SJ.

[Big Marn]

I know that ruptured achilles is a dreaded injury in the NFL, especially at running back.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Try not to pretend you know a thing about medical practice, you muppet.

Low blood flow to tendons (and ligaments) means they take 6-9 months to be back to 100%. Not 6 weeks like muscles can.
All the load from the calf muscles contraction goes through it.
Hope for the best, fear for the worst.
Another loss and he can have 4-5 months rest.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Low blood flow to tendons (and ligaments) means they take 6-9 months to be back to 100%. Not 6 weeks like muscles can.
All the load from the calf muscles contraction goes through it.
Hope for the best, fear for the worst.
Another loss and he can have 4-5 months rest.

Haha no I know, I stand by my comment...I can't imagine SJ is anywhere near full fitness. Of course there's a medical team who know more than me, and are seeing more than I'm seeing. I'm just surprised, hearing him on his podcast and knowing Achilles injuries are no easy matter.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Not taking $800K from the Roosters for next year and letting Chad f**king Townsend take the money instead will have to go down as an all time dumb decision. If we pay Shaun more than a pie and a big bottle of Lion Red a game next year we are kidding ourselves.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Not taking $800K from the Roosters for next year and letting Chad f**king Townsend take the money instead will have to go down as an all time dumb decision. If we pay Shaun more than a pie and a big bottle of Lion Red a game next year we are kidding ourselves.

SJ doesn't like premierships, eh? Lol Roosters are so hot now dumb is an understatement.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Not taking $800K from the Roosters for next year and letting Chad f**king Townsend take the money instead will have to go down as an all time dumb decision. If we pay Shaun more than a pie and a big bottle of Lion Red a game next year we are kidding ourselves.

I'd have to disagree on that, at least the first part. Shaun has a young family, his wife plays (semi) professionally netball-wise in NZ, at the time he turned down the contract he would have thought a premiership wasn't out of the question here, is he going to uplift his family for a season or two when they've already had a season apart during COVID? He's got his podcast going now, I imagine other business interests...there's more to life than 800k. Yeah, he's more likely to win a premiership at the Roosters, but he's made it clear he's a passionate Warrior.

I wouldn't disagree with the last part.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Yesterday I think Shaun was overthinking and too worried about screwing up for most of the game. Towards the end when we scored 3 tries I’m pretty sure he just thought “nah f**k it, I’ll just try stuff” and it worked.
We’re too conservative, the “maintain pressure until they make a mistake” gameplan doesn’t work when sides maintain discipline like the Eels did.

 

[Matua]

Yesterday I think Shaun was overthinking and too worried about screwing up for most of the game. Towards the end when we scored 3 tries I’m pretty sure he just thought “nah f**k it, I’ll just try stuff” and it worked.
We’re too conservative, the “maintain pressure until they make a mistake” gameplan doesn’t work when sides maintain discipline like the Eels did.

I'm not here to put the boot into SJ (I think this year is a write off due to injury and he's played too many matches injured) but I don't put anything of stock in those late tries. They were all just consolation tries, the Eels were already celebrating their first win in ages by that stage.

 

[sup42]

I got shouted down on the other forum for pointing out that our defensive channels this year have been weaker with Johnson playing.

In my defence I have concentrated on Johnsons defence over his life time as a special interest, my take is he used to get a pass as a young superstar by fans, one guy used to argue pages and pages with me that SJ did not need to be a good tackler because of his attacking skill.

Then from my Pov SJ became the best defensive halfback in the NRL, that happened after he was taken under Ruben Wiki's wing, those two used to have sessions where Ruben would run at Shaun and SJ would take Ruben down. From that commendable decision from SJ to work on his defense against one of the scariest players in the NRL we saw him spot tackle Sam Burgess at the height of Burgess's power and Shaun bulked up and no one got through him.

My lasting respect for Johnson will always be the way he went from being a side ways skipping arms tackler to a a hard hitting lock it down serious rugby league player. And it proved I was correct in my arguments with a hail of SJ acolytes attacking my position, Johnson does need to tackle, and he does need to meet the same standard as anyone else in the team, freak plays and Try's be dammed, every player who has ever played the game must learn to tackle is a maxim I will never back down from.

So it was surprising this year to see with the introduction of Capewell as SJs back up that those two leaked missed tackles through their channel.

It is really tricky to work out why players were going through those two and putting the team on the back foot. Capewell is a good tackler, as I already stated Johnson is a good tackler, one of the best actually in his position. So that only leaves a communication issue between the two, and the SJ playing in a dinner suit with shot legs thing.

The loss against the Eels is not on Johnson from my perspective, even though Shaun had an imperfect game, we were done through our Centers. And of us should bash the centers in my opinion for that. They are future stars, they got beaten by set plays they have never seen in NSW cup.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I got shouted down on the other forum for pointing out that our defensive channels this year have been weaker with Johnson playing.

In my defence I have concentrated on Johnsons defence over his life time as a special interest, my take is he used to get a pass as a young superstar by fans, one guy used to argue pages and pages with me that SJ did not need to be a good tackler because of his attacking skill.

Then from my Pov SJ became the best defensive halfback in the NRL, that happened after he was taken under Ruben Wiki's wing, those two used to have sessions where Ruben would run at Shaun and SJ would take Ruben down. From that commendable decision from SJ to work on his defense against one of the scariest players in the NRL we saw him spot tackle Sam Burgess at the height of Burgess's power and Shaun bulked up and no one got through him.

My lasting respect for Johnson will always be the way he went from being a side ways skipping arms tackler to a a hard hitting lock it down serious rugby league player. And it proved I was correct in my arguments with a hail of SJ acolytes attacking my position, Johnson does need to tackle, and he does need to meet the same standard as anyone else in the team, freak plays and Try's be dammed, every player who has ever played the game must learn to tackle is a maxim I will never back down from.

So it was surprising this year to see with the introduction of Capewell as SJs back up that those two leaked missed tackles through their channel.

It is really tricky to work out why players were going through those two and putting the team on the back foot. Capewell is a good tackler, as I already stated Johnson is a good tackler, one of the best actually in his position. So that only leaves a communication issue between the two, and the SJ playing in a dinner suit with shot legs thing.

The loss against the Eels is not on Johnson from my perspective, even though Shaun had an imperfect game, we were done through our Centers. And of us should bash the centers in my opinion for that. They are future stars, they got beaten by set plays they have never seen in NSW cup.

Yep, I’ll hang some shit on Shaun for our inability to score for most of the game but he didn’t let in 30 points.
It was a reality check for Ali and MGT, and they’ll happen when they’ve got under 10 first grade games between them. With Rocco and Pompey that’s score line would’ve been different, we might’ve even snatched the game.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

SJ can't be blamed for the defence but he takes a chunk of the responsibility for us having scored 4 points after 70 minutes.

Even if we can't pinpoint why, the evidence this season has been pretty overwhelming that we score more points without SJ than with him. Even in the last few weeks when TMM doesn't appear to have been playing well, we have been scoring more tries than we do with SJ. Quite simply, TMM has been involved in tryscoring plays with more frequency than Shaun.

(In saying this I note that my point only holds if we discount the last 10 minutes of the Eels game, which I basically do).

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I'd have to disagree on that, at least the first part. Shaun has a young family, his wife plays (semi) professionally netball-wise in NZ, at the time he turned down the contract he would have thought a premiership wasn't out of the question here, is he going to uplift his family for a season or two when they've already had a season apart during COVID? He's got his podcast going now, I imagine other business interests...there's more to life than 800k. Yeah, he's more likely to win a premiership at the Roosters, but he's made it clear he's a passionate Warrior.

I really just meant that he turned down the $800K because he thought he was getting a roughly comparable deal here and at this point he really shouldn't be getting any deal at all. A couple of months ago a Warriors deal was 99% done and that has flipped dramatically to the point that he might just have to retire instead.

I can't comment on his personal life or business dealings, just that he absolutely made quite a spectacular miscalculation on what sort of NRL contract he would be able to get next year.

 

[JJ]

I really just meant that he turned down the $800K because he thought he was getting a roughly comparable deal here and at this point he really shouldn't be getting any deal at all. A couple of months ago a Warriors deal was 99% done and that has flipped dramatically to the point that he might just have to retire instead.

I can't comment on his personal life or business dealings, just that he absolutely made quite a spectacular miscalculation on what sort of NRL contract he would be able to get next year.

And hopefully the Warriors hold the line against any "one last hurrah on good $$" pressure via media, social media etc... With Penrith being continually depleted, and the Roosters somehow immune to that, he might have missed a golden chance to end his career with a premiership

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I really just meant that he turned down the $800K because he thought he was getting a roughly comparable deal here and at this point he really shouldn't be getting any deal at all. A couple of months ago a Warriors deal was 99% done and that has flipped dramatically to the point that he might just have to retire instead.

I can't comment on his personal life or business dealings, just that he absolutely made quite a spectacular miscalculation on what sort of NRL contract he would be able to get next year.

Yeah, I get that. He backed himself, which you do in professional sport (otherwise you probably never get there). And yeah, it might've been miscalculated. I don't think he ever entertained the idea of the Roosters, because of his life situation. He's uprooted his family once, then COVID hit to cause more issue, I imagine they wanted no bar of going again. But I'm only guessing.

I think there's still a scenario where there could be merit to re-signing him, if we're not missing out on signing anymore else of quality. Are we happy with TMM/CHT/Metcalf, or do we need to go to the market? If there's no one in the market who wants to come here, is it worth having SJ on a severely-reduced contract, on the proviso he has to earn his spot via NSW Cup? I don't think there's anyone who thinks Ben Farr, Jett Cleary or anyone else is a better option. SJ on very cut price money, might not be the worst idea. OK, I'll admit there's probably a) no way he'd sign on 250k and b) he'd want to play NSW Cup to start the year, but it's a thought.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

And hopefully the Warriors hold the line against any "one last hurrah on good $$" pressure via media, social media etc... With Penrith being continually depleted, and the Roosters somehow immune to that, he might have missed a golden chance to end his career with a premiership

He's said a premiership wouldn't mean much elsewhere. Some people might see that as hot air, I respect it. If the stars align next year, we bring players on, we stay fit, other teams cop injuries, and SJ is still here (all of that is not inconceivable) then who knows? Stranger things, and all that.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I don't think he ever entertained the idea of the Roosters, because of his life situation. He's uprooted his family once, then COVID hit to cause more issue, I imagine they wanted no bar of going again. But I'm only guessing.

I'm coming from the POV that he actually considered the Roosters offer and decided it wasn't financially appealing enough compared to the likely Warriors offer, which is, let's say, the reliable information I have. Of course, short of being in his brain I can't say with 100% certainty how much they would've had to offer to get him to sign.

I'm not trying to cast aspersions on Shaun or anything but the "wouldn't go anywhere else" stuff is untrue at least to the extent that he considered the offer and therefore unless it was an exercise in trolling the Roosters, he might've accepted a better offer. I don't blame him for that because that's just sensible business.

Anyway I'm getting way too hung up on another man's finances at this point...

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I'm coming from the POV that he actually considered the Roosters offer and decided it wasn't financially appealing enough compared to the likely Warriors offer, which is, let's say, the reliable information I have. Of course, short of being in his brain I can't say with 100% certainty how much they would've had to offer to get him to sign.

I'm not trying to cast aspersions on Shaun or anything but the "wouldn't go anywhere else" stuff is untrue at least to the extent that he considered the offer and therefore unless it was an exercise in trolling the Roosters, he might've accepted a better offer. I don't blame him for that because that's just sensible business.

Anyway I'm getting way too hung up on another man's finances at this point...

Yeah maybe, we've got no idea do we. He presented it in his podcast that he wasn't interested, but who knows. I'm not actually as naive as I sound that he wouldn't consider anyone else, and that the Warriors are the only place for him. I think a big part of it is, he rolled the dice on getting an extension. Not unsurprising for a professional athlete to back themselves in, especially off the back of his 2023.