Team v Raiders

[Thatwasnthighref]

Jagging a win here would be absolutely huge

Yea man... going up against a couple of renowned aggressors like Tapine and Horsburg without our alphas makes this one especially tough.

Helluva confidence boost for the season if the boys pull it off though.

 

[ozenzud]

Yea man... going up against a couple of renowned aggressors like Tapine and Horsburg without our alphas makes this one especially tough.

Helluva confidence boost for the season if the boys pull it off though.

I don't think it will be too deflating if they lose either. Given the guys we have out. As long as they arn't steamrolled. We were all pretty disappointed after the Vegas-sing we got. Specially as nobody was thinking much of Canberra this year. Lets hope its at least a solid performance. Reasonably hard run coming up though

 

[Meth]

I don't think it will be too deflating if they lose either.

A couple of weeks ago we looking at the 4 games (with Canberra being the 4th) and said if we could win 2 of them, that'd be great. So, yeah, I'm pretty philosophical about this one. Would be great to be 1-1 with the Raiders though

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

The TAB have us favourites which I find bizarre honestly. Ok I guess we are running second and tough to beat at home, but we're missing arguably our 2 best players (in fact there's a compelling argument we have 2 elite players and they're it). Because they're our props, we effectively go from the engine room of the team being our obvious strength to our obvious weakness. This seems more than enough to make us outsiders for me.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

If Leiataua comes back this week, I wonder if we do the obvious reshuffle (Capewell second row, Niukore prop), or has Niukore been going so well at second row that we leave him there and bench Halasima?

And once everyone is back, same question - bench Halasima?

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

If Leiataua comes back this week, I wonder if we do the obvious reshuffle (Capewell second row, Niukore prop), or has Niukore been going so well at second row that we leave him there and bench Halasima?

And once everyone is back, same question - bench Halasima?

For this week's game, I'd like to see Niukore moved to prop if Ali comes back. That'd probably mean TSS drops off which is a shame for the young fella, but we're missing so much experience in the middle without our skips.

Longer term though, with everyone back on deck... I do like Leka off the bench using his footwork against a less-than-fresh defensive line.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

In a perfect world I'd still like Leka to start (just cos I think he's already one of our best players) but yeah I probably see Capewell holding down that left edge spot on current form. I also think Capewell makes sense as a bench utility though.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

In a perfect world I'd still like Leka to start (just cos I think he's already one of our best players) but yeah I probably see Capewell holding down that left edge spot on current form. I also think Capewell makes sense as a bench utility though.

Just on Capewell… until Webster mentioned in a recent presser, I didn’t know the guy was battling a number of niggles last year. According to Webster, his improved form this year is as much to do with being fully fit as anything.

Which was good to hear, on the assumption that means we can expect more good form if he stays fit, but FMD how many players did the club play busted last year? SJ, Tohu, TMM in the back half, and now we’re hearing Capewell?

I mean I know that’s inevitable to a degree, but that just feels particularly bad.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Just on Capewell… until Webster mentioned in a recent presser, I didn’t know the guy was battling a number of niggles last year. According to Webster, his improved form this year is as much to do with being fully fit as anything.

Which was good to hear, on the assumption that means we can expect more good form if he stays fit, but FMD how many players did the club play busted last year? SJ, Tohu, TMM in the back half, and now we’re hearing Capewell?

I mean I know that’s inevitable to a degree, but that just feels particularly bad.

I think the thing that annoys me a little bit (but not a lot, I love what this club is doing right now) is that those guys playing busted stunted the development of the Lekas, the Demetrics, Laban, and so on. Those guys could have 6-8 more games in them, which doesn't seem like a lot but it definitely makes a difference in terms of them dealing with consistent NRL football, the fatigue, the mental requirements and so on.