Our top 17?

[bulldogs2010]

Agro is not in the 17 anymore~

Nope. No chance I see him getting into this side.
The icing on the cake was how a hooker played like hes been a 2nd rower his whole career when a 2nd rower who has been a 2nd rower his whole career played like crap.

Halatau offers plenty when fit and Gordon is just a beast off the bench so yeah.

 

[JUNKYARD DOGS]

1. Luke Patten
2. Steve Turner
3. Josh Morris
4. Jamal Idris
5. Bryson Goodwin
6. Ben Roberts
7. Brett Kimmorley
8. Ben Hannant
9. Michael Ennis
10. Michael Hodgson
11. Dene Halatau
12. Andrew Ryan
13. David Stagg

14. Chris Armit
15. Mickey Paea
16. Buddy Gordon
17. Ben Barba

 

[polecat]

1. Luke Patten
2. Steve Turner
3. Josh Morris
4. Jamal Idris
5. Bryson Goodwin
6. Ben Roberts
7. Brett Kimmorley
8. Ben Hannant
9. Michael Ennis
10. Michael Hodgson
11. Dene Halatau
12. Andrew Ryan
13. David Stagg

14. Chris Armit
15. Mickey Paea
16. Buddy Gordon
17. Ben Barba

that will do nicely

 

[Alan79]

1. Luke Patten
2. Steve Turner
3. Josh Morris
4. Jamal Idris
5. Bryson Goodwin
6. Ben Roberts
7. Brett Kimmorley
8. Ben Hannant
9. Michael Ennis
10. Michael Hodgson
11. Buddy Gordon (He looked really busy against the roosters and was my pick of the forwards. More please)
12. Andrew Ryan
13. David Stagg

14. Jarryd Hickey (Will cop some flak but i'm starting to see him throw his body into runs right before the defense and i'm expecting big improvement from his running. Looks fitter and is timing his runs to recieve the ball better IMO. Time will tell)

15. Chris Armit (Makes solid metres few errors defends well. Ticks all the boxes)or Mickey Paea (I haven't seen enough to put him ahead of Armit yet but i've really only seen 3 or 4 of his games. Still deciding on him)

16. Blake Green (Great utility value, did well enough at lock to make me think 2nd row would look ok on his long list of positions. 1 more ball player anywhere in the line can't hurt) or Dene Halatau (Will add some second phase play when he finds his feet. Looking forwards to that)

17. Ben Barba (Looks great and i hope his impact continues to warrant his spot)

Would love to have Barba in the starting side but where? I'd say fullback but Patten couldn't be dropped to accomodate him. Roberts isn't everyones favorite player but he does a good job and tends to only look bad when he tries too hard. I'd like to keep Barba in more of a roaming support runner role than having to organise too much at this stage of his career.

Last season our recruited players basically had starting 17 positions sewn up without much question. We had a reasonably untouched year with injuries and didn't have to ask too much from the lower grades. What we recruited this year was to cover depth and possibly to look at replacing El Masri & Eastwood and grooming a replacement for Hodgson who i believe is 30 now and Kimmorley who is still amazing me with his durability. So many of our players have improved and we're seeing some youngsters like Barba step up and demand their spots. Ask me what my top 17 is halfway through the season and i think 1 to 9 might be well wrapped up by their current owners but the rest of the pack and the bench look like they could be in for some massive shuffles before we've settled a pecking order. Interesting and exciting times.

 

[bulldogs2010]

14. Jarryd Hickey (Will cop some flak but i'm starting to see him throw his body into runs right before the defense and i'm expecting big improvement from his running. Looks fitter and is timing his runs to recieve the ball better IMO. Time will tell)


.

No. I dont care if he looks fitter, his still a fat piece of crap who doesn't deserve to be in FG. It's his fault Pearce scored last week, it's his fault Dean Young scored the week before and fresh off the bench last week, he dropped the ball.

No way. With our full compliment, he'll be dreaming of getting back into the side.

 

[BulldogStar]

No. I dont care if he looks fitter, his still a fat piece of crap who doesn't deserve to be in FG. It's his fault Pearce scored last week, it's his fault Dean Young scored the week before and fresh off the bench last week, he dropped the ball.

No way. With our full compliment, he'll be dreaming of getting back into the side.

I pretty much agree! Hickey has played like 70 FG games for the dogs since 2006, and hes just not that good, and just hasnt shown enough improvement!!

 

[bulldogs27]

Ben Roberts is having a terrific season.
Mate, true I don't pull any punches.
I like what He is achieving and would like to
see it continue.
The Team is improving in more ways than one.
(-:

 

[bulldogs27]

It looks like we need to call in Steve Waugh
to show how to catch the footy diving forward.
Howzat!

 

[bulldogs27]

It looks like we need to call in Steve Waugh
to show how to catch the footy diving forward.
Howzat!

 

[Pa-28]

1. Luke Patten
2. Steve Turner
3. Josh Morris
4. Jamal Idris
5. Bryson Goodwin
6. Ben Barba
7. Brett Kimmorley
8. Ben Hannant
9. Michael Ennis
10. Chris Armit
11. Dene Halatau
12. Andrew Ryan
13. David Stagg

14. Michael Hodgson
15. Mickey Paea
16. Yileen Gordon
17. Hickey / Browne / Williams (last spot up for grabs, whoever is in form, atm looks like Browne)

We need to start Barba, nothing against Roberts but Barba is a game breaker and Roberts isn't. By starting Barba we now have a much bigger more damaging bench with 4 forwards which should prevent us getting embarrassed by teams with big packs like the Rabbits, Penrith, etc..

 

[simmmo]

I don't think halatau is a long term second row solution. we do need to recruit or bring up someone from the lower grades with genuine size and strength. I think Halatau is a valuable bench player. He can cover centres, wing, hooker, backrow. But we need someone like Eastwood to start for us.

For the time being, I would actually start with Paea in the second row and drop Halatau back to the bench. That would give us the grunt we need from the very start of the game. Or I would shove Jama in the second row, Benny Roberts to centres, and prolly hodgo drops off the bench. Jama is going to be a second rower eventually. why not get used to it now.