Where to from here?

[TheDMC]

I'd go whole hog and play Tui and Johnson in the halves, with Johnson the boss but substantial ball going Tui's way.

Most teams at best have 1 cheap solid half and a good one who dominates. While that works okay, it is probably more to do with lack of dynamic quality halves and salary cap than anything. If you have two potentially awesome halves, use them! With Johnson there, Tui won't need to overplay his hand, and I am sure he will be up to it.

We are in the, perhaps, enviable position of having two dynamic classy halves which could be a real point of difference. Otherwise, Johnson will be completely targeted as the only threat. Both can defend pretty well...well certainly better than Moses and Brooks!

I see putting TL in the halves as the riskfree conservative option that is guaranteed to not win you a premiership.

 

[Auckland4ever]

My understanding was that Johnson was going to shift to 6 next year?

For whoever it is that is going to partner him, a lot is going to depend on the players that are playing on the right side next year (assuming SJ to 6), how injury free that side is and whether the 7 is given the license to roam over to the left. Our left side was stable (injury-wise) for a long stretch of this season and it featured a large chunk of our best attacking players. The right side was a totally different kettle of fish.

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

So, we have pretty much a good/strong top 17, but not much to fall back on?

 

[Benek]

I see putting TL in the halves as the riskfree conservative option that is guaranteed to not win you a premiership.

Cappy's player selection track record is usually on the risk-free path. Agree 100% with what you say, but that means it's not likely to happen.

I can see the advantage of TL's experience and defensive ability too. But I'm remember near the back of last year when we dropped Chad for TL and our attack fell apart. Cappy admitted after the season that move was a mistake. So would he persist with TL in the halves again next year? I don't know. I'd love to see the gamble on Lolo. An off-season of training in that position could be all he needs.

 

[vvvrulz]

I'm really no TL fan, but he might just work nicely in *combination* with the RTS/Princess/Luke trio.

There is so much experience and ability in those three that having a solid half who defends well and generally doesn't fluff up too much could be exactly what's needed. Not ideal but Lolo hasn't really go the hang of it imo so not much choice.

 

[vvvrulz]

Absolutely right. In 215 minutes since SJ went off, we've scored 20 points.

We can't say we're going to win any of our last 4 because how the hell are we going to score any points? Our dominant half is gone, our biggest metre-eating forward is gone and our biggest metre-eating back is gone.

Honestly, we could get dicked every week.

I reckon this is exactly what will happen.

 

[Rich102]

I'd go whole hog and play Tui and Johnson in the halves, with Johnson the boss but substantial ball going Tui's way.

Most teams at best have 1 cheap solid half and a good one who dominates. While that works okay, it is probably more to do with lack of dynamic quality halves and salary cap than anything. If you have two potentially awesome halves, use them! With Johnson there, Tui won't need to overplay his hand, and I am sure he will be up to it.

We are in the, perhaps, enviable position of having two dynamic classy halves which could be a real point of difference. Otherwise, Johnson will be completely targeted as the only threat. Both can defend pretty well...well certainly better than Moses and Brooks!

I see putting TL in the halves as the riskfree conservative option that is guaranteed to not win you a premiership.

From what I have seen of Tui at half he is completely lost. For me he is an outside back or fullback, only.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

At the members forum last night Cappy said that some players have been overplaying their hand to compensate for SJ and Chad is one of them. Will be interesting to see when and where Tui gets the ball this week.

The concerning thing for me is I don't think they can use the beaten pack excuse. Against the Sharks we ended with 58% possession and at one point before the Dragons ran away with it the "tackled inside 20" stat was something like 42-9 in our favour. We had more than enough opportunity.

My main concern for next year is that for all this talk of having too many youngsters and needing experience, we have 11-12 of our top 30 players leaving and we have 3 coming in, 2 of which may be talented (RTS & Sao) but neither could be described as experienced. I fear a repeat of this year if we don't get damn lucky with injuries.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

At the members forum last night Cappy said that some players have been overplaying their hand to compensate for SJ and Chad is one of them. Will be interesting to see when and where Tui gets the ball this week.

The concerning thing for me is I don't think they can use the beaten pack excuse. Against the Sharks we ended with 58% possession and at one point before the Dragons ran away with it the "tackled inside 20" stat was something like 42-9 in our favour. We had more than enough opportunity.

We need some god dam structure in attack, some back rows running angles, not straight lines ala Matulino.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

People may not have noticed (I hadn't) but Penrith are 2 points above the spoon, and a lot of their media this week has been fighting talk. They are fired up. They have more pride than us and I reckon they'll come out all guns blazing.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

And judging by this: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11496179

In explaining the progress the club had made in working to improve their culture over the last two years, McFadden detailed the unprofessional attitudes and practices that were previously allowed to flourish before changes were made to turn things around.

McFadden today refused to expand on those issues and was adamant the examples he raised were in no way representative of the club's current state, or cause for Saturday's embarrassing 36-0 defeat to St George-Illawarra.

"I'm not going to go back there because it's not...I probably got led into that on the weekend and it's probably an area I shouldn't have gone because that's in the past," said McFadden.

"It's got nothing to do with what we're doing now and had no bearing on the result on the weekend. We've made some improvements in that area [club culture] but we need to obviously keep getting better."

McFadden might've been tapped on the shoulder in his office on Monday and rightly told that sort of shit isn't to be said.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

At the members forum last night Cappy said that some players have been overplaying their hand to compensate for SJ and Chad is one of them. Will be interesting to see when and where Tui gets the ball this week.

The concerning thing for me is I don't think they can use the beaten pack excuse. Against the Sharks we ended with 58% possession and at one point before the Dragons ran away with it the "tackled inside 20" stat was something like 42-9 in our favour. We had more than enough opportunity.

My main concern for next year is that for all this talk of having too many youngsters and needing experience, we have 11-12 of our top 30 players leaving and we have 3 coming in, 2 of which may be talented (RTS & Sao) but neither could be described as experienced. I fear a repeat of this year if we don't get damn lucky with injuries.

from what i saw from chad last week he wasnt over playing his hand but he had checked out for this season

 

[Penrose Warrior]

from what i saw from chad last week he wasnt over playing his hand but he had checked out for this season

Part of me believes he was over-playing his hand, trying to make up for SJ's absence and possibly impress his new club as well. But then I saw the Widdop 'tackle' and I wasn't so certain.

Interesting story on Stuff today on Lisone, weird angle saying it was a tribute to his maturity that he was picked to front post-match interviews on Saturday night. I'd say it's weak as piss that guys who should be more accountable as senior players not fronting up and leaving it to a kid. I don't imagine it went down 'hey Sam, you'll learn a lot from going and talking to McIvor, I'd happily do it but honestly I think it's good for your development'

 

[Rich102]

Part of me believes he was over-playing his hand, trying to make up for SJ's absence and possibly impress his new club as well. But then I saw the Widdop 'tackle' and I wasn't so certain.

Interesting story on Stuff today on Lisone, weird angle saying it was a tribute to his maturity that he was picked to front post-match interviews on Saturday night. I'd say it's weak as piss that guys who should be more accountable as senior players not fronting up and leaving it to a kid. I don't imagine it went down 'hey Sam, you'll learn a lot from going and talking to McIvor, I'd happily do it but honestly I think it's good for your development'

Damn right.

 

[JJ]

Townsend is the sort of player that could be badly affected by "trying too hard", primarily because he's not terribly good at this level - and his defence is always pretty fragile, so I am happy to believe that angle for now...

Disgraceful to put the kid out front, win, lose, or draw... lots of whining going on, but plenty of relatively experienced players in the team each week, any of whom should be shouldering that load

 

[vvvrulz]

Townsend is the sort of player that could be badly affected by "trying too hard", primarily because he's not terribly good at this level - and his defence is always pretty fragile, so I am happy to believe that angle for now...

Disgraceful to put the kid out front, win, lose, or draw... lots of whining going on, but plenty of relatively experienced players in the team each week, any of whom should be shouldering that load

I agree with this.

Townsend was fifty shades of crap but you can't accuse him of hiding.
I hope we see an improvement.

 

[Blair]

Part of me believes he was over-playing his hand, trying to make up for SJ's absence and possibly impress his new club as well. But then I saw the Widdop 'tackle' and I wasn't so certain.

Interesting story on Stuff today on Lisone, weird angle saying it was a tribute to his maturity that he was picked to front post-match interviews on Saturday night. I'd say it's weak as piss that guys who should be more accountable as senior players not fronting up and leaving it to a kid. I don't imagine it went down 'hey Sam, you'll learn a lot from going and talking to McIvor, I'd happily do it but honestly I think it's good for your development'

It would be good to hear from the likes of Lisone. Those other guys, the older more experienced ones, we've heard it all before from them, and their cliched excuses and remedies.

I agree with the sentiment though, that the older players should front up to the media when things go bad.

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

I'm happy o see Sam given the chance, but I'm not happy about the circumstances.
Sure, if they want to give him some media exposure, at least make sure it's either a win or a competitive loss. Not that.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Part of me believes he was over-playing his hand, trying to make up for SJ's absence and possibly impress his new club as well. But then I saw the Widdop 'tackle' and I wasn't so certain.

Interesting story on Stuff today on Lisone, weird angle saying it was a tribute to his maturity that he was picked to front post-match interviews on Saturday night. I'd say it's weak as piss that guys who should be more accountable as senior players not fronting up and leaving it to a kid. I don't imagine it went down 'hey Sam, you'll learn a lot from going and talking to McIvor, I'd happily do it but honestly I think it's good for your development'

And Gubb was put in front too. I hate this shit lack of leadership.

 

[JJ]

I see Luke will miss the rest of the season if he takes and early guilty plea

Funny how haughty people got when Gallen's name was unrealistically mentioned... we've actually signed one of the biggest grubs in the NRL - I just hope he doesn't get even worse in our environment