Brian Smith Grow some balls and drop some players

[Guest]

I know that but they are not the best young prospects... They are good but look across the other clubs and they have as many good young prospects, in some cases better prospects.. I look at the Tigers, Bronco's, Knights, Parramatta, Gold Coast, Canberra and see their youngsters and they have a better crop than we do. POS worked in Melbourne with the biggest cheque book enabling him to sign up more than their share of talent and at the Dragons who have a massive production line which has not diminished since he left.

very well said. our club sucks with kids.

[Guest]

So are you one of them suckers who has said it?

The question is how long have some of the current players had to prove themselves? I am prepared to say we have half a dozen in the team that have proved over the last two years that they either were never or are no longer first graders. It is time to move them on and give others a shot. We have bought players over from other clubs who are now playing for Newtown.

I am sure Symonds and Kennedy will be part of the team very soon. I hope Linnett finally gets given a go. I hope they replace the correct players though. There are probably a couple of others who have also earned a shot. Speed and defense is a major problem on our wings. This hasn't been addressed all year and we continually get exposed. We get flogged one week and when the team goes up on Tuesday for the next game it is identical. We expected that because we played on the Monday night and think that there will be a few changes on the night. We played shit the previous two weeks as well. Yet on the night only one change is made albeit a good one. What is the end result? We get flogged again by a team who is missing two stars (yes I know we were missing one ourselves) then with 25 minutes to go they have only one player on the bench and we had every right to run over the top of them yet we didn't look like scoring and looked more stuffed than them in the end.

Pearce, Sydmods and Kennedy should be back for the next game. That will cause a shuffle in the backline but some of those same non-first grader players will still be there and will always be a liabilty.

I hope that answers your question.

Yes, I was one of the "suckers" that said it and no it does not answer my question.

Let's say Smith drops Graham, Mini, Anasta, SKD and Jones. He then replaces them with 5 others - some of your suggestions would be fine. How long does he give them to make an impact and prove themselves either way? How many losses would you, as a supporter, cop until you suggested that the plan was a success/failure? Would it be 4 losses in a row, 5????

I am not happy with the way the team is playing anymore than the rest of the supporters and I can't believe that we can't even have a set play that involves a couple of decoy runners.

I value most people's opinions on here but the quick fix suggestions are rarely that. This is why I ask the question. How much pain do we take to get some gain?

[Kingbilly]

There is a lot of discussion here about development and POS etc.
There are a couple of things to be aware of.
From what I understand POS's biggest influence on the club to date has been with SG Ball. From what I have seen and heard thats been his starting point for the future.
There is a hell of a lot of work being done to improve the development process for the junior footballers, U13s up to Sg Ball. There has been a big focus on U15s and Harold Matts over the last 6-9 months and a huge amount of work begin done from outside the club, mainly Bondi Utd and Clovelly.

The idea is to make the junior sides as competitive as possible but not take away opportunities from local kids, and believe me there is some talent there.

It will not be a quick fix, but things are going in a good direction.
The club also wants to look more at committed kids and dissassociate from those with attitudes. This might mean that players that are seen by the fans as having talent are let go, but its a team/club sport and you can see the impact of "attitude" in the U20s comp across alot of clubs. If the club sticks to this philosophy then I think its a good thing.

[Guest]

I know that but they are not the best young prospects... They are good but look across the other clubs and they have as many good young prospects, in some cases better prospects.. I look at the Tigers, Bronco's, Knights, Parramatta, Gold Coast, Canberra and see their youngsters and they have a better crop than we do. POS worked in Melbourne with the biggest cheque book enabling him to sign up more than their share of talent and at the Dragons who have a massive production line which has not diminished since he left.

I usually agree with you on many points, but sorry to say not so on this one. I follow the junior grades extensively and I've come to the conclusion that we are among the clubs who have the best young players in our system. Over the next few years, I'm expecting that they will filter into the NRL side at one point or another. With players such as Boyd Cordner, Ethan Lowe, BJ Leilua, Jacob Miller, Cheyse Blair, Fine Moeakiola etc. they are proven performers in junior representative teams over the past few years. Looking at the prospects from the clubs you named, only the Tigers, Broncos and Canberra, and you can add Melbourne as well, would be up there with us as having some of the best junior talent. We've also got Henare Wells and Tau Tau Moga who played in our SG Ball winning side who have just made the QLD Schoolboys side. Peter O'Sullivan has identified the players named above as "youngsters with potential" and has gone about recruiting them to the club and developing them for future years. Our recruitment policy is well under way and has been for a while but will only come to the forefront in the next few years. Only then can we truly judge how our recruitment policy is coming along.

[theGman]

I know that but they are not the best young prospects... They are good but look across the other clubs and they have as many good young prospects, in some cases better prospects.. I look at the Tigers, Bronco's, Knights, Parramatta, Gold Coast, Canberra and see their youngsters and they have a better crop than we do. POS worked in Melbourne with the biggest cheque book enabling him to sign up more than their share of talent and at the Dragons who have a massive production line which has not diminished since he left.

Cockadoodledoo i share your frustration BUT we have to concede that each one of the clubs you mentioned (Penriff & Saints as well) have a terrific nursery of top prospects to choose from and usually get first pick for their services.
Most clubs these days stockpile their junior pool by offering scholarships or small $$ contracts just so clubs like the Roosters cannot get their paws on them. Therefore, what do we get left with.........the dregs, so to speak.
Having said that though, we proudly punch above our weight in SG Ball because several players including Daniel Arona & the Antonelli bros were turned away by Penriff officials because they were supposedly not good enough.....and where did they finish up!
For mine, i will be pleased if each year we consistently pump out at least 2-3 stars from our U20's/SG Ball squads & develop them into top notch Roosters
1st graders. Much like Canberra and the Storm.

[Guest]

very well said. our club sucks with kids.

our club sucks with developing the kids. But that's a coaching issue, not a talent identifying issue

[Cockadoodledoo]

Cockadoodledoo i share your frustration BUT we have to concede that each one of the clubs you mentioned (Penriff & Saints as well) have a terrific nursery of top prospects to choose from and usually get first pick for their services.
Most clubs these days stockpile their junior pool by offering scholarships or small $$ contracts just so clubs like the Roosters cannot get their paws on them. Therefore, what do we get left with.........the dregs, so to speak.
Having said that though, we proudly punch above our weight in SG Ball because several players including Daniel Arona & the Antonelli bros were turned away by Penriff officials because they were supposedly not good enough.....and where did they finish up!
For mine, i will be pleased if each year we consistently pump out at least 2-3 stars from our U20's/SG Ball squads & develop them into top notch Roosters
1st graders. Much like Canberra and the Storm.

So would I but our strike rate with turning youngsters from our junior ranks into top notch first graders is horrendous. Our major problem imho has not been recruitment of young players, it is development that is my major concern and in addition retention. Seeing what is happening to Williamson suggests this isn't changing.. Look at Lopini Paea, he was outstanding in 2007 in his first full year in the top grade in a foreign position (Front Row) considering he was first graded as a Centre. At 23 he should have come along in leaps and bounds... We have SKD who still cannot pass or catch a ball after 50 FG games.. Sam Perrett who cannot stand on his wing in defence.. players who continue to make basic fundamental errors after years in the top grade.

Then you look to players who have been able to kick on after leaving.. look at George Rose and Glen Hall.. They were useless at the Roosters then have performed solidly at Manly and consistent starters when fit in the Manly 17. Hall even won a premiership, yet they were in and out of our First Grade side which was performing poorly. Mickey Paea is another.. Could barely crack a spot in our 17 when he was here in a badly peforming team but gets more of a run at the Dragons last year and the Bulldogs this year.. I won't even bother going into detail about Jamie Soward and David Shillington. Admittedly over the last few years the overall depth in the NRL has been weakening but these guys have actually performed pretty well. Throw in James Tamou whom I rated our best player by far in the NYC a couple years ago.. I have posts on the other 'wall' to prove it... another great piece of player retention.

[theGman]

So would I but our strike rate with turning youngsters from our junior ranks into top notch first graders is horrendous. Our major problem imho has not been recruitment of young players, it is development that is my major concern and in addition retention. Seeing what is happening to Williamson suggests this isn't changing.. Look at Lopini Paea, he was outstanding in 2007 in his first full year in the top grade in a foreign position (Front Row) considering he was first graded as a Centre. At 23 he should have come along in leaps and bounds... We have SKD who still cannot pass or catch a ball after 50 FG games.. Sam Perrett who cannot stand on his wing in defence.. players who continue to make basic fundamental errors after years in the top grade.

Then you look to players who have been able to kick on after leaving.. look at George Rose and Glen Hall.. They were useless at the Roosters then have performed solidly at Manly and consistent starters when fit in the Manly 17. Hall even won a premiership, yet they were in and out of our First Grade side which was performing poorly. Mickey Paea is another.. Could barely crack a spot in our 17 when he was here in a badly peforming team but gets more of a run at the Dragons last year and the Bulldogs this year.. I won't even bother going into detail about Jamie Soward and David Shillington. Admittedly over the last few years the overall depth in the NRL has been weakening but these guys have actually performed pretty well. Throw in James Tamou whom I rated our best player by far in the NYC a couple years ago.. I have posts on the other 'wall' to prove it... another great piece of player retention.

Fair rant pal.

All i can say is, IMHO we have been very poorly coached for over six years & most of the players you mentioned were unfortunately caught up during this time.
We all live in hope that under a more experienced & seasoned leader like Smith, our future endeavours are more prudent.