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So there's a chance we could have a bench of Turpin, Haywood, Taaffe and Sexton as 18th man? I almost want to see it happen just for the laugh.

Even if Hutch is getting dropped, I still expect to see him named at 7. CC rarely runs out with the named team 1-13. It will be interesting to see what clues there are in the reserves/bench, will all of Taaffe, Sexton and Hayward get named? And then look to see who gets named in NSW Cup.

Let's not get too carried away. He was only up against Meaney after all!

And that's how you know he isn't a halfback.

Yeah I don't disagree in regards to how good we looked with Mann at lock but I just think it played out well for him that game given we were having the better of field position. Given we don't have dominate props we probably need that 3rd big body in the middle more often than not?

Yes but it's not like Hutch was the only one playing half back during the off-season. What do you think Sexy was doing? Of course he was training there all off season as well. At the end of the day CC has given him a big run and doesn't knee jerk like some other coaches do. He gave Flanno a...

Loved seeing the Burto Foxxy combo back in action tonight. Reminds me of the old Shifty Hazem days.

Can't wait to see our pack at full strength and see how Curran and Mann rotate playing lock. I reckon Curran eventually starts at 13 and then Mann comes on once the game opens up a bit.

Well next week will be a real test for CC. Taffee , Tracey and Hutch have been picked when fit every game so far. I can't see anyone in the backline this week getting dropped bar Hutch. I can't see how Taffee could be any worse than Hutch at half back and at best, we solve our problem. Can...

I hope Suluka-Fafita can do a job for us once he is fit. Hughes continues to improve as well as Faamausili. That gives us a 4 prop rotation not including Curran, Patolo, Knight and Sutton. That frees up Curran to play lock with Mann and then means Preston and Kikau don't have to play 80 minutes...

I don't see why. It's not like we look super organised in attack. I don't see what he is doing that Flanagan wasn't doing last year. Neither offers a thing in attack. He maybe takes the line on more but for mine he does it when he shouldn't. Tonight with the game on the line he collects the ball...

Sounds like Crichton at centre and Tracey to fullback. Kiraz marking up against Coates makes sense.

I doubt it will happen. I think CC will want to make as little changes to the starting lineup as possible.

When Taffee went down I thought ok next week with Addo Carr back we'll see Tracey get a run at fullback. Now he is out I think the best option would be to give it to Papalii. Keep the rest of the backline at full strength, we will need strong edges and combinations to compete against the storm...

I'd have Tracey to fullback, someone mentioned he can be our version of Edwards and I think that could be spot on. Call up Xerri so that Kiraz can take one spot on the wing and Wilson comes in to cover for JAC. Bring in Sexton so that our outside backs can actually get the ball. We had so many...

He is not better than JAC and Kiraz. Why would he be first picked?

Is he the reason kikau has gone up a level this season?

That was a shocking call. It was clear as day Hughes made a decision to take the lead runner.

If changes are going to be made, this is the game to do it. Ie, bring in Sexton for Hutch and Papali or Crichton for taaffe

We played a certain style of football Saturday, after the first 20 minutes of almost exclusively defending our goal line and starting every set deep in our own half, where it wouldn't have mattered who was playing 6 or in the centres. All we did was play conservative and try to get to halfway...

Did you people watch the game? All we did was ruck it out over and over again from deep in our own half. We made too many errors and we made errors at the end of defensive sets, gifting the eels field position and repeat sets. We defended really well for long periods. But once you get to the...

I just looked up the team that trotted out last season round 1. It's easy to judge in hindsight but lets do it anyway. Backs 23 v 24: I reckon Xerri players so it's Taaffe, Xerri, Crichton, Hutchison in & Perham, Averillo, Alamoti, Flanagan out. Forwards 23 v 24: Faamausili, Preston, Salmon...

Xerri I think will partner Crichton in the centres sooner rather than later. And Tracey, who I honestly know very little about will no doubt get a run in most of the backline positions throughout the season when others go down with injury. Kiraz's best position is on the wing. Where does that...

Really? Name the 2nd out and out centre the club has after Crichton?

18th man?

Lets wait and see. He does have a habbit of running out with a different team to the one that was named. Someone mentioned earlier that he seemingly used the trials to build combinations on selections he was already decided on rather than as a selection trial. If that holds true, I reckon Xerri...

I'll add this, if I was going to play Xerri I wouldn't have named him either. Avoids alot of press this way. And Kiraz coming back to the wing after missing the trials makes alot more sense.

Would like to see Skelton at centre in reserves. We have no depth there and i think he is better suited to that position to utilise his skills. He should be there now with an eye towards playing as an edge backrower in a couple years time. Kiraz for me is an out and out winger. Great under the...

I'm backing Xerri to start at centre round 1. The other centre will be Tracey or Critta with the other at fullback. I dont think we went after Tracey to play reserve grade. That's my take anyway. Would love to see Skelton play well in the trials and get a crack at centre too.

2024 is our 90th season but we turn 90 in 2025. So i reckon when Gus says "2025 is the club’s 90th season" that is incorrect.

95 is the best for me. - Coming off the back of losing in 94 as minor premiers. - Terry Lambs farewell season (at the time) - Super League split the club in two. We never seemed to get out of 2nd gear until a couple weeks before the finals. - Last regular season match at Belmore was our...

Considering Tevita, Faitala Mariner and Thompson gave us virtually nothing and Kikau was injured for the baulk of last season surely we can only be better in 2024.

And then there is RFM and Poasa Faamausili. Surely one of these guys can give us something this season.

It's just our props that are lacking. We really need Hughes and Patolo to stand up.

Tracey gives us a settled centre option, especially if Critta ends up at fullback. I think it means the club see Kiraz as a winger which is good. As much as we hope Xerri works out, signing Tracey means we have insurance if it doesn't or if it takes a while. I actually think Xerri will be good...

I've only picked first graders based on whether they are listed in the top 30 on our website (except for Tracey) NRL Team Crichton Kiraz Xerri Tracey Addo-Carr Burton Sexton King Mahoney Knight Preston Kikau Curran Reserves: Mann Salmon Hughes Sutton NSW Cup Taaffe* Wilson* Skelton*...

I dont mind the signings as i see many as stop gap solutions as there is money in the cap to be spent. My only concern is that we dont have the luxury of having 4-6 weeks to figure out what our best lineup looks like. I hope with so many options available, CC is able to sort out who plays where...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Angus Crichton. His deal has apparently fallen through with Rugby. That also means that the Roosters you would think wouldn't have money for him as they would have spent it already. Now i'm not suggesting we go after him, although I would consider it. But is...

You're probably right in regards to SST, but we need a forward leader that the rest of the pack respect and will follow. Someone that leads by example, someone that when he talks, others will listen.

You're right we need proven metre eaters in the middle. You left out Sam Hughes and he real potential for me. The other is Sio Siua Taukeiaho. Is he signed? I'm concerned that his body isn't up to it but if it is, he would bring real leadership to the group.

Fuck Taylor the stupid gronk. Seriously this bloke threw cups of piss on people at the cricket. Don't want him anywhere near our club. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/obstruction-bulldogs-are-getting-away-with-murder-20120712-21z06.html

No I'm pretty sure Taylor wrote a newspaper article (SMH?) about how Barba would sweep around the back and receive the ball on the inside shoulder of our lead runner (usually pritchard). Also wasn't there another article about how our markers would stand side to side? Was that the same year or...

I think long term he should be centre because of his footwork and offloading ability. This all depends on whether he can handle defending there though.

Isn't this the **** that fucked us over in 2012 whinging to the nrl about our decoy plays being illegal?

I think, in regards to outside backs, we go into 2024 in a much better position talent pool wise than what we did this year. Essentially we lose Averillo, possibly Burns, and massive question marks on Alamoti and Perham. We gain Crichton, Taffe and Xerri. Wilson and Skelton on the up. Who...

Sure not a problem with that, but deadset some on here carrying on like Taffe is on a higher tier than Averillo and he simply isn't. If he was he would be fullback at Souths and Latrell would be at centre. The only question I have around Cricton playing fullback is how much work is he prepared...

Taffe is a reserve grader. Fuck sake some of you only see what you want to see.

I think he left once Barrett was sacked against his advise. Either that or when Gus came on board.

In regards to cap management, you actually get penalised for not spending a certain % of your salary cap, someone correct me if I'm wrong but it's like 95%. And you can't front load players salaries like you used to be able to, at least not to the same extent. This is why you sometimes see teams...

No Cotric's contract was for 21, 22 and 23.

1) We are definitely paying some of Allan's contract but that ends this season. 2) Cotric signed for 3 years when he came and that ends this season, so I wouldn't be surprised if we are still paying some of his wage. 3) The DWZ figure has me dumbfounded. At the end of 2019 he extended his deal...

Is Sutton gone? Is that confirmed? I hope so he offers nothing. I would rather free up his money on the cap and run with 2 unknowns if it comes to that. All those blokes you mentioned did nothing to make us a better team this season.

Lets have a look at some players that we started this season with, with an idea towards them playing NRL: - Kikau (Injured most of the season) - TPJ (Consistently inconsistent) - Thompson (Injured all season) - RFM (Injured/Out most of the season) - Davey (Barely played and was released) - Pele...

We have our halfback as far as I can see. Sexton is the man and will have the job for the next 3 seasons I reckon. Gould made an interesting point on 100% footy. All these young halfbacks that have made their way in and out of first grade over the last 5 years, they will go on to be the main...

1-12 same as last week 13 Edwards 14 Skelton 15 Hughes 16 Thompson 17 Knight 18 Oloapu

I like Wilson. He runs the ball with purpose, has great speed and good work ethic. That's not to say he is perfect, far from it. In defence he comes in off his wing far too often. The first try against the Dolphins, he comes in off his wing to tackle Aitken because he thinks he has Burton beat...

Hughes and Thompson in are a must.

I don't mind it provided he comes here fit/healthy and with the right attitude. He is the type of player we desperately need and by that i mean an experienced prop that has achieved everything the game has to offer. Someone that can guide the young props at the club. You cant put a price on...

Well you can see straight away the difference; 1) the inclusion of sexton at half-back 2) moving burton back to 5/8th 3) and averillo at fullback. Speed and ball playing ability. Really good signs after one match. We looked threatening throughout the game and left a few tries out there as well.

They way i'd have gone: Skelton to wing, Kiraz to centre, Topine to backrow and Okunbour left right out.

Jack Cogger has shown its not just players, talent and ability. You put a decent player in a good system and they can play well. So much of our game is about effort. Effort alone won't get you a win in the finals but it can get you to the finals. For mine the current system is broken or not the...

I turned it off at 22 nil to stack the dishwasher, do the washing and clean the pool.

Waddell is done surely. He is a proper idiot with a low footy IQ. And the less said about Perham the better. For a team to take the field each week without a ball playing fullback (remember those) on top of not having a halfback, i don't know what our coaching staff expect us to do when we get...

Props lay the platform for your halves to do their magic but they don't win games. At the moment we can't convert good ball into points. Hass wont fix that.

Is there a live stream of nsw cup? Can't find one.

Dont forget Skelton. If he continues to develop. He is a big unit!

Our right edge will be under huge pressure defensively. That's probably why Ciro has opted to play Waddell there in the back-row rather than at lock? I'm surprised he's gone with Edwards over Davey, maybe Edwards has earned his chance, been playing well in reserves. If it doesn't work he can sub...

Big Outs Bulldogs Souths TPJ Tatola Kikau Arrow Thompson Havili RFM Knight Pele Mitchell (not the good one) Patolo Johnston Okunbour

Souths will run out I'd imagine with the same pack that lost to the storm. In terms of run metres they won the battle but not comprehensively (2,064 v 1,854). If you compare our pack to the Storms, in terms of quality there's not much difference. I'd say ours is better but I am biased. The big...

Okunbour out for 1 week if he accepts the charge. 2 if he fights and loses... Hughes and Davey made their comebacks off the bench against Newtown. It was a very tough, physical top of the table clash. We need a good balance of work-rate and size, I reckon they both make the bench. King and...

Dally M judges went this way: Bulldogs v Wests Tigers: 5 - Jacob Kiraz; 3 - Matt Burton; 2 - David Klemmer; 1 - Hayze Perham; 1 - Reed Mahoney. Paul "Hound Dog" Alamoti unlucky to miss out on points. Two massive plays from him yesterday.

Fix our bench and the halfback and we could finish top 4.

90 minutes from our bench yesterday. That's why we faded yesterday, in the heat thinking the game was done and dusted. They simply clocked off because they were gassed. All of the tigers tries came from a lack of effort in defence. Players were simply too tired to push across in defence just in...

Kirazzamatazz!

I get it though. We should never have gotten into this position in the first place. And for all the fanfare and talk of a rebuild there is still so much uncertainty because there are a lot of question marks on our squad. You can be optimistic but how many of our players can you bank on to...

Newcastle started last season on fire and then after round 3 it fell away just as quickly. In 2010 I think we won our first 3 matches straight and didn't make the finals. Look at last season, won round 1, lost round 2 but looked the better team, lost round 3 by 1 and then flogged round 4. From...

Instant success doesn't always work out in the long run. You can get a false sense of security. Lets judge them based on what they dish up after 4-6 weeks.

Not really because he has the biggest bomb in the game, ever. The problem with them is that it not only causes havoc to the receiveing team but also our kick chasers. Sometimes the ball lands and because we dont have a defensive line set, if the opposition gets it they end up running 30m upfield.

Listened to Ciro in an interview last week and he seemed very certain about Hayze as a fullback and Averillo as a centre. I think it was with Vossy and the Missile on SEN. To be honest i would rank him last as of now as well, he hasn't done anything yet and the list of fullbacks is pretty bloody...

Other than games what do you expect this team to win? Im not suggesting we will win the comp with him there or he is our long term answer but I think he is the best option we have at the moment given what i have seen from Perham. He showed signs he could do the job last season. He backs up well...

It would have been great if Ciro came in and just said, Avo here's the #1 jersey, you've got 1 season to prove you get to keep it. Then give Skelton the #3 and our backline is set with Burns, Casey, Perham, Okunbour all backup options.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Skelton transition into a backrow position.

He's one or two more concussions away from retirement. Good player though.

I don't understand why anyone would want Hastings. He is rubbish. If he played for the Dogs you'd have him on the first train out of Belmore.

Speaking of last minute grand final plays, seeing replays of the 1986 Grand Final during the week. Why the fuck didn't Bugden spread the ball to the left on that last play? We would have nailed them on the hooter with a try for sure.

The problem was it was over before you even realised it began. There's no doubt if Ryan didn't bring Crocker down we lose that game. It would have been a nightmare.

He hasn't played since the final round match vs Newton where he went off injured I think.

It's very hard to gauge how good our players are given how poorly they have been coached. Even though we started to score more points consistently with Potter, we never really had good attacking shape near our oppositions try-line. Somehow we still managed to average 3-4 tries per game. Most of...

It was such a deliberate 2-on-1 strip as well. Okunbour dropped it with the line wide open in the opening minutes and we had one called back on the stroke of halftime for a forward pass. I think we were the better team on the day and if we can go toe to toe with them playing for the minor...

When you watch the replay, he was f#cking lightning! Watch all the other plays chasing Burton and then Addo-Carr's speed is just on another level. Anyone else on the wing and we don't score on that play.

Roosters. He started in reserve grade with Norths and played a lot at the start of the season, mainly at lock. Looks like he has been injured for around half the season and is now back on the bench.

And throw in 2023 as well. Better to be safe than sorry.

I would say over the last 20-30 years, regardless of whether we are playing well or poor and whichever coach was in charge, we are generally on the receiving end of bad 50/50's and/or behind on the penalty count. We never have favourable runs of matches with officials like souths, broncos and...

First penalty of the match. Bulldogs offside, outside Souths 40m and then this leads to the first souths try. Why was this a penalty and not a set restart?

JMK has been good the last couple of weeks no doubt about it but he is lacking in several areas and Reed is definitely an upgrade. His ability to create/ball play out of dummy half will be invaluable to us given we are severely short in that department in regards to our halfback.

Forget that then. We have scored enough points in every match since he has taken over to win. Our problem has been our defence. We have given up big leads each time only to crawl our way back into the match only to toss it away. But not yesterday. And not because of luck but because of...

We hit the lead and this fuckwit offloads in traffic early in the set, we turn it over and Dragons take the lead right back. Waddell and Stimson have had so many chances and done absolutely nothing. Why are they still in first grade? Why is Furner still coaching too? He is fucking rubbish.

I thought Potter did a pretty good job at the Tigers in very trying circumstances with Benji and Farah at the time. If he is serious about being a first grade coach this is a great opportunity for him. It will be very interesting to see what he can do with this squad that I believe is no worse...

Love all the people saying we need to buy a halfback as a priority. That's great but who? Aside from Cleary there isn't anyone that is a long term option that can take us to a grand final and he ain't leaving Penrith. We need a coach and a fullback. At least there are good fullbacks around and...