what if anything did we learn from the 9's today

[Andrew Walker]

1 The only game we were full on in attitude. We beat the team who made the GF of this tournament

2 Green has either stolen or was the man behind our defence last year

3 Either way Cowboys are a threat With a steely resilve defensivley I dont think I have seen from that club

4 We will win next weekend

[stephenj]

about time the cows achieved more than a gf appearance?

[Rooster_6]

I think we learnt the Nine's is a lot closer to the 13 a side game than many thought it would be, scoring tries wasn't as easy as just having fast wingers & agile forwards. It's the perfect mix of staying true to the core fundamentals of Rugby League whilst still providing an attacking and exciting brand of footy for a weekend long tournament. This is more than just a mickey mouse tournament, it'll be even bigger next year if they can get the timing right. January makes a lot more sense.

On a club perspective I think we learnt Pearce & Friend are future leaders of this club, they lead a bunch of rookies admirably in those first two games. Both just about to enter the peak of their careers @ 24 years of age.

Napa is in for a big season, I'm quietly confident he'll get a game for QLD at some point this year.

And there's plenty of bright talent coming through the club in the 20's & NSW Cup to keep an eye on.

[Game Fowl]

Super six your assessment of the nines is close to the money personally I really enjoyed the whole event although timing definitely off maybe January will give us more of an opportunity to train with specific tactics for this form of the game.

Unfortunately after the last game your assessment of the talent coming through May be a bit off I think they have got a long hard apprenticeship ahead of them.

I think we learnt the Nine's is a lot closer to the 13 a side game than many thought it would be, scoring tries wasn't as easy as just having fast wingers & agile forwards. It's the perfect mix of staying true to the core fundamentals of Rugby League whilst still providing an attacking and exciting brand of footy for a weekend long tournament. This is more than just a mickey mouse tournament, it'll be even bigger next year if they can get the timing right. January makes a lot more sense.



And there's plenty of bright talent coming through the club in the 20's & NSW Cup to keep an eye on.

[Game Fowl]

Super six your assessment of the nines is close to the money personally I really enjoyed the whole event although timing definitely off maybe January will give us more of an opportunity to train with specific tactics for this form of the game.

Unfortunately after the last game your assessment of the talent coming through May be a bit off I think they have got a long hard apprenticeship ahead of them.

I think we learnt the Nine's is a lot closer to the 13 a side game than many thought it would be, scoring tries wasn't as easy as just having fast wingers & agile forwards. It's the perfect mix of staying true to the core fundamentals of Rugby League whilst still providing an attacking and exciting brand of footy for a weekend long tournament. This is more than just a mickey mouse tournament, it'll be even bigger next year if they can get the timing right. January makes a lot more sense.



And there's plenty of bright talent coming through the club in the 20's & NSW Cup to keep an eye on.

[ism22]

1 The only game we were full on in attitude. We beat the team who made the GF of this tournament

2 Green has either stolen or was the man behind our defence last year

3 Either way Cowboys are a threat With a steely resilve defensivley I dont think I have seen from that club

4 We will win next weekend

Agreed...

If our team had Sonny Bill, Pearce, Freddie, Jennings, Tupou, Napa and a random mix of juniors/jets players we would have won.

If the NRL involved all players playing without their full roster, a new set of rules and us in particular resting multiple players (while using a 42 year old as our key go-to man) then I'd be scared.

When the REAL comp starts, I don't think we'll get thrashed by Parra and the Doggies this season.

Edit: No disrespect intended towards Freddie. If we learned anything... maybe it is that Freddie's still better than any half in the game. I heard that NSW were looking into their options for Origin.

Wishful but THAT would be awesome. Freddie comes back for the deciding game to put a season ending tackle on GI and scores a match winning 70m intercept try. Rocky style!! He's got the voice and all too.

[roosterproud]

the thing I took from the 9s game is that it should be played here in aus.

there was a prize pool of "the worlds riches league tournament, with a prize pool of $2.2 million. apparently $1mil for first prize. but the cows only got $370k for winning. so it must be a shit exchange rate

[Guest]

From what I saw those young backs are not up to first grade standard. McDonald has never impressed me, Roka and Reuben are too small and got monstered.

Martin looked pretty good though much faster than I thought.

Pearce looked very very sharp.

And Freddy that was beautiful to watch.

[Guest]

If you're geeing up Bongdi you are the master.

If you're serious you're farking loco.

I love you though.

Very true.

He is either the best or needs help.

[roosterproud]

What we have learned from the 9s is greeny can coach, and can win

well done paul green

[Thirteen]

When it got down to the business end of the season last year Robbo really started to favour Guerra.

I'd be surprised if we don't go with 13. Cordner 12. SBW 11. Guerra

There is no doubt. It's a given.

[Burnt Rooster]

Yes, you are either serious about it, or don't bother going at all, our side was pretty much a disgrace, taking into account the club never bothered to do any special 9's type training in preparation, but as I said, either in it 100%, or not at all.

[roosterproud]

Yes, you are either serious about it, or don't bother going at all, our side was pretty much a disgrace, taking into account the club never bothered to do any special 9's type training in preparation, but as I said, either in it 100%, or not at all.

I loved the 9 or 10 penalities against the dullbogs...theres your care factor

[Yak]

From what I saw those young backs are not up to first grade standard. McDonald has never impressed me, Roka and Reuben are too small and got monstered.

Martin looked pretty good though much faster than I thought.

Pearce looked very very sharp.

And Freddy that was beautiful to watch.

Hopefully MacDonald develops in the same way as Daniel Tupou and plays the full season with the Jets with plenty of work on improving his defence. In attack I thought he looked good on occasion. He's a very good build and is pretty quick for his size (still a fast winger). The run to set up the Rokolati try against the Dogs showed he had a bit of elusive and a nice long pass.

Jonathan Reuben was absolutely terrible in defence. Was caught in no mans land a lot, didn't slide when it was all that was necessary and doesn't look to have much strength in tackles at all. I also expected more in attack. He only produced that line run off a Pearce out ball that is worth a mention.

Rhyse Martin was very solid I thought. Definitely a bit more toe on him than previous seasons. I guess he sees his opportunity as a centre, which is where he played most of his junior footy. With the speed he now seems to have developed he couldn't certainly come into contention if SKD struggles at the start of the season. He's always been a very solid defender with good technique, has a great fend (produced probably the greatest fend I can recall to the throat of Broncos player 2 years ago), a very good player under the attacking high ball, and certainly a leader (NYC captain last year) with a very strong attitude. Would probably be my first choice to cover centres with Moga out til mid season and Taane Milne still inexperienced even at 20s level despite playing in the first grade trial at Wyong the other night.

They are a long way off obviously but it is very hard to make judgement on these young guys when we played that last game without a recognised half and only three players with over a season of first grade under their belts.

Penalties, dropped ball, edge defence and most of all experience cost us any chance of being competitive in the nines. Our attacking ability looked as good as any other team in my opinion, we just barely had the ball due to the reasons given above.

If we learnt anything I'd say it's that: 1) Pearce is in for a big season
2) Let's pray for very few injuries because our outside back replacements are not yet up to the task defensively.
3) Freddy is still a better playmaker than most halves in the comp.
4) SKD is still a clumsy idiot who tries his heart out
5) The Cowboys are the real deal this year. Which is well overdue considering they probably have the best roster in the comp along with us.

[fletch]

Yak, I think it was significant that Milne/Elliot were named outside Jennings/Maubs in the Wyong trial, it is very likely that these two have infact passed MacDonald/Reuben/Rokolati during the offseason and Robbo wanted to give them some real game time outside Jennings/Maubs just in case they are going to be called on during 2014.

not many people would know much about Elliot/Milne

- Elliot really came on strong towards the end of the NYC last season and was called up to the emerging QLD camp in January this year, he best attribute is his ability to break tackles.

- Milne named in the NSW 18's last season but unable to play due to Union commitments, been one of the brightest stars coming through our juniors, will be the subject of a tug of war between League/Union when his contract expires at the end of this year, unlike many youngsters coming through Milne has an excellent tackling technique.