Forward depth

CUZRAZ

CUZRAZ

Previously BelmoreLegends
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I understand its just a trial match, but some of those boys looked great out there tonight. Underhill, Zyon and Todd all stood out to me. Do we see any of them in our 17 this year? If not, in case of injury who is 1st choice?
 
My feeling is Ciraldo is locked on his incumbent forward pack for the first few rounds. I saw this trial as an audition for Todd , DSF and Amone to put their hands up for contention. Todd for mine is the only one who showed cause for selection and is more than just hype. DSF was solid but who makes way for him? Amone was underwhelming but we need to give him cup time to see if he can amount to anything for the later stages of season if there's injuries or suspensions. Underhill might jump the queue on him if he struggles and my gut feeling is he will.
 
oldpuppy said:
My feeling is Ciraldo is locked on his incumbent forward pack for the first few rounds. I saw this trial as an audition for Todd , DSF and Amone to put their hands up for contention. Todd for mine is the only one who showed cause for selection and is more than just hype. DSF was solid but who makes way for him? Amone was underwhelming but we need to give him cup time to see if he can amount to anything for the later stages of season if there's injuries or suspensions. Underhill might jump the queue on him if he struggles and my gut feeling is he will.
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Amone was actually terrible imo. I'm not sure what I was expecting from him but it wasn't that haha.
 
Gus has mentioned on the podcast last year with Mason on the Levels that no young players should get a look into first grade till they played at least 12 NSW cup games unless they are someone really special like Clearly
 
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CUZRAZ said:
I understand its just a trial match, but some of those boys looked great out there tonight. Underhill, Zyon and Todd all stood out to me. Do we see any of them in our 17 this year? If not, in case of injury who is 1st choice?
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2ndphase said:
Todd will be in the 17.
Zyon needs time to develop and Amone and DSF are backup for injuries.
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apperantly warriors released zyon because he didnt have a good path into first grade. He wants minutes so i am not sure whether he signed with us for reserve grade
 
Lipoi hopoi was good. His play the ball speed and scramble D on point. Doesn’t have the fitness of Harry H but is more effective. Todd had some great moments in attack but also looked gassed in D. My standouts were DSF and Hughes. DSF got better as the game went on and looks ahead of Amone.
 
Amone and Zyon needs more minutes in NSW CUP for more fitness and conditioning. Todd stood out. DSF surprised me he looks like he will be giving Ciro good selection headaches. I thought Hayes looked good also before he hurt his ankle. Joey O’Neill also played really well.


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Amone just like Luke Thompson could make impact in Super League but they're too small for NRL. Amone was shit (not even looking) while running back on side when Tigers scored one of their tries. Actually got in the way of one of our defenders
 
A front rower that's actually 110kg or more would be handy.anything under is to small.
 
Amone needs more time to get use to the NRL level of footy compared to superleague. It was his first preseason and so he will be a bit behind others who have had a couple of seasons under Ciraldo.

But I think he will become more solid as the season progresses. Will be a great asset to have come mid season when SOO and injuries and fatigue starts to set in. Especially topwards the end of the season I reckon he will be just what we need. Him and Fifita I reckon.

Fifita is a bit different as his was injury and he missed a fair amount of footy. I think he is pretty close. He is starting to look a bit like he did with souths before he got injured. Making solid runs and bending the line. Maybe good for 20 minute stints.

Todd stood out for me. I think he is already in our top 30. I noticed Underhill is not in the 30. If we wanted to give him a go can he play outside the top 30. I think he will be good but I am not sure if he should take someone elses spot at this stage. But if he turns out good can we bring him into the top 30 still and maybe replace him with a player thats injured or not playing well.
 
I wasn't able to watch the game today. I'll search for a replay in the next day or two.

But tonight was a really small sample size. I've heard Hayes wasn't impressive tonight, while I heard Hopoi was good. Whereas last year Hayes offered more impact and played more NRL than Hopoi. So we can't comprehensively say that any player is poor from tonight with certainty. Just that some played well, others were underdone.

Ultimately it's all positive signs that we have more options than previous years. Seems like we're better equipped with options for the engine room anyway.
 
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