in the woods?

 

[Fishboy]

I don't think Mannah will do better than Caylo. So we'll have the same problem again.

Mateo needs to start.

He was the only one getting his head through. If he slips a pass as well. It will take some of the pressure off Caylo and Fui.

I just thought that mannah will provide us with more size upfront. Where as cayless provides us more second phase plays and i just dont think we can be playing the flashy football right from the outset. We have to bash our way into the game much like the tigers game....

 

[Eelementary]

Technically he's sh*tting in a toilet...

 

[grapeape]

parra will run out as named as far as i know.

but how would u feel coming on at the 28th minute and the team being 18 - 0 down.

 

[Raudonikis]

Not real good if i was mateo.Given your ready to rip in and 10 times the player lowrie is

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

I just thought that mannah will provide us with more size upfront. Where as cayless provides us more second phase plays and i just dont think we can be playing the flashy football right from the outset. We have to bash our way into the game much like the tigers game....

Well, that's the question right there, isn't it?

I suggested Mannah and Fui earlier in this thread for the scenario where Ando maybe thinks we wait 10-15 before unloading.

Should we do that? Well, I don't know. We could point to last week and say obviously not but we could just as easily point to last week and call it smoke and mirrors.

*shrugs*

 

[84 Baby]

I'd say start Lowrie but I want to see him totally buggered after making a thousand tackles on the St George forwards in the first 10-20 minutes. He and Ben Smith need to take a lot of the defensive workload away from the likes of Hindy, Mateo and Morts in that period.

I think we have to selectively start offloading from our first set. Don't go all out but don't just hit it up 5 times and kick cause we won't win that battle.

I also hope the penalty count doesn't sway in our favour too early. Otherwise there could be a lot of even up penalties late in the game.

 

[Kornstar]

Tigers successfully go round teams without "earning" the right, if you manage to be successful early then it puts doubt in the defences minds.

It is all about being switched on, you can tell if the Tigers are going to be in a game in the first 10 minutes by their attitude, we are the same, we are either on or off, no in between for us imo.

We turn up with the right attitude and we can achieve anything!

 

[84 Baby]

Tigers successfully go round teams without "earning" the right, if you manage to be successful early then it puts doubt in the defences minds.

Tigers won 1 premiership and have struggled ever since. But I do half agree with you... may work for one game but probably not for 4 in a row.

 

[Bigfella]

Bennett's gameplan has always been huge props and backrowers steamrolling over the advantage line. It has not been in our gameplan since 1987.

Ando's response tactically tonight will be very interesting. Another prop on the bench? Unlikely as we don't seem to have the quality in that position. You would have to think that the change will be tactical.

Although Grothe has been our extra prop for several years now, so his return could be critical.

 

[forward pass]

Bennett's gameplan has always been huge props and backrowers steamrolling over the advantage line. It has not been in our gameplan since 1987.

.

Thats right BF, our gameplan is to play footy - offloads, 2nd Phase play, throwing it wide. Unfortunately, the Saints won't allow us to do that like other sides have so that is our dilemma.

They were awake to that last Friday and once they stopped our offloads we didn't stand a chance. Plan B?

 

[Suitman]

Thats right BF, our gameplan is to play footy - offloads, 2nd Phase play, throwing it wide. Unfortunately, the Saints won't allow us to do that like other sides have so that is our dilemma.

They were awake to that last Friday and once they stopped our offloads we didn't stand a chance. Plan B?

Fair point, but maybe it wasn't so much a case of Saints stopping us from off-loading, but our reluctance to do so?

Suity