What now Paul Osborne

[Gronk]

Is it just me or is it hard to find a place for Morts to play next year ?

Keating & Mitchell are the obvious rakes.

Murray & Robbo in the halves.

Morts will need to have a massive off season to get the 6 gig IMO.

 

[MarkInTheStands]

uumm!! he didn't call for his sacking Mark.

Well he hasn't called to keep him either.

As I said, there is a large pie of fault to be served among many, banging on about the coach as the lone point of failure is getting tedious already.

 

[MarkInTheStands]

Is it just me or is it hard to find a place for Morts to play next year ?

Keating & Mitchell are the obvious rakes.

Murray & Robbo in the halves.

Morts will need to have a massive off season to get the 6 gig IMO.

No its very very simple.

He plays 6 at the Magpies untill he gets bigger and better.

 

[Frederick]

and whilst you say that, we've probably landed the best halfback option in the NYC comp..

Beau Henry and the Knights disagree ;-)

 

[The Engineers Room]

I would be looking at someone like Blake Lazarus, on the outer at the Tigers and a quality halfback. My ultimate would be Lee Briers but if we couldn't get Quade Cooper then he is little chance, the other would be Sam Tomkins, the young ESL halves are starting to stand up and with Gareth Ellis' success in the NRL others may be willing to have a crack at the NRL.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

The way I look at it, we need a half, we have the cash, spend what we need to get that half. We did the same thing with Justin Poore, we apparently paid overs for him. We needed a prop, we paid what we had to.

I think we should have paid what the Dogs did for Hodko, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

[Stagger eel]

Well he hasn't called to keep him either.

As I said, there is a large pie of fault to be served among many, banging on about the coach as the lone point of failure is getting tedious already.

he's under contract Mark...Delboy hasn't indicated that we should be paying him out.

Beau Henry and the Knights disagree ;-)

well Brad Murray and Parra may have something to say about it...;-)

correct me if I'm wrong but I never saw Henry's name in the NYC team of the year...:sarcasm:

 

[eel01s]

Either way we will have an inexperienced No. 7 and No. 6 (assuming we don't get Orford).

DA certainly has his work cut out for him. I would like to think that this spine will get a go from round 1:

1. Hayne
6. Humble
7. Murray
9. Mitchell

14. Mortimer (to interchange with Mitchell if he can't go the full 80min).

If and when Maitua is ready for NRL he may slot into No. 6 if we are struggling.

 

[boxhead]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
We thought that the Grand-Final playing halves combo of Morts and Robbo would work out, thus why we didn't sign any big name halves for our first-grade side last year when we had the chance (if there were any then either?)
I'm confident in this Brad Murray kid, him and Mortimer or Humble in the halves (Mortimer may end up playing hooker) could be a very young dynamite combo. However, it potentially brings big problems, but if (say we have Morts 6 and Murray 7) both play their natural game and hit form we will be flying in the halves.

 

[MarkInTheStands]

he's under contract Mark...Delboy hasn't indicated that we should be paying him out.

Call it exaggerated cynicism mate.

I get that he wants us to think about the coach, and that the coach has made some poor decisions by his reckoning. But seriously there are some players that have made that many errors this year in attack, I don't know how you could hope to see Coach Anderson's game plans with the amount of f**k ups we make "Playing what we see".

 

[Frederick]

he's under contract Mark...Delboy hasn't indicated that we should be paying him out.



well Brad Murray and Parra may have something to say about it...;-)

correct me if I'm wrong but I never saw Henry's name in the NYC team of the year...:sarcasm:

His name was there last year...was also next to 'Player of the Year' ;-)

Alas he did his shoulder with 3 or 4 rounds to go, but still had a damn good year this year

 

[oldmancraigy]

Not to mention Matt Orford who is under contract already too. Yet we made no attempt at Hodkinson. Very strange.

So you would pay $280k for Hodkinson?

Have you been watching the boy play for Manly??

He's been just better than average on a good day.

Worst halfbacks in the comp (minimum 10 games):

1. Mortimer
2. Smith
3. Hodkinson or Kimmorley

There aren't a whole lot of really good halfbacks floating around right now - so instead of picking up a useless young one for a boatload of money, we've opted to try and sound out the old guys for very little cash (1 year deals) and then take a look at someone like Maloney for 2012 (already been sounded out to see if he's interested).

Yes, Mortimer was the worst halfback in the comp this year - but at least he's had one good season of first grade under his belt playing at 5/8.

I'm in the vast minority, but I believe with a 'proper' halfback next to him, young Mortimer still might be quite a decent player at 5/8 for us in the coming years. I like his attitude and he does have some natural abilities too.

 

[Frederick]

Scott Dureau is a worse halfback than all named.

Just saying

 

[oldmancraigy]

His name was there last year...was also next to 'Player of the Year' ;-)

Alas he did his shoulder with 3 or 4 rounds to go, but still had a damn good year this year

I'm not knocking Beau Henry here

he was very good LAST year - and deservedly won the NYC player of the year award.

But on THIS YEARS form, Brad Murray has been the better player. No slight on Henry - he has been very good and is an excellent talent, but Brad Murray has been the better player on this seasons form in the NYC.

How each players game translates to first grade remains to be seen! But both are very good young halves.

 

[mrpwnd]

Now that we have missed out Cooper Quade and Cooper Cronk what players do you have in mind to join the 2011 side? After what most of the supporters have seen over the last few months we are hopeful that there is a back-up plan to lure someone back to the NRL. After the last few performances I honestly think you could put the number 7 on Sterlo and he would deliver something better than what we have seen recently. Very disappointed.

Give Ozzie a stint in Wenty.

 

[Redback71]

dont know why players were let go despite how poor there season may have been without having a suitable replacement.

 

[PJ Marshal]

We would still have same players playing in the same positions weather it was a "Parramatta" side or a Wenty side. At least as a Wenty side we save $500,000.

dude you could at least sign fringe first graders that way, the whole system is better , relegating players to park footy is a joke. Least with a reserve grade side you play the stadiums, and you had old heads mixining with the young bloods , they should just get rid of 20's and bring back reserve grade and leave park footy in the park. Or change it to Under 30's

 

[cgee221]

Call it exaggerated cynicism mate.

I get that he wants us to think about the coach, and that the coach has made some poor decisions by his reckoning. But seriously there are some players that have made that many errors this year in attack, I don't know how you could hope to see Coach Anderson's game plans with the amount of f**k ups we make "Playing what we see".

Thank you for putting into words my exact thoughts on Anderson re structure MITS. Some of the mistakes and fundamental errors our players have made this year have made it practically impossible for any game plan to be carried out, let alone with convinction.

 

[Ratchy]

So you would pay $280k for Hodkinson?

Have you been watching the boy play for Manly??

He's been just better than average on a good day.

Worst halfbacks in the comp (minimum 10 games):

1. Mortimer
2. Smith
3. Hodkinson or Kimmorley

There aren't a whole lot of really good halfbacks floating around right now - so instead of picking up a useless young one for a boatload of money, we've opted to try and sound out the old guys for very little cash (1 year deals) and then take a look at someone like Maloney for 2012 (already been sounded out to see if he's interested).

Yes, Mortimer was the worst halfback in the comp this year - but at least he's had one good season of first grade under his belt playing at 5/8.

I'm in the vast minority, but I believe with a 'proper' halfback next to him, young Mortimer still might be quite a decent player at 5/8 for us in the coming years. I like his attitude and he does have some natural abilities too.

I'm with you on Mortimer. This year was down to playing a role he is uncomfortable but also a lack of confidence. Provided he has an organising halfback inside him where he can go back to his natural game of last year i think the form of last year will return.

 

[Chipmunk]

Once again in the back half of the year show me a time where we completed the set and I will show you a try. The game plan was there, the execution was Piss Poor. Talk about fickle.

That's BS....our attack inside the opposition was attrocious at best, we had no set plays, no structure and no game plan, we just made it up for 5 tackles and put in a pathetic kick...

We had plenty of opportunities to put pressure on, but our lack of structure and game plan did not enable is to apply consistent pressure on the opposition. The game plan wasnt there and if the game plan is just simply move the ball from side to side or contunious second phase until we pull something out of our rear end....then that is a rubbish game plan that now without Cayless, Mateo and Keating will be even more abysmal next year....