Riley Brown?

[supermario]

I see Muz, thanks and I hope you're right about BOTH Cordners and that common sense will prevail. The NYC match you speak of is one of the few I watched and I think it's the one where the knoughts prop (jake ailomai scum ? - if he's under 20 I'm Mickey Mouse) breaks Boyd's jaw with a cheap shot using a leading shoulder. Remember thinking that if Morley did that he would have copped 12 weeks. Also remember waiting for the Roosters players to smash ailomai in return but I'm still waiting.

thats the game LR !!!

[Guest]

Guys - keep in mind that every year you have between 5-10 players who are no longer eligible to play NYC. The dilemma clubs face is that they can't offer contracts to all for the following years 'Top 25' players. So they either cull them, they get picked up by another club as part of THEIR 'Top 25' or join a NSW cup team.

Talking to my physio the other day after busting my ankle at the jamacian reggae festival, he told me that the dragons have only signed 4 of their current NYC players on for first grade next year (he is their official physio). This is a team that's kicked arse all year.

Also reckons Kane Linnett goes alright and will be a handy buy. Tall rangy centre will great speed and explosiveness.

This is true, but most of the better Dragons players are still NYC eligible next year anyway. The only regular Dragons NYC players who are not eligible for the U20's as of next year are:

- Jake Marketo (backrower)
- Brad Hudson (backrower)
- Henry Raiwalui (fullback)
- Joe Vickery (winger)
- Kenny Edwards (lock/backrow)
- Trent Merrin (prop)
- Kane Linnett (centre)
- Clifford Morris (backrow)

Now consider that Linnett is signed with us like you say (and I very much hope so, he is talented and strong and can score a try too), I very much doubt the Dragons would be letting go of Vickery, Merrin and Marketo - all of whom made the NYC Team Of The Year. Morris, Hudson and Raiwalui are average, and Edwards is seriously inconsistent.

IMO, they have done a great job with their retention. This season, our own NYC competition players who not be eligible next year are:

- Tom Symonds (lock)
- Martin Kennedy (prop)
- Sandor Earl (wing)
- Luke Towers (fullback)
- Ben Murray (backrow)
- Robbie Williams (backrow)
- Valeni Tia Tia (prop)
- Mark Talanoa (centre)
- Ray Tafokitau (centre)
- Mose Masoe (prop/backrow)
- Dylan Sharp (backrow)

We have already retained Symonds (2011), Masoe (2010) and Kennedy (2010) so expect them to be shifting regularly between Newtown and the first-grade team next year, and I very much hope we look into keeping Earl and Towers, but the rest are pretty average players who I very much doubt could make a first grade squad anywhere else.

If we retain Earl and Towers in the first grade squad (hopefully at the expense of someone like Tuigamala), and next season in the NYC bring through the amazing talents of Jacob Miller (five-eighth), Boyd Cordner (backrow), Cheyse Blair (centre), Ethan Lowe (lock) and Joseph Leilua (backrow/centre), supported by a few of the talented final year NYC-ers like Maliota, Moeakiola, Leolahi and Williamson, and the competition will be doing its job. The competition has already produced, even from a poorly performing U20's team like our own:

- Jake Friend (Roosters hooker - 5 FG games last year, 21 FG games this year)
- Antonio Winterstein (Broncos winger - 24 FG games this year)
- Ben Jones (Roosters utility - 1 FG game last year, 21 FG games this year)
- Anthony Cherrington (Roosters backrower - 14 FG games last year, 5 FG games this year
- James Tamou (Cowboys prop - 12 FG games this year)
- Stanley Waqa (Roosters prop - 9 FG games this year)
- Tom Symonds (Roosters backrower - 8 FG games this year)
- Rohan Ahern (Roosters backrower - 4 FG games this year
- Martin Kennedy (Roosters prop - 3 FG games this year)
- Sandor Earl (Roosters winger - 3 FG games this year)
- David Hala (Broncos prop - 1 FG game this year)

[Guest]

[QUOTE=The Mack;25348]This is true, but most of the better Dragons players are still NYC eligible next year anyway. The only regular Dragons NYC players who are not eligible for the U20's as of next year are:

- Jake Marketo (backrower)
- Brad Hudson (backrower)
- Henry Raiwalui (fullback)
- Joe Vickery (winger)
- Kenny Edwards (lock/backrow)
- Trent Merrin (prop)
- Kane Linnett (centre)
- Clifford Morris (backrow)

Now consider that Linnett is signed with us like you say (and I very much hope so, he is talented and strong and can score a try too), I very much doubt the Dragons would be letting go of Vickery, Merrin and Marketo - all of whom made the NYC Team Of The Year. Morris, Hudson and Raiwalui are average, and Edwards is seriously inconsistent.

IMO, they have done a great job with their retention. This season, our own NYC competition players who not be eligible next year are:

- Tom Symonds (lock)
- Martin Kennedy (prop)
- Sandor Earl (wing)
- Luke Towers (fullback)
- Ben Murray (backrow)
- Robbie Williams (backrow)
- Valeni Tia Tia (prop)
- Mark Talanoa (centre)
- Ray Tafokitau (centre)
- Mose Masoe (prop/backrow)
- Dylan Sharp (backrow)

We have already retained Symonds (2011), Masoe (2010) and Kennedy (2010) so expect them to be shifting regularly between Newtown and the first-grade team next year, and I very much hope we look into keeping Earl and Towers, but the rest are pretty average players who I very much doubt could make a first grade squad anywhere else.

If we retain Earl and Towers in the first grade squad (hopefully at the expense of someone like Tuigamala), and next season in the NYC bring through the amazing talents of Jacob Miller (five-eighth), Boyd Cordner (backrow), Cheyse Blair (centre), Ethan Lowe (lock) and Joseph Leilua (backrow/centre), supported by a few of the talented final year NYC-ers like Maliota, Moeakiola, Leolahi and Williamson, and the competition will be doing its job. The competition has already produced, even from a poorly performing U20's team like our own:

- Jake Friend (Roosters hooker - 5 FG games last year, 21 FG games this year)
- Antonio Winterstein (Broncos winger - 24 FG games this year)
- Ben Jones (Roosters utility - 1 FG game last year, 21 FG games this year)
- Anthony Cherrington (Roosters backrower - 14 FG games last year, 5 FG games this year
- James Tamou (Cowboys prop - 12 FG games this year)
- Stanley Waqa (Roosters prop - 9 FG games this year)
- Tom Symonds (Roosters backrower - 8 FG games this year)
- Rohan Ahern (Roosters backrower - 4 FG games this year
- Martin Kennedy (Roosters prop - 3 FG games this year)
- Sandor Earl (Roosters winger - 3 FG games this year)
- David Hala (Broncos prop - 1 FG game this year)[/QUOTE]

In producing this many players for first grade in two seasons of the NYC just goes to show that we have a huge amount of talent in our NYC, no matter where they finish and that there are massive culture problems within the club. If we are finishing second last and still producing talent like this in the big time, imagine when our NYC team finally clicks into gear. I believe next season is the season with a good mix of players coming back. We've got Ryan Williamson, Ben Jones (who I think will begin in NYC next year), Fine Moeakiola, Jerome Leoahi, Brad Murray and Jake Friend (if he starts off in NYC) who all played in Season One of the NYC and will still be eligible in Season Three. Mix these boys in with the new recruits JP Du Plessis and Joseph Leilua, the younger talents who have tasted the NYC in Cheyse Blair, Jacob Miller, Ethan Lowe and Boyd Cordner and you have the best NYC team on paper come Round One 2010.

Full-Strength NYC 2010

1. Cheyse Blair
2. JP Du Plessis
3. Ryan Williamson
4. Ben Jones
5. Fine Moeakiola
6. Jacob Miller
7. Brad Murray
8. Isaac Maliota
9. Jake Friend
10. Tom Pelo
11. Boyd Cordner
12. Joseph Leilua
13. Jerome Leolahi (c)

14. Tim Burrell
15. Olireti Samuelu
16. Ethan Lowe
17. Samson Manu'a

[Guest]

I don't know if it is the BEST on paper, but talent-wise there is a lot of potential.

The best teams on paper are probably the ones who had players dominate this year, that are still eligible next year. Beau Henry, Robert Lui, Shaun Johnson, etc are all still eligible.

Ours has lots of talented BUT unproven players, that is the biggest issue. Very few of the genuinely talented ones have played a full season of NYC yet. I would have loved to see Boyd Cordner play most of this one.

By the way, NRLStats has Martin Kennedy playing for FG and U20's team last week. Did he actually play both, or did Boyd Cordner actually play on the bench for us in the NYC?

[Guest]

I don't know if it is the BEST on paper, but talent-wise there is a lot of potential.

The best teams on paper are probably the ones who had players dominate this year, that are still eligible next year. Beau Henry, Robert Lui, Shaun Johnson, etc are all still eligible.

Ours has lots of talented BUT unproven players, that is the biggest issue. Very few of the genuinely talented ones have played a full season of NYC yet. I would have loved to see Boyd Cordner play most of this one.

By the way, NRLStats has Martin Kennedy playing for FG and U20's team last week. Did he actually play both, or did Boyd Cordner actually play on the bench for us in the NYC?

Well I got a bit excited there Mack but I guess sides like Canberra, St George Illawarra and Brisbane would give us a run for our money.

If we can keep our most genuinely talented players on the field (Boyd Cordner, Moeakiola, Williamson, Leolahi, Maliota, Jones, Friend) for most of the season with injuries, they will cause some havoc but as usual, if they do dominate they'll get put straight into out NRL side which obviously isn't that hard to do currently.

Martin Kennedy did not play NYC on Sunday, only played first grade I think.

[Guest]

If that was the case, who was the team named?

The team named earlier in the week was:

Towers
Moeakiola
Earl
Talanoa
Gelling
B Cordner
Condon
Maliota
Samuela
Clayton
Kennedy
Lowe
Leolahi

Pelo
Brunton
D Cordner
Williams

...

but the team that ran on the park was:

Towers
Sa
Earl
Talanoa
Gelling
Murray
Condon
Maliota
Samuela
Clayton
Williams
Lowe
Leolahi

Pelo
Brunton
D Cordner
???

who was the last man on the bench? Obviously NRLStats got it wrong.

[Cockadoodledoo]

[QUOTE=footy;25353]

The competition has already produced, even from a poorly performing U20's team like our own:

- Jake Friend (Roosters hooker - 5 FG games last year, 21 FG games this year)
- Antonio Winterstein (Broncos winger - 24 FG games this year)
- Ben Jones (Roosters utility - 1 FG game last year, 21 FG games this year)
- Anthony Cherrington (Roosters backrower - 14 FG games last year, 5 FG games this year
- James Tamou (Cowboys prop - 12 FG games this year)
- Stanley Waqa (Roosters prop - 9 FG games this year)
- Tom Symonds (Roosters backrower - 8 FG games this year)
- Rohan Ahern (Roosters backrower - 4 FG games this year
- Martin Kennedy (Roosters prop - 3 FG games this year)
- Sandor Earl (Roosters winger - 3 FG games this year)
- David Hala (Broncos prop - 1 FG game this year)[/QUOTE]

In producing this many players for first grade in two seasons of the NYC just goes to show that we have a huge amount of talent in our NYC, no matter where they finish and that there are massive culture problems within the club.

It actually does nothing of the sort. It shows we have no depth in our club and have wasted big money on some ordinary footballers.

[Roosterfarian]

De naturul erbs should fix dat mum

Da natural erbs caused the ****er!

[Guest]

I'm sure I saw big Valeni Tia Tia come off the bench on Sunday. It's hard to miss him, he's a giant of a man.

Cockadoodledoo, I think there are two perspectives you can look at it from. It's kind of like the half-full, half-empty glass theory. The fact we've produced that many young players into the NRL through the Toyota Cup is testament that the competition is doing what it was expected to do, and that is to ready the young players on the verge of NRL. We might not have the best squad of NRL players but we've definitely got a lot of genuinely talented youngsters in our club who can step up into the NRL ranks. All O'Sullivan needs to do now is recruit a few old heads in key positions we're lacking and we just might be on our way back up.

[Kingbilly]

Too many islanders for my liking.
They can be great people, but too many in your team and you have no success.

[Guest]

Yes, he would have probably been the one to come in.

Jeez he is a HUGE lad, looks a good 110kg, and well over 190cm. Seems to lack any sort of mobility or skill however, just a hard runner.

I liked the look of that Tom Pelo bloke, the Kiwi Ben Hannant haha.

[Guest]

Yes, he would have probably been the one to come in.

Jeez he is a HUGE lad, looks a good 110kg, and well over 190cm. Seems to lack any sort of mobility or skill however, just a hard runner.

I liked the look of that Tom Pelo bloke, the Kiwi Ben Hannant haha.

Tia Tia certainly looks to have no lateral movement, and who can blame him though when you see the size of the man.

Tom Pelo is a very, very agressive player who runs hard and tackles his heart out. He looks good and I think can give Maliota a run for his money next year as to who will be our main go-to prop in the NYC. He has also got good leg speed for a big fella.

[Guest]

Difference is their motors.

Pelo comes on with strong hitups, but runs out of puff pretty quick, and thats when he can become a bit of a liability in defense. Maliota isn't the best lateral mover either, but he can play big minutes.