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The Rumours Thread

Gareth67

First Grade
Messages
8,418
I suppose in the long run Gareth money talks and nowadays its worth much more than loyalty, and you know we have had first hand experience at that.
You are certainly right about that , I keep forgetting that times have changed . And you cannot blame a man for obtaining the best deal for himself , just as long as he and his new club do remain loyal to each other.
 

TheRev

First Grade
Messages
8,528
Many of these guys are still contracted for 2024.. so how keen are we are to get them off the books, and potentially pick up a big chunk of their contracts?

Feeling like we will be starting 2024 with around 25 players, and looking to add more as the season rolls on.
 
Messages
101
Dont know how many times I have posted that exact thing. While others continually bash this kid over his defense I continue to defend him for that very reason. No doubt he needs a minimum five kilos on that scrawny frame to give him more confidence in one on one tackles. Am sure Flanno will get him into the gym and onto the tackling machine in the off season, ride him like a bucking bronco then add a message that has to stick with him like glue, that silky attacking skills alone wont make you a great player.
There are smaller players in the NRL that can make those tackles. It's very true that our forwards and outside backs shouldn't be loading our fullback up with so much defence but if they do, it's the fullbacks job to make those tackles. It's a fullbacks most important job. It's about commitment and effort, the side on, one on one tackles are all about hitting with your shoulder and wrapping up their legs. It's simple stuff that junior footballers know how to do. Sloan has outstanding attacking skills, if he was totally committed in defence he could be anything! Time will tell, but how much time does he need 🤔
 
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Kolum Kid

Juniors
Messages
228
Hard pre-season workouts under better fitness and strength conditioners and trainers and of course Flanagan might help Sloan. He definitely needs to build in terms of muscle gaining weight and strength. He needs to learn and ignore the thought of being hurt and to put his body on the line just like Drinkwater, Walsh, Brimson, Meaney, Edwards etc who are not big fullbacks like Mitchell, Tommy T, Tedesco etc. He has to go hard and eliminate any thought of injury.

Sloan has the speed we need but needs to be much better in other areas that is for sure.

We have had high hopes for him, Sullivan, Amone, Feagai twins. In the lower grades they shone, but they have found it tougher in first grade but lets see how things go under Flanno.

There are smaller players in the NRL that can make those tackles. It's very true that our forwards and outside backs shouldn't be loading our fullback up with so much defence but if they do, it's the fullbacks job to make those tackles. It's a fullbacks most important job. It's about commitment and effort, the side on, one on one tackles are all about hitting with your shoulder and wrapping up their legs. It's simple stuff that junior footballers know how to do. Sloan has outstanding attacking skills, if he was totally committed in defence he could be anything! Time will tell, but how much time does he need 🤔
Being in Queensland I'm not in the know regarding the junior pathways, but from a distance it seems the problem is in the JV junior coaching systems. How many juniors come through that have poor defence capabilities. Lots come to mind.
 

The Word

Juniors
Messages
252

True_Believer

Juniors
Messages
1,742
Being in Queensland I'm not in the know regarding the junior pathways, but from a distance it seems the problem is in the JV junior coaching systems. How many juniors come through that have poor defence capabilities. Lots come to mind.
This is correct - and I believe they have been trying to fix that over the last couple of years. However it seems it's just as difficult to get the right coaches in place for the lower grades as it is at the NRL level.

Additionally, some of these players just don't make the step up. They look good coming through the ranks but the gap between lower grades and NRL is quite big. People tend to forget that.

We compare our players with players from other teams all the time but I feel that is rarely a fair comparison due in part to these variables. All players develop differently and combining that with the ability or inability of lower grades to adequately prepare a player for transition to the big league, makes it difficult to assess a players readiness or ability to make it in the NRL.
 

justadragon

Bench
Messages
2,852
Being in Queensland I'm not in the know regarding the junior pathways, but from a distance it seems the problem is in the JV junior coaching systems. How many juniors come through that have poor defence capabilities. Lots come to mind.
Our defence through the lower grades has been abysmal for years, the focus has been on scoring try's rather than stopping them. Ever since Bennett left it has been a slow progression downhill. Just to make matters worse we kept on getting coaches like Hook that was touted as a defensive minded coach and we have all seen how that has played out.
 

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