Real Talk

Knight was shit but will still start
 
Realistically happy that footy is back on. We played well for a first hit out. I was impressed by some of the young fellas and xerri in his comeback game. The sharks game will be one where the kennel gets wound up for the season (if we win against a full strength sharks team) or self destruct if we don’t!
 
CrittaMagic69 said:
I have to give credit to IBS dog, it was silly of me to discredit him last night. Burton is pathetic though, the mental gymnastics from some is hilarious.
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ISB dog has a footy brain that sadly our squad has been lacking for years. He isn’t overly gifted athletically but he reads the game well. I liked his text book tackles he made shutting down Paps in the middle.
 
InGusWeTrust said:
The negativity on here is off the charts. Some positivity would be nice aye?

So real talk, I was very impressed with our first hit out for the new season. Considering how many new players/combinations we have, the fluency in attack was amazing. Some of the tries we scored were very sharp.

Burton as usual cops most of the criticism, with a lot of it unwarranted. Watch the game again without a hate boner and he actually does his job ok. He played about 45 minutes and setup Xerri who went within a whisker of scoring, then he dummied and almost scored himself. Thos was far from a fail. Can he do better? Of course but it was a 45 minute performance in a trial ffs. Plenty of the squad didn’t impress. Mahoney and Preston for example.

I thought Mahoney got in the way too much, as did Salmon. Hutchison was good(ish) in his directness, but he doesn’t offer much else. Sexton offers more spark, but not so much composure. Add Taaffe and in the first half we had Hutch, Salmon, Mahoney and Taaffe all touching the ball too much, particularly Mahoney and Taaffe. Burton is hated on as usual, but they only went down the left 5 or 6 times while he was on.

The point of a trial is to test players and combinations, as well as systems and tactics. It gave Ciro heaps to work with. He actually has options! The most impressive thing about the game was how committed and intense we were in defence, especially the young guys, many of whom also impressed in attack. Heyward was clean as hooker, Papa, O’Neill, Todd and Hayes all shined and for his first game in 4 frickin years, Xerri really warmed into the match and will only improve.

The only issues I see is the selection headaches Ciro has and the lack of depth in the forwards. I am worried less however about our front row stocks after seeing a good performance by Hughes and Poasa. King was solid and Knight can be decent when he cuts out the bullshit. I’d say he or Sutton is a toss up for a bench prop. Or neither may be needed if Patolo or Todd can stand up.

I like Taffy’s involvement and positional game, I don’t however like his attacking in the backline, hence I’m still favouring Tracey at the back. The starting pack for me would be Max, Reed, Poasa, Kiks, Presto, Curran, Hutch, Hughes, Kautoga, Sutton/Knight. I reckon Ciro will pick Hitch at 7 though because he covers a few positions and Sex only plays 7. You still need a utility on the bench though in case he gets injured.

Heads up doggies fans, this was way more encouraging than last year’s trials. We haven’t even seen many of our big guns yet.
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I only saw a highlights reel. But Mahoney threw a lovely long bullet pass to Eli Clarke to go over for a really simple try. So he's got vision and is quick enough to take advantage of it. I honestly can't comment on if he overplayed his hand at times or not from the highlights. But it was a pretty silky pass that'd equate to 15 Lichaa passes end to end. If he's able to pop passes like that to Xerri and Crichton this year it'll scare the opposition even if they don't score.

Thanks for the summary though. From the little I saw we looked good. Some sharp backline movements including impressive work from some of the youngsters knocking on the door. I basically saw the last play on each try though and I'm not going to have impressions on anything else. But it's exciting to actually look at our depth/future players chiming in well. I also know that we weren't seeing much of the Storms top squad, so I'm not over reacting to the win.

But we're looking fluent in attack (from the highlights) having used 26 or so players, so it's encouraging signs. And nice to hear our defence was at least solid.
 
Turvey Chip and Chase said:
I don’t hate Burton. I actually think there is a very very good footballer there. I know it’s only a trial, I just wish someone would shake the fk out of him, because once he “gets” it, he could be unplayable for the opposition given his size, strength and speed
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I am really hoping that with a consistent 7 by his side it will relieve the pressure off him. I have hope and I think he can be special, people forget some of the tries and try assist he did last season were incredible especially his combination with JAC.
 
The problem for Burton is you have Sexton and Hutchison, who will ask more questions of the defence consistently, Xerri fired on his first run, Taaffe looked great at 1 and Papalii is an automatic backup. Salmon made the 13 jersey his. Then you have Critta in the other centre position.

Where exactly do you put Burton? If I was Gus I'd be having a talk and get his manager to feel out some NFL offers and make some bank off that sweet boot.
 
Bitemarks said:
The problem for Burton is you have Sexton and Hutchison, who will ask more questions of the defence consistently, Xerri fired on his first run, Taaffe looked great at 1 and Papalii is an automatic backup. Salmon made the 13 jersey his. Then you have Critta in the other centre position.

Where exactly do you put Burton? If I was Gus I'd be having a talk and get his manager to feel out some NFL offers and make some bank off that sweet boot.
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Back in a Panthers jersey
 
InGusWeTrust said:
The negativity on here is off the charts. Some positivity would be nice aye?

So real talk, I was very impressed with our first hit out for the new season. Considering how many new players/combinations we have, the fluency in attack was amazing. Some of the tries we scored were very sharp.

Burton as usual cops most of the criticism, with a lot of it unwarranted. Watch the game again without a hate boner and he actually does his job ok. He played about 45 minutes and setup Xerri who went within a whisker of scoring, then he dummied and almost scored himself. Thos was far from a fail. Can he do better? Of course but it was a 45 minute performance in a trial ffs. Plenty of the squad didn’t impress. Mahoney and Preston for example.

I thought Mahoney got in the way too much, as did Salmon. Hutchison was good(ish) in his directness, but he doesn’t offer much else. Sexton offers more spark, but not so much composure. Add Taaffe and in the first half we had Hutch, Salmon, Mahoney and Taaffe all touching the ball too much, particularly Mahoney and Taaffe. Burton is hated on as usual, but they only went down the left 5 or 6 times while he was on.

The point of a trial is to test players and combinations, as well as systems and tactics. It gave Ciro heaps to work with. He actually has options! The most impressive thing about the game was how committed and intense we were in defence, especially the young guys, many of whom also impressed in attack. Heyward was clean as hooker, Papa, O’Neill, Todd and Hayes all shined and for his first game in 4 frickin years, Xerri really warmed into the match and will only improve.

The only issues I see is the selection headaches Ciro has and the lack of depth in the forwards. I am worried less however about our front row stocks after seeing a good performance by Hughes and Poasa. King was solid and Knight can be decent when he cuts out the bullshit. I’d say he or Sutton is a toss up for a bench prop. Or neither may be needed if Patolo or Todd can stand up.

I like Taffy’s involvement and positional game, I don’t however like his attacking in the backline, hence I’m still favouring Tracey at the back. The starting pack for me would be Max, Reed, Poasa, Kiks, Presto, Curran, Hutch, Hughes, Kautoga, Sutton/Knight. I reckon Ciro will pick Hitch at 7 though because he covers a few positions and Sex only plays 7. You still need a utility on the bench though in case he gets injured.

Heads up doggies fans, this was way more encouraging than last year’s trials. We haven’t even seen many of our big guns yet.
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Bro, you’re not happy with our spine and Salmon all touching the ball but haven’t stopped to consider that’s the new attack structure they have been practicing all summer which has Jason Taylor’s fingernails all over it
 
If he stayed at Panthers Luai would be gone and he'd be NSW five eight. The problem has been he has had to do everything. Burton will have a standout year, it might take a few weeks to figure out when and when not to get involved.
 
CrittaMagic69 said:
Gus desperately needed to land us another prop for this season. Right now I'd rank our props as King, Hughes and Famasalami with everyone else below them barely worth mentioning. Curran will probably spend some time as part of the rotation when Mann or Salmon shift to lock.
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Don’t be surprised if KK pushes in the 17, he’s been training the house down and has impressed those that matter as he can cover edge and middle.
 
KiwiDog7 said:
Don’t be surprised if KK pushes in the 17, he’s been training the house down and has impressed those that matter as he can cover edge and middle.
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He has slowly improved since joining us. Looked better in the middle than on an edge in NSW cup. Hard to judge him on the left last match with you know who playing inside him. Does hit hard though, can see he has tried to basically replicate Kikau's game.
 
Burton is a player that needs space, which he gets playing centre, but not at 6... seriously after the trial there are juniors that are in front of him for a half position at the moment.. he need to take on the line or sit deeper in the line to create a bit more space for himself.
 
Doge said:
Knight was shit but will still start
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It’s a trial I get that but if he is one of them players who continues to be selected despite no impact or worse mistakes and penalties then cya later, there’s younger guys pushing for a start
 
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