The curious case of Michael Witt

[jenninga]

I don't know what game you were watching but I thought Williams helped us back into the Warriors game, along with Garvey. Those two were clearly the classiest players in the team

Agree ,thought Williams did well in the 2nd half of that game.
Always thought Kyle will eventually be our 7 this season,seems Price was easing him coming off the bench in 1st grade before giving him the halfback role.Hopefully he will regain his confidence as he will give us that extra in attack,kicking game and defence.
Reckon Mata utai wouldn't be far away from 1st grade either,and please ,Ailomai.

 

[twinkletoes]

Its bemusing that 12 months on we are all having the same conversation about the coach. One of his key failures is in selecting the wrong players in the wrong positions. Williams I think has a far superior kicking game than anyone else and also is deadly accurate in his bombs where a number of tries have been scored by us this year when he was playing. Our kicking game has been one of our weaknesses since he was dropped and is 1 area where I think he would greatly improve our go forward.

Also I'm not convinced about Green in the centres...yes has been solid but has no strike power to set up his wingers...hence the lack of opportunities being given to our best players out wide.

Debelin and Stockwell...well I think everyone has been saying for nearly 2 seasons that they need another year before they show their real potential. Well this should be the year they start stamping their authority and to date they are not even close to dominating other forward packs....although DeBelin does from time to time start to aim up, but not consistently. I'm starting to doubt whether they will be any more than solid first graders as this is their third year playing in the top grade..

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Its bemusing that 12 months on we are all having the same conversation about the coach. One of his key failures is in selecting the wrong players in the wrong positions. Williams I think has a far superior kicking game than anyone else and also is deadly accurate in his bombs where a number of tries have been scored by us this year when he was playing. Our kicking game has been one of our weaknesses since he was dropped and is 1 area where I think he would greatly improve our go forward.

Also I'm not convinced about Green in the centres...yes has been solid but has no strike power to set up his wingers...hence the lack of opportunities being given to our best players out wide.

Debelin and Stockwell...well I think everyone has been saying for nearly 2 seasons that they need another year before they show their real potential. Well this should be the year they start stamping their authority and to date they are not even close to dominating other forward packs....although DeBelin does from time to time start to aim up, but not consistently. I'm starting to doubt whether they will be any more than solid first graders as this is their third year playing in the top grade..

Debilin and Stockwell are looking like David Gower and Michael Henderson instead of a Luke Bailey and Michael Weyman.

 

[BennyV]

I'm not expecting Stockwell to have a breakout season for another 2-3 years. Mid-late 20s is usually peak time for props, he still has a bit of muscle to put on, and the fact that he has played the way he has the last year or two is indicative of how far he will go.

DeBelin...well, I honestly think he is being played out of position. He's not a battering ram or a metre eater...he is a bruiser in defense and I believe he has some ball skills. I don't think he's a prop. Definitely needs some mentoring, otherwise he will end up as a solid first grader and no more.

 

[hewi]

Williams is the best halfback at the club. The fact that he's being stuck in Cutters is ridiculous. Word is that he is completely demoralised by Price, who simply doesn't rate him and won't budge on it.

Similar to what he did to Drinkwater. IMO been in the eight is not going to happen, so let's blood Williams and see I'd he can cut it in FG. Better still piss off Price.

 

[GT0007]

I'm not expecting Stockwell to have a breakout season for another 2-3 years. Mid-late 20s is usually peak time for props, he still has a bit of muscle to put on, and the fact that he has played the way he has the last year or two is indicative of how far he will go.

DeBelin...well, I honestly think he is being played out of position. He's not a battering ram or a metre eater...he is a bruiser in defense and I believe he has some ball skills. I don't think he's a prop. Definitely needs some mentoring, otherwise he will end up as a solid first grader and no more.

I think Stockwell will improve over the next few weeks as he got a late start with injury. JDB is really a backrower but I think he did well against the Rorters and he is starting to stand up against the big guns. As you rightly point out usually frontrowers develop later as well. Stockwell in particular needs add a bit to his frame and then IMO he will be a very good frontrower

 

[Jubileeboy]

Funny how everyone has dismissed kyle as a half when the kid hasnt been given a run there... yet williams, who has had a number of games and done sweet f**k all is rated as the best half we have.
The logic really shines through.....

He's (Stanley) been given a run everywhere else. Why will half work for him? He's a ball runner. Does not strike me as a 'scheming, cheeky' halfback at all.

 

[GT0007]

Similar to what he did to Drinkwater. IMO been in the eight is not going to happen, so let's blood Williams and see I'd he can cut it in FG. Better still piss off Price.

Not at any point did Drinkwater do anything to deserve a spot in the top side where as Williams has shown promise. I think Witt deserves a few more games as Williams should have got but ......I'll say it again that all of them will fail when we are losing the ruck so badly. Most of our players are playing reasonably well yet we are losing games as we dont have any momentum and in actual fact are giving it away in the ruck. The coaches have to fix that and there's no point changing 7's til that is sorted. All that would happen is people would then be screaming for Williams to be dropped again

 

[DUB888]

It seems the "Buzz words" across a few threads are "Coaches" and "Coaching".....Funny that?

 

[jenninga]

Similar to what he did to Drinkwater. IMO been in the eight is not going to happen, so let's blood Williams and see I'd he can cut it in FG. Better still piss off Price.

Williams wouldn't be in our long term plans going by the 1 year contract,and having played 40 odd 1st grade games already it's not as if it was a wait and see.

 

[jenninga]

I think Stockwell will improve over the next few weeks as he got a late start with injury. JDB is really a backrower but I think he did well against the Rorters and he is starting to stand up against the big guns. As you rightly point out usually frontrowers develop later as well. Stockwell in particular needs add a bit to his frame and then IMO he will be a very good frontrower

Reckon JDB would be a good backrower

 

[GT0007]

Agree ,thought Williams did well in the 2nd half of that game.
Always thought Kyle will eventually be our 7 this season,seems Price was easing him coming off the bench in 1st grade before giving him the halfback role.Hopefully he will regain his confidence as he will give us that extra in attack,kicking game and defence.
Reckon Mata utai wouldn't be far away from 1st grade either,and please ,Ailomai.

I know we've discussed this many times lol but I don't see Kyle as a 7, more so a 5/8 however if Kyle is to get a run in the NRL at 7 then he needs to earn it by blowing them away in NSW Cup, if he cant do it there then there's no reason to think he can in the top side. I like that he's getting game time now so if we do need him at 6 or 7 he will be up to it, it was dong him no good at all playing 15mins at hooker.

I wouldve picked Mata'Utia weeks ago as I think he was putting pressure on Farrell though Farrell was warming to it. Mata has a Q over his D but I don't think Green is any better and Mata can attack. We agree!!! lol

I'd like to give Ailomai a run in place of Hunt only, if he was to replace anyone else it would be a no from me. He has promise and probably just lacks a bit of fitness so I'd use him in 2 short spells. I'd like to see if he could handle NRL. Tag team him with Ah Mau

 

[GT0007]

I suspect he wasn't dropped because he made a couple of errors in judgement or dropped balls. I am guessing that Price had ear-marked Witt as the starting half from the get go.

The couple of weeks of having Witt in the cutters was to get some game time under the belt after an injury before bringing him back into first grade - which seems as though it was always going to happen.

Both are on 1 year contracts so neither have a future at the club at this point in time. I am guessing Price is trying to get some seniority in the halves in the hope this will solidify some structure in the attack and some control on the field.

You're 100% correct as I've said the same thing so you must be lol but what you missed is Williams had his fate in his own hands and I believe couldve held the position without the errors and consolidate it with a few good performances, all it did was give Price a ticket to reinstate Witt as he had planned. However the following game against Souths wouldve done him no favours like it did Quinlan.

I think one of them will be resigned and my gut feeling is it will be Williams unless Kyle finds his way and cements a spot at 7 then it maybe considered that we dont need either and Quinlan will become a back up 7.

 

[hardbaby]

Williams at half. Witt on the bench. Until Style gets his body right and his confidence back, that's our best bet.

 

[GT0007]

Williams at half. Witt on the bench. Until Style gets his body right and his confidence back, that's our best bet.

It's probably my thoughts as well however you cant change the half every week if the team loses when its not the halfs fault. My biggest reason to change is based on our atrocious kicking game but I'm happy to see how we perform against the dags

 

[64 Dragon]

Kyle is on the bench for Samoa. It will be interesting to see how he goes.

 

[GT0007]

Kyle is on the bench for Samoa. It will be interesting to see how he goes.

Congrats to Kyle I hope he goes well. Do you know if its televised?

 

[Rob Dragon]

Williams is demoralised by Price? So am I!

Price cannot settle on a number 7 for the best part of the last 35 games. We but props (Groat and Alomia) and continue to play good young backrowers in the front row (Frizzle and De Bellin). They will get the stuffing knocked out of them and burn out quickly or move on to another club.

We but centres and play Green in that position. He is very ordinary.

The game plan is to either (a) run from dummy half or (b) run one off the ruck with no support. This is a terrific game plan isn't it? Must be devilishly hard to defend against.

Steve Price will not be sacked this year I am afraid. We will have wasted 3 years under this bloke. As I noted in a post on April 25th Steve Price said in an interview before the game that "the players check their calendars at the beginning of the year to see when the Anzac Day game is on". What do you think of that?

It is getting hard watching this kid coach this wonderful club, a club I have followed since 1972. The club deserves better, the players deserve better, the fans deserve better and the sponsors deserve better. And yet we have to sit and watch the slow demise of the club. Every week we drip further downhill takes 2 weeks to rebuild. Every year we drip further downhill takes 2 years to rebuild. Just ask Parramatta about the slippery slope and the difficulty in rebuilding. We are on the same slippery slide and the sad thing is that there are alternatives.

The Warriors sacked Mathew Elliott, why can't the Dragons take the adult and responsible action and pay the kid out and get rid of him?

 

[dragonreddy]

Doust wouldnt have the TICKER to sack PRICE.

 

[Dezziedc]

You're 100% correct as I've said the same thing so you must be lol but what you missed is Williams had his fate in his own hands and I believe couldve held the position without the errors and consolidate it with a few good performances, all it did was give Price a ticket to reinstate Witt as he had planned. However the following game against Souths wouldve done him no favours like it did Quinlan.

I think one of them will be resigned and my gut feeling is it will be Williams unless Kyle finds his way and cements a spot at 7 then it maybe considered that we dont need either and Quinlan will become a back up 7.

Mate you and I are playing the same broken record with the ruck as well. Are you sure you aren't my evil twin?