The Rumours Thread

[Wolfgang90]

If Sloan & Feagai have shockers today (I hope not) then I wouldn't mind moving Lomax to fullback, keeping Moga & Suli in the centres with young Sione Finau on the wing. Figure out what we have to work with for next season, what combos show promise, where we need to focus on in the off-season/preseason.

The rest of the season should be about trialling different guys in different positions to see what works for them & the team. It's a crucial information gathering time right now imo. Flanno can then hit the ground running having some idea of areas of promise, strengths & weaknesses.

I hope Flanno has spoken with Carr about our lineups etc. Everything we're doing for the rest of this season is to build for next season. Everyone talks about speed, but even the good teams only have 1 or max 2 genuine speedsters in their back 5. Penrith - Turuva, Bronocs - Walsh, Storm - Coates?, Sharks - Katoa, Warriors - DWZ.

Look at the gun fullbacks in the comp, none of them apart from Walsh & Hammer are genuine speedsters. The majority of them are great kick returners, defensively solid & very good organiser. Yes you need speed but even just having 1 speedster in the backline is sufficient. The main role of the fullback is kick return, organisation in defence & attack & being defensively solid (just put your body on the line). Ball playing & possessing speed are added benefits but not crucial in being a gun fullback.

Sloan has shown glimpses of that defensive desperation at fullback & organisation but it hasn't been enough imo. I'm happy to persist with him or give someone else an opportunity. I believe the rest of this season is all about information gathering in preparation for next year.

 

[Lethal25]

If Sloan & Feagai have shockers today (I hope not) then I wouldn't mind moving Lomax to fullback, keeping Moga & Suli in the centres with young Sione Finau on the wing. Figure out what we have to work with for next season, what combos show promise, where we need to focus on in the off-season/preseason.

The rest of the season should be about trialling different guys in different positions to see what works for them & the team. It's a crucial information gathering time right now imo. Flanno can then hit the ground running having some idea of areas of promise, strengths & weaknesses.

I hope Flanno has spoken with Carr about our lineups etc. Everything we're doing for the rest of this season is to build for next season. Everyone talks about speed, but even the good teams only have 1 or max 2 genuine speedsters in their back 5. Penrith - Turuva, Bronocs - Walsh, Storm - Coates?, Sharks - Katoa, Warriors - DWZ.

Look at the gun fullbacks in the comp, none of them apart from Walsh & Hammer are genuine speedsters. The majority of them are great kick returners, defensively solid & very good organiser. Yes you need speed but even just having 1 speedster in the backline is sufficient. The main role of the fullback is kick return, organisation in defence & attack & being defensively solid (just put your body on the line). Ball playing & possessing speed are added benefits but not crucial in being a gun fullback.

Sloan has shown glimpses of that defensive desperation at fullback & organisation but it hasn't been enough imo. I'm happy to persist with him or give someone else an opportunity. I believe the rest of this season is all about information gathering in preparation for next year.

I've seen the Lomax to fullback thing mentioned numerous times and I for one don't see it as a positive move.

He's never spent time organising a defence, his own decision making in defence at centre is questionable at best. He has not shown any ball playing skills other than the flick pass which often puts the winger under immense pressure. He is slow for a centre let alone a fullback, his positional play also unknown. But the stand out for me though is the amount of errors he makes, 23 in 13 games this year & 44 in 24 games last season. These are errors at centre, not when you have Cleary tossing up a bomb and defence is right on your hammer.

You could argue he's not received enough decent early ball but largely he's been below average and in my opinion should not be allowed anywhere near fullback

 

[Drewbrees]

I've seen the Lomax to fullback thing mentioned numerous times and I for one don't see it as a positive move.

He's never spent time organising a defence, his own decision making in defence at centre is questionable at best. He has not shown any ball playing skills other than the flick pass which often puts the winger under immense pressure. He is slow for a centre let alone a fullback, his positional play also unknown. But the stand out for me though is the amount of errors he makes, 23 in 13 games this year & 44 in 24 games last season. These are errors at centre, not when you have Cleary tossing up a bomb and defence is right on your hammer.

You could argue he's not received enough decent early ball but largely he's been below average and in my opinion should not be allowed anywhere near fullback

Agree 100%.

 

[SEAT 1A]

https://archive.md/IXB3m

Love every word.

Carr is still the head coach, reminding the players of standards he sets under him. Speaking with Shane in the background however, it's still his team.

He's respected the players with Hook's style and the clubs handling of Hook's removal. Now it's time for business.

 

[dragon thomo]

Lomax is barely fast enough to play centre, and way to slow for fullback. I am hoping he is one of the players that would consider leaving. His form has dropped and his goal kicking is now piss poor after changing the way he kicks

 

[JubileeJeffro]

Lomax could become a good edge back rower, Ben Creagh style, then his little flick offload will be nowhere near the sideline either

 

[dungay dragon]

Lomax could become a good edge back rower, Ben Creagh style, then his little flick offload will be nowhere near the sideline either

Been voicing this for sometime now
Worth a try but i guess all depends on what Flanno is planning tor 2024
Yep his goalkicking has been down on previous seasons , and for some reason was placing the ball lower on the Tee , but that stopped some weeks ago
When we do score tries a large percentage of those are wide out and in corners which hasnt helped ...

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

Is Blake Lawrie making less metres than every single prop rotation in the sharks team?

 

[redv13]

Is Blake Lawrie making less metres than every single prop rotation in the sharks team?
Bit harsh mate when we had 39% possession and made 408 tackles to the sharks 248. Pretty sure the 6 again restarts were like 6-0 to the sharks too.
Not saying they weren’t warranted but with the speed of the game these days I’m a little sceptical that a team registers zero 6 agains in 80 mins. Clearly the sharks are perfect in the discipline department

 

[Dragons4me]

Is Blake Lawrie making less metres than every single prop rotation in the sharks team?
Bit harsh mate when we had 39% possession and made 408 tackles to the sharks 248. Pretty sure the 6 again restarts were like 6-0 to the sharks too.
Not saying they weren’t warranted but with the speed of the game these days I’m a little sceptical that a team registers zero 6 agains in 80 mins. Clearly the sharks are perfect in the discipline department

This. Good summation.
Just on Blocker, it's cause Blocker has to run at players. Now if he had a step in him and runs into gaps, his figures might improve. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Blocker fan.

 

[possm]

I really hope it is Hunt to Cowboys with Holmes to Dragons. Even swap.

1. Holmes
2. Lobb
3. Suli
4 Lomax
5. Ravalawa
6. Sloan
7. Sullivan
8. New prop
9. Liddel
10 , Bew prop
11. Couchman
12. Su'A
13. De Belin

14. K Flannagan
15. F Molo
16. Laurie
17. M Molo

In the off-season, coach Flannigan prioritizes fitness and defense commitment. Our players are not fit enough and their performance in defence is shocking.

Hunt is over-rated and Sloan and Sullivan are not up to first-grade standards. So, maybe it is time to make some changes.

Swap Hunt for Holmes as he wants to play fullback.
Move Sloan to five-eighth or to reserve grade.

Promote Lobb to the left wing and give Matt Feagai a stint in reserve grade.

I'm hoping that when Hunt is gone, Sullivan will gain the confidence to run the game (as he consistently does in reserve grade).

Flannagan should do his best to rid the club of:
Bird 550
Mbye 800
Musgrave 400
BMM 400
Burns 300
Hunt 900

Do this and there should be enough (3approx. .5m) to attract some great players for our top 30.

 

[Squid1]

Lomax is barely fast enough to play centre, and way to slow for fullback. I am hoping he is one of the players that would consider leaving. His form has dropped and his goal kicking is now piss poor after changing the way he kicks

Wow i think he has been 1 of our best players ,does at least 1 hit up every set and at least tries to set up his winger when he occasionally gets good ball, contests bombs , and has pretty good defence .

 

[St.Brisbane]

I am not sure how Flanagan turns this around. We have so few NRL standard players in our squad and it will not be easy to recruit new players into this mess.

1.
2.
3. Suli
4. Lomax
5.
6.
7. Sullivan
8. DeBelin
9. Liddle
10.
11. Sua
12.
13.

Even some of these guys are only just average. Some juniors might develop more before next season but hard to see how we can realistically fill these gaps.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

mbye is only on $400k

 

[blacksafake]

Wow i think he has been 1 of our best players ,does at least 1 hit up every set and at least tries to set up his winger when he occasionally gets good ball, contests bombs , and has pretty good defence .

And the only one who chases & contests bombs

 

[Slippery Morris]

Wow i think he has been 1 of our best players ,does at least 1 hit up every set and at least tries to set up his winger when he occasionally gets good ball, contests bombs , and has pretty good defence .

Totally agree. I may be seeing a different game each week but Lomax has improved since he went back to his usual spot. The only guy in the backline that attacks a bomb or tackles the bloke from the opposition when they catch it.

 

[Jeremy Dragon]

Flannagan should do his best to rid the club of:
Bird 550
Mbye 800
Musgrave 400
BMM 400
Burns 300
Hunt 900

NFI

 

[getsmarty]

 

[BLM01]

Wow i think he has been 1 of our best players ,does at least 1 hit up every set and at least tries to set up his winger when he occasionally gets good ball, contests bombs , and has pretty good defence .

Agree with all that except Zac tries too hard sometimes with a big play and attempts to solve things on his own like the chase of the kicker last night
He is not alone though
we are team of individuals some playing good and trying snd others Way out of form
No cohesion and working together happens quite often in both with and without the ball

 

[JubileeJeffro]

Apparently we are looking at Jock Madden from broncos as a 7..