Official ROUND 1 | Bulldogs vs Eels | Discussion thread 5:30pm @ CommBank Stadium

[flamebouyant]

Reserve grade is on fox/kayo as well boys!!

 

[dogbone]

We have the following who can all play centre:

Chricton
Xerri
Kiraz
Tracey
Clark
Samrani
Perham
Burton

It doesn't matter if they're "out and out" centres, they all know how to play it, and all are capable of at least doing the role. I like skelton but he's probably currently our fourth best winger with the ability to climb up, and our ninth best centre, which I think would take him quite a few years to jump up to even top 5 (going by who we already have)

Xerri I think will partner Crichton in the centres sooner rather than later. And Tracey, who I honestly know very little about will no doubt get a run in most of the backline positions throughout the season when others go down with injury. Kiraz's best position is on the wing. Where does that leave Skelton? If he is viewed as a winger and Taaffe keeps his fullback spot, Skelton is 5th in line for the wing behind; JAC, Kiraz, Tracey & Wilson.

 

[GA45]

Really? Name the 2nd out and out centre the club has after Crichton?

Xerri

 

[GA45]

Just noticed Averillo didn't make the Dolphins team which is surprising. They went with tesi niu over him

Fair shout. Avo is bog average

 

[surfdog]

if we show some resolve in defense and use a good kicking game to turn the big para forwards around and take some sting out of them i think we can do well

 

[dekepefc]

Xerri I think will partner Crichton in the centres sooner rather than later. And Tracey, who I honestly know very little about will no doubt get a run in most of the backline positions throughout the season when others go down with injury. Kiraz's best position is on the wing. Where does that leave Skelton? If he is viewed as a winger and Taaffe keeps his fullback spot, Skelton is 5th in line for the wing behind; JAC, Kiraz, Tracey & Wilson.

I think that's where he does sit.. at least for now... though I have him ahead of Tracey for wing spot (I think Tracey will be fullback, centre or utility) No doubt he'll get a chance to push up that list throughout the year if he keeps improving.

 

[D0GMATIC]

very predictable 1-17, hopefully a couple of CC's big calls come off

I think the 1 and 7 are under pressure,so will Ciraldo be, if things don't work out. It won't surprise me if we have a different half and fb by round 3

 

[CaptainJackson]

A big difference vs cronulla was how fit our guys looked, hence line speed and being onside was a big factor in our defence.

As such a lot of our negative stats with refs will start to be reversed this year.

If our forwards man up like they did against cronulla (who really do have a top pack), we might snag this

 

[Menteek]

A big difference vs cronulla was how fit our guys looked, hence line speed and being onside was a big factor in our defence.

As such a lot of our negative stats with refs will start to be reversed this year.

If our forwards man up like they did against cronulla (who really do have a top pack), we might snag this

that’s what I think needs to happen so we are a chance of winning. Even if it’s 6 points clear it’s still winning.

 

[D0GMATIC]

Just noticed Averillo didn't make the Dolphins team which is surprising. They went with tesi niu over him

Hardly surprising,well CrittaMagic will be gutted, he has him at immortal stature. Bennett was never going to have a defensive liability in the front line, Avos best chance is at 1 or 14. And The Hammer is a way better fb

 

[maroondog72]

Brent read said we are soft through the forwards and Hutchinson will play sideways meaning our backs will be no threat

Yeah because Brent Read is a fucking rugby league genius ffs.

 

[Hound Dog]

A big difference vs cronulla was how fit our guys looked, hence line speed and being onside was a big factor in our defence.

As such a lot of our negative stats with refs will start to be reversed this year.

If our forwards man up like they did against cronulla (who really do have a top pack), we might snag this

Fatigue makes a player do sloppy things, think differently, not as focused. Having players that can either manage better in that scenario or minimising fatigue would help a lot, it's not only about giants v giants that's barely the first few minutes of each half.
Hopefully bench rotations runs well too

 

[Freakzilla]

Just a reminder that this game is live at 3pm Saturday on Fox League/Kayo.

2 very good teams that can challenge for the title.



Parramatta Eels v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Sat March 9 2024, 3:05pm at CommBank Stadium, Parramatta / Burramattagal

1. Blaize Talagi 2. Isaac Lumelume 3. Samuel Loizou 4. Zac Cini 5. Haze Dunster 6. Daejarn Asi 7. Ethan Sanders 8. Ofahiki Ogden 9. Matthew Arthur 10. Ky Rodwell 11. Matt Doorey 12. Luca Moretti 13. Makahesi Makatoa

14. Meni Luke 15. Dan Keir 16. Charlie Guymer 17. Brock Parker

1. Joash Papali'i 2. Eli Clark 3. Hayze Perham 4. Bronson Xerri 5. Jeral Skelton 6. Bailey Biondi-odo 7. Toby Sexton 8. Chris Patolo 9. Jake Turpin 10. Liam Knight 11. Kitione Kautoga 12. Lipoi Hopoi 13. Harrison Edwards

14. Bailey Hayward 15. Jack Todd 16. Zane Tetevano 17. Jordan Samrani 19. Khaled Rajab 20. Lachlan Vale

Referees: Kieren Irons;Sideline Officials: Tom Cambourn, Karra-Lee Nolan;

 

[chemdog]

 

[chemdog]

 

[DFLWatto]

Probably a better No 7 than Hutch, but he was picked because he is better defensively.

Defensively ? Hmm idk about that. That try he let in last week was really soft

 

[Nate DAWG]

who gives a fuck about the team list blah blah its round 1, lets just hope everything goes well and enjoy the game this weekend, and if we are shit oh well what can we do about it

thats the spirit bro fkn lol

 

[2ndphase]

I’m thinking we play our game against their outside backs which can definitely work. Taking the steam out of their backline can definitely be a weakness for parra. I’m feeling like we might have an upset here IF we can hold the ball, tighten our defence and not allow easy meters.

poasa will definitely be trying to do his best so he doesn’t get a line against his name. Patolo said he is in for round 3, so who knows might be a stop gap until he returns pending he has match fitness at all.

lastly xerri unlucky to miss the 17 but it was always going to be about having a couple games in NSW cup and then coming back into the side once his built up confidence being out for four years.

hutch needs to direct the team in attack and defence. Literally everyone needs to communicate in the team that’s what made Penrith the team they are today. I watched the show “undisputed” you see the panthers team talk about communicating, connecting etc.. it really isn’t hard to do however when your fatigued it’s definitely very hard to keep communicating till the final whistle. What was strange is we didn’t see any pre season videos etc.. so I’m hoping they’re hurting from the shit show we had last year. It does feel much better as I was super impressed with our defence against the sharks. It’s just gotta click and having critta lead the way with his actions and words can definitely rev up the other boys in fox, Burton, reed etc. we have a influx of players who can communicate compared to last year. Something has to click this year and for one I hope our defence does this.

Potatoe has been named to start in the Cup team this weekend.

 

[1967]

If we can hang onto the ball and not give away dumb penalties, we conserve more energy, losing momentum and gifting them field position will just tire us out, especially being round one, so ball handling and playing smart is imperative ..

Focus needs to be .. high completion rate, defend as a pack, turn em around by kicking to the corners ..

Our chances to score try’s will come if we first focus on winning the arm wrestle … the more we focus on those first 4 points, the more try’s we’ll score, because it’ll tire Parra out and then frustrate them into mistakes, and they’ll begin gifting us field position .. with our backline and good field position we should pile on points and win ..

Ball Handling
Defence
No dumb penalty’s / 6 again
Smart kicking game

Hope we’ve finally gotten rid of all our serial momentum killers ..

 

[Hound Dog]

It's mentioned we have a "smaller" pack, I purposely missed the hookers and 1 of the "lighter" bench players out of 4, Morrin's weight isn't available online. I realise the weights aren't live, up to date but it's a good enough reference.

Reagan Campbell-Gillard 115
Junior Paulo 123
Shaun Lane 110
Bryce Cartwright 107
J'maine Hopgood 102
Ryan Matterson 107
Joe Ofahengaue 113
Kelma Tuilagi 108
Total KG 885

Max King 105
Poasa Faamausili 108
Viliame Kikau 116
Jacob Preston 100
Jaeman Salmon 96
Samuel Hughes 111
Josh Curran 104
Kurt Mann 88
Total KG 828

Parra is lugging around an extra 57kg, 7.125kg per player, take that as you like, for better or worse. Some of their players are good at breaking tackles, or offloads through their height like Lane, physique (Paulo), or just plain footy skills like Hopgood. We just need a solid Defence and play smart strong footy.