so you don’t think those players coming in are going to help with all your concerns about structure and set ups . I’m pretty sure Benji does have a plan why show your hand in a trial. And he will last the season Richo knows how to do his job and getting rid of a coach mid season is not itWe have api, turuva,luai,bula,olam all to come into the side we put on 30 points and your surprised that supporters are optimistic. I can only imagine your thoughts had they lostI’m a bit surprised by the optimism after last night. We had some good individual contributions but I didn’t see much evidence that we have a game plan to win except to pass it around. Hopefully it is just misdirection ahead of round 1 but the only thing that looked good to me was Hunt quick play the ball to get defended backpedaling. We were also quite lucky that the eels made a lot of errors in their attacking 20. This was not a performance that would win an NRL game
sure but eels didn’t have Moses, brown, Paulo, lane, joffa so there was plenty missing on both sides. For me it’s less the cattle and more the system that was glaringly missing. In 2023 we had no trouble marching down the field but it was our inability to throw any shape or structure in the redzone that blew up our season. Even last night there seemed to be no thought behind where we wanted to be on the field to setup for tackle 3,4,5. It was just more settler hit ups or trying to barge over. We have the players now, Richo has done his job. Benji needs to prove he has a plan or he won’t last the season.
I doubt they’d upgrade him to a top 30 contract now but it mightn’t be such a bad move all things considered especially if another spot was opened up.@russtutty63 yes cant play till after round 11
My one word is fragile.
Whilst some individuals looked good and we got the win, I think it would be a different story if we had some real pressure applied.
so you don’t think those players coming in are going to help with all your concerns about structure and set ups . I’m pretty sure Benji does have a plan why show your hand in a trial. And he will last the season Richo knows how to do his job and getting rid of a coach mid season is not itWe have api, turuva,luai,bula,olam all to come into the side we put on 30 points and your surprised that supporters are optimistic. I can only imagine your thoughts had they lostI’m a bit surprised by the optimism after last night. We had some good individual contributions but I didn’t see much evidence that we have a game plan to win except to pass it around. Hopefully it is just misdirection ahead of round 1 but the only thing that looked good to me was Hunt quick play the ball to get defended backpedaling. We were also quite lucky that the eels made a lot of errors in their attacking 20. This was not a performance that would win an NRL game
sure but eels didn’t have Moses, brown, Paulo, lane, joffa so there was plenty missing on both sides. For me it’s less the cattle and more the system that was glaringly missing. In 2023 we had no trouble marching down the field but it was our inability to throw any shape or structure in the redzone that blew up our season. Even last night there seemed to be no thought behind where we wanted to be on the field to setup for tackle 3,4,5. It was just more settler hit ups or trying to barge over. We have the players now, Richo has done his job. Benji needs to prove he has a plan or he won’t last the season.
what gives me some hope that there is a plan is that Bird was insisting post match he wanted to play lock. If he is lock and we haven’t seen that in the pre season it hints that our true structure is still yet to be seen.
@russtutty63 It will be interesting watching the halves .. Luai plays what he sees and also moves across the ground as Galvin does , I do not think structure is in the play list .
A good trial and plenty of positive and we still have Api, Luai, Turuva and Bula to come back in.
I think Api & Luai will bring more structure but it does look like we’ll be letting Lachie play a great deal of eyes up footy which isn’t such a bad thing as he’ll learn to choose his moments better as he plays more with Luai anyway. It’s unlikely we’re going to be a great defensive team so if we can be a better attacking team and improve our defence just a little we’ll move up the ladder.@russtutty63 It will be interesting watching the halves .. Luai plays what he sees and also moves across the ground as Galvin does , I do not think structure is in the play list .
I think Api & Luai will bring more structure but it does look like we’ll be letting Lachie play a great deal of eyes up footy which isn’t such a bad thing as he’ll learn to choose his moments better as he plays more with Luai anyway. It’s unlikely we’re going to be a great defensive team so if we can be a better attacking team and improve our defence just a little we’ll move up the ladder.@russtutty63 It will be interesting watching the halves .. Luai plays what he sees and also moves across the ground as Galvin does , I do not think structure is in the play list .
I don't know, we didn't really throw any shape at the opposition in the red zone during the trials, for me that comes down to gameplan and not missing players.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
Perhaps but best to wait and assess after the first choice spine has played 4 or 5 games before we get stuck into Benji.I think Api & Luai will bring more structure but it does look like we’ll be letting Lachie play a great deal of eyes up footy which isn’t such a bad thing as he’ll learn to choose his moments better as he plays more with Luai anyway. It’s unlikely we’re going to be a great defensive team so if we can be a better attacking team and improve our defence just a little we’ll move up the ladder.@russtutty63 It will be interesting watching the halves .. Luai plays what he sees and also moves across the ground as Galvin does , I do not think structure is in the play list .
I don't know, we didn't really throw any shape at the opposition in the red zone during the trials, for me that comes down to gameplan and not missing players.
Perhaps but best to wait and assess after the first choice spine has played 4 or 5 games before we get stuck into Benji.I think Api & Luai will bring more structure but it does look like we’ll be letting Lachie play a great deal of eyes up footy which isn’t such a bad thing as he’ll learn to choose his moments better as he plays more with Luai anyway. It’s unlikely we’re going to be a great defensive team so if we can be a better attacking team and improve our defence just a little we’ll move up the ladder.@russtutty63 It will be interesting watching the halves .. Luai plays what he sees and also moves across the ground as Galvin does , I do not think structure is in the play list .
I don't know, we didn't really throw any shape at the opposition in the red zone during the trials, for me that comes down to gameplan and not missing players.
I don't think anyone is getting stuck in to Benji, just discussing what we saw on Friday night.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
TDS defensively has not been good on the first to troal games and his service from dummy half just ok.
would go with
Round 1
9. TDS
14. Latu Fainu
Round 2
9.Api
14. Latu Fainu
TDS 9 for magpies more time to develop him game
TDS defensively has not been good on the first to troal games and his service from dummy half just ok.
would go with
Round 1
9. TDS
14. Latu Fainu
Round 2
9.Api
14. Latu Fainu
TDS 9 for magpies more time to develop him game
my personal preference is for Latu to spend his him developing at 7 rather than warming the bench and playing out of position. I think if you can get hope into the top 30 he is best positioned to cover 20min of Api
TDS defensively has not been good on the first to troal games and his service from dummy half just ok.
would go with
Round 1
9. TDS
14. Latu Fainu
Round 2
9.Api
14. Latu Fainu
TDS 9 for magpies more time to develop him game
my personal preference is for Latu to spend his him developing at 7 rather than warming the bench and playing out of position. I think if you can get hope into the top 30 he is best positioned to cover 20min of Api
I wouldn't be upgrading Hope to a top 30 spot at this point.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
Agree that we didn't show Parra much shape, and maybe that is because we play them twice in the early rounds, and 3/4 of our starting spine didn't play. At least I hope that's the case!
A couple of downsides;
Parra ran at us harder with more conviction.
Parra defended with more intent than we did.
Parra helped us out by dropping the ball on a couple of likely try-scoring crash plays.
A few upsides:
New recruits played well.
Good games from a few of our regular firsts.
Big hits by Skeleton and Sione, something we've badly lacked!
AD's goal kicking.
Overall there were more upsides than downsides, so that's my one word: Upsides.
