Walker dropped

[Steakface]

I certainly think Keary is the elephant in the room, even players like Thurston and Lockyer in their latter years developed into game managers and organisers for their side. Either Keary’s reluctance or inability to do so has made Walker’s progression into the side a lot harder and you’re right there’s probably a decision there that needs to be made as neither Keary or Walker are first grade standard organisers and both have mediocre long kicking games.

Individually I love both Keary and Walker as players but as a combo it just hasn’t worked.

Fair points raised.

The question is who you keep of the duo and who you don't.

Contrary to 'mainstream' thinking here, perhaps the past 4 weeks or so - and Keary and Manu's inability to generate attacking points - may have solidified Sam Walker as that choice moving forward.

It's painful to say, as I am and always have been a huge Keary fan.

The other question is, who moves into the No.6 if that eventuates?
Is Sandon Smith good enough (or ready) yet. Or are the likes of Ben Hunt in the crosshairs?

[Steakface]

True you can't predict injuries.

But Robbo dropped him & he got injured in reserves & not 1st grade. That fact can't be changed.

Robbo's dropping decision & now the injury have had definite bad consequences for the team.

Nothing in Robbo's decisions have had positive consequences imo.

Lol.

Mate, that is one of the most 'hindsight hero' takes I think i've ever read.

As if not being in reserves would have absolved Walker of the risk of injury.

You might as well blame Robbo for the weather if you want to go down this path...

[Bates]

That’s harsh on Keary. He’s a fantastic 5/8 who I’m sure doesn’t particularly like playing halfback and having to steer the team around the park. It’s not what he checked in for.

To perform at his best he needs an organising half who can kick long and have some variation to their kicking game. This gives him the freedom to play heads up footy and be creative.

[King Salvo]

The solution was simple, let Keary go at last seasons end, heaps of desperate clubs would have been happy to pick him up at full freight, like the Tigers or Dragons and bring in a real halfback. Not screw over the kid who carried us in 2021 and should have been our future half for the next 10 years. It's probably the worst piece of man management that i have seen in the 55 years that i have been following the club. Only shading the stupidity of going public and saying that we would not let Suaalii leave early. It has pushed us in a corner and he has been exposed as an extremely average player and if we let him go, we lose credibility and if we keep him, we screw over our team.

Who are you normally on here - you sound familiar

2021

Walker did not carry them in 2021 - that's pretty insulting to a stack of players that played that year - a few who were call ups from Ron Massey Cup sides even who spent time in the Roosters System such as Benny Marschke for instance

It's a team sport so all contribute in their own way but if your going to say you have to name one player that carried the team in 2021 then it would be James Tedesco.

Big Shout out to Drew "The Hutchinator " Hutchison as well as he took the pressure off Walker in having to play an organising half role allowing him to be purely a running half

The Correct decision by Coach Robinson to relegate Sam Walker as stats don't lie - his running game had deserted him and that was and is his role

[Eggspert]

Lol.

Mate, that is one of the most 'hindsight hero' takes I think i've ever read.

As if not being in reserves would have absolved Walker of the risk of injury.

You might as well blame Robbo for the weather if you want to go down this path...

Not blaming Robbo for unexpected injuries.

Robbo dropped him to tidy up some area's & improve his game in an ordinary reserves team.

What was the positive outcome for Walker or the team?

Robbo's decision making this year has been terrible. Even with hindsight he still persists with s**t decisions.

[Eggspert]

Who are you normally on here - you sound familiar

2021

Walker did not carry them in 2021 - that's pretty insulting to a stack of player that played that year - a few who were call ups from Ron Massey Cup sides even who spent time in the Roosters System such as Benny Marschke for instance

It's a team sport so all contribute in their own way but if your going to say you have to name one player that carried the team in 2021 then it would be James Tedesco.

Big Shout out to Drew "The Hutchinator " Hutchison as well as he took the pressure of Walker in having to play an organising half role allowing him to be purely a running half

The Correct decision by Coach Robinson to relegate Sam Walker as stats don't lie - his running game had deserted him and that was and is his role

How about Robbo lift his game as coach.

Yep there's been plenty of Correct Robbo decisions this year. Our ladder position & points in attack are really good.

Hopefully we can beat the high flying Bulldogs.

[King Salvo]

True you can't predict injuries.

But Robbo dropped him & he got injured in reserves & not 1st grade. That fact can't be changed.

Robbo's dropping decision & now the injury have had definite bad consequences for the team.

Nothing in Robbo's decisions have had positive consequences imo.

Sam Walker was injured at training and not in a game for starters

Sam Walker's hopes of earning an NRL recall have taken a hit with news he suffered a knee injury at Sydney Roosters training this week.

The Roosters told AAP Walker had hurt his knee at training during the week, with the damage only thought to be minor at this stage.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/ru...ury-c-10634864

What consequences ? - No one is the bigger than the team and even by his own admission he was not playing well.

[Eggspert]

Sam will more than likely sign a $1 mill plus a season deal with the Dolphins when his current contract expires. This has upset Robbo. He was hoping that the Keary Manu halves combo experiment would work but it has failed dismally to the point where most of the team has stopped performing. Short term Robbo has no option than play Walker at 7, Keary 6 move Manu back to the centres, JS to the wing and hope things get better.

No no too early for that.

Robbo still has to try Suaalii at #6, Walker at centre & Hutch at fullback.

Might be some points in that back line.

[Eggspert]

Sam Walker was injured at training and not in a game for starters

Sam Walker's hopes of earning an NRL recall have taken a hit with news he suffered a knee injury at Sydney Roosters training this week.

The Roosters told AAP Walker had hurt his knee at training during the week, with the damage only thought to be minor at this stage.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/ru...ury-c-10634864

What consequences ? - No one is the bigger than the team and even by his own admission he was not playing well.

Hurt at training all right fair enough.

But he had another 12 team mates who weren't performing or playing well.

Quite a few performing worse than he supposedly was.

At least the coach was performing well if his players weren't.

[King Salvo]

We all saw how Walker went at 5/8 in the great failed experiment last year even the guru eventually had to call a halt to it and move him back to 7 resulting in our having a great run home Unfortunately it cost the club a top 4 finish and a crack at another premiership. I very much doubt Robinson will play Sammy at 5/8 ever again but who knows this is the guy who plays hutch at center persists with Allen on the wing and Suallii in the centers even though he lets in at least 2 try's a game there because he is struggling in his D don't worry about bringing Sammy back for the finals i reckon were about done for the season. Lose a couple more and its all over and the only thing to look forward to is mad Monday.

If Walker will solely be a running half then 5/8 is his best position - the number 7 has traditionally been the organiser in the halves combo.

If Walker wants to play half them he has add an organising game to his repertoire simple as that

Keary has always been a running 5/8 and the halves he has played with in Reynolds/ Pearce and Cronk the organisers

Too late in Keary's career to change his game so Walker has to

I really have major major doubts that switching Keary and Walker was the catalyst for that 8 game winning streak though (Keary didn't play vs Dragon- Manu was 5/8) - that is really stretching it as is other posters putting it all down to Walker.

Boiled down to the old realisation that they could miss the 8 if they don't start winning simple as that.

There was a marked improvement in form in any case leading up to those 8 games despite losing those 3 games

• Storm - 18 - 26
• Parramatta - 16-26
• Penrith - 18 -26

Dragons and Knights were packing their bags for end of year holidays - Manly had half or so of their team out - Brisbane were free falling down the ladder from certain finalist and even top 4 to on the verge of slipping out of the 8

Still you need to win those games which they did. - so 4 in a row

When you string wins together the morale and confidence picks up and even training become enjoyable again and not a chore. - Winning becomes contagious

• Dragons - 54-26
• Knights - 42-12
• Manly - 20 -10
• Brisbane - 34-16
• Cowboys - 32-18
• Wests Tigers - 72-6
• Storm - 18 - 14
• Souths - 26-16

[King Salvo]

Hurt at training all right fair enough.

But he had another 12 team mates who weren't performing or playing well.

Quite a few performing worse than he supposedly was.

At least the coach was performing well if his players weren't.

It's rather simplistic to say drop others - who though - people have said Radley/Butcher Brothers for instance - they do a lot of D though so who takes their place and does the same D Workload and do those relegations improve the spines performance - No it doesn't

Defence is only half the game- you still need to score points

As is often said attack is the best form of defence.

Your spine mostly generates the points and opportunities for points in offense in games

If not performing then points are naturally hard to come by.

If the scoreboard isn't ticking over on a regular basis then this puts additional pressure on your D in defending what points you do manage to score

The Roosters and the other 15 teams defences are not like Penrith's who are conceding an average of 11.36 points per game so far- next best Souths - 16.84 / Broncos - 17.79 / Storm - 18.27 / Sharks - 19.18

Roosters concede 22.36 points per game and average only 13.8 points for so far

Yes they can improve their defence but highly doubtful to the level of Penrith's (11.36 ) though which they would need to if only averaging 13.8 points per game

So what do you do then to generate more points and opportunity for points in games to lesson the pressure on your D in defending low points scored

Persist with the same spine and hope they will get better or make changes.

If making a change then how do you decide on what changes are required.

Stats and KPI's one assumes

Coach Robinson would not even consider dropping the Fullback so would look at the other 3 - Dummy Half/ Half and 5/8

Dummy Half is new so given some slack and time to adjust

5/8 - A triple premiership winner - down on his usually level but a proven performer over a long period

Halfback - still learning the ropes as an NRL player and far from a finished product - increase in D workload and being targeted in D and a noticeable drop off in his running game - pass to run ratio of 6

A Right centre who outside the spine is the next points generator but is not getting any clean ball - so how does to get his hands on the ball more - by moving him in closer to where the ball is - 5/8

I am sure a lot of work has gone into improving the spine as a unit and to relegate Walker was not based on one game though.

[Roosters1908]

Sam Walker was injured at training and not in a game for starters

Sam Walker's hopes of earning an NRL recall have taken a hit with news he suffered a knee injury at Sydney Roosters training this week.

The Roosters told AAP Walker had hurt his knee at training during the week, with the damage only thought to be minor at this stage.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/ru...ury-c-10634864

What consequences ? - No one is the bigger than the team and even by his own admission he was not playing well.

Just for accuracy, Walker said he injured it in the Warriors game in reserve grade:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/i-m...13-p5d84u.html

As per your quote, the Roosters told AAP that he injured it at training.

So Eggspert’s point still stands. He was injured in a game he shouldn’t have been playing in.

[Eggspert]

Just for accuracy, Walker said he injured it in the Warriors game in reserve grade:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/i-m...13-p5d84u.html

As per your quote, the Roosters told AAP that he injured it at training.

So Eggspert’s point still stands. He was injured in a game he shouldn’t have been playing in.

Thanks for the article.

There you go, injured playing reserves from Walkers own comments. So who's wrong, Walker or the Club? King Salvo would prefer it to be Walker it appears.

Also a strained ACL is no small injury.

Great decisions by Robbo this year so far.

[Lydon]

Do you think your constant bashing of Robbo is become extremely boring and tedious? You've certainly whinged more than I've defended.

Why is it ok for you to label Robinson's opinion and stupidity but I can't label yours as stupidity?

C'mon Lydon... bit of consistency.

No problem mate

I honestly can’t be bothered going back and forth with you..

Believe what you like

[Lydon]

Thanks for the article.

There you go, injured playing reserves from Walkers own comments. So who's wrong, Walker or the Club? King Salvo would prefer it to be Walker it appears.

Also a strained ACL is no small injury.

Great decisions by Robbo this year so far.

Master stroke from super coach!