2021

[Headless Chook]

I can pinpoint when our season went off the rails, it was 9 mins into the game against the Dragons when Victor shot out of the line to put a shot on and his foot stuck in the turf. We missed him more then we could imagine. When you think about it, getting him and Verrils back will be like getting two new signings anyway.

[roosterproud]

Losing the mulletman before the game didnt help oue cause

[Teddy]

Our biggest weakness this season has been our defence, we were at our strongest and most dominant with a fit and firing Victor in the squad, what happened to our wall? Did one player hold our middle together? Yes we a had a mountain of injuries 11 at one stage.

The 6 again has achieved what V’landys wanted, the end of our defence and dominance which was built upon a power running game and strangling teams out of a contest, how do we manage our players in the future when so much more is required of them physically (imbalance of 6 agains) who wants to see 8,9,10 players out at any time, so much was made of our ageing middles the extra workload exposing the age or just horrid luck (we had zero luck this season) Flanagan has copped heaps (from me I always thought he was too small and a weak link in Defence but Manu was equally terrible at times).

Robbo loves to keep SST and JWH on for 25-30 mins first stint then bring them back on around the 60 min mark and play out the rest of the game, should we recruit another middle or further develop one of our own DSF?

Robbo has to get our bench right Liu and Collins are shoe ins but we need another middle and I’m not sure if Butcher is the answer then we have Verrils (who must spell Jake) and then you have Sitili.

14.Verrils
15.Liu
16.Collins
17. ???

Our captain has been battered from pillar to post he missed a huge chunk of our season and I’ll never forget those images of him in the first Melbourne game stumbling around horribly it was the most awful thing I’ve seen in long time on the field.
Maybe he shouldn’t play origin this season or at all I don’t know I want to him to be around another 3-4 years he’s done so much for the Rep side of the game he doesn’t need to prove anything it might sound selfish but I want him around for Easts and for his own good I don’t know I hope he gets a well earned rest.

GO EASTS!!!

[Easts75]

Our biggest weakness this season has been our defence, we were at our strongest and most dominant with a fit and firing Victor in the squad, what happened to our wall? Did one player hold our middle together? Yes we a had a mountain of injuries 11 at one stage.

The 6 again has achieved what V’landys wanted, the end of our defence and dominance which was built upon a power running game and strangling teams out of a contest, how do we manage our players in the future when so much more is required of them physically (imbalance of 6 agains) who wants to see 8,9,10 players out at any time, so much was made of our ageing middles the extra workload exposing the age or just horrid luck (we had zero luck this season) Flanagan has copped heaps (from me I always thought he was too small and a weak link in Defence but Manu was equally terrible at times).

Robbo loves to keep SST and JWH on for 25-30 mins first stint then bring them back on around the 60 min mark and play out the rest of the game, should we recruit another middle or further develop one of our own DSF?

Robbo has to get our bench right Liu and Collins are shoe ins but we need another middle and I’m not sure if Butcher is the answer then we have Verrils (who must spell Jake) and then you have Sitili.

14.Verrils
15.Liu
16.Collins
17. ???

Our captain has been battered from pillar to post he missed a huge chunk of our season and I’ll never forget those images of him in the first Melbourne game stumbling around horribly it was the most awful thing I’ve seen in long time on the field.
Maybe he shouldn’t play origin this season or at all I don’t know I want to him to be around another 3-4 years he’s done so much for the Rep side of the game he doesn’t need to prove anything it might sound selfish but I want him around for Easts and for his own good I don’t know I hope he gets a well earned rest.

GO EASTS!!!

Butcher isnt the answer. Not to bang on about if but what the **** does he offer ? He defends ok but most FG pigs do bar Sitili...with ball in hand he offers zero, cant pass and wouldnt bend the line against a good A grade team. We all like different players but fark me i fail to see any value in Butcher

[OMR]

I would like to keep our squad and promote from within, and if Fifita and Faamisili can develop into bench props then all we need is some luck with injuries and we’ll be top4 again.
Our forwards never looked like 100% healthy this year and the intensity with which we started with after the enforced break eventually took its toll.

[King Salvo]

Not sure they have to do too much for 2021 - a host of players able to field offers from Nov 1 so they will need to sort that out - some of those played 1 or no games this year so i dont know how they decide who to keep - 3 spots at least available and maybe more - hutch and lam not been re-signed and iku not sure he has been re-signed or not- on various sites he's contracted to 2020 and or signed up to 2022?

With the rule changes and more to come the ball will be in play longer so the Chooks will need to tweak their pre-season and general season training and prep and the way they play- run of possession and momentum is where games can be won an lost - when you have the run of possession and momentum you need to rack up the points and when you dont you have to make the other team earn their points not gift them these with shoddy defence.

I kind of think the Chooks hit the brick wall - some players were mentally and physical spent - It would be interesting to find out how much training they did during the season close down as Bennett was saying the vermin didn't do much and other teams flogged their players during that period so the vermin were fresher at the back end of the season compared to some others i.e the Chooks possibly

[King Salvo]

Butcher isnt the answer. Not to bang on about if but what the **** does he offer ? He defends ok but most FG pigs do bar Sitili...with ball in hand he offers zero, cant pass and wouldnt bend the line against a good A grade team. We all like different players but fark me i fail to see any value in Butcher

I think Robbo and his team need to develop offloads and passing games in the players including better support play- under the current rules and possible changes the ball will be in play longer and longer so you need run the other team around more especially when you have a run of possession and momentum - this one out running wont cut it under the rule changes - bodies in motion offloads and passes to supports is the new way of playing- teams that offload always trouble the Chooks so they need to do the same

[Kingsgrove-Loiner]

I think Robbo and his team need to develop offloads and passing games in the players including better support play- under the current rules and possible changes the ball will be in play longer and longer so you need run the other team around more especially when you have a run of possession and momentum - this one out running wont cut it under the rule changes - bodies in motion offloads and passes to supports is the new way of playing- teams that offload always trouble the Chooks so they need to do the same

Didnt we have 14-15 offleads to two the other night?

[Teddy]

Butcher isnt the answer. Not to bang on about if but what the **** does he offer ? He defends ok but most FG pigs do bar Sitili...with ball in hand he offers zero, cant pass and wouldnt bend the line against a good A grade team. We all like different players but fark me i fail to see any value in Butcher

Butcher was enormous in 2019, but the game has changed and Robbo tried desperately to have him play Victors role which he never could do, in fairness he was nursing ribs, I’m not prepared to write him off in 2021 just yet, but I’m just not sure what Robbo can get out of him, we need another Tetevano an aggressive, hard hitting middle with a decent motor.

[The Brain]

Butcher was enormous in 2019, but the game has changed and Robbo tried desperately to have him play Victors role which he never could do, in fairness he was nursing ribs, I’m not prepared to write him off in 2021 just yet, but I’m just not sure what Robbo can get out of him, we need another Tetevano an aggressive, hard hitting middle with a decent motor.

The NEW game shouldve suited butcher ..either he played busted or didnt give a shit.

[Blue Suede Schubert]

I can pinpoint when our season went off the rails, it was 9 mins into the game against the Dragons when Victor shot out of the line to put a shot on and his foot stuck in the turf. We missed him more then we could imagine. When you think about it, getting him and Verrils back will be like getting two new signings anyway.

I am sure Radley and Verrills will be chomping at the bit to get stuck in again next season which can only be a good thing.

[Rooster1908]

Don't rest players with minor injuries an hour before a final, Collins would have made a difference against faiders .Was worth the risk

[King Salvo]

Benji Marshall, he would have come in handy this year . Why not?

If NRL changed to NFL style of play Marshall would be ideal - wouldn't have to defend in that case

[Teddy]

Don't rest players with minor injuries an hour before a final, Collins would have made a difference against faiders .Was worth the risk

What was the injury? Could he have played with it as well as he has all year?

[The Corner Post]

We had a short off season with the World Club Challenge. So less time to get our players 100% fit and ready. That probably contributed to our losses in rounds 1 and 2 and our fatigue towards the end of the season.
Also, the new rules didn't come in until after Covid, so our pre season prep didn't account for the change. But all clubs had this challenge.
The new rules favor endurance, fitness, agility. Lighter middle players like Cam Murray, Rads, Butch, etc. have an advantage here.
Rads would have excelled under the rule changes.
Moving forward, there is still a need for the bigger body, but players will probably have to trim down and focus on endurance. I'm sure JWH, TKO and Collins can do this. It might be harder for the older players.
That said, I noticed that even players like Manu, Teddy, Flanno were fatigued.
Maybe 2021 will see players look more like AFL players?