Matt Lodge Appreciation Threat

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

Lodge is a must re-sign to replace SST. He mentioned how much he is enjoying himself here. I reckon he stays with us for under as well

[tloos1999]

Anyone got footage of his interview post game?

https://youtu.be/Fm0d0TlcYMg

2:15 in mate, interview with Freddy. Speaks quite well. Love watching him tear it up, and love seeing everyone who grassed him before he put a boot on for us eat their words. Needs to be tied up long term, he’s only 27, has a number of good years left.

[tloos1999]

Lodge is getting better each game. He’s already shaved off a few kilos and getting fitter. He was enormous last night. It would be great to be able to keep him going forward but unfortunately I doubt we will have the cap space next season. Upgrades to a few players and at this point we still haven’t registered Angus.

Love Angus, but the way he’s currently playing, and the way Lodge is playing, if it was down to those two, I’m taking the latter, especially for the comparison in terms of what they would potentially command $ wise. TKO is a massive loss as well and we need props (especially with JWH retiring soon and Collins head knock prone).

[ism22]

IMO his stability was the difference between the Drongos getting back into the game at ~24-10 and us making it a victory 34-16.

The refing was really shyte (they made the Drongos get away with a LOT of ill-discipline that woulda absolutely flogged the wind outta them if it'd been properly policed). This is to be expected and I'm proud of how a few unsung heroes helped us put the cue in the rack

Also interesting seeing the evolution of our halves, Teddy, Rads, Watson and Hutcho. People get all bummed about the Watson/Hutcho bench combo but with Verrills and Rads both copping injuries, I feel like this combo's helped build a bit of consistency. It surprised me when I was quite happy to see Hutcho come on with ~10 to go as he is boring, but in a good way (i.e. good defence, safe kicks, no stupid offloads, no overly emotional responses...etc). This is what we totally lacked in the first half of the season where we seemed to lose a lot of games that we 'shoulda won'. Last night coulda gone that way very easily...

[Boondi]

Fairly impressed with Lodge. I think it’s the best I’ve seen him play in a long time. I think he will get better. Tyrell May got some good minutes last night. He was a bit loose in defence at times, but that might be due to match fitness. Hasn’t seen many minutes in previous weeks - could be a beast as he gets more time under his belt.

[Dr. Voodoo Man]

I've been slow to warm to Lodge but his worth is obvious.

[yeception]

Was proven wrong about Lodge. Can't believe how well he's playing. Let's hope he keeps it up.

[Thirteen]

https://youtu.be/Fm0d0TlcYMg

2:15 in mate, interview with Freddy. Speaks quite well. Love watching him tear it up, and love seeing everyone who grassed him before he put a boot on for us eat their words. Needs to be tied up long term, he’s only 27, has a number of good years left.

Thank you.

[Random Rooster]

Yep the Roosters need Lodge. No rubbish in his game-he is just playing to his strengths and is fitting in perfectly. Im backing Robbo to get the best out of him-he is exactly what our forwards need

I certainly appreciate Lodge.....no "threat" needed!

[Thirteen]

I never ever questioned his football ability. Since he’s returned to the NRL he’s been a solid and consistent player. He’s also coming into his prime and will be very good over the next 3-4 seasons.

[Kelby]

So ........... does he stay for 2023?

or do we push for the haas as expected?

[Johnny73]

So ........... does he stay for 2023?

or do we push for the haas as expected?

Why not both? JWH will be retiring sooner rather than later. A combo of Haas, BSmith and Lodge would be a great starting forward pack.

[Roosterfarian]

I’d take him over Collins any day of the week. Love the quick play the balls too.

Collins has to be up there with one of the dumbest. For example, he just comes back after a concussion stint and first game back he is launching himself into players like a rocket grenade instead of just making the simple tackle.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

I put our reversal in fortunes down to the Rikers' Wrecking Ball.

Just what we needed.

A massive middle who pummels with and without the ball.

We're a much more balanced and fearful team with him in the pack.

Couldn't agree more. He was phenomenal last night. What a beast.

[BraveTheWorld]

Collins has to be up there with one of the dumbest. For example, he just comes back after a concussion stint and first game back he is launching himself into players like a rocket grenade instead of just making the simple tackle.

Are we criticizing our player for being too physical? Plenty of players in the NRL would benefit from running and tackling as hard as Lindsay does.
Appreciating Lodge doesn't need to come with denigrating Lindsay, who is an absolutely terrific prop. Coming back from an ACL he was always going to be not 100% this year, but was starting to show great form prior to his head knock.

The guy is off the back fence on literally every run. I'd suggest some people need to go and watch some of his games from early 2021 and 2020. Was averaging 140m last year and was terrorizing teams. I think the only big issue he has really had has been his hands, which seem to get a lot better when he's playing big minutes frequently.