The Ashes is over the real stuff about to start

[Kilkenny]

Seriously, after all the media hype and expectation surrounding the Ashes Series it is over before you know and we have been comprehensively 'flogged'. No excuses to be had simply beaten by a far superior side. The way we capitulated was surely embarassing and heads need to roll start with the selectors, coaches and at least half a dozen of those who played in this series who clearly are not up to test standard.

Having said that, the footy season will be on us before we know it.

I must be honest, I am not quite sure what to make of our chances in 2011.

Our recruitment has been 'low key' to say the least while at the same time we have lost a number of established NRL players in Pritchard, Graham, Cooper and a few who did not figure in 2010 such as Maurice Blair.

Pritchard is irreplaceable so we won't even go there.

We will instead largely rely on the same nuclues of player as we did in our successful 2010 season and to that end will rely on continued improvement from the likes of Grant, McKendy and a few others.

The NYC had a shocker in 2010 so other than perhaps big Everatt in the front row and perhaps Harry Sieka (more likely 2012) there isn't a look to look forward to from our junior ranks.

The key will again be injuries. The back end and semis in 2010 were a disaster for us as we simply do not have the depth to cover the loss of our star players and nothing will change in 2011 if similar bad luck comes our way.

I think with our best 17 fit and well we will certainly be competitive and win our fair share of games.

If luck deserts us and we lose key players for extended periods then I fear we may be in for a lean season.

I am not being pessamistic, must realistic.

Your thoughts.

 

[Fibroman]

if Lewis and Jennings pick up serious injuries we may well be looking at the spoon.

 

[Spitty]

Can't pick it. We scores a lot of tries off kicks early last year, which became significantly less successful as the year went on. When we did score tries through line breaks, they more often than not had significant involvement from Graham or Pritchard. And I don't mean just a final pass, I mean things that only Pritchard and Graham can do.

In that sense I am worried. Replacing Pritchard with Smith is a significant reduction on our attacking out put. I'm not sure where our tries are going to come from and all our recruits can potentially go either way.

No one can say whether Gibb, Weston, Worrincy, Y. Gordon or Taumata will rise to the occassion or flop. There are inherent risks with all of them.

So I just don't know. I think relying on last year's efforts is dangerous, but I can't say what we'll get from the new guys.

 

[anjado]

I am personally worried about this season. I feel we haven't been proactive enough in our recruitment. Every time Penrith have recruited well we have come close to winning a premiership you have the late 80's and early 90's and late 90's and early 00's and last season we recruited well and had a good season.

This season we haven't done much our under 20's have had a poor season. Our new signings have a massive hit and miss quality to them. Without Pritchard i am a bit worried about our attack whilst Frank was the laziest player in the team. Opposition teams were still afraid of him and when he played at his best could terrorize them.

Replacing him with Smith whilst i like Smith is a massive downgrade in attacking threat. Especially when Burns is not very creative and Walsh is hot and cold.

hopefully we will have a good run with injuries and i will be completely wrong. But i think we won't make the 8 this season i think too many teams we are competing with have improved whilst we haven't really.

 

[Spitty]

It's the possibility of some of the recruits hitting rather than missing which is giving me some faith.

 

[richie8u]

will we have any new recruits by the time the season starts?

 

[franklin2323]

It's the possibility of some of the recruits hitting rather than missing which is giving me some faith.

Agreed. when you look at it we have the same core of team. Fullback, both centres now that Gordon's in. Kingston. Our great pack all can match it with anyone in the comp. Walsh from 12months ago improved out of sight. Lewis, Jennings, McKendry, Grant & Walsh all should improve further. The main loss with Pritchard is he attracts 3 defenders whether he gets the ball or not. IMO Waterhouse, Smith, Lewis will be the 1st choice backrow. We have some big guys Paulo, Laurie, Gordon who can trouble the defence if they put it together. We need at the minimum 1 of them to come off. Also 1 or Taumata or Seliuni & we should go well. We should go with this team: Coote. Earl. Jennings. Gordon. Tighe. Taumata. Walsh. Petero. Kingston. Grant. Waterhouse. Smith. Lewis- Seliuni. McKendry. Bell. Gordon/Paulo or Laurie. That team is capable of Top 4 barring injuries or player development going backwards.

 

[maple_69]

I think that team is pretty spot on for our strongest team.
I like the sounds of Gibb, he could be a real asset.
Seluini looks a fantastic prospect, in the Issac Luke mould. Iosefa and Burns have acquitted themselves ok over the past year but atm are not adding anything to the team.
I think outside of injuries our premiership chances could rest on Taumata. He has a world of talent and could really utilize guys like Jennings, Gordon and Tighe, which no one has been able to do for a few years now, outside of Graham in patches.

 

[franklin2323]

I think that team is pretty spot on for our strongest team.
I like the sounds of Gibb, he could be a real asset.
Seluini looks a fantastic prospect, in the Issac Luke mould. Iosefa and Burns have acquitted themselves ok over the past year but atm are not adding anything to the team.
I think outside of injuries our premiership chances could rest on Taumata. He has a world of talent and could really utilize guys like Jennings, Gordon and Tighe, which no one has been able to do for a few years now, outside of Graham in patches.

That's the way I see it. Playing Burns and Masada won't make us worse then this year but we won't improve Walsh, Kingston to an extent Coote are stable players who will do the little things right but we need explosive players to win the comp.

 

[Kilkenny]

That's the way I see it. Playing Burns and Masada won't make us worse then this year but we won't improve Walsh, Kingston to an extent Coote are stable players who will do the little things right but we need explosive players to win the comp.

Very little mail to report and not a lot of news coming out from the camp.

Hopefully once the SG Ball and Flegg gets underway I might bump into a few 'sources' a get some feedback to report.