Trial - Dragons Vs Tigers

[Clifferd]

ok this is only a trial but here are some of the things I observed from our team

* up 10-0 through some magical work from Moses Suli and Nofa scoring a midfield bomb similar to that one v Manly a couple years back

* Our forward pack looks huge. Of course it's made up of reserves, but we seem to have pretty good stocks

* Rankin still f**king sucks dicks, got absolutely pumped on a kick return and just dropped the ball cold. A lot of silly passes, balls kicked down the throat of the Dragons fullback

* After we scored those 2 tries that was it. We didn't look threatening after all that and hey guess what we got mowed down in the end. Same old (also Dragons scored 2 quick tries before halftime lol)

*Idris looked pretty unfit. After the first 5 minutes he was blowing hard. Had to hop onto the wing a fair few times, although when he did hit the ball up he did bulldoze a few defenders.

definitely not reading into this game one bit though, our team in the 1st half pretty much dominated theirs by quite a bit just couldn't capitalise properly.

Then in the 2nd half was pretty much a whole different team

 

[Vic Mackey]

I went to it. Was pretty happy with it. The first half when we played our main team I thought our forwards dominated theirs however our halves were too shit to take advantage of it. Keep in mind the halves were LittleJohn, Hunt, Marshall-King and Rankin.

The second half was our nsw cup team (literally nofa and Aloiai were the only guys from our regular 17 and they only played the 3rd quarter) whilst saints still had a stack of first graders. The likes of Sims, Ah Mau, Lafai, Aitken, Mann, DeBelin, McInness, McCrone played the majority of the second half so it's no wonder they were camped down our end for the second 40.

Agree with above. Idris went hard and his carries were good but he looked gased after 10 mins. I'll be surprised if he plays NRL in round 1.

I wanted to see him improved but Rankin was the worst player on the field in essentially a nsw cup trial. He tries but he such a shocking player. Basic errors and offers nothing.

Sue played right edge.

Thought our best were Ava and T.Grant in the first half. Heleta, MCK (who played left center) were both safe and looked good. ET again safe in defence and dangerous in attack.

Eisenhuth and Suli both went off with leg injuries, Sulis seemed a bit worse. Kev Naq went off with a head knock after a high tackle.

I'd say we'lll take Friday night v the cowboys a lot more seriously.

 

[Tiger05]

Thanks for the reports back. It sounds like we played basically reserve grade and didn't really care about winning. I hope that we care about winning at some point this season.

I hope Idris is ready by the season opener.

 

[Clifferd]

I went to it. Was pretty happy with it. The first half when we played our main team I thought our forwards dominated theirs however our halves were too shit to take advantage of it. Keep in mind the halves were LittleJohn, Hunt, Marshall-King and Rankin.

The second half was our nsw cup team (literally nofa and Aloiai were the only guys from our regular 17 and they only played the 3rd quarter) whilst saints still had a stack of first graders. The likes of Sims, Ah Mau, Lafai, Aitken, Mann, DeBelin, McInness, McCrone played the majority of the second half so it's no wonder they were camped down our end for the second 40.

Agree with above. Idris went hard and his carries were good but he looked gased after 10 mins. I'll be surprised if he plays NRL in round 1.

I wanted to see him improved but Rankin was the worst player on the field in essentially a nsw cup trial. He tries but he such a shocking player. Basic errors and offers nothing.

Sue played right edge.

Thought our best were Ava and T.Grant in the first half. Heleta, MCK (who played left center) were both safe and looked good. ET again safe in defence and dangerous in attack.

Eisenhuth and Suli both went off with leg injuries, Sulis seemed a bit worse. Kev Naq went off with a head knock after a high tackle.

I'd say we'lll take Friday night v the cowboys a lot more seriously.

Forgot about MCK tbh, he looks very solid and athletic for a centre, I reckon he'll play a lot of 1st grade this year for sure

Our edge defense of Lawrence, MCK and Suli worked very well

Suli wouldn't be out of place in NRL if he was named round 1, good prospect

Based on last night I think you'd have to rotate Idris/Chee Kam in the centres and maybe have one of them going into the forwards at some stages of the game

When Rankin got that bomb on the full, I said to my mate any money he'll drop it in this tackle, sure enough he did :lol:

 

[Clifferd]

I hope Idris is ready by the season opener.

He does look pretty good. 6 runs for 80 metres or so, so every run averaged 13.3 metres

Just his fitness im worried about

 

[Vic Mackey]

MCK at center with Idris coming on is something I hadn't thought of but the more I do the more I like it. MCK can have a rest then come back on in the forwards.

If Sue continues on the edge then we'd have 3 backrowers (ET & CL) who could play 80 if required.

Our prop rotation would still be strong with woods, Ava and grant all capable of playing big minutes and a Aloiai/Felisse as impact.

You'd probably then have Simona on the wing which is where he's generally performed best.

 

[Tiger05]

He does look pretty good. 6 runs for 80 metres or so, so every run averaged 13.3 metres

Just his fitness im worried about

He has to suck it up and do it. If he is playing in the centres we have to expect 80 minutes out of him.

 

[Tigers Tale]

I have mentioned this a few time but I saw a lot of Chee Kam at the Raiders and he played centre a fair bit there. I reckon he could easily be a centre for us. He is faster than you think and he does have a passing game and the ability to set up his outside man, his defence is pretty good. He reminds me of Jack Reed from the Broncos, he won't be brilliant every week but won't let you down either. I'd be more than happy to see him start in the centres this year.

 

[Exsilium]

Idris on game day rarely lets you down. He did a lot of work for us coming out of our own end which was a bonus.

He'll come good after a few runs.

 

[Tigers Tale]

Last night was a bit of hit and miss. This week however I am hoping to see an indication of what the side will be and who will be playing where. I am busting to see what bench Taylor goes with this year.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Idris will be fine, I'm just not convinced he'll be ready in 3 weeks.

 

[BrotherJim05]

Really happy to hear Sue is playing right edge. Hopefully we stick with him there as he will develop into an absolute terror.

I noticed Idris was playing left side and Naiqama right centre?

 

[Vic Mackey]

lol I read an article this morning saying the dragons dominated our 'full strength pack minus Aaron woods' and also had Tariq Sims talking themselves up saying they made easy inroads when they got the ball in the second half. That might be because literally the only forward on the park from our team after the 40th minute who had a minute of first grade experience was Josh Aloiai. See how you fair in round 5 mate, Luke Brooks made you his bitch last time we played.

 

[Clifferd]

Dragons fans/journalists are the biggest one eyed supporters you will ever meet

Also heard an absolute clanger on the radio to work this morning that a weakened dragons team convincingly beat a Tigers team missing only teddy and Moses. They are so far up their own ass they literally would not be able to name 3-4 players from each team in the nrl. Illawarra mercury is painful to read aswell living down here

 

[Tigers Tale]

A question for Vic as you were at the game. How did Lolo go in the trial?

Were there any other players (forwards mainly) who you see making our bench?

Thanks TT

 

[Vic Mackey]

A question for Vic as you were at the game. How did Lolo go in the trial?

Were there any other players (forwards mainly) who you see making our bench?

Thanks TT

Some of his hit ups were ok. Dropped a simple pass from dummyhalf taking a hit up from our end. Certainly didn't scream out 'first grader' to me.

I thought Jordan Grant was probably the pick of the second tier forwards.

 

[Tigers Tale]

Cheers Vic.

 

[Eastview]

Dragons fans/journalists are the biggest one eyed supporters you will ever meet

Also heard an absolute clanger on the radio to work this morning that a weakened dragons team convincingly beat a Tigers team missing only teddy and Moses. They are so far up their own ass they literally would not be able to name 3-4 players from each team in the nrl. Illawarra mercury is painful to read aswell living down here

HAHAHA what a rubbish statement, stop trying to deflect the fact that you merkins will have another year of rubbish and probably end up losing Moses, Tedesco and Brooks.

 

[Clifferd]

HAHAHA what a rubbish statement, stop trying to deflect the fact that you merkins will have another year of rubbish and probably end up losing Moses, Tedesco and Brooks.

Lol, enjoy your meaningless win

You guys will win the comp for sure

 

[Eastview]

Lol, enjoy your meaningless win

You guys will win the comp for sure

When did i say the Dragons will win the comp? It's just amusing that you are using "bias media" as an excuse for the inept performance of the tigers on Saturday night.