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

[Dyldog]

Didn’t Eels finish 10th last season ?

Can anyone tell me how they’ve improved that roster ?

They’re ripe for the taking, I believe we can knock em off, make an early statement, and come away with a decisive win ..

Dylan Brown missing all those games hurt them. I reckon we kick early in the tackle count turning their big boys around, the new downtown rule will hopefully work against their big boys as well but I expect their quality halves to do a job on us.

 

[Chrisaaar]

Hearing gutherson speak reminded me how much I hate the eels and the NRL in general. The whinging that he and that bitch Moses will be hurling at the ref again makes me want to hurl at how pathetic this game has become

 

[Stinger]

Didn’t realise Jacob Preston spoke so well.

Future captain

 

[Kempsey Dog]

Hopgood obviously a gun and will improve having another year under his belt. But it was noticeable that for all his hard work in big minute stints, he was prone to making some rare defensive errors that lead to tries due to fatigue. I don't know how our pack does it but we need to fatigue him somehow. Few inside balls getting Parra big boys moving is a must.

 

[Moey]

I went to buy tix to the Eels game.. they seriously want 180 bux for a fam ticket.. are they serious..
Is that normal pricing, i have never been to the Eels stadium since it reopened

 

[speedy2460]

Hopgood is the player we need to contain. He opens up a lot of options.

 

[Cook]

Didn’t Eels finish 10th last season ?

Can anyone tell me how they’ve improved that roster ?

They’re ripe for the taking, I believe we can knock em off, make an early statement, and come away with a decisive win ..

As much as I hate the Gronk’s, there stars were either injured or suspended majority of year. I think there halves are now getting to there ideal age experience bracket. Yet there forwards are starting to age.

 

[Cook]

Hopgood is the player we need to contain. He opens up a lot of options.

Matterson always plays well against us also

 

[dawso047]

This spine is a big concern . CC trying to compensate for the lack of a general in the halves by playing Taffe at fullback and Salmon at lock, both ball players but not elite ones. I would concentrate more on power and go forward. Crighton to full back. Xerri to centre. Salmon to 14, Mann drops out. Curran should be starting at lock but because of injuries he needs to play prop. Edwards to 13, bench of Salmon, Morrin, Curran and Hughes. Sexton is also twice the halve back that Hutchinson is.

 

[Menteek]

This spine is a big concern . CC trying to compensate for the lack of a general in the halves by playing Taffe at fullback and Salmon at lock, both ball players but not elite ones. I would concentrate more on power and go forward. Crighton to full back. Xerri to centre. Salmon to 14, Mann drops out. Curran should be starting at lock but because of injuries he needs to play prop. Edwards to 13, bench of Salmon, Morrin, Curran and Hughes. Sexton is also twice the halve back that Hutchinson is.

don’t think sexton is twice. Maybe the reason he was selected was because he can communicate the team around and lead. It’s not always about just their individual brilliance. I’m confident they will all want to start strong and losing heavily on game 1 could be a disaster start for CC and co. I’m trusting the process and I get a feeling we are going to play an outback game to tire out their backline.

 

[UmoGus]

I went to buy tix to the Eels game.. they seriously want 180 bux for a fam ticket.. are they serious..
Is that normal pricing, i have never been to the Eels stadium since it reopened

Yeah it's a fucking rip. Spent $300 on 4 tickets.

 

[D.O.W.]

Who's marking up against Morgan Harper ? Hopefully Xerri is a late inclusion and Kiraz gets pushed to the wing.

I can see Xerri coming in late for Kiraz…. I’d say Ciro wants to shelter Xerri from the media attention

 

[SexBomb]

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.

Replace Mann with Kautoga and we add 21kg to our pack alone.
That results in a 4.5kg per player difference.

 

[KLil]

Morrin and Mann being on the bench is concerning. Should only have been one of them and another big body (Kautoga)

Both good for leg speed around big boys and can poke their heads through the line for decent ruck speed. Test will come in defence..

 

[Doggfather]

We've got a small pack and need to move the big forwards around of opposing teams. Need to fatigue the big players, we have plenty of strike to score in 2024.

I think Hutchinson will go well, he is a bigger player than Sexton and we desperately need a good defensive start in 2024.

I'm also excited for our Cup team, depth is much better this year.

 

[dekepefc]

Replace Mann with Kautoga and we add 21kg to our pack alone.
That results in a 4.5kg per player difference.

Would have been a better option I reckon

 

[Alan79]

Didn’t Eels finish 10th last season ?

Can anyone tell me how they’ve improved that roster ?

They’re ripe for the taking, I believe we can knock em off, make an early statement, and come away with a decisive win ..

I agree that they're beatable. I don't think much of their backline compared to ours. But their pack has size and experience. If they win it'll be because they restrict our ball movement and tire us with defence. If we win it'll probably be due to keeping the backs involved and by keeping their forwards on the back foot.

I hope the game plan Taylor and Ciraldo have developed involves a lot of making their big forwards chase a lot of kicks. Ball play before the line so they can't just pile on in numbers. And I'd love for our speedsters to have free licence to follow the forwards looking for offloads when we're on tackles 2-3.

Our props will do better if they aren't one dimensional. If we've regularly got a running threat on either side of the forward taking a hitup, it just makes the defence hold back numbers a bit IMO and that'll go a long way to nullifying any disadvantage we have with a lighter pack. Ideally being able to replicate the hot potato football we played for a year under Hasler to some extent would make us dangerous. Double edged sword though as it can result in more errors.

The exciting thing right now is the unknown. We can only hope that the players are up for round 1 with a game plan and the positive attitude to get it done. Sadly I'll either have to listen to it on the radio at work or try to catch a replay.

 

[Benno Bulldog]

don’t think sexton is twice. Maybe the reason he was selected was because he can communicate the team around and lead. It’s not always about just their individual brilliance. I’m confident they will all want to start strong and losing heavily on game 1 could be a disaster start for CC and co. I’m trusting the process and I get a feeling we are going to play an outback game to tire out their backline.

Think u nailed it Hutch can receive instruction Sexton plays off the cuff we need a team that can follow a plan..,to be coachable over bits of individual pieces play….

 

[djdeep4172]

Anyone else surpised jake averilo didn’t crack the Doliphins squad?
Hopefully he comes back home to the doggies one day.

 

[CMP]

I can see Xerri coming in late for Kiraz…. I’d say Ciro wants to shelter Xerri from the media attention

He gets more media attention by not being picked.

I really hope we put it together on Saturday and start the season well. Some of CC’s selections for me are a concern. He seems to make the same sort of selection errors over and over and doesn’t learn from the mistakes.

He is loyal to his players to a fault is how I see it looking in from the outside. He seems to pick the dedicated hard working player on the training paddock over a player that will be better on game day.

Xerri should be at Centre with Kiraz on the wing.

Sexton should be the 7. If for nothing more than the right foot kicking option.

Need someone bigger than Morrin on the bench.