News Campo’s Corner preview: Bulldogs

KiwiDog7

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Good preview article

Hopefully tomorrow’s trial answers a few things

Wish we just named our starting side already
 

GDR

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He defended next to Foran early in the season and was recovering from surgery.

Listen I don't hate Cogger, I love him as bulldog but at this stage I just think Lewis adds more to the team than Cogger. Its Lewis time to prove himself and whoever starts the season in reggies will be knocking on the door.
I may be wrong about Lewis and I really hope I am... But IMO all he will amount to is a lot of wasted time and effort that could of been better spent on more promising talent..
 

Teddybear

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You guys must be related to cogger, never seen a bigger love fest for any other player.
Wakeham is creative.
Cogger is too.
And I love the way Lewis plays.

I wonder how Cogger and Wakeham go together. Ive never considered that combo.
 

Teddybear

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Cogger, catch, pass, missed tackle , catch ,pass, missed tackle.
Its true though they do mean something at the end of the day.

Opposition 20... Cogger is no superstar either and that's why Wakeham is in the team.
 

Teddybear

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Compared to how many attempted tackles? Per player?
Last time i checked cogger was on the bench for the latter part of last year
Would have been a bloodbath right if burgess was matched up against cogger instead of Lewis last year..give me a break ...


Here's another stat.. cogger missed 40 tackles and Lewis missed 31.. not much of a difference considering one is meant to be the Best defender on Earth and the other is meant to be the worst..

Perception is a strange thing.
 
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Lov_Dog

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Back in 2014 I was one of those excited for Lichaa to be coming over from the Sharks, I really wanted that experiment to work and for him to streamline our attack.
In fact he did the absolute opposite.
It was so hard to watch such clunky play from dummy half, it was like the game was on 50% speed when we were attacking (and I use that word very loosely).
Thankful we have a new combination in dummy half this year with JMK and Katoa. They may not be top class, yet, but more speed and agility than Lichaa will be such a glorious sight after the last 5 years or slow, poor, "eyesdown" service.
 

GDR

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Compared to how many attempted tackles? Per player?
Last time i checked cogger was on the bench for the latter part of last year
Would have been a bloodbath right if burgess was matched up against cogger instead of Lewis last year..give me a break ...
92% efficiency as opposed to 88%.. big deal.

Name me one other half in the comp that is selected on the basis of his defense?
 

JackDog

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Jackson, Britt, Thompson when he comes will all be better options than Lewis at lock. Lewis can't even use his frame as a half, doubt he can use it in the forwards lol.
Yeah, possibly.

Tbh I really want a half that controls the game, and kicks with some thought as to where he’s kicking it. We haven’t really had one for a while that wasn’t in a sling or on crutches for half every season.

Wakeham seems to be more that kind of player. Lewis does some good things in attack, freaky things, but he is also just as likely to throw/kick it into the crowd.

Whoever gets the job, good luck to them. Here’s hoping our online defence improves from last week...
 

mikey

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Really decent article. Maybe it's bulldogs goggles but I think we can make the bottom 2 positions of the 8 if Wakeham is in the halves and we put together some performances like we did late last year.
Yeah they keep saying we can’t score points? I see plenty of points in us.great teams have great defence.our line speed last year was terrible and teams ran through us easily.if our defence improves and teams are only scoring 12points average against us we are looking good.not saying we will make the GF but sneak into the 8.for me Brandon wakeham is our X factor.

Even playing one finals game would mean the team has come a hell of a long way and that Pay has the team heading in the right direction.
 

BELMORE

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Back in 2014 I was one of those excited for Lichaa to be coming over from the Sharks, I really wanted that experiment to work and for him to streamline our attack.
In fact he did the absolute opposite.
It was so hard to watch such clunky play from dummy half, it was like the game was on 50% speed when we were attacking (and I use that word very loosely).
Thankful we have a new combination in dummy half this year with JMK and Katoa. They may not be top class, yet, but more speed and agility than Lichaa will be such a glorious sight after the last 5 years or slow, poor, "eyesdown" service.
I think everyone was excited for licha. Why wouldn’t we be? Best young hooker coming through from all reports. Tore up younger grades with his running game.

He set us back big time. He was hopeless that kid
 

Snake

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Back in 2014 I was one of those excited for Lichaa to be coming over from the Sharks, I really wanted that experiment to work and for him to streamline our attack.
In fact he did the absolute opposite.
It was so hard to watch such clunky play from dummy half, it was like the game was on 50% speed when we were attacking (and I use that word very loosely).
Thankful we have a new combination in dummy half this year with JMK and Katoa. They may not be top class, yet, but more speed and agility than Lichaa will be such a glorious sight after the last 5 years or slow, poor, "eyesdown" service.
Well said. Simply having Lichaa gooone instantly improves our attack this season. I can see the Wakeman / Cogger combo being a good attacking structure but I worry how two small frames in D will handle a constant barrage from the likes of Fafita, TPJ, Kikau. Games are won or lost when these big explosive guys eventually crack the D and barge over small halves.
 

Chris Harding

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Pretty objective summary of our position. I think our roster is better than it was in 2019 as we have more depth for our bench choices. I think that gives us a stronger 80 minutes of footy than we had last year. The foran injury left us with a set of halves that means we really have to defend our way to victory in 2020 because we lack creative strike.
True, but we have to put something on the board to defend.

If we can score one try, there's no reason why we can't score another. Often, our own poor choices in attack created opportunities for tries to be scored against us. Becoming smarter in how we play and finish a set will go a long way to building confidence and character - and that requires the whole team doing their part, not waiting for a "game breaker" to emerge.
 

vegny

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Fingers crossed To'omaga starts again in the trial and performs well enough that Pay's forced to start him come round 1.
Hopefully mate. Hard to see pay not picking tolman and napa to start tho.
 

Chris Harding

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It's never occurred to me until now just how good they finished the season last year.
They had a pretty shocking first half of the season but they didn't give up, they played hard and they believed in
themselves.

I've just realised, it says quite a lot about Pay, the coaching staff and the club and the players the way they finished the season.
I'd be very surprised if we don't play twice as good this year.

And Dean Britt, I really hope he's in the team, I like the way he plays.
If we can finish middle of the pack in the first half of the season, I see no reason why we can't be competitive in the second half. There will be no sprint out of the blocks while the team sorts itself out. I can't recall the last time we started a season with the same side we finished the previous season with, and that always makes for a clumsy start.
 

CrittaMagic69

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Hopefully mate. Hard to see pay not picking tolman and napa to start tho.
8. To'omaga
10. Napa
13. Tolman

Think that would work for us during the season just like in the trial, defenitely more balanced and gives us a little more variety through the middle.
If To'omaga can handle the starting role and continues to improve then that would be massive for us.
 

Heckler

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Des set him up, however still no excuse as to why his passing game was crap.
I think everyone was excited for licha. Why wouldn’t we be? Best young hooker coming through from all reports. Tore up younger grades with his running game.

He set us back big time. He was hopeless that kid
 

GDR

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8. To'omaga
10. Napa
13. Tolman

Think that would work for us during the season just like in the trial, defenitely more balanced and gives us a little more variety through the middle.
If To'omaga can handle the starting role and continues to improve then that would be massive for us.
People have been suggesting tolman at 13 for years.. I surprised it's taken this long to happen considering it's a good suggestion
 

Dogna88

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8. To'omaga
10. Napa
13. Tolman

Think that would work for us during the season just like in the trial, defenitely more balanced and gives us a little more variety through the middle.
If To'omaga can handle the starting role and continues to improve then that would be massive for us.
So realistically would be something like

8. To'maga
9.
10. Napa
11. Jackson
12. CHN
13. Tolman

14. Elliott (he will be there)
15. RFM (spoke to him at the gym, he is hungry. Injury free in forna big year)
16. Stimson/Britt/????
17. Odgen/????
 

CrittaMagic69

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People have been suggesting tolman at 13 for years.. I surprised it's taken this long to happen considering it's a good suggestion
I'm not really a fan of Tolman there tbh..but overall I think the move would be a good one for us as it allows us to start the game with a stronger ball carrier through the middle.

Kinda also have an eye on the future with this move, think Thompson would be better suited as a lock and if To'omaga gets a year under his belt then that would put less pressure on Thompson when he's here and not force him into a role he isn't as comfortable in.
 
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