Throw the chequebook at Hunt

[Rooster_6]

Of course he's a creative player - whether your a running half or organising half your still being creative and executing various plays and are not just catching and passing the ball

Cleary - Try Assists

2020 - 17 (21 games)
2021 - 21 (20 games)
2022 - 18 ( 17 games)
2023 - 20 ( 22 games)
2024 - 12 ( 11 games)

Try Assists do not equate to creativity. That is a poor correlation.

Creativity is the ability to create points outside of structure through flair, vision and imagination.

Nathan Cleary uses structure to execute his points, he’s looking to get an overload on numbers, plays deep into the line to force a defensive decision and then executes with pass selection.

Kalyn Ponga on the other can create something out of nothing with his footwork, his vision or his ability to improvise.

Mitchell Pearce is an example close to home who always a had strong try assists numbers but no one would call him a creative player.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Sure you do, who was the last team to win the premiership with two creative halves?

Luai has had Cleary,
Keary had Cronk & Reynolds,
Munster had Cronk & Smith*
Maloney had Townsend & Pearce,
Thurston had Morgan,
Benji had Prince,
Soward had Hornby,
Lyon had Orford,


I think you could maybe make a case for early Jahrome Hughes and Munster in 2018, but they had Cameron Smith at 9 which was such a cheat code. On the flip side Foran and DCE I wouldn’t call either fundamentally creative players.

The balance of your side can be just as important as the amount of talent you have in your side.

I can see the argument for signing Ponga as a fullback in 2026, I just don’t see the argument for signing him as a 5/8.

Hmm...I think there are a very small number of elite players who you just sign given the opportunity (probably Walsh and Ponga at present). Someone once said you pick your best 13 first and then find their spots. Not saying its irrelevant, but think its possible to over-think your ideal combos and complimentary skillets when finalising your squad.

[King Salvo]

Try assists do equate to creativity as they don't magically happen

With the set restarts you need creative halves continually playing what's in front of them and less structured footy compared to the days of the slower ruck and wrestle that required set plays to get around defences.

[Rooster_6]

Hmm...I think there are a very small number of elite players who you just sign given the opportunity (probably Walsh and Ponga at present). Someone once said you pick your best 13 first and then find their spots. Not saying its irrelevant, but think its possible to over-think your ideal combos and complimentary skillets when finalising your squad.

We already tried that this year, we had the most overloaded attacking roster in the competition.

Our best teams have been with Pearce & Cronk in the halves complimented by a Maloney, Keary or Carne. We haven’t looked like winning a comp without Cronk and Pearce and I appreciate people will just say that’s correlation rather than causation but that’s my belief and I think it holds true nearly every time when you go through past premiership winners. Balance is important, a great team always beats a team of great players.

I hear you on Ponga, he’s generational and his ability to create something out of nothing is up there with only a handful of players. I just don’t know if you pay 1m for a 5/8 who has struggled every time he’s played there and doesn’t really compliment the make up of the spine as it currently stands. There’s a lot of parallels to Todd Carney with Ponga which is why I’d love to see him play here because I absolutely loved watching Carney in our colours so trust me I get the temptation.

If we had a more conservative 1 or 9 maybe I could see it but we don’t it’s Tedesco and Brandon Smith who also play a lot of their football outside of structure. Signing Ponga and moving Tedesco to left centre or letting him go seems like the smarter play if you want to make the Ponga signing.

I completely appreciate the following is an outrageous take but I think Sandon Smith has 12 months to prove he can compliment Sam Walker otherwise Toby Rodwell comes in at halfback in 2026 and Walker moves to 5/8.

[FlamingRooster]

We already tried that this year, we had the most overloaded attacking roster in the competition.

Our best teams have been with Pearce & Cronk in the halves complimented by a Maloney, Keary or Carne. We haven’t looked like winning a comp without Cronk and Pearce and I appreciate people will just say that’s correlation rather than causation but that’s my belief and I think it holds true nearly every time when you go through past premiership winners. Balance is important, a great team always beats a team of great players.

I hear you on Ponga, he’s generational and his ability to create something out of nothing is up there with only a handful of players. I just don’t know if you pay 1m for a 5/8 who has struggled every time he’s played there and doesn’t really compliment the make up of the spine as it currently stands. There’s a lot of parallels to Todd Carney with Ponga which is why I’d love to see him play here because I absolutely loved watching Carney in our colours so trust me I get the temptation.

If we had a more conservative 1 or 9 maybe I could see it but we don’t it’s Tedesco and Brandon Smith who also play a lot of their football outside of structure. Signing Ponga and moving Tedesco to left centre or letting him go seems like the smarter play if you want to make the Ponga signing.

I completely appreciate the following is an outrageous take but I think Sandon Smith has 12 months to prove he can compliment Sam Walker otherwise Toby Rodwell comes in at halfback in 2026 and Walker moves to 5/8.

Yep complete agree re Ponga at 5/8. If we sign him it’d be to play 1, and as long as Teddy is playing at a high level that won’t be happening.

Sandon was far from spectacular on the weekend, but we looked most dangerous with him as primary playmaker and Keary no where near the ball. Just the way he moves, runs and kicks I think he will be at the very least a serviceable first grade half, and if not with us then someone else. Rodwell is still a number of years away and I’d suspect that if Sandon isn’t the option Elliott would be given first crack, or we hit the market

[Rooster_6]

Try assists do equate to creativity as they don't magically happen

With the set restarts you need creative halves continually playing what's in front of them and less structured footy compared to the days of the slower ruck and wrestle that required set plays to get around defences.

I never said try assists magically happen. It’s the manner they come about that determines one’s creativity.

Braith Anasta in 2008 lead the try assists in the competition because of his kicking game, that doesn’t make him creative it just means his execution of pre-planned plays was on point.

Let’s use art as the example as it’s generally considered one of the most creative industries (excluding the elitism bullshit). Someone who prints a picture they’ve bought onto a canvas is creating a piece of art to be purchased just like someone who spends hours free hand painting a picture is creating a piece of art to be purchased. Both in their own right are considered art just the level of creativity that went into each piece is significantly different. The stat would read 1 piece of art sold by each both but that doesn’t make thm both crative or suggest that their creativity is on the same level.

And I’m certainly not trying to diminish Nathan Cleary here, his ability to see and play within structure is elite. A creative player like Kalyn Ponga who as I said is generational could never do what Nathan Cleary does, his brain just doesn’t function that way and visa-versa.

In an overly simplified Rugby league example, Nathan Clearly is looking to explore a 3 on 4 short side overlap in his favour where he can execute the right pass selection to set up a try, this patter of play is rehearsed over and over at training. Kalyn Ponga is happy to explore a 4 on 4 short side play because he backs his ad-hoc thinking to create the overlap for him by using his flair and vision, this is on the run thinking that can’t be practiced and very few can do a the level of the NRL.

I appreciate your love for statistics but not every stat is equal in its creation nor should we just take them at face value without questioning and further analysing them.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

We already tried that this year, we had the most overloaded attacking roster in the competition.

Our best teams have been with Pearce & Cronk in the halves complimented by a Maloney, Keary or Carne. We haven’t looked like winning a comp without Cronk and Pearce and I appreciate people will just say that’s correlation rather than causation but that’s my belief and I think it holds true nearly every time when you go through past premiership winners. Balance is important, a great team always beats a team of great players.

I hear you on Ponga, he’s generational and his ability to create something out of nothing is up there with only a handful of players. I just don’t know if you pay 1m for a 5/8 who has struggled every time he’s played there and doesn’t really compliment the make up of the spine as it currently stands. There’s a lot of parallels to Todd Carney with Ponga which is why I’d love to see him play here because I absolutely loved watching Carney in our colours so trust me I get the temptation.

If we had a more conservative 1 or 9 maybe I could see it but we don’t it’s Tedesco and Brandon Smith who also play a lot of their football outside of structure. Signing Ponga and moving Tedesco to left centre or letting him go seems like the smarter play if you want to make the Ponga signing.

I completely appreciate the following is an outrageous take but I think Sandon Smith has 12 months to prove he can compliment Sam Walker otherwise Toby Rodwell comes in at halfback in 2026 and Walker moves to 5/8.

Your suggestions seem to revolve around moving the deckchairs to suit Walker. He has to earn his stripes fully yet himself imho. We'll see, it is good to have some highly regarded halves coming through however.

[Rooster_6]

Yep complete agree re Ponga at 5/8. If we sign him it’d be to play 1, and as long as Teddy is playing at a high level that won’t be happening.

Sandon was far from spectacular on the weekend, but we looked most dangerous with him as primary playmaker and Keary no where near the ball. Just the way he moves, runs and kicks I think he will be at the very least a serviceable first grade half, and if not with us then someone else. Rodwell is still a number of years away and I’d suspect that if Sandon isn’t the option Elliott would be given first crack, or we hit the market

Yeh I agree, based on Teddy’s performances this year I don’t see a massive drop off from him coming any time soon and in the same way that Robbo valued Minichello’s leadership and defensive understanding of the role in his latter years I think he will continue to do the same with Teddy.

I also agree regarding Sandon Smith, I thought we looked much better going to him than Keary. You can see he’s got some organisation skills which gives me optimism for next year. Just the structure he was running plays with, they way he had Tupouniua running off him and the options he had out the back there were signs he was communicating and setting up plays well.

I like Jake Elliot, I just think Rodwell is the best halfback I’ve seen in my time watching our pathways teams. Including Pearce and Josh Lewis (lol, so do take my opinions with a grain of salt).

[Rooster_6]

Your suggestions seem to revolve around moving the deckchairs to suit Walker. He has to earn his stripes fully yet himself imho. We'll see, it is good to have some highly regarded halves coming through however.

That’s fair, I have a high opinion of Sam Walker. I think he falls into the same category of Ponga and Walsh when you talk about players you just shouldn’t pass up on if given the chance.

[Easts75]

That’s fair, I have a high opinion of Sam Walker. I think he falls into the same category of Ponga and Walsh when you talk about players you just shouldn’t pass up on if given the chance.

100%

Walker is a must retain even if it means paying overs

I'd like to think he will play well over 300 games with us and we're just seeing a glimpse of what he will do in our colours

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

We already tried that this year, we had the most overloaded attacking roster in the competition.

Our best teams have been with Pearce & Cronk in the halves complimented by a Maloney, Keary or Carne. We haven’t looked like winning a comp without Cronk and Pearce and I appreciate people will just say that’s correlation rather than causation but that’s my belief and I think it holds true nearly every time when you go through past premiership winners. Balance is important, a great team always beats a team of great players.

I hear you on Ponga, he’s generational and his ability to create something out of nothing is up there with only a handful of players. I just don’t know if you pay 1m for a 5/8 who has struggled every time he’s played there and doesn’t really compliment the make up of the spine as it currently stands. There’s a lot of parallels to Todd Carney with Ponga which is why I’d love to see him play here because I absolutely loved watching Carney in our colours so trust me I get the temptation.

If we had a more conservative 1 or 9 maybe I could see it but we don’t it’s Tedesco and Brandon Smith who also play a lot of their football outside of structure. Signing Ponga and moving Tedesco to left centre or letting him go seems like the smarter play if you want to make the Ponga signing.

I completely appreciate the following is an outrageous take but I think Sandon Smith has 12 months to prove he can compliment Sam Walker otherwise Toby Rodwell comes in at halfback in 2026 and Walker moves to 5/8.

With next year being a rebuilding season, and Sammy out for most of it, do you think it is worth giving young Rodwell some time in FG? I know he is young but it couldn't hurt to ease him in with a handful of games.

[King Salvo]

I never said try assists magically happen. It’s the manner they come about that determines one’s creativity.

Braith Anasta in 2008 lead the try assists in the competition because of his kicking game, that doesn’t make him creative it just means his execution of pre-planned plays was on point.

Let’s use art as the example as it’s generally considered one of the most creative industries (excluding the elitism bullshit). Someone who prints a picture they’ve bought onto a canvas is creating a piece of art to be purchased just like someone who spends hours free hand painting a picture is creating a piece of art to be purchased. Both in their own right are considered art just the level of creativity that went into each piece is significantly different. The stat would read 1 piece of art sold by each both but that doesn’t make thm both crative or suggest that their creativity is on the same level.

And I’m certainly not trying to diminish Nathan Cleary here, his ability to see and play within structure is elite. A creative player like Kalyn Ponga who as I said is generational could never do what Nathan Cleary does, his brain just doesn’t function that way and visa-versa.

In an overly simplified Rugby league example, Nathan Clearly is looking to explore a 3 on 4 short side overlap in his favour where he can execute the right pass selection to set up a try, this patter of play is rehearsed over and over at training. Kalyn Ponga is happy to explore a 4 on 4 short side play because he backs his ad-hoc thinking to create the overlap for him by using his flair and vision, this is on the run thinking that can’t be practiced and very few can do a the level of the NRL.

I appreciate your love for statistics but not every stat is equal in its creation nor should we just take them at face value without questioning and further analysing them.

Different era

If you watched the last 15 or so minutes of the GF that was not a organising half performance by Cleary in that period - Cleary can play multiple roles as a half ( i.e organising and running ) which is something Sam Walker has to learn - Can't be all out attack

[Bates]

Of course he's a creative player - whether your a running half or organising half your still being creative and executing various plays and are not just catching and passing the ball

Cleary - Try Assists

2020 - 17 (21 games)
2021 - 21 (20 games)
2022 - 18 ( 17 games)
2023 - 20 ( 22 games)
2024 - 12 ( 11 games)

There's a huge difference between create and creative. I can create a sandcastle. No big deal and it's not creative. My mate can sand sculpt. He can turn a pile of sand into an Octopus, Mermaid, Dolphin etc. Now that's being creative!

R6 is correct. N Cleary is very efficient at building your basic sandcastle. In fact he's the best in the business however young Sam Walker leaves him for dead when it comes to sand sculpting. Sam is a creative halfback just like Andrew Johns. N Cleary works best within a structure just like Cooper Cronk.

[Water boy]

Forget Hunt. The bundle of sticks for a coach shoukd be looking at RCG

[theGman]

Forget Hunt. The bundle of sticks for a coach shoukd be looking at RCG

Why do you bother?
Nobody takes you seriously.

How was Mad Monday celebrations with your loser team?