Official Gus on Twitter

[Donkey Slayer]

gus said they training Averillo to be a 7. BBO will get time in reserve grade at 7 or 6 and learn his craft. Im sure he is next cab of the rank is one of the halves get injured

No need to rush BBO if Avo is Capable to start the year but i dont see avo and flano lasting to long there

 

[Apex Cedar]

No need to rush BBO if Avo is Capable to start the year but i dont see avo and flano lasting to long there

Happy with BBO or Avo to start at 7 and one of them at 14. Cook needs to start at 9 for me

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Happy with BBO or Avo to start at 7 and one of them at 14. Cook needs to start at 9 for me

cook is next to chance starting the year at 9 in from of JMK. He will have to prove himself in reserve grade first, TB will go with the experience to start the season imo

 

[Bulldogsteve]

No need to rush BBO if Avo is Capable to start the year but i dont see avo and flano lasting to long there

If Averillo is still in the team by round 10 or 12, i think he will be, then we will be travelling very well in the comp

 

[Apex Cedar]

cook is next to chance starting the year at 9 in from of JMK. He will have to prove himself in reserve grade first, TB will go with the experience to start the season imo

Yeah I agree will take the safe option, until JMK gets injured and cook will show the goods.

 

[Howie B]

I think he's the worst starting 9 in the competition. He's definitely in the bottom 4.

Yep. That’s why we signed Mahoney

One thing I will say about JMK is that he always has a dig though. There’s quiet a few blokes in our team from the past 5 years that didn’t.

I don’t want to name and shame them though, that would be disrespectful. All I can say is that one of them rhymes with Nylan Dapa and another one rhymes with Kione Satoa.

 

[bricktamland]

Pretty interesting he sees BBO as a half but also says that’s where Averillo will start. 2022 going to be massive for both guys

Bbo or averello 100% will rise both will be super subs or starting

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Bbo or averello 100% will rise both will be super subs or starting

i think for BBO development he should play 7 in reggies, wakeham or flanno at 6.

 

[Noeasyday]

i think for BBO development he should play 7 in reggies, wakeham or flanno at 6.

Players like Grant, Hughes Luai and Papenhauzen come into first grade and go so well because they have played 30-40 reserve grade games.
In a few years time I hope we have the systems in place to reflect this. In the meantime, players like Averillo, BBO, Schoupp, Patolo and Alamoti will be thrown in the deep end to sink or swim.
I hope they all swim, but no objections seeing them playing reggies.

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Players like Grant, Hughes Luai and Papenhauzen come into first grade and go so well because they have played 30-40 reserve grade games.
In a few years time I hope we have the systems in place to reflect this. In the meantime, players like Averillo, BBO, Schoupp, Patolo and Alamoti will be thrown in the deep end to sink or swim.
I hope they all swim, but no objections seeing them playing reggies.

Yes , even 8-10 games of reserve grade at 7 would be beneficial for BBO if he kills it there and gains confidence he can make the next step
If Averilo excels at 7 which i think he will, a year in reserve grade would be beneficial for him

 

[Bulldogs09]

View attachment 34406

While i have no doubt kikau and Mahoney are locked in I look forward to the announcement haha let’s get it done already

 

[flamebouyant]

That is exactly what I call reading between the lines...
Unless there is a major change in form the halfbacks will be picked in this order
1 Wakeham
2 BBO
3 Averillo
4 Flanagan

So averilo played hb for the majority of the last season, but you think he is 3rd in line? Yeah right!

 

[InGusWeTrust]

My faith in the club may be slightly misguided, due to bias, but i have never doubted we will be back as a major force.

100% same here bro. The last 7 years since our last GF appearance has flown by and it's only the last year or two where I have realised we're truly terrible. Not that we haven't had bad years and periods before, but I have always had faith, we'll turn it around at some point. so while it sucked losing so much in recent seasons, I believed it was only a matter of time before we were on top again.

Signing Gus gave me the most confidence though. Khoury and Warburton seem to be doing a great job behind the scenes, on the business side (but I don't know much about that, other than sponsorship news etc.) but Gus is The Godfather man. You just know success will come with him on board. The timing is great too. We fans often had negative views about Gus, as the commentator, administrator or coach of other teams. We may have thought, he is hard on us, or dislikes us or whatever, but he has to have a soft spot for the club that gave him a lot of good times. And he's clearly showing it now. The man works so hard. He's already setup the academy, got coaches, staff organised. All while wining and dining players the club want to recruit and meeting with government officials and sponsors and god knows who else. The man is tireless. That's probably the most surprising thing to me. I've only recently started following him on twitter, now he's back in the blue and white.

Good times are just around the corner I feel.

 

[InGusWeTrust]

He looked fine doing it at centre in the lower grades, even when he first came into the NRL at centre he showed ability playing in a rubbish side and with Lewis feeding him. I really think a lot of our fans are sleeping on him because of the state of our firstgrade side. I know it probably doesn't mean that much but he was breaking tackles at a higher rate per run than Cotric and we all know Cotric ran around in circles at times racking up those SC tackle breaks lol.

Yep, they be sleeping on my boy. His footwork and speed is very good. Just needs good players around him and a pack that will force defences to retreat. Alomoti looks to be better though, he is just younger. He could be one of the best centres in a few years.

 

[D- voice]

So averilo played hb for the majority of the last season, but you think he is 3rd in line? Yeah right!

Did you think he solved our 7 problem ?
I like Avarillo, a very talented junior but a halfback must have a halfback's talent and instinct, for now he doesn't...
Remember what Gus said, "he will be prepared as a 7. he can obviously handle other roles"
He didn't assure me that he will be a 7, he is telling me he doesn't know his role.
Time will tell !!!

 

[speedy2460]

It's logical that JMK will start in the 9. He is the incumbent 9.
It's his job to hold on to it, with Cook snapping at his heels.
I think Cook has more to offer.

 

[flamebouyant]

Did you think he solved our 7 problem ?
I like Avarillo, a very talented junior but a halfback must have a halfback's talent and instinct, for now he doesn't...
Remember what Gus said, "he will be prepared as a 7. he can obviously handle other roles"
He didn't assuring me that he will be a 7, he is telling me he doesn't know his role.
Time will tell !!!

Remember he only played half the season at 7 in a fucking woeful team, likely our worst of all time. Any judgement of him at this point is pretty pointless really. With a quality half beside him in Burton he will have all the support he needs to flourish. And i think he will.
I think what gus meant, was he will be our 7, unless he loses the position to someone more deserving, in which case he will come in and play another position that he is also capable of playing.

 

[Cujo]

I'd back Averillo as a ball runner over all of them at this stage.

Nadan...too big.....too strong..too fast!!

 

[Typical dog]

Naden also has a great one hand flick pass and can offload. Playing him on the wing doesn't utilise his biggest strengths.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

Nadan...too big.....too strong..too fast!!

I've said Naden is more powerful but Jake's faster and more elusive imo. Naden played in a stacked side with slick backline moves, Jake played in a rabble. This isn't proof of anything but the only stat I can find that's somewhat relevant. Jake 86 runs, 33 tackle breaks. Naden 98 runs, 26 tackle breaks. It's safe to assume if Jake was in a purely running role in the outside backs in a better side then he would break more tackles while his tackle breaks would lead to more opportunities due to more space to work with?

Anyway it doesn't really matter, Trent will pick his team and then shuffle the team when it doesn't work out. Or Gus will just over call him lol.