Your new buys

[eels1986]

Hey Simon what the centre Halatua like. What size is he, is he fast. I've noticed you have put him there in front of Buettner.

 

[simon says]

Simon, I tend to agree with your 17, but Farah will be Hooker fairly quickly and Reynolds maybe for Prince initally. I guess we'll see where Sheens is heading in our first trial.

I would love to see Farah there straight away,but I think Sheens will wait,he didnt rush Farah in last year when Senter was out,opting for Mears.

And EA,dont worry about your Parra mate,he got nasty cos he thinks Im bagging Parra out,which obviously I am not.I didnt mean this to be a Parra v Eels debate,but Ill discuss anything footy as long as it doesnt get too nasty.

And Eels,you may not think much of that lineup,well where is YOUR eels one....PS.....Ill try to be constuctive,lol.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

I'm glad Simon could name his best 17 but where were u? Missing in action again. I am still waiting for my answer on Heighington everlastin. You won't answer because u know I am right. He is a backrower not a front rower. Jeez u must a big rap on Prince to start Renyolds over him, just shows your knowledge once again.

You can ask me anything you like, and I'll insult you, you mongoloid hermaphrodite.

That's pretty simple?

 

[simon says]

Hey Simon what the centre Halatua like. What size is he, is he fast. I've noticed you have put him there in front of Buettner.

Yeah,Halatua isnt that tall,but he is very solid,fast and a good defender.I like centers that can tackle,thats why him and Wilson went so well last year.They pushed attackers back into the centre and made it hard for tries to be scored against us out wide.

There is mail that Buettner will start,and the backline will have Buettner and Elford in the centres.

 

[The Colonel]

EA and Eels1986.

I'll ask nicely firstly for you to cease and desist with the personal insults.

I don't care who started first or what. Its enough. End of story.

Next lot of posts get deleted. If it keeps up well.....

Get back to what has so far been a good debate.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

I'm not concerned Simon. Anyone that say that "Wagon makes 35 tackles a game" isn't playing with a full deck.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

The cops are onto us. Hide the stash.

 

[The Colonel]

The cops are onto us. Hide the stash.

Share it and theres no problems! :lol:

 

[eels1986]

1. Luke Burt
2. Eric Grothe Jnr
3. Jamie Lyon
4. David Vaeliki
5. Matt Petersen
6. Adam Dykes
7. Michael witt
8. Nathan Cayless
9. John Morris
10. Aaron Cannings
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
12. Chris Muckert
13. Daniel Wagon
14. Lee Hopkins
15. Michael Vella
16. Chris Armitt
17. Justin Tsolous
Of course you could put Chris Thorman in there but lets wait and see how the joung guy goes first. Mal Kafusai might squeeze onto the bench if he plas well.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

I like Matt Petersen. The way he plays reminds me of Neville Glover and his hair reminds me of Brillo pads.

Colonel Eel, I always bring enough for everyone. ;-)

 

[The Colonel]

1. Ashley Graham
2. Luke Burt
3. Jamie Lyon
4. David Vaeliki
5. Eric Grothe
6. Adam Dykes
7. Michael witt
8. Nathan Cayless
9. John Morris
10. Corey Pearson
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
12. Chris Armit
13. Daniel Wagon

14. Lee Hopkins
15. Chris Muckert
16. Aaron Cannings
17. Justin Tsoulos

You don't buy a veteran like Pearson to clog first div. Thorman, Kaufusi and Pai will push for top grade. Vella may have to show how much he wants it.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Pearson is a good buy.

 

[Freak]

OK I think this is a little off the initial debate about off season purchases but anyway I thought I would throw this in, but before I do I think I should let you know that I think the Tigers will either be very good this year or very bad, and the biggest contributing factor to this will be injuries as has been pointed out I too believe the Tigers lack depth on comparison to other teams in the comp.

OK the best 17 scenario.
Tigers Eels
1. Hodgson 1. Burt
2. Richards 2. Grothe
3. Wilson 3. Lyon
4. Halatau 4. Vaealiki
5. Covell 5. Graham
6. Fitzhenry 6. Dykes
7. Prince 7. Witt
13. Sattler 13. Wagon
12. Graham 12. Hopkins
11. O Neill 11. The King
8. Skandalis 8. Cayless
9. Senter 9. Morris
10. Payten 10. Cannings
Reserves........Marshall, Reserves.............Vella
Laffranchi, Tsoulos, Thorman, Muspratt
Elford,Galea.

IMO I think you guys have the better. 1,5,7,13,12, and possibly 10
From the bench I would have Galea (a great player) Marshall (with a ? still), Vella and Tsoulos(also with a ?)

For mine that leaves both teams fairly competitive, which is how it is meant to be.
However where I see the big difference is in 2 ways.
1. The next 8 players after the top 17. Parra is way stronger with players like Armit, Widders, Petersen, Pearson, Muckert, Kalfusi, Webster etc etc
2. Both teams have players that are young and are still growing but I would suggest that Parra has more in this catergory. The tigers average age would be 2 to 3 years older than Parra's on a guestimate.

I tried to be as unbiased as possible here so please go easy!!

 

[simon says]

I really like Parras backline from 1 to 5,very classy and fast too.Vaelikis form has been a bit down,but he has bo excuses this year.Grothe could be your best buy,I really rate this feller.

Your 6 and 7 are a real worry.If your outside men get well serviced you could win the comp.But I have big doubts on the Dykes/Witt combo.Id put Morris at 6.He is sharp and proved himself there last year.And you have a speculator in Thorman,he looks sharp,but UK players make me nervous.You never know if they will handle it,some do,plenty dont.I hvae noticed that he does a lot of short kicks......he could get burnt here where the defence is more regimented.Jury obviously is out on him.

Id have Hopkins in for Wagon who I dont rate,and I see you have Cannings on the bench.I read on the Manly site that he is runoured to have cost 250k which seems a lot for an unproven(with potenmtial)player IMHO.Id use Pearson form the bench,as he is great at popping little passes when defenders are getting tired,if you run guys like Burt and Lyon off him he will be va very handy buy......but as I have stated previously,he does get smashed in defense and doesnt make a lot of yards,so I wouldnt use him as a workhorse.

Your forward pack is a mixture of stars and no name.I havent seen enough of Armit,he goes alright i suppose,and Muckert is a worker,not much more.Hindmarsh and Cayless are crucial to your side up front.Either of those guys gets injured and its bye bye,if they stafit you will be IN most games.

6 and 7 are the worry.Someone has to step up......

 

[simon says]

OK
IMO I think you guys have the better. 1,5,7,13,12, and possibly 10
From the bench I would have Galea (a great player) Marshall (with a ? still), Vella and Tsoulos(also with a ?)

For mine that leaves both teams fairly competitive, which is how it is meant to be.
.

I tried to be as unbiased as possible here so please go easy!!

I think that is a very fair call and I agree 100%.Well said.

The thing that might surprise a lot of non Tiger fans is that we have a lot of very talented juniors just about ready for first grade and you might just see them next year.

Both of our PL and Flegg sides made the semis and that means we have a vast pool of players with experince as clos to first grade as you can get.Not to mention Elford and Reynolds who played in the PL GF.

Cheers.

 

[Freak]

People say our halves are a worry and that we are shot ducks without Hindy and Cayless, but the reality is we went without Hindmarsh for 13 rounds in 2003 and we went without Cayless for a similar amount of time. We punted on a 18 year old halfback and lost both Burt and Hodgo for the majority of the season.

If you told me this was going to happen at the start of the season I would have told you we would finish last by a long way.
At the end of the comp we missed the semis by 2 points and we were 6 points off finishing in the top 4. We lost 3 games by 2 points. We win those 3 games and we finish top 4. Simple!!
I understand there is a lot of if this and if thats but give us half the bad luck we copt in 2003 and we will surely be a force in 2004!!!

 

[Freak]

Simon - Do you know who has won the club championship for the last 7 years running? No offence but on comparison I think the Eels have got every team covered when it comes to junior development. The problem is keeping hold of them!!! EG Galea!!

 

[The Colonel]

Given the six and seven from the Tigers are a lot more unproven than Dykes and Witt I have to disagree. Fitzhenry isn't a 5/8 and in all honesty looks better suited at 3 or 1. Reynolds and Prince would be your best option with Benji making a grab later in the year for the 5/8 spot. (I wouldn't be surprised to see him at lock in a year or two either as he keeps growing)

The service from the halves did pick up when Morris drifted out however he is first and foremost a hooker. The Dykes and Witt combination needs time as they only played a few games late together. A full off season will see the combination develop. This is also the first real off season Dykes has had with the club where he hasn't had to recover from injury. Thorman will put pressure on them both to perform.

Muckert is a worker. And we missed one of those last year. The bloke who does all the little stuff with little fanfare. However I think Armit will puch for the starting side and show some class that few have seen.

Pearson on the other hand can play 65 minutes average 100 metres a game and pop a few good balls (being the good 5/8 he once was) His size and experience warrants him starting.

Hopkins is a better option off the bench given his versatility - 5/8, lock, hooker and second row.

 

[simon says]

I agree about Fitzhenry.I sont rate him as a 6 either,Ive had blues on the official site till I was blue in the face....and plenty agree with me.But he is held in high regard by Sheens and he picks the team so..........Id have Benji or Reynolds there.

Prince has performed at the highest level in the past,you cant compare a kid like Witt with him IMHO,even if he has potential.Prince is a star if he stays fit.

On the juniors,the WT are in a unique position of having 2 junior sides form PL down to Flegg,Ball etc.This means we have twice the amount of kids exposed to the same level as you do.Now I know Parra has an awesome player base,but you have to lose players every year.Ill give you an example why.

We have two very good lower grade hookers,one at Wests and at Balmain.Both have stayed as they are the top hookers in their club.At Parra,you might have three,four,or more players for the one position,but you will keep only one as the other one has to move on to get that position at another club.

This is our BIG advantage over other clubs,and the reason that I think we will have to be a success at some stage.Most clubs have 3-4 good youngsters come through their lowers,well we have double that.


Cheers.

 

[The Colonel]

Prince has performed at the highest level in the past,you cant compare a kid like Witt with him IMHO,even if he has potential.Prince is a star if he stays fit.

Prince has showed potential at the highest level however he hasn't yet performed there. He did well at the Cowboys as an unknown. There is a small difference. Prince is a potential star much like Witt only a difference in age. Prince hasn't really played consistent first grade since his leg injuries.

I also see a disadvantage between having two PL sides at the Tigers. The players that come into the sides in many cases have never had the opportunity to play with some of the other guys. Player A may come from the Magpies and Player B may come from the Tigers however they struggle in a combination when put together in first grade because they don't interact. I think this has been the biggest downfall for the Tigers over past seasons.