Team vs Dogs Named

[Guest]

I've said it before, we need to start a worker prop either Kennedy or Ryels and an impact player JWH or Mose. then you have a mix or worker and impact throughout the game!

[Guest]

Smith loves his favourites...

I hope this Watts character is better than the pig...

Ryles must be taking the p*ss...this guy is like a STA bus driver ....goes through the motions, nothing more , gets his pay and goes home.

Kennedy needs to lift..i hope he is'nt taking tips from Ryles.

[Rooster Rampage]

i've been saying it since last year, anasta and maubs in the backrow just doesn't work, FPN needs to start alongside anasta and then maubs comes off the bench later in the game, his mobility can exploit the tired forwards and PN is better suited to taking on the hard argy-bargey stuff in the early minutes of the game.

People are saying our props are looking slow and making too many mistakes/penalties, but thats only because our backrow consists of a slow centre and a worn-out 5/8- the backrow isn't doing its fair share). I wouldn't even mind putting maubs into centre at the expense of linnet, just so we can have FPN starting in the backrow and then someone like symonds coming off the bench.

[Cockadoodledoo]

i've been saying it since last year, anasta and maubs in the backrow just doesn't work, FPN needs to start alongside anasta and then maubs comes off the bench later in the game, his mobility can exploit the tired forwards and PN is better suited to taking on the hard argy-bargey stuff in the early minutes of the game.

People are saying our props are looking slow and making too many mistakes/penalties, but thats only because our backrow consists of a slow centre and a worn-out 5/8- the backrow isn't doing its fair share). I wouldn't even mind putting maubs into centre at the expense of linnet, just so we can have FPN starting in the backrow and then someone like symonds coming off the bench.

simple solution.. piss Anasta off... I prefer Maubs starting due to his excellent defense and really he is an 80 minute player.. FPN is actually good coming on when opposition forwards are tired due to his footwork and ball skills. A lot of our breaks last started from his hitups followed by an offload. He is very good at exploiting tired defenders.

[Guest]

Maubs offers a lot more than anasta.

[Rooster Rampage]

Maubs offers a lot more than anasta.

I know that!!!! But do you really think smithy would put braith on the bench? I knew this was coming, from the moment i found out t carney was coming to our club i knew braith would become a drifter, he doesn't really have a spot in the team anymore. Last year he played a second 5/8's role whilst being named in the backrow (and it worked well- the other forwards seemed to pick up the slack, do some extra work so they made up for braith's lack of "backrowerness"), very few times did he actually run the ball like a backrower (i bet he had the wierdest stats for a second rower)

Mind you i'm not saying he doesn't offer anything to the club or that he isn;t important to the team- he's our captain, and a pretty good one at that, if he can go back to playing the role he played last year it shouldn't be a problem. But i must say that i don;t see a place in the team for him after his contract is done, he occupies too much of the salary cap and gives very little in return.

I wouldn't have even been surprised if we didn't re-sign him, becuase we have a few blokes here that can take up the captaincy and be good at it: mini,pearce?(he is touted as the future origin captain and i do see some leadership qualities in him).

As for now, i believe maubs needs to either move back into the centres or come off the bench into the backrow so that FPN can start. FPN has good speed and great strength, if he was allowed to play a wide-running backrowers role, the other team would be in serious trouble- with his strength and good offload there's bound to be a few line-breaks every game!!!

Not to mention, close to the line FPN is probably better than anasta an maubs combined!!!!!!

[Guest]

What about BEGUURK at fuulback? I go alright...........

[Guest]

I know that!!!! But do you really think smithy would put braith on the bench? I knew this was coming, from the moment i found out t carney was coming to our club i knew braith would become a drifter, he doesn't really have a spot in the team anymore. Last year he played a second 5/8's role whilst being named in the backrow (and it worked well- the other forwards seemed to pick up the slack, do some extra work so they made up for braith's lack of "backrowerness"), very few times did he actually run the ball like a backrower (i bet he had the wierdest stats for a second rower)

Mind you i'm not saying he doesn't offer anything to the club or that he isn;t important to the team- he's our captain, and a pretty good one at that, if he can go back to playing the role he played last year it shouldn't be a problem. But i must say that i don;t see a place in the team for him after his contract is done, he occupies too much of the salary cap and gives very little in return.

I wouldn't have even been surprised if we didn't re-sign him, becuase we have a few blokes here that can take up the captaincy and be good at it: mini,pearce?(he is touted as the future origin captain and i do see some leadership qualities in him).

As for now, i believe maubs needs to either move back into the centres or come off the bench into the backrow so that FPN can start. FPN has good speed and great strength, if he was allowed to play a wide-running backrowers role, the other team would be in serious trouble- with his strength and good offload there's bound to be a few line-breaks every game!!!

Not to mention, close to the line FPN is probably better than anasta an maubs combined!!!!!!

Good post. Very thoughtful and you have a strong point about Braith.

[Cockadoodledoo]

I know that!!!! But do you really think smithy would put braith on the bench? I knew this was coming, from the moment i found out t carney was coming to our club i knew braith would become a drifter, he doesn't really have a spot in the team anymore. Last year he played a second 5/8's role whilst being named in the backrow (and it worked well- the other forwards seemed to pick up the slack, do some extra work so they made up for braith's lack of "backrowerness"), very few times did he actually run the ball like a backrower (i bet he had the wierdest stats for a second rower)

Mind you i'm not saying he doesn't offer anything to the club or that he isn;t important to the team- he's our captain, and a pretty good one at that, if he can go back to playing the role he played last year it shouldn't be a problem. But i must say that i don;t see a place in the team for him after his contract is done, he occupies too much of the salary cap and gives very little in return.

I wouldn't have even been surprised if we didn't re-sign him, becuase we have a few blokes here that can take up the captaincy and be good at it: mini,pearce?(he is touted as the future origin captain and i do see some leadership qualities in him).

As for now, i believe maubs needs to either move back into the centres or come off the bench into the backrow so that FPN can start. FPN has good speed and great strength, if he was allowed to play a wide-running backrowers role, the other team would be in serious trouble- with his strength and good offload there's bound to be a few line-breaks every game!!!

Not to mention, close to the line FPN is probably better than anasta an maubs combined!!!!!!

the problem is that his contract was done and then extended.. massive knee jerk reaction to his co-ordinated whinging to the press.

[Guest]

I think it's funny how Maubs is getting the blame out of the forwards. He was probably our best player last year behind Carney. Amazing in defence and improved hugely in attack. If Anasta wasn't captain he would have been gone a long time ago!

[Guest]

I know that!!!! But do you really think smithy would put braith on the bench? I knew this was coming, from the moment i found out t carney was coming to our club i knew braith would become a drifter, he doesn't really have a spot in the team anymore. Last year he played a second 5/8's role whilst being named in the backrow (and it worked well- the other forwards seemed to pick up the slack, do some extra work so they made up for braith's lack of "backrowerness"), very few times did he actually run the ball like a backrower (i bet he had the wierdest stats for a second rower)

Mind you i'm not saying he doesn't offer anything to the club or that he isn;t important to the team- he's our captain, and a pretty good one at that, if he can go back to playing the role he played last year it shouldn't be a problem. But i must say that i don;t see a place in the team for him after his contract is done, he occupies too much of the salary cap and gives very little in return.

I wouldn't have even been surprised if we didn't re-sign him, becuase we have a few blokes here that can take up the captaincy and be good at it: mini,pearce?(he is touted as the future origin captain and i do see some leadership qualities in him).

As for now, i believe maubs needs to either move back into the centres or come off the bench into the backrow so that FPN can start. FPN has good speed and great strength, if he was allowed to play a wide-running backrowers role, the other team would be in serious trouble- with his strength and good offload there's bound to be a few line-breaks every game!!!

Not to mention, close to the line FPN is probably better than anasta an maubs combined!!!!!!

You make some good points.

I'm not into the Braith bashing like others but we do have better back rowers than him. That said we have to realise is that he isn't going to rack up 150metres like other back rowers. That is not his role or how our structure works.

I mean Maubs never runs for 150 metres it dosn't mean he is a poor player.

Braith adds value to the side as we saw in last years final series. He had the right balance of running and passing. The other day he was poor.

I agree 100% on FPN. It's a tragedy he starts off the bench and only plays 40minutes. When he is used as an edge forward he is brilliant. The improvement from 09 is remarkable.

[Rooster Rampage]

the problem is that his contract was done and then extended.. massive knee jerk reaction to his co-ordinated whinging to the press.

yeh the club really fell for the show he put on...oh well, whats done is done.

[Rooster Rampage]

I think it's funny how Maubs is getting the blame out of the forwards. He was probably our best player last year behind Carney. Amazing in defence and improved hugely in attack. If Anasta wasn't captain he would have been gone a long time ago!

I'm not blaming maubs at all! I totally agree with your, he was one of our best last year and has played alright so far this year, but the problem is that he can't be in the backrow with anasta- and unfortunately anasta isn't gonna be moved, so it has to be maubs, unfair i know, but sadly its the only option.

[Rooster Rampage]

Braith adds value to the side as we saw in last years final series. He had the right balance of running and passing. The other day he was poor.

Yeah you're right he does very well when he can get that balance right, but besides a few games in the finals series and maybe one or two during the regular season , he hasn't got it right. You;d think that half a season and a full off-season of training would be enough for him to get it right, but it hasn't as we've seen in the past 2 games. As they say, "When he's on, he's on"...unfortunately he isn't "on" that often and his inconsistency is reflected in the teams performances.

I'm not blaming him for all our losses, but there seems to be a bit of a correlation between anasta's performance and the team's performance, probably because when he doesn't get the balance right then he lets the forwards down. And when our forward pack is beaten, it's very difficult for the backs to do much. We saw that against manly, as much as pearce and carney tried, they couldn't get much going in attack, because you can't get good/creative attack behind a beaten pack.

[Spanner in the works]

I think one of our biggest weaknesses got highlighted on Sunday. If a team plays the same style of defence that Manly did, and we can't shift the ball quick enough or play short one off the ruck stuff i.e close to the dummy half, then we are going to get caught out big time having Anasta and Maubs in the backrow. It's something we have to improve on and/or adapt to to be in with any chance this season. That means running slightly further away from the ruck if we are doing one out stuff, or having forwards steaming on to the ball two off the ruck. With Maubs and Anasta in the pack, we can't bash and barge our way through a pack playing the way we did on Sunday. We just don't make enough metres or tire them enough with three bash and barge forwards (Myles and our bookends). Unless we are playing brilliantly.