Best 17....

[Guest]

So if we make the GF and all players are available whats your team. Cue Mack. Heres mine

I think the backs take care of themselves

1. Mini
2. Graham
3. linnett
4. SKD
5. Pez
6. Carney
7. Pearce

Forwards a little trickier

13. Anasta
12. Maubs
11. FPN
10. Myles
9. Jake
8. Ryles

14 BJ
15. JWH
16. Mose
17. Kennedy

Dont think we need another hooker on the bench and BJ can play second row or outside back. Maubs can also cover outside backs as well

For mine thats an impressive team with plenty of go forward

[Guest]

So if we make the GF and all players are available whats your team. Cue Mack. Heres mine

I think the backs take care of themselves

1. Mini
2. Graham
3. linnett
4. SKD
5. Pez
6. Carney
7. Pearce

Forwards a little trickier

13. Anasta
12. Maubs
11. FPN
10. Myles
9. Jake
8. Ryles

14 BJ
15. JWH
16. Mose
17. Kennedy

Dont think we need another hooker on the bench and BJ can play second row or outside back. Maubs can also cover outside backs as well

For mine thats an impressive team with plenty of go forward

The team is spot on. Only thing I might change is add either JWH or Kennedy to the starting team and FPN off the bench.

[Guest]

I like the look of that team. Just add Brian Smith and Chookpen and it's gold.

[Guest]

i think that is the top team. conn might be a little unlucky to miss out with kennnedy or bj taking his spot but i think the latter 2 are starting to show more and might offer a little more over the remaining round.
then of course koops, imo shouldnt be considered but seems entrenched in brians plans.

[Guest]

Ha. We go through this every week. Koups is needed for his utility value. He can cover backrow and hooker, he will be in our 17 every week.

[Guest]

yeah we know why koops is there but he's just having less and less impact and game time each week. i just wonder if there is anyone else that could go to hooker for the 10 mins that friend is off the field if he goes off the field at all. i mean he's not that fantastic a cover anyway perhaps if somone else convered they wouldnt be any worse.

[Guest]

We have won 5 in a row and are a month from the final. Why change? There is no need to trial someone else in the position. Koups is doing a good job for us.

[Guest]

i agree to an extent, if it aint broke dont fix it but it. just seems like such a waste having someone come on for 10 mins if at all. and if they do come on does not offer much at all. anyways ill keep the faith in brians plan.

[Guest]

1. Mini
2. Graham
3. linnett
4. SKD
5. Pez
6. Carney
7. Pearce

13. Anasta
12. Maubs
11. FPN
10. Myles
9. Jake
8. Ryles

14 BJ
15. JWH
16. Mose
17. Kennedy

Yep, I think that's the side. Missing out we have Koups, Symonds, Conn, Jaubs, Guerra, Paea, Jones. And there's still Cherro out for the season.

Our depth is ****ing excellent.
An injury to the halves we have Anasta ready to slot in.
An injury to the outside backs we can reshuffle by throwing BJ Leilua in the centres.
An injury in the forwards we have the players mentioned above.

Hooker backup is the only issue - Jaubs and Brunton can cover but James has been injured for close to 2 months and Brunton hasn't seen much first grade. Stay fit Jake

[Vasco]

We need a player off the bench that can play back row and dummy half. At the moment that player is Kouparitsas.

[Kurt Sherlock's Mo]

Phil Graham needs to find something more but will stay in. Am loathe to admit it but koops should and will push Kennedy off the bench.

It all comes down to the fact that the team doesn't dip when Smith goes to the bench which would tend to suggest Brian has got his interchange combos right. Alot of the credit goes to our bench props but Koops covers alot of positions and isnt getting in the way in attack.

One of the true failings of Sticky as a coach is his inability to run the interchange. Conversely Smith has always been astute in his use of the 14-17.

[Pass the Ball]

Jaubs and Brunton are nowhere near First-grade this year..

Smith leaves no stone unturned..

He will not risk an early injury or an off-day from our one and only hooker.

The starting side picks itself..(as above)..

14. Mose
15. JWH
16. Conn maybe Kennedy
17. The one and only, voted best player in the world on this site - The Koupa...

[Guest]

Phil Graham needs to find something more but will stay in. Am loathe to admit it but koops should and will push Kennedy off the bench.

It all comes down to the fact that the team doesn't dip when Smith goes to the bench which would tend to suggest Brian has got his interchange combos right. Alot of the credit goes to our bench props but Koops covers alot of positions and isnt getting in the way in attack.

One of the true failings of Sticky as a coach is his inability to run the interchange. Conversely Smith has always been astute in his use of the 14-17.

The fact is that Graham is really playing our of position.

Aside from in the very early days at the Raiders and a good portion of last year he has basically played very little footy on the wing and his shape isn't really suited to it. Even Mini who has played nearly twice the first grade Footy with probably as much or more time on the wing AND with an experienced centre inside him struggled out there.

For having done so little and playing outside a very inexperienced 3/4 I think that he and Linnett are doing a really good job in defence and their attack is starting to come along nicely too. They certainly don't have the grunt and tackle breaking ability of SKD and Perrett down the right and they will never chew the same sort of metres but they are a million times safer in defence and they have pace to burn if they get a bit of space.

[Guest]

1. Anthony Minichiello
2. Phil Graham
3. Joseph Leilua
4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall
5. Sam Perrett
6. Todd Carney
7. Mitchell Pearce
8. Jason Ryles
9. Jake Friend
10. Nate Myles
11. Frank-Paul Nuuausala
12. Mitch Aubusson
13. Braith Anasta (c)

14. Mose Masoe
15. Jared Wearea-Hargreaves
16. Daniel Conn
17. Nick Kouparitsis

I went with Conn instead of Kennedy and Leilua in for Linnett. I have been very impressed by Conn this season and he has done a lot of the hard yards for most of the year, even when the team wasn't going so well. I like Kennedy and he has been good for us this year, but I think Conn has the edge over him. In regards to Leilua and Linnett, as much as I like Linnett, I think Leilua has that x-factor about him. He can create something out of nothing, as we saw in the Bulldogs game and I really like him out in the centres. Linnett is more of a safe player, but in a grand final or final series, we need a player like Leilua to creat things out wide when nothing is happening because that could be the difference between a win and a loss.

EXTREMELY dangerous side though. The bench is very, very good. We have plenty of versatility in the side to cover for any injuries during the game and our bench has plenty of impact.

[Guest]

I think the best 17 is the one that Brian Smith picks.

I'm not going to pretend to be able to pick a better side than Smith puts forward. And if that includes Koups, then that is still the best team possible.