Centres

[Master Coach]

If we start with hoppa and cotric at centres we might have one of the slowest centre pairing in the comp.
Theres no doubting cotric power game and finishing abilities but theres a major question mark over him playing centre. Remember stuart kept cotric on the wing and played rapana ( a 30 something year old has been) at centre)
Also no doubting hoppas skills but at the end of the day both dont have the speed we are after.

Keen for everyones thoughts on this topic. Either way theres no doubt we are thin on centres, you cant rely on shoupp who is not proven and doesnt even have an NRL contract.....

 

[Daustin]

cotric is pretty quick from what ive seen, wouldnt call him slow. were definitely thin on centres but i think cotric will go well there. i dont see any reason why he wouldnt

 

[Alan79]

I'm looking at this season with an open mind. We'll see how they all go.

 

[Hulk76]

Centres dont always have to be super fast. They just need to create something and feed it to the fast men ie the wingers or supporting fullback to finish it off. Its a bonus if you have centres that have pace to burn.

 

[Bulldogsforlife23]

Get rid of floppa and get staggs

 

[boggie23]

I think Cotric will do well at Centre. Has the strength to be able to beat his man (all be it with strength and size) has enough pace to be able to break the line and back up. And if he has someone like meaney or Zelezniak on his outside should be able to draw in 2 players and pop the pass to the speedsters down the flank.

Yes we are light (especially if injuries hit) but we never had great depth there to begin with (Montoya, Holland, Critchon, Reimis are not first grade centres).

Cotric will do well, and at the very least we need to let him run out for us before we criticise him.

Biggest test will be what we do for 2022. I think Hoppas best days are behind him (he should only remain on a mid range contract), Allan has first shot at the 1 jersey which he can make it his own with a solid year. Otherwise he does have the game to play centre long term moving forward.

Either way exciting times and exciting recruitment and direction for the club moving forward. I think after endless years of Dezball, and 1 out attack, and Lewis and Tolman etc, we as fans dont have much to complain about, and we should just be excited and optimistic that we are building a great young core for long term success.

 

[kaluah8123]

Centres dont always have to be super fast. They just need to create something and feed it to the fast men ie the wingers or supporting fullback to finish it off. Its a bonus if you have centres that have pace to burn.

Agree,

Good defensive reads make up for pace when defending. Hoppa and Cotric are both hard to pull down 1-1 which will attract the defending winger if they get early ball and get on the outside shoulder of the defending centre.I haven’t closely watched Cotric but Hoppa is pretty slick with passing and offloads.
They would definitely be my centre pairing to kick things off.

 

[bradyk]

I'm not worried about our centres unless we pick up an injury there. Cotric and Hopoate will be a good centre pairing. We don't have many options/depth after that. Cotric isn't slow either.

 

[gibbo2]

Who said Cotric is slow. He is pretty quick. His not JAC but his quick enough. Still wouldn’t be surprised if Avo ends up at full back next for 2022 when Burton arrives with Allen shifting to the centres. Bye bye Hoppa.

 

[Bulldog1966]

Which is why Momo would have been a good option play's two positions including centre and wouldn't have commanded big $$$ either..oh well i guess Allan killed that idea fair enough, we needed a fullback probably more.
FWIW i think Cotric will kill it at centre and i guess Hoppa will do what Hoppa does on the other side and be serviceable to reasonably good.What we do for '22 depends on how seriously we are pursuing Staggs now...or is Averillo mooted to go there? who would know at this stage i doubt Baz knows yet a fair bit has to play out this season yet..the other youngsters seemingly will be a up to a year away, Alamoti is a bit young and i don't even know will Schoupp even cut it?? he doesn't look to be in the mix right now..and if we were to get Staggs do we lose one or both of them, another idk scenario.

Gibbo, i reckon Allan will go well at FB so not sure "the hype guy" will push him out of that role

 

[c-b-b]

So Cotric is too slow for the centres but fine to play wing where you need pace.

 

[kap123]

Supposedly we are keen on Momirovski but the Tigers aren't budging on a release. I think he would definitely give us a solid option at centre. It definitely seems like the backline will be Allan, DWZ, Cotric, Hoppa, Tui Katoa/Meaney, Averillo and Flanagan but I think Momirovski could fill in for Katoa or Meaney and also gives us an option in the centres if Cotric or Hoppa aren't performing.

 

[oldpuppy]

Supposedly we are keen on Momirovski but the Tigers aren't budging on a release. I think bea sky's he would definitely give us a solid option at centre. It definitely seems like the backline will be Allan, DWZ, Cotric, Hoppa, Tui Katoa/Meaney, Averillo and Flanagan but I think Momirovski could fill in for Katoa or Meaney and also gives us an option in the centres if Cotric or Hoppa aren't performing.

Momirovski at this stage would be a solid signing even if for next year. I believe if players work out in our club then it's better to be conservative and upgrade them in our system than to pay premiums based on performances they achieved elsewhere .

 

[Cappuccino]

Momirovski at this stage would be a solid signing even if for next year. I believe if players work out in our club then it's better to be conservative and upgrade them in our system than to pay premiums based on performances they achieved elsewhere .

Momo may be going to Penrith last i heard

 

[Bulldog1966]

Posted in another thread, apparently Maguire is shitcanning his requests for release, which is unfair.

 

[oldpuppy]

Momo may be going to Penrith last i heard

That would be a shame if true. He would have a better chance here to play NRL weekly than to be a depth signing at Panthers.

 

[capt obvious]

I dont see a problem with hoppa and nicky, just would be handy to have winger who can also play centre, staggs for 22 would be sweet tho

 

[Spoonman84]

You know what you’re going to get with Hoppa and he is decent enough there and Cotric will more than likely be the other one. If Cotric struggles with the switch or we get an injury we don’t have a much depth at all. Schoupp isn’t even available for NRL selection and Averillo sounds like he will be playing in the halves so I have no idea who the next player up would be? DWZ? It’s one position we cannot afford injuries in.

 

[iDoggiesFan]

If we start with hoppa and cotric at centres we might have one of the slowest centre pairing in the comp.
Theres no doubting cotric power game and finishing abilities but theres a major question mark over him playing centre. Remember stuart kept cotric on the wing and played rapana ( a 30 something year old has been) at centre)
Also no doubting hoppas skills but at the end of the day both dont have the speed we are after.

Keen for everyones thoughts on this topic. Either way theres no doubt we are thin on centres, you cant rely on shoupp who is not proven and doesnt even have an NRL contract.....

Cotric isn’t slow by any means.

If anything, pace is more vital on the wing so the Ricky Stuart argument is irrelevant.

 

[bradtalo]

If Momirovski goes to the Panthers and the Tigers get Laurie early in return it could help with Burton getting an early release as they would no longer need Burton to fill in for Naden at centre.

I would be happy to see us replace Hopa with Momirovski IF we could get Maika Sivo for our other wing. Imagine having JAC and Sivo as our wingers. Best wingers in the comp by far.

1 Corey Allen
2 JAC
3 Nick Cotric
4 Paul Momirovski
5 Maika Sivo

If it looks unlikely we're getting Brandon Smith I would like to see us sign Daryl Clark (offers more in attack than McInnes who will probably link up with Maguire at the Tigers anyway) with a totally "lethal" backline of

1 Corey Allan
2 JAC
3 Nick Cotric
4 Katoni Staggs ($650 slight upgrade on Hopa at 500-600K)
5 Maika Sivo (550k - like for like swap for DWZ in future)