TRAIL GAME 2 - Cowboys v Warriors

[Talanexor]

Teams are up:


North Queensland Toyota Cowboys v New Zealand Warriors
7.30pm, Saturday 20 February 2010
Barlow Park, Cairns
1. Ty Williams
2. John Williams
3. Ashley Graham
4. Willie Tonga
5. Obe Geia
6. Grant Rovelli
7. Johnathan Thurston
8. Matt Scott
9. Aaron Payne
10. Carl Webb
11. Scott Bolton
12. Steve Southern
13. Luke O’Donnell
Interchange:
14. Ray Thompson
15. Clint Amos
16. Steve Rapira
17. Manase Manuokofoa
18. James Tamou
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys NYC/NRL v Northern Pride
5.30pm, Saturday 20 February 2010
Barlow Park, Cairns
1. Shannon Gallant
2. Michael Bani
3. Will Tupou
4. Donald Malone
5. Steve Eliott
6. Nathan Kepa
7. Michael Morgan
8. Leeson Ah Mau
9. Anthony Watts
10. Antonio Kaufusi
11. Willie Mason
12. David Uhi
13. Dane Hogan
Interchange:
14. Wayne Ulugia
15. Moses Pangai
16. Kyle Feldt
17. James Segeyaro
18. Isaak Ah Mau
19. Mitchell Achurch
20. Aidan Day
Coach: Neil Henry






I don't like that Ty Williams and Ash Graham are in the first grade side while Gallant and Watts are in the reserve grade side and Ryan Stig is nowhere to be seen.



I DO like that Geia and Thompson are in the first grade side, and that no one from last year has lost their spot to Mason automatically - he'll have to prove he deserves a run.


Henry needs to persist with Gallant. Ty Williams is great for depth, but I don't want to see him in the first grade side, he's just too slow these days.

 

[Big Pete]

From what I can gather, they're playing all their recruits in the Northern Pride game to climatise them to the North Queensland humidity.

What are you basing your Ryan Stig rating on?

 

[watatank]

From what I can gather, they're playing all their recruits in the Northern Pride game to climatise them to the North Queensland humidity.

What are you basing your Ryan Stig rating on?

They're both playing at the same ground...(so it says in the OP anyway) maybe they're giving the incumbents every chance to impress or something

 

[Big Pete]

How did I miss that!

Yes, now I am confused. Williams > Gallant?

 

[whidds]

is stig any good?

 

[ozbash]

is anyone going to this game ?

 

[Dee]

Both Gallant and Mason are playing the first game against the Pride, and immediately after they'll both get some game time in the game against the Warriors.

 

[The Pain Game]

Happy to be corrected. Assumed Mason was playing for the Pride, but as I have heard more, the Cowboys have two teams, and the second string team is playing the Pride - as opposed to the Pride playing an invitational team. I like this... make him work hard for his spot and test his attitude. Let the players in the team fight for theirs or bring Big Willie in for the next game. This is acknowledging I am aware that Gallant and Mason should get some a-grade minutes.

As for Ty Williams, hated the rule that denied him the right to try and score after intercepting the ball in the power-play. Would have loved to see his pace. By all reports, speed has been something he has worked on to resurrect his career, and the Cowboys are happy with him.

As for Stagg, he will not be playing for the second string team because he is a Pride player. He needs to develop his combo with Chris Sheppard, and will still get the opportunity to push his claims by being in this game.

There is also a report of Ray Thompson in the Cairns paper...

 

[Nth-Qld-Raider]

Im heading down to the game, the Cowboys teams looks pretty good, its good that Mason has to prove himself, Im sure the Pride boys will stick it to him. Im interested in seeing Ray Thompson and Obe Geia play, two talented young players.

Not sure what team the Warriors are running, the only thing i heard on the news was that Pricey and Brent Tate weren't playing.

 

[Talanexor]

Warriors squad is named, but positions aren't listed. Close to full strength, but a few aren't playing (Price, Tate & Mannering I believe). A lot of positions seem up in the air, especially the halves and bench.

What concerns me is that Ash Graham is STILL IN THE TEAM. We can't carry him and still make it into the finals. There's no point in wasting trial minutes with him in the team.

Neil Henry needs to stick one of Tupou, Malone or O'Donnell in there and see how they go. All that Graham is going to prove is that he doesn't deserve a first grade spot.

At this stage I'd lean toward O'Donnell for defensive reasons, but I'd love to be proven wrong if Malone or Tupou carve up.

 

[The Pain Game]

Apparently Ashley Graham has had one of his best pre-seasons and is free of his leg injuries. I guess this is the real test. Unsure if a young Geia and a defensively weak Graham will combine well, but I do know John Williams and Willie Tonga will be a strong/reliable combination.

I tipped the Cowboys to be beaten by the Tigers (generally our young players struggle around other young players in trials) but we have named an experienced team. Still, a few things to improve on, but I would not overly rate the current Warriors line-up. We should win, unless the tempo (because a trial) is low, or the conditions are terrible.

 

[Charlie124]

I hope Ash comes out in the trial and has an absolute blinder, it seems to be the in thing at the moment to trash talk him when in reality he hasnt been nearly as bad as some make him out to be. When you consider the injury he has had to come back from, the time it takes to do that and the diabolical form of the rest of our backline in the last 2 seasons i find it a bit rough to pin it all on Graham.

People on this forum seem to forget that in 2007 he was the third highest try scorer (including some length of the field specials and his uncanny ability to sniff out an intercept). Sure his defence is pretty dodgy but that doesnt stop half the centres in the competition from making their respective first grade squads.
I know its not 2007 anymore and we need someone to put their hand up and cement the other centre position down, im just saying that just because Graham has failed to impress in a very underperforming backline while also coming back from serious injury we shouldnt be so quick to write him off completely.

 

[Talanexor]

I hope Ash comes out in the trial and has an absolute blinder, it seems to be the in thing at the moment to trash talk him when in reality he hasnt been nearly as bad as some make him out to be. When you consider the injury he has had to come back from, the time it takes to do that and the diabolical form of the rest of our backline in the last 2 seasons i find it a bit rough to pin it all on Graham.

People on this forum seem to forget that in 2007 he was the third highest try scorer (including some length of the field specials and his uncanny ability to sniff out an intercept). Sure his defence is pretty dodgy but that doesnt stop half the centres in the competition from making their respective first grade squads.
I know its not 2007 anymore and we need someone to put their hand up and cement the other centre position down, im just saying that just because Graham has failed to impress in a very underperforming backline while also coming back from serious injury we shouldnt be so quick to write him off completely.

I hope he does too, and he keeps it up all season. The problems I see have nothing to do with injury though. Even at his peak (2007), Graham was very weak in two areas - his positioning and reading in defence, and the ability to set up his outside man. Ty Williams also suffered a horrific injury and has lost a lot of pace, but he still reads the game well and still gets himself in a position to defend. And he can also draw and pass to his outside man.

Unless Graham develops these two aspects of his game, I don't care how fast he is, I don't want him in my team.

I do agree with you about people being a bit harsh, I'm guilty of that myself a LOT of the time. I guess I'm just sick of watching him caught out in defence game after game and not seeing any improvement.

 

[Redback71]

warriors 28 cowboys 6 full time

 

[Redback71]

mason only played about 10mins if that. and there was no thurston either. rained all game

 

[WarriorsFan4Life]

Go the warriors!.

 

[nqcowboy87]

it was a sh##house game

 

[footynut1]

interested to know how ray thompson went?

 

[Redback71]

couple of good tries though

 

[bildo]

Willy certainly didnt get his hair wet for very long. That was about the crappiest pre season game i have seen at Barlow Park .

The highlight of the night for me was listening to the full time siren, that was stuck on for half the night. ;-)