Opinion King & Knight are an upgrade on TPJ & Thompson

[bradtalo]

This is money ball at its best.

Two massive duds on overs replaced by guys on a fraction of the money with more heart, intensity and commitment. They are both big units with ticker who have overcome injury adversity to play first grade.

Neither would be starters with any top 8 team. Would be lucky to make the 17. They're average at best. We need more impact to start and off the bench.

 

[Robbothedestroyer]

We by far have the worst prop rotation in the comp. Possibly of the nrl era.
I’m a fan of Gus but losing Thompson and TPJ and not having replacements ready is nothing but failing to do his job.
I think Gus is hoping Matalavea-Booth will pay off but I’ve watched that kid for years. He’s a cat in a bigger body. Im hoping he has something planned otherwise another year of being outclassed and dominated in the middle

Agree on Booth plenty on here are riding him to be our saviour saw a bit of him on the coast big unit but lacking mongrel and impact. Would need to step up dramatically to be nrl standard. Patolo is in the same boat.

 

[boggie23]

King’s best impact is off the bench against tiring hookers and props. His offloads will not be used in the first 5-10 mins of a game. Knight is a plodder. What can you do.

Thing is if king is your 17. Then that means you have 4 props better than him starting which means you are doing well. If king is your man then it’s a worry. He is a 100m a game player. Imagine having Vaughan and say a semi prime tolman (not a young tolman, maybe a 29-30 year old one) knocking out 140m/gm each and making 30 tackles. Then you roll out king and patolo and Hughes then yes you have a strong foundation then a few X factor types that can make a play, an offload, a big carry etc.

When knight and king start and Preston for arguments sake is your 13. You have no size, no go forward. Then you throw on someone like Hughes who isn’t battle hardened or experienced then he will be getting smashed every run. We will lose the ruck, opposition will run through us. And we will get gassed.

Our biggest missing pieces this year was Vaughan and Jackson. Yes both way past their prime. But that experience, and hard nosed defence was lacking. And we had to play without any decent props (Sutton, Davey, tpj, Thompson all missing large parts of the season).

 

[D0GMATIC]

Might be that time in a second rowers career, where he transitions to a middle . . . Kikau is big enough to make the move . . .necessity is the mother of invention

 

[D0GMATIC]

Agree on Booth plenty on here are riding him to be our saviour saw a bit of him on the coast big unit but lacking mongrel and impact. Would need to step up dramatically to be nrl standard. Patolo is in the same boat.

All our young props will need to lift, but we lost nothing losing Thommo and Pangirl, they played little and delivered less

 

[CrittaMagic69]

TPJ runs over 100m every game and was out best prop by a far margin last year. 2022 King is a quality bench prop. Knight is depth at best at most clubs. Thommo was NSW cup quality. Our middle rotation even with King in 2022 form is still the worst in the NRL. Not sure how we compete with those middles

Na no way. King is clear of TPJ. Running 100m means fuck all. Welch called some bloke a dumb **** on twitter for posting running metres lol

 

[stevesonthebay]

This is money ball at its best.

Two massive duds on overs replaced by guys on a fraction of the money with more heart, intensity and commitment. They are both big units with ticker who have overcome injury adversity to play first grade.

I tend to agree but I think at least Pangai Junior though he turned out a dud did have the agression I think KIng and Knight lack. That Haas or Leota impact. Maybe we can adapt and utilize their ball playing ability. A bit like say Tapine or how Steve Price use to play.

But I think we need at least one beast in our front row. Maybe someone like Mariner or Montgomery or even Booth if he comes back fit.

 

[Bad Billy]

They arent front rowers mate

Edwards is a prop and Hopoi is a lock, which still makes him a middle?

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Edwards is a prop and Hopoi is a lock, which still makes him a middle?

Edwards is a 13 mate

 

[Nate DAWG]

Na no way. King is clear of TPJ. Running 100m means fuck all. Welch called some bloke a dumb **** on twitter for posting running metres lol

Run metres matters for middles when only one is over 100m uce. King is more reliable than TPJ but on their best day King is not even close. I hope 22 King comes back though especially as he needs to be our forward leader. TBH our middles are fkd

 

[D.O.W.]

We by far have the worst prop rotation in the comp. Possibly of the nrl era.
I’m a fan of Gus but losing Thompson and TPJ and not having replacements ready is nothing but failing to do his job.
I think Gus is hoping Matalavea-Booth will pay off but I’ve watched that kid for years. He’s a cat in a bigger body. Im hoping he has something planned otherwise another year of being outclassed and dominated in the middle

It’s a fair assessment, not many would move players on without a contingency in mind, but I do feel Gus is working toward something bigger and he’s super conscious of not ruining our cap only to get a little better, his aim is sustainable success year on year vying for top 4 finishes as opposed to fighting for a finals berth or making up the numbers in the finals.

I’m predicting he’ll pick up a handy middle just before the season kicks off or mid-season ahead of going hard for 2025.

We have to trust him.. I don’t want to make the 8 for 1 season or be on the fringe year on year, I want us to be back in top 4 for decades to come…. That is Gould’s ultimate vision.

 

[Berries]

If it’s money ball at its best I’d hate to see money ball at its worst. What’s the point of saving cash if we can’t sign anyone with it

 

[Bulldogsteve]

If it’s money ball at its best I’d hate to see money ball at its worst. What’s the point of saving cash if we can’t sign anyone with it

You know what is the worst on here, people like bagging the club but have no solutions
If have a opinion at least have a solution, otherwise you are just trolling

 

[Suave]

I still can’t fathom going into 2024 with that front row.
Frankly I think it’s a cop out to say there’s nothing on the market available. If that’s the case there are 2 options. Hit the phones and try to make a deal with another club - even if it’s the English league. Or you take a punt and sign a handful of younger/fringe first grade props and hope you hit on 1 or 2. I would’ve much preferred we did that vs signing the 6-7 utilities we brought in.
My biggest fear is we’re going to completely waste what’s shaping up to be a gun backline due to having no go forward. That’s exactly how you get injuries to backline players as well because they’re constantly having to run it out from their own half and get smashed because their forwards are losing the battle upfront.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

Run metres matters for middles when only one is over 100m uce. King is more reliable than TPJ but on their best day King is not even close. I hope 22 King comes back though especially as he needs to be our forward leader. TBH our middles are fkd

Welch said it's BS. Said they use different data to measure relevant information. But yes we're fucked, not sure how people think we're going to make do with what we have or that some juniors are going to step up lol.

 

[Bulldogs09]

I think one thing everyone seems to gloss over is we didn’t expect tpj to retire. He did. Gus went after sst… had it sorted. Then he fails the medical (which if we didn’t pull out of everyone would give us a bucket load of shit for this).

It’s a lose lose for us there because he was probably exactly what we need as far as experienced head who has competed at top level and could give us a couple years of quality to allow us to find a replacement.

In hindsight I have no doubt afb was the move. Though for reasons we don’t know and can only assume he played the dragons and Gus knew we weren’t his choice and moved on so we didn’t get left holding our dick like Flanagan did talking about how vital he was and how it will sort hunt and bla bla bla.

Fast forward afb went obviously where he wanted to and dragons look like a meme.

I also think a couple seasons ago Gus gave us couple gems in kiraz and king…

Then Preston…

Now?

I have no doubt he is rebuilding us for a good run for a long time to avoid the shit we have had the last decade almost. Though it doesn’t mean it’s as fast or as clear as we as the fans want!

If we go this season without picking up 2 excellent prospects and that could be may, mooney, Wilson, uele, hunt from sharks.

I dunno who else is out there available and it’s not my job. It’s Gus’s and I reckon he will get 2 quality middles sorted most likely younger or guys like may needing minutes and $.

Hopefully he gets one here asap for 24.

Bet ya last year no one though afb could be a chance to get to sharks or Tracey to us etc just gotta see what comes with roster managements.

 

[Bad Billy]

Edwards is a 13 mate

They can’t both be 13’s. they play for the same team.
either way they’re both middles. Too many people get wrapped up in the numbers on jerseys.

 

[Kelpie03]

You are spot here, how soon we forget …. there was a period of around 10 weeks when TPJ was injured that King was basically carrying the whole team forward on his back.

The whole forum was praising him for his massive efforts every game, but it eventually took its toll and he copped a few bad injuries where if things were different, he’d of had quite a few weeks out, but unfortunately the cupboard was bare and they needed him to play on, of cause his level of play was going to drop.

King epitomises what it means to be a Bulldog, and he’ll be strong again for us this season, anyone saying Waddell played better is talkin crazy talk ..

Waddell played better than previous years and funny enough he gave us his best in his contract year, before that he was terrible … I’m glad they let him go ..

Thanks for speaking the truth about King, those who are rubbishing him should take a really good upercut.

 

[dekepefc]

are we all saying king was playing injured because he played like shit last year? Maybe he wasn’t injured his just a little over rated on here?

I still think Thompson and Pangai better then king and knight if you ignore there salaries.

He smashed it the first 8 or so rounds of the year.. then he played busted..

 

[Kelpie03]

Like it or not TPJ was our best foward and exclusively the only capable of denting the line. We lineup worse without him it’s laughable yet the honest truth.

A fully recovered King is an asset for us, alone however he won’t make it past the halfway point of next season. Knight is mediocre the whole heart thing is what’s kept us down at the bottom for so long end of the day it’s us vs rest of the league and he lines up in the bottom 4 as a starting prop. I rather two players who will respect the jersey and do there jobs over the other two pieces of junk though.

You should ask yourself how many good games did TPJ have.