Burton is overrated.

[King Gus]

I think it’s only fair to judge Burton on the season not on one game, Thurston had many shit games and was the world best player.
Not comparing the 2 just saying.

 

[billy beane]

This might be a Kalyn Ponga type of situation for us…

Ponga is way better .... i would swap them tomorrow in a heartbeat.

 

[billy beane]

I think it’s only fair to judge Burton on the season not on one game, Thurston had many shit games and was the world best player.
Not comparing the 2 just saying.

Please don't mention them in the same sentence.

 

[King Gus]

Please don't mention them in the same sentence.

I did say not comparing, just used it as an example.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

I said it in another thread but Joash and Karl will push our Panther marquees back to the centres, someone save this comment.

I am all for it if it means we aren’t witnessing dud attack. It’s far too inconsistent at the moment. The gun is putting in stinkers week in week out. Burton is extremely inconsistent but we’ve won games last season due to his performances.

Burton cannot be getting away with Lacey Lewis type performances. He dropped a 1/10 the other day.

 

[Aristidiz]

To retain his position as a 5/8 Burton needs to show imrovement this year. There are a couple of key areas:

- Kick Choice and Placement
- Long Range Passing
- Short Range Passing
- Game Management

Lots of areas essentially, he needs to turn a corner soon.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

Burton is basically a Wighton with more skill and way less aggression.

His best games last season was Parra and Titans

 

[Wearnze]

Burton was terrible but the comments on here are laughable.

He will respond and have a better game next week and everyone will have egg on their face. He was a shining light last year in our horrible season.

 

[Marki]

KarlO has all the natural ability of a 5/8 and same with joash at fb
I would rather them spend the year in reserves , work on their combinations and then have them in first grade next year rather than putting up with the shit that we have in first grade atm

But with out a doubt , KarlO is everything you look for in a 5/8 .

Can run, pass , kick and more important has the instincts that can’t be taught

Burton has worn out his grace period on potential , he’s now supposed to be an elite but the guy is clueless with the ball in his hand . His natural instinct is to kick and when ever he’s passing or running he makes it look unnatural .

Agree very much with this. We need to elevate a bunch of players with formed WINNING combinations in reserves.

It's Penrith did.

This year is the year you set certain standards and that's why CC needs to get TPJ and JR into the team.

Towards the back end, if KO and Josh are ready, you thrust them in with a view of making them cementing their spots for 2024

 

[GoTheDoggies]

I’d be persisting with him but he needs a rocket, whether it’s dropping him or a spray from the coach he needs something.

Yes our forwards were dusted up but he played worse than Flanno, total joke of a performance.

 

[Marki]

Incorrect. Ballplaying is natural instinct. Lamb was not a ballplayer, nor was S Mortimer. Lyons was. Kenny wasn't a ballplayer perse but got by with footwork and speed off the mark. Sterling and Gary Hughes, Michael Hagan were ballplayers, Fittler and Anasta weren't. In today's game Cody Walker and Keary and Munster and Dylan Brown and Luai to a lesser extent are ballplayers.
Burton is not a ballplayer, he doesn't have the sleight of hand of these guys and never will. He must set up his support by taking the line on with his strength and speed and getting a pass away. Gould was a ballplaying forward, as was Graeme Hughes. To Gould, it was such a natural instinct maybe he looks at Burton and thinks geez being a ballplayer came so easy to me, Burton has the attributes...big, smart, has some pace, why can't he learn these skills.
I would of liked to see Burton at age 15 or so playing footy...it would of been obvious if he was a ballplayer or not.
Ballplaying is the most unteachable of skills. If ballplaying was teachable WHY HASNT Shane Flanagan been able to teach his son?
Doesn't mean Burton can't be a great half. But a ballplaying half he won't ever be.
Accept this and get a ballplaying 7 and we go forward.

Probably the most popular important in this whole website.

You've dissected him perfectly.
And I see him in the same way.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

Burton was terrible but the comments on here are laughable.

He will respond and have a better game next week and everyone will have egg on their face. He was a shining light last year in our horrible season.

He was but the pressure is on now, when the season is over and nothing to play for looking brilliant when it’s too late is not enough.

We are in the process of trying to blood debutants into a competitive team, he has to help the young guys coming through.

 

[Marki]

The fact your weighting a trial game and 1 game this year vs a full season's worth of evidence last year proves your recency bias.

14 assists last year, 5 from passes, 9 from kicks - all weighted into space, proves he has vision.

He was forcing it with Kikau, not entirely his fault, Kikau was dogshit too but Burton does need to improve. Not super concerned, combination's take time, you know that.

I doubt he's lost the ability to put up his torpedo bomb, so why didn't he put any up? No evidence, but I'm guessing it's an attempt to work on landing kicks closer to the try line, something that we all think he needs to do more.

Rubbish. He knows Kikau and knows him well. Played 2 years with him and won a comp.

But..... At centre.

He also played well at SOO with very little preparation. Where was the combination excuse there?

That's right. It's a BS excuse.

He's a centre

 

[Marki]

You could see after KO's first three touches that he is the real deal.

Burton on the other hand is the most disappointing footballer i have ever come across. My hopes were so high when he signed but he is BANG AVERAGE at the moment to put it kindly.

Play continually breaks down around him. His ball playing is nonexistent. Runners have no idea what he is doing. He refuses to run the ball with any authority. He refuses to take any ownership of the game. His defense is timid. His decision making is shocking. I could go on.

This is not an overreaction to yesterday's performance; he has produced a handful of those type of games over the past for six months .... i would challenge anyone to rewatch his last dozen games and say otherwise. I don't give a damn about the media hyping his bombs or performances.

Been around a long time and know poor football when i see it.

The usual suspects will disagree, be triggered and make excuse after excuse. The often-quoted game against Parra featured 4 assists by kick nil by hand .... not sustainable, probably never happen again. Has he EVER put anyone into a hole?

I don't care who this offends or how big headed on my behalf this sounds ... It is just so BLANTANTLY obvious.

I am fearing we have farked up big time by making Burton a centerpiece of our future.

Some say move him to the centres or lock .... is he fast enough or tough enough?

Shout out to @Critta Magic, @ASSASSIN, @Marki, and others who have the footy smarts to realise this long ago.

Love this post.
Honest, raw and fucking on the money.

I had high hopes watching Burton take 5 field goal attempts for Penrith about 4 years ago..I think i also fell for the glamour of a big kicker.

But since then I realised Penrith aren't stupid for choosing Luai over him to partner Cleary and although they stumbled on him being a good centre, we have tried to Frankenstein him back to a 5/8th.

The only stupid thing we can do now is compound our error by persisting with it.

This is where Ivan Cleary doesn't get the credit he deserves. He could make the right judgement call to pick the right guys in their right positions, even with a plethora of talent to pick from

 

[Marki]

At no point did I say he didn't have bad games last year, we were talking about whether he had the vision to be 5/8: I offered a seasons worth of evidence, 14 assists and most them requiring "vision."

You offered: a trial, yesterday and 5 putrid games last year (which seems high to me and none to the scale of yesterday).

He's got under 30 games as a half, he's 22, he's going to be inconsistent, he's going to struggle at times. The worst thing we could do is be emotional and move him into the centres to bring in an 18 year old and expect him to be consistent and not struggle.

I dont think it's the worst thing.
He'll still be in the side.
He'll still be able to kick on last.
NSW did it.

We just don't have the vision or the balls.

 

[COVENS]

But your ignoring my whole point, yes I know he is learning, yes I know he has no FB or HB, so why continue the failed experiment with him in the halves? Who is it actually helping by playing him there? Flamingo is zero help and actually hinders his improvement.

Ok I'll agree with you and say he has vision, why not use it?

He is a former Dally M centre but now he is the worst 5/8th in the league. Yet, he is getting elite half money. ATM he is a centre so let's use his strengths and play him at centre.

To me it's always team first, I hope he comes good ASAP. But with KO in our club now and the fact that Gus is and hasn't stopped looking for a HB even after signing KO shows he hasn't got 100% of trust to be what he thinks he can be and what we hope him to be.

Because he has no future in the centres here with Crichton, Xerri, Alamoti, Skelton and Kiraz all trying to squeeze into 3 spots and we risk doing the Mbye/Averillo thing again stunting his long-term development because of short-term panicking. He needs reps as a half.

Walker and Hynes weren't considered to be good enough until they were in their mid 20's, we have to be patient.

 

[COVENS]

Rubbish. He knows Kikau and knows him well. Played 2 years with him and won a comp.

But..... At centre.

He also played well at SOO with very little preparation. Where was the combination excuse there?

That's right. It's a BS excuse.

He's a centre

Yep in a different role, if you don't think there's going to be teething issues, I don't know what to tell ya.

What's the difference between a representative team and a team that got the spoon 2 years ago?

 

[J_Cooper]

Burton to centre, Karl to 5/8 and SAM WILLIAMS brought in from overseas asap to play Half!

 

[billy beane]

Love this post.
Honest, raw and fucking on the money.

I had high hopes watching Burton take 5 field goal attempts for Penrith about 4 years ago..I think i also fell for the glamour of a big kicker.

But since then I realised Penrith aren't stupid for choosing Luai over him to partner Cleary and although they stumbled on him being a good centre, we have tried to Frankenstein him back to a 5/8th.

The only stupid thing we can do now is compound our error by persisting with it.

This is where Ivan Cleary doesn't get the credit he deserves. He could make the right judgement call to pick the right guys in their right positions, even with a plethora of talent to pick from

Just calling a spade a spade mate.

Get no joy whatsoever in saying it but i am sick and tired of the bullshit adulation and excuses many make for Burton.

He should have been hooked yesterday.

As things stand at this point in time, he has been massively disappointing as a 5/8.

 

[soc123_au]

He sees himself as a half, if he wanted to play Centre full time he would still be at Penrith. He was offered it before he signed with you guys. Fullback was also discussed.

Most of you saying that he is a Centre are looking pretty much on the money, big question is does the club have the balls to pull the trigger after all the media hype over the past few years along with Laundry shooting off his mouth?

Right now at 6 he is looking like the wish version of Luke fucking Walsh. Shudders............