Sam Walker is committed to Sydney Roosters despite being dropped

[Qld Chook]

It makes sense why Robbo was so comfortable dropping our goal kicker now, he didn’t plan on us scoring many tries!

In all honesty though our attack has stunk it up since Walker was dropped.

If we can beat souths with him and have that run we had at the back end of last year that’s enough proof to me that him & Keary can work..

[Steggles]

It makes sense why Robbo was so comfortable dropping our goal kicker now, he didn’t plan on us scoring many tries!

In all honesty though our attack has stunk it up since Walker was dropped.

If we can beat souths with him and have that run we had at the back end of last year that’s enough proof to me that him & Keary can work..

Good point! But who knew Suaalii could kick goals as well as he can?

[zac]

Too early is what my wife would say

oh well, there's always the second half

[dice]

Each week I go through the process of working out which team better by comparing direct opponents (2 vs 5 and 3 vs 4). I assign 1 point when the player is better, and 0 points if no clear winner. In this week's backline I have it 4 to 1 to the Panthers.

Edwards vs *Tedesco
Turuva vs Paulo
Peachey vs Suaalii
*Crichton vs Smith
*To'o vs Allan
*Luai vs Manu
*Cleary vs Keary

If Walker was to play I have it 3-all.

Edwards vs *Tedesco
Turuva vs *Suaalii
Peachey vs *Manu
*Crichton vs Smith
*To'o vs Paulo/Allan
Luai vs Keary
*Cleary vs Walker

You could possibly make an argument one side slightly better but they are fairly even. It highlights the issue of playing people out of position.

Thankfully we have many good forwards in the side.

[Steggles]

Each week I go through the process of working out which team better by comparing direct opponents (2 vs 5 and 3 vs 4). I assign 1 point when the player is better, and 0 points if no clear winner. In this week's backline I have it 4 to 1 to the Panthers.

Edwards vs *Tedesco
Turuva vs Paulo
Peachey vs Suaalii
*Crichton vs Smith
*To'o vs Allan
*Luai vs Manu
*Cleary vs Keary

If Walker was to play I have it 3-all.

Edwards vs *Tedesco
Turuva vs *Suaalii
Peachey vs *Manu
*Crichton vs Smith
*To'o vs Paulo/Allan
Luai vs Keary
*Cleary vs Walker

You could possibly make an argument one side slightly better but they are fairly even. It highlights the issue of playing people out of position.

Thankfully we have many good forwards in the side.

A very insightful post and it sums up much of the frustration many have on this forum with poor positional selections.

[nayfo]

Each week I go through the process of working out which team better by comparing direct opponents (2 vs 5 and 3 vs 4). I assign 1 point when the player is better, and 0 points if no clear winner. In this week's backline I have it 4 to 1 to the Panthers.

Edwards vs *Tedesco
Turuva vs Paulo
Peachey vs Suaalii
*Crichton vs Smith
*To'o vs Allan
*Luai vs Manu
*Cleary vs Keary

If Walker was to play I have it 3-all.

Edwards vs *Tedesco
Turuva vs *Suaalii
Peachey vs *Manu
*Crichton vs Smith
*To'o vs Paulo/Allan
Luai vs Keary
*Cleary vs Walker

You could possibly make an argument one side slightly better but they are fairly even. It highlights the issue of playing people out of position.

Thankfully we have many good forwards in the side.

I do the exact same thing and try to be as unbiased as possible

[Half time]

It makes sense why Robbo was so comfortable dropping our goal kicker now, he didn’t plan on us scoring many tries!

In all honesty though our attack has stunk it up since Walker was dropped.

If we can beat souths with him and have that run we had at the back end of last year that’s enough proof to me that him & Keary can work..

Fully agree with you. Don't forget also 2 years ago when a rookie teenager Walker and Hutch (can't believe I have resorted to typing his name) helped carry our team to unlikely wins with so many injuries. Now all of a sudden after a handful of games this season, its all Walker's fault.

[Lydon]

It makes sense why Robbo was so comfortable dropping our goal kicker now, he didn’t plan on us scoring many tries!

In all honesty though our attack has stunk it up since Walker was dropped.

If we can beat souths with him and have that run we had at the back end of last year that’s enough proof to me that him & Keary can work..

Correct weight

[theGman]

First time poster - long time Chooks fan.....

bit out there suggestion, but i reckon with the halves you have to pick and stick, and it seems for a while thats what Robbo will do with Manu/Keary. I think everyone agrees Walker is a long term solution - so my idea, loan him out to another club and get a player in return for the year. give him some FG experience and bring him back next year.

So i think - what do the roosters need - with Manu at 5/8, Momorovski long term injured, Suuali still learning centre - we need a centre. so for the rest of the year, a solution woukd be a swap with the dragons Walker for Lomax - goal kicking centre, obviously doesnt like Hook, so needs a change, and gives Sam FG experience

Thoughts?

Welcome Fishwa.
There's a really simple solution to get back on track....
Joseph S must return to wing
Manu returns to centre
Sammy to 7 and Keary 6
Put Crichton into the centres or debut an actual centre.....anyone but slow hand Drew.

PS. And blood Wong. An injection of youth and enthusiasm will benefit the team.

[Inflictor]

Welcome Fishwa.
There's a really simple solution to get back on track....
Joseph S must return to wing
Manu returns to centre
Sammy to 7 and Keary 6
Put Crichton into the centres or debut an actual centre.....anyone but slow hand Drew.

PS. And blood Wong. An injection of youth and enthusiasm will benefit the team.

Is Smithy injured already ffs?

[Eggspert]

I don’t think our performances have gotten better or worse with or without Walker.

I also rank the Warriors win as the best of our season, to say we scrapped it is misleading. We were very good in the game on a number of levels.

I don’t think the argument for Walker is this years results..

Really? Best of the season.

Against a team hit hard by injury & the horrible weather conditions likely bringing the two teams closer together.

It's clear you have unlimited love for these crazy Robbo selections & won't be swayed even if he put JWH at #6.

[Eggspert]

Since dropping Walker we have beaten a Dragons team by 1 point that has since lost to the Dogs and Tigers; we have scrapped a win vs the Warriors in a good defensive performance; and been flogged by an average Cowboys teams missing Nanai and Lolo.

Dropping Sammy has been a cataclysmic disaster to date with the team looking worse than ever.

During our 8 game winning streak to end the regular season last year, we looked as good as anyone bar Penrith. We just left the run too late and got hit by injuries.

And our best effort this year by far was the win vs Parra.

That was with a Walker-Keary combo.

It staggers me that Robbo thinks there's a better option than trying to be a better version of that team with the same halves going forward.

We have significantly weakened our centres to weaken our halves as Keary now has to do everything at a stage of his career where he's no longer capable of being that 2018 GF player.

Madness. Madness. Madness. And the proof is there for ALL to see.

Stop making so much sense.

You might get called a doomsday merchant or even worse....a souffs supporter.

[Rooster_6]

Really? Best of the season.

Yes, I think that game or the Souths game were our best performances to date.

Against a team hit hard by injury & the horrible weather conditions likely bringing the two teams closer together.

Hit hard by injury is an exaggeration, their big out was Tohu Harris, CNK isnt even a top 10 fullback. No JWH or Tupou for us equalled that.

Much better than beating an Eels side currently sitting in the bottom 5 with defence more brittle than 1ply public toilet paper.

It's clear you have unlimited love for these crazy Robbo selections & won't be swayed even if he put JWH at #6.

That's another lie, I posted in off-season I thought Robinson had the halves pairing wrong and that it was going to cause issues with Walker. I've since posted that Manu has had his fair crack and needs to be swapped out after last week's game and said openly my 6 would be Walker and my 7 would be Keary.

12 weeks ago I posted after the pre-season trials that Suaalii did not have transferable skills to make it at centre, certainly not at this point in his career and we should hive Pauga a go (happy with Billy Smith now he's back from injury).

And I have posted for years that Manu is not a 5/8 to the point where some posters pulled up old quotes from me dismissing his ability when he got named there 3 weeks ago to rub it in.

WHAT I THINK though is that the rhetoric is over the top, do I disagree with Robinson.. yes if you actually read my posts you would realise that.

But I also think people are exaggerating facts or twisting events to suit their argument.

Selecting Suaalii at centre is not that ridiculous, especially after the performances of Paulo. I understand the rationale behind it.

Giving Manu a crack in the halves is not crazy, hes clearly very talented and may well make a fist of it there one day down the line.

Making the decision that you're going to invest in Walkers development as a halfback instead of moving him into a more creative role which we know he can already perform isn't crazy it's founded in sound logic.

But this attitude of how could anyone not agree with my opinion... to your words they must be CRAZY is ignorant. I'm just trying to provide some balance to the discussion.

If you think Robinson's selections are crazy and don't know how anyone could ever hold a different opinion then I love your confidence but I don't don't subscribe to the theory that there is only right or wrong, crazy or sane I think there's more to these decisions than that and Robinson isn't the fool so many want to paint him to be.

[Tommy Smith]

The Eels have only won one less than game than the Warriors and have only conceded 16pts more. And they have a differential that is 50pts better.

In that Eels game we completed at 85% and made 7 line breaks. It was 5 trys to 1 before we switched off late. Against the Warriors we only made 2 line breaks.

The Souffs win was a delightful miracle. They completed at 62% but made 7 line breaks to our 4.

So to me that Eels game was by far the most fluent we looked all season; even more impressive with Teddy going off early with the HIA. It's the only time we've looked fluent in attack all year.

[bondi.boy]

Yep, a superb all round kicker Reynolds. He is 85 kg though. If Sam puts on 7 kg of muscle and improves his long kicks, well then we are talking.

Indeed.