State of Origin 2025

[Beavers Headgear]

Mail before Jake got concussed was that Loz was picking him for game 1. And if they lost that game, I've no doubt Jake would've come straight back in.

What he brings to a team is similar to what Fish brought to Penrith, and now us, Never see it on a stat sheet but his team mates swear by it.

This is what Christian Welsch had to say on him last year


“Jake Trbojevic has copped a bit of grief lately because he probably doesn’t smash the running metres metric that the media love to use. The reality is that this guy works so hard off the ball, leads the line speed in defence and does all the little things.

In attack, he leads the NRL in push supports.

So when a teammate is taking a carry, Jake is the league’s best at running in support as an option to pass. This takes a lot of effort with no real recognition on the stat sheet, but it helps his teammates so much.

When Jake pushes up, the defensive line must hold out and respect him as an option. That means big units like Taniela Paseka and Josh Aloiai often draw 1-2 man tackles instead of the 3-4 man tackles they’d cop without push support. As a result they are easier carries, able to carry further (especially post-contact metres) and help Manly win the field position battle”

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Both of those players do have some stink attached to their name though

There's other examples. Jake Lillyman lost his bench spot after they won Game 1 in 2011. I remember it quite clearly cos he was one of ours at the time, but he got dumped for Dave Taylor.

TBF Jakey had a pretty average game, but still... was more pick n flick that year.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Aussie media zeroing in on Kurt Capewell for leading the NRL missed tackles stats by a wide margin this year

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Aussie media zeroing in on Kurt Capewell for leading the NRL missed tackles stats by a wide margin this year

I do find it unusual how much praise he gets for "holding down the edge on defence" when I constantly see him fall off tackles (although awareness of the stats probably makes me notice it more).

I think it's probably a case of him rushing out of the line a lot of try to shut down attacks, and not necessarily sticking in the tackle but still doing a job. Nevertheless, it's such a stark statistic that I find it hard to believe it purely comes down to the role he plays. I think that he's probably quite a smart positional defender but the stat reflects he's not all that solid in contact.

 

[Meth]

I think it's probably a case of him rushing out of the line a lot of try to shut down attacks, and not necessarily sticking in the tackle but still doing a job.

Yep, I think that's it

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

On the Jurbo/JFH comparison, I'm also a bit uncomfortable with the praise being lavished on JFH at the moment. I fully appreciate that off the ball work is critical and that stats are a bit of blunt instrument, and that team culture and leadership is important in its own right irrespective of how the people involved in creating that culture play themselves.

Nevertheless as a footy watcher I do still sort of need to see someone playing well. I'm not prepared to entirely just take someone's word that a guy is invisibly playing well, I mean we can literally see them out there. I still look forward to bigger and better things from JFH for the rest of the season.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Munter named captain

 

[Izz]

Munter named captain

NSW whitewash incoming...

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Munter named captain

Big call... get the feeling it'll be rocks or diamonds.

Martin should get stuck in. Try bust open that simmering little feud they have. Skipper losing his rag would be hilarious.