Keighran

[Ghost of Maubs]

I wanted to give Adam Keighran a shout out, he's quickly becoming a favourite of mine. I love that he's just a natural "footy player" type of guy that will slot in wherever he is asked. The hooking role has taken some adjustment, and there's still some work to be done regarding running and defense, but a few things I loved yesterday:

2 or 3 pin point dummy half kicks that found the grass
and trapped the Titans in their 10m. I think given the weight of possession and field position the titans were gifted with, these momentum swings were huge for us. Great vision and something we have missed since Friend retired (he was great at this).

Great awareness and control to pick up a low bouncing off load, nearly scoring himself, got up quickly to play the ball (should have been a six again, surprise surprise) and the next tackle Walker puts Tupou over.

His dummy half service, whilst not Verrills laser-like, is still very sharp. The pass out the back for the decisive field goal was right where it needed to be.. 12 metre looping ball that landed in front of Walker's eyes (perhaps a touch high) but gave him time to slot the field goal. This could easily have been bungled given the pressure of the situation.

And last but not least, my goodness his goal kicking. He is elite. As has been mentioned in the game thread, we lose this game without his goal kicking. Maloney was the last kicker of ours where you just expected it to go over and were shocked when it missed. Adam's is a level above this.

In summary, great play yesterday for Adam and I think we need to find a way for him to eventually be on the field for 80 minutes if feasible. Perhaps hooker and then into the ball playing lock role, providing that his defense can tighten up.

[TeddyGoat]

Yep I've been calling for him to start at 9 for a few weeks now. Marschke's time is up now that Verills is back. Adam's kicks were fantastic out of dummy half yesterday and his goal kicking was excellent too. Needs to be in the 17 the rest of the year

[King Salvo]

Needs to improve his defence though - 9 missed tackles second to Crichton who had 11.

One would think if Verrills is available Keighran would be player number 14 at best - Not sure because he is a goal kicker he would be in the 17 week in week out and play long minutes. SST/Walker would take on the kicking role

Full Strength from available players- 21 players

Tedesco
Toops
J Morris
Manu
Ikuvalu
Lam
Walker
Liu
Verrills
SST
Crichton
Cordner
Radley

Bench from

N Butcher
JWH
Sitilli
Baker
DSF
Keighran
Suaalii
E Butcher

[Johnny Brass]

Marshke really hurt his chances with that dumb play yesterday and keighran is definitely ahead of him but the sooner we get Verrills back the better.
We are missing his passing around the ruck and he knows when to scoot from dummy half with his running game when the opposition have one marker
Keighran with his goal kicking ability will probably lock into the 14 role.

[ism22]

Yep I've been calling for him to start at 9 for a few weeks now. Marschke's time is up now that Verills is back. Adam's kicks were fantastic out of dummy half yesterday and his goal kicking was excellent too. Needs to be in the 17 the rest of the year

Lussick will be back soon too, right?

[zac]

he's my pick for number 14. he's our best goal kicker. loved his kicks out of dummy half, fair passer. his defence was really patchy - some great stuff but some bad misses.

[King Salvo]

he's my pick for number 14. he's our best goal kicker. loved his kicks out of dummy half, fair passer. his defence was really patchy - some great stuff but some bad misses.

If Verrills plays 80 minutes though when would Keighran play - If 14 may have limited or no game time wasting a bench spot.

Not sure that Robbo would have Keighran starting and Verrills off the bench though or that Keighran's goal kicking would be considered a major requirement for the team to have him in the team week in week out either and playing ling minutes.

One would say there would be 4 props in the 17 each week - Leaving 2 bench spots - Radley and N Butcher could play DH when required with SST/Walker doing the goal kicking.

I would assume if Walker is out which is a possibility that an option would be Keighran at 5/8 with Lam as half .

Also no guarantee that Tedesco will be back either so Manu to FB and Suaalii stays as centre.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

Keighran was excellent yesterday, notwithstanding a few missed tackles when the Titans were on a roll. A bit unfair on Marschke people saying he'll never play first grade again. He was unluckly to collect that kicker with the elbow, and has improved out of sight since making his debut.

[ROC181]

Too many hookers available at the moment but what counts for me is what else apart from passing from dummy half & tackling, is what else can they bring to the game. Keighran has the kicking and it’s so important today when there are so many good kickers in other team that they can be the difference between winning & losing. Young Sam has to concentrate on his game as half back but as far as for taking conversions that has to be given to someone who’s consistent and that’s Keighran IMO. That leaves Sam V out on the bench.

Then again it can be argued that Keighran might replace Lam instead of Sam V… I would like Manu at 6, Suaalii at 4. That is the best attacking backline we could muster.

[Thirteen]

Strange move from Robbo to bring him off when Titans led by 4. I would have thought having your kicker on down by 4 with 5 to go would be a must. Lucky it didn't come back to bight us.

[Headless Chook]

Strange move from Robbo to bring him off when Titans led by 4. I would have thought having your kicker on down by 4 with 5 to go would be a must. Lucky it didn't come back to bight us.

Robbo was probably sick of watching him stand there while the Titans ran past him to score

[Rooster_6]

Strange move from Robbo to bring him off when Titans led by 4. I would have thought having your kicker on down by 4 with 5 to go would be a must. Lucky it didn't come back to bight us.

That was an easy call, he was getting torn up on that right edge defensively. Shouldn't have ever needed the kicker if he makes some of those tackles.

[King Salvo]

Strange move from Robbo to bring him off when Titans led by 4. I would have thought having your kicker on down by 4 with 5 to go would be a must. Lucky it didn't come back to bight us.

Dodged a bullet in that game as the Titans were pretty inept in the first half with the amount of ball and field position they had and especially the number of tackles in the Chooks red zone - 31 - Even so the Titans created more opportunities and if not for last ditch defence saving tries it could have been a lot different.

It was fortunate the Titans were poor defensively as well in leaking those 30 points.- Certainly have a Bronco's look abut them in conceding points- Apart from the Dogs - Titans//Cows and Bronco's are next in the poor defensive teams list- Must be a Queensland thing poor defence

Can't imagine Robbo and his Staff would be happy with the performance despite the win.

Keighran is not a strong defender one has to say and or possibly suited to such a position as DH where the DH does need to do a lot of defence-- 9 missed tackles and looked like a Butler at times with the Titans players runnng past him untouched - Same with Suaalii in taking the dummies.- Crichton's defence was poor too one has to say - 11 missed tackles

A lot of work to be done as a better side would have put the Chooks to the sword with the amount of possession ,field position and opportunities the Titans had.

Can't imagine the Riff with similar possession , field position and opportunities not converting these into regular points

[Jacks Fur Coat]

That was an easy call, he was getting torn up on that right edge defensively. Shouldn't have ever needed the kicker if he makes some of those tackles.

Good point.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

That was an easy call, he was getting torn up on that right edge defensively. Shouldn't have ever needed the kicker if he makes some of those tackles.

Robbo touched on that in the press conference, basically said "we thought we'd be ok defensive wise down that side and with that lead, but it wasn't the case." Keighran will learn from those defensive lapses and will improve. The rest of his game was excellent.