Are Evans and Napa the answer?

[Bansai Pipeline]

You can't rush forwards.

They don't come of age until late.

[elo]

It depends on the question you are asking.

Our bench is too small and we are carrying too many hybrid role forwards at the moment, we need some genuine impact props like a Tasi or Evans - guys like Kennedy, LOD and Maubs aren't going to dominate any team up the middle so when Moa and JWH are off we get rolled. Liu has been the best of the lot and he's 2 games into his career, no reason why Evans can't offer the same.

[The Brain]

I'm surprised Lama Tasi didnt make the side this week .He has been blitzing it in Newtown

[Guest]

I'm more concerned about the team balance as a whole rather than the individual players, I don't know how much longer you can have Maubs/Kennedy/LOD in the same team, each one of them gets dominated in the tackle and has slow play the balls which cause a loss of momentum, in Maubs case it might be time for him to replace SKD, as for the other two it might be time for Tasi to be introduced to give us a bit more punch off the bench.

it is important to remember JWH/Moa are consistently playing 50-60 minutes each so we really only need our bench props to play 10-15 minutes before and after halftime which would suit the likes of Tasi/Lui and even Evans from time to time.

I agree about LOD, he's been a major dissappointment. But I think we need to persist with MK, he's 24 and getting better with each game. Another reason I think we need to persist with MK is that Tasi is a backrower for mine and not a prop. I'd swap him with LOD off the bench and have him running a bit wider.

Chook.

[Guest]

You can't rush forwards.

They don't come of age until late.

SBW, Maubs and Moa are our oldest forwards at 27.

Chook.

[Headless Chook]

I agree about LOD, he's been a major dissappointment. But I think we need to persist with MK, he's 24 and getting better with each game. Another reason I think we need to persist with MK is that Tasi is a backrower for mine and not a prop. I'd swap him with LOD off the bench and have him running a bit wider.

Chook.

Luke O'Donnell has been disappointing but before giving up on him, I'm prepared to give him more time. I can remember in 2002 we signed an injury prone verteran from the UK Super League. After a few games a lot of fans were calling for his head and saying he was only in the team because of his friendship with the coach. At seasons end, everybody recognised this players contribution to the team. So much so, that at the end of 2003, a lot of people were saying we would have gone back to back had we retained his services for that season.

I will give him a few more games before I write him off as a dud.

[Guest]

Luke O'Donnell has been disappointing but before giving up on him, I'm prepared to give him more time. I can remember in 2002 we signed an injury prone verteran from the UK Super League. After a few games a lot of fans were calling for his head and saying he was only in the team because of his friendship with the coach. At seasons end, everybody recognised this players contribution to the team. So much so, that at the end of 2003, a lot of people were saying we would have gone back to back had we retained his services for that season.

I will give him a few more games before I write him off as a dud.

Not calling him a dud, just saying he's been dissappointing. Happy to see him wreak havoc on Friday night, but he'd better start producing something other than what he did on Sunday night or it's the Dudtown Jets for him.

Chook.

[theGman]

Mate with what Parra are offering Tolman we'd be no chance of signing him. I agree he's a hard working prop and would suit most sides, but I don't think he's what we're looking for even if he was an option.

Chook.

The money Parra are reportedly throwing at him($500K p.a) to entice him across is ridiculous & desperate.
I would only nab him if he was prepared to sign a long term deal (4 yrs) worth what he's on now i.e $300-350,000 p.a.

[Guest]

A lot has been said about our front row stocks, so the question is are Evans and Napa the answer in the short term or are they longer term investments?

Personaly I don't think our pigs are performing that badly. Yes we got steamrolled in the second half against the Raiders, but that was one half of football. Take into acount the preceeding 6 halves when our forwards point blank smashed the Warriors, Broncos and Eels forwards and one half were they more than matched the Raiders.

Everyone calling for Evans and Napa need to realise they are kids and putting them into the NRL arena could have a detrimental affect on their progression as front rowers.

As much as I'd love to see both enter the top grade, if the coaching staff feel they need more time in the lower grades, and given our pack is going ok, do we really need to rush them into firsts?

Chook.

Good post but I have to disagree on one thing Chookman, I don't think we matched it with Canberra at all in that first half, they were making metres at will and getting away super quick play the balls all night.

It was our scrambling and goal line defence that stopped them in the first half.

[Guest]

I think Fletch makes a good point about who is on our bench.

For me Kennedy has to start or he should be replaced by Tasi. I don't think anyone can deny that when Moa and JWH are off we look weaker. It's a 17 man game and I think Moa would also be great impact off the the bench.

Evans and Napa are good players, we don't need to rush them.

[Guest]

The money Parra are reportedly throwing at him($500K p.a) to entice him across is ridiculous & desperate.
I would only nab him if he was prepared to sign a long term deal (4 yrs) worth what he's on now i.e $300-350,000 p.a.

Even at 300-350K is a lot to pay for a meterman. He's had one offload all year and rarely promotes the ball.

Chook.

[Guest]

Good post but I have to disagree on one thing Chookman, I don't think we matched it with Canberra at all in that first half, they were making metres at will and getting away super quick play the balls all night.

It was our scrambling and goal line defence that stopped them in the first half.

Can't agree mate. We matched them in the first half and got slaughtered in the second. - http://live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match20143.html

Chook.

[Rooster_6]

The money Parra are reportedly throwing at him($500K p.a) to entice him across is ridiculous & desperate.
I would only nab him if he was prepared to sign a long term deal (4 yrs) worth what he's on now i.e $300-350,000 p.a.

What he is on now was warranted under the old cap, under the new cap he's worth every cent of 500k.

I'd play him at lock to give Moa & JWH some more support, we've been one of the worst yardage for quite a few years now.. that needs to change if we want to seriously push for the premiership.

[Guest]

What he is on now was warranted under the old cap, under the new cap he's worth every cent of 500k.

I'd play him at lock to give Moa & JWH some more support, we've been one of the worst yardage for quite a few years now.. that needs to change if we want to seriously push for the premiership.

500K for a lock? Geesus 6, I'm glad you're not in charge of recruitment.

Chook.

[Funky Chicken]

IMO both Napa & Evans are long term prospects who will inevitably play NRL either later this year or early 2014.
They one off contract player POS seriously needs to lure to B.Junction is Aidan Tolman. His work ethic & toughness is
underestimated but would be appreciated by us. I'd happily spare LOD & and one/two other off contract fringe players to get his signature. At only 23y.o Tolman represents a good investment for mine. It was POS who saw his potential as a 15 year old and lined him up for the Storm.

I am pretty sure he recently signed a 3 year deal to go to Parramatta, it was in the realm of $2m over 3 years if i remember correctly.

Mind you if I am wrong I would happily trade Tolman for LOD and as a bonus I'll chuck in SKD (like a set of steak knives, just not as sharp)