Squad succession

[T-Boon]

As above; Damien Cook defends in the middle and is the same weight as Kaysa. Is he too light for a central defensive position?

Kaysas main issue is he is a shit passer

I would not defend with Cook in the middle either as it is a waste of talent and skill, but it is even worse in Kaysa's case because he gets injured tackling in the middle and he seems to be playing concussed a lot of the time.

 

[T-Boon]

Yeah that must be why sprinters are all skinny with no muscles ffs

It is true that a sprinters muscle/weight is a hindrance to them out of the blocks.

 

[ImTheMan]

I think a lot of merkins don't get how even the teams really are. This is why they make comments like so-and-so-wouldn't-make-the-top-17-at-any-other-club. They miss the fact that plenty of these apparent 'stars' at the top clubs wouldn't make the top 17 at our club either. The reason is this:

About half the top 17 players in the NRL are at minimum NRL standard (as in, minimum standard for a top 17 player). The gut feel might say that the worst teams have more of these players and the top teams have fewer, but the fact that players leave clubs like Melbourne and the Roosters and turn to shit proves that a few key players can make their ordinary team mates look like stars. Guys like Manu, Aubusson, Radley and the entire Roosters bench (except Napa) would add nothing to our current side. Therefore they wouldn't make our top 17, because we already have enough players at that level.

But that's six of 17 recent premiership winners who are just bare minimum NRL players. Their weaknesses were covered by their superior team mates, and these same superior team mates also provided them more opportunities to shine than are afforded to weaker players in most other teams.

Pou this is great analysis, we need more "superior" players. No doubt you were on board with signing Cronk as opposed to Moses, as you could no doubt see that Moses was one of these minimum NRL standard players rather than the actual touch of quality that the team was desperately crying out for. Hence why we are willing to offload our "best" minimum standard NRL players to free up some cap space for the big fish. The players the Eels seek to get rid of may fit in well to a better team but they are not the big fish in our current pond. Blake Ferguson is a good start for our backline, may I suggest we also go for a player like Valentine Holmes. You are credit to this forum Pou, keep up the good work.

 

[T-Boon]

Kaysas main issue is he is a shit passer

If we used him in defense much the same way we use the other passes (Moses and Norman) then he would be able to concentrate more on his passing at training and less on his wrestling.

 

[hindy111]

Pou this is great analysis, we need more "superior" players. No doubt you were on board with signing Cronk as opposed to Moses, as you could no doubt see that Moses was one of these minimum NRL standard players rather than the actual touch of quality that the team was desperately crying out for. Hence why we are willing to offload our "best" minimum standard NRL players to free up some cap space for the big fish. The players the Eels seek to get rid of may fit in well to a better team but they are not the big fish in our current pond. Blake Ferguson is a good start for our backline, may I suggest we also go for a player like Valentine Holmes. You are credit to this forum Pou, keep up the good work.

Our superior players where always injured or in horrible form. It happens. And they are just as likely to be fit this year while others may return to elite form.
Keep in mind Moses was talked about for origin as was Norman when season kicked off. Why cant they return to that form? The fact is they can and good chance they will.
There is also guys who have superior player form for just 1 or 2 seasons. We may get lucky and a few of our guys have this. We may not.
Then there are guys like Tepai,Jnr,Lane who could break out and become superior players this season. Just like Vaughn and Tariq Sims did. They are at a good age now for it too happen.
And heck there are also talented juniors coming through thsst may hit the NRL like a storm. We may get lucky.

Of course there are chances we get i juries and a bit unlucky in games along with players stay in form slumps. But surely we couldn't get as unlucky as 2018 season. Nothing went right.....

Injuries alone we lost Edwards,Trex,Scott,Manu for bulk of season while Brown and Hayne spent heaps of time on sidelines. Throw in all those close games we couldn't win, bounce of ball etc..... AND NO HOME GROUND

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Pou this is great analysis, we need more "superior" players. No doubt you were on board with signing Cronk as opposed to Moses, as you could no doubt see that Moses was one of these minimum NRL standard players rather than the actual touch of quality that the team was desperately crying out for. Hence why we are willing to offload our "best" minimum standard NRL players to free up some cap space for the big fish. The players the Eels seek to get rid of may fit in well to a better team but they are not the big fish in our current pond. Blake Ferguson is a good start for our backline, may I suggest we also go for a player like Valentine Holmes. You are credit to this forum Pou, keep up the good work.

If you think we could’ve gotten Cronk for the price of Moses you’re off your head.

We have no TPAs, and already had a quality half in Norman. A player of Moses’ standard was all we needed to complement Norman. It worked a charm in 2017 but obviously fell apart this year and both halves looked shite.

 

[hindy111]

I think we have plenty of guys who we know what will provide and do and all at Nrl level or above average.Prob never be elite but capable of 1 or 2 great seasons.

Mannah,Terepo,Alvaro,Brown,Gutherson,Manu,Young Jennings.

We have elite players some out of form
MJ,Norman,Moses (Maybe Hayne) Ferguson

We have guys who can break out and potential to be elite but at worse do a job
Tepai,Lane,Jnr.


We have guys who could suprise and make a difference to team who had woefull 2018s.
Evans,Bevan

And juniors/debutants who may become stars
Sivo,Salmon,Niakuore,Brown,GL,Kafusi,Stone,Mahoney,Davey

 

[Noise]

If we used him in defense much the same way we use the other passes (Moses and Norman) then he would be able to concentrate more on his passing at training and less on his wrestling.

You can only hide 2 players 3 in from the sideline. Where do you suppose we defend Moses or Norman if you want to put Kaysa in their defensive position?

 

[Joshuatheeel]

If we are going to hide Pritchard in defence might as well play French at hooker and hide him in defence......

Additionally, not sure hiding your hooker gives them more energy to attack, most of the time the hooker can’t attack as the play the ball isn’t quick enough and/or the markers are already set so there is no room to run the ball.

 

[T-Boon]

You can only hide 2 players 3 in from the sideline. Where do you suppose we defend Moses or Norman if you want to put Kaysa in their defensive position?

Wing or centre. Defensively wing is a cerebral position and I think most wingers are too dumb to defend there. Shift those big boys infield.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Wing or centre. Defensively wing is a cerebral position and I think most wingers are too dumb to defend there. Shift those big boys infield.

I suspect Pritchard may just get targeted a bit more on the wing with a kick then in the middle....

 

[T-Boon]

I suspect Pritchard may just get targeted a bit more on the wing with a kick then in the middle....

your tall players need to be on the wing in the red zone no doubt.

 

[Noise]

Wing or centre. Defensively wing is a cerebral position and I think most wingers are too dumb to defend there. Shift those big boys infield.

Centre is the hardest position on the field to defend.

And wing? Targeted with kicks. Where are you going to put him when we are defending inside the 20?

 

[Chipmunk]

I think Semi's performances made most of our players look good, but in reality they were fairly average and it was exposed upon his departure.

Before him, The Plane covered some deficiencies when he was on the field.

It's telling that no other club really seems to want a bar of some of our so-called decent players.

 

[ImTheMan]

Double post

 

[ImTheMan]

Double post

 

[ImTheMan]

.

 

[strider]

If Kaysa wasnt injury prone and could string more then 12 games together his rhythm amd cohesion would improve. Practise makes perfect. He is dynamic and a great support player, aggresive in defense. Juddt always injured o we only see Kaysa at 60% of potential.

Yeah i think kaysa showed he can go ok if he plays more ... he just gets injured alot

Which seems to be the case with everyones favourite ex-NFL player these days too, but people are dying to re-sign him

 

[Eelogical]

Centre is the hardest position on the field to defend.

And wing? Targeted with kicks. Where are you going to put him when we are defending inside the 20?

Fullback: ?
Wing: Sivo and Ferguson
Centre: Gutherson and ?
Halves:?
Three from seven isn't the best but it's a road forward.

 

[Bolgeel]

what do we expect, we have him in the middle tackling monsters. Why would you have your most important passer tackling monsters? And in a position where we have zero depth as well.

That’s where all hookers defend, usually rack up the most tackles in the team eg Friend at roosters, small bloke but most tackles for 2018