Why no questions on Kearney?

[JJ]

Dunno if I got the right thread, but jase (I think) said Vete's form in ISP has been downright horrendous. Or his attitude has been?

If that's the case (and I freely admit I seldom watch) is it not a huge worry (or bad sign) that the common response for our 'talented' youngsters (Vete, Lolohea, perhaps Hurrell) is to sook and play poorly when dropped. I am trusting Kata will not come straight back to the 1st grade team, will be interesting to see how he responds.

Saw Lolohea on a programme the other day "yeah, it's hard..." actually it's not, lift your game son, accept that you're not yet the superstar some in the media and your management tell you you are... think he also (ironically while being interviewed) said he wants to let his "footy do the talking" - well it is, and it's not telling a compelling story

FFS - if Vete is doing similar, that's really disappointing

rant over

 

[Rich102]

The games I have seen of Vete in ISP cup he is trying but his hands really let him down.

 

[Iafeta]

I think Vete has been good. His work rate is good and he's getting through a lot of minutes. I would have him well ahead of Tof at the moment.

 

[RHYTHM AND STEALTH]

tuis starting to get a kevin locke type attitude
sure cappy farked him over last season but he had the first 4 or 5 games this season to cement a spot in first grade but didnt and got dropped and instead of fighting for a spot his lockeisms are kicking in and he's said f**k it ill just leave

later tui

 

[jaseg]

The games I have seen of Vete in ISP cup he is trying but his hands really let him down.

This.

It's certainly not effort that I'd knock him on (though his work rate is a little down), but execution. His run of drops and penalties (7 and 6 respectively, in 343 minutes on the field in nsw cup - was a similar rate in nrl this year) that presumably got him sent down in the first place has continued, and he's had a couple of really concerning games on defence down there too. His last couple of games hint at (hopefully) better things to come.

But if we were bringing in a guy from the NSW cup team right now.. depends what you're after (ie. who you're replacing). If it's low minutes/high impact (Sao), Daniel Palavi profiles like the guy to go up. Otherwise Pat Sipley looks like the guy (40 mins per game avg, 98 metres, 18 tackles, over 40% of metres are post-contact, over a tackle break avg per game, solid defence).

Not sure Sao deserves the drop right now anyway to be honest. He's far from the best middle but he's at least bringing a point of difference when we have the ball (best offloader we have right now).