Thought we might not be all that good today but pleasantly surprised. Good confidence boost going into rd 1 which you’d expect to be a tougher assignment.
@snake no problem like Api both could have played issue is not great depth at 7 more likely
Pretty much as best as you could have hoped for in a trial (is Ken injured?)
thought simpkins was great at 9, and I loved the rotation of klemmer, Stephano and pole. Blore was fantastic. It was very noticeable the change in the intensity of the first impact in defence and our goal line/scramble defence was the best it’s been since Cleary.
wakeham was serviceable but hopefully we don’t need to use him much during the season. Laurie has improved, particularly around the ruck but still lacks the size in my view to be a starting 1. It seems like ken will struggle to keep Tupou out of the team and with the centres I probably had kepaoa ahead of talau but I’m guessing sheens goes with talau. Staines looks very dangerous around the ball, he is a first grader but he is probably a winger more than a fullback (to be honest I’d be happy with Staines/tupou wing combination).
douhie a little clunky early on but I would put that down to brooks and api not playing. Papi did lots of work but we didn’t use him much in attack (also assume because brooks didn’t play).
overall we don’t look like bottom 4 this year. I would say dolphin, dragon, knights look the weakest and I’d put us in the mix of bulldogs, titans, warriors, raiders to fight it out for the 8th spot. That we haven’t played with our best 7 and 9 makes me hopeful that we are towards the top of that group
@tigertownsfs Very good summary mate. We still need our halves to straighten the attack a bit more, but some good signs today. Nice to see the backs get some early ball.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
Junior was very good today on the wing, must be one of the wingers for round 1..good team effort after a bit of a clunky start..it just seemed to me they were hitting hard in defense and working for each other, which i have not seen in many of a year.. yes it was only a trial but the attitude was first class and thats what im ressed me the most today..onwards and u wards for the tigers in 23!!!
That was exactly what I wanted to see. Our defence looked rock solid all game regardless of personell. Douiehi, TT & Nofa even looked good in defence. Massive turn around by TT, he looked good. So mauch massive depth in our pack with Joffa to come back and Kids like Pole, Matamua, James looking good.
Ive been very worried about Wakeham, but he did a job and plugged into the system. hopefully we dont need him. Will Smith looked like he could do a job for us as well. Staines looked keen, strong and fast, just need to ban him from kicking. Laurie looked good.
Klemmer a ball playing forward? Im on board. AD looked good after a very poor start. Lots of our kids look much improved.
Also good to see that the talk about skills in attack is not just talk, havent seen more or better offloading and passing for 5 years.
Very happy. At least we can be competitive.
Some good signs today.
You could see how we were trying to play early, but we couldn't execute it. The execution slowly improved, and should significantly improve with Brooks and Api. We did things a little slow, but Brooks and Api will speed that up.
Doueihi is an incredible runner of the football, but may lack the finesse to play this style as a 6. He could be great as a 1 in this environment if Moses comes.
Blore is a beast. If he stays injury free he will be rated ahead of Isaiah by seasons end.
My man James impressed again.
Main concern was line speed. First set of 6 was very alarming. We need to control opposition go forward better.
Hey guys
every player gets a beer and burger, only a trial but a lot of positives
For me - young hooker Simpkin, I thought he was very good , puts on a bench jersey Rd 1. Starting to fill into his body too.
junior toupou- starting wing - leave him there he’s just going to get better.
talau - good to see him get amongst centre. He beats kepoa . Naden the other centre.
blore - ran hard and was a handful
ad - great game.
ice - he will find his way
young James off the bench . He was very impressive , leg drive and leg speed was excellent , matamua was good too.
positive ball skills and discipline very good.
big klemmer - like to see him charge at the line, he’s the mongrel. Stef should be the other stating front rower in Rd 1.
Hey guys
every player gets a beer and burger, only a trial but a lot of positives
For me - young hooker Simpkin, I thought he was very good , puts on a bench jersey Rd 1. Starting to fill into his body too.
junior toupou- starting wing - leave him there he’s just going to get better.
talau - good to see him get amongst centre. He beats kepoa . Naden the other centre.
blore - ran hard and was a handful
ad - great game.
ice - he will find his way
young James off the bench . He was very impressive , leg drive and leg speed was excellent , matamua was good too.
positive ball skills and discipline very good.
big klemmer - like to see him charge at the line, he’s the mongrel. Stef should be the other stating front rower in Rd 1.
Agree with all of that.
In memory of Geoff Chisholm (1965-2022)
Two other random thoughts. Blore looked good in first game back.
I would love to know madges real thoughts watching that.
Great moment with about 5 to go. We pick up a raiders attacker, hold him up and drag him back into the ingoal. Game all but over, very hot, meaningless game - and we produced that effort play. Nice
I've always like Tupou - you could see there was something there from his first few games.
He looks more than ready to take the next step and play regular FG.
Might just be the amount of time since I've seen him play, but he looks to have filled out a lot too.
Plenty to be positive about. One thing, only a small thing, a one percenter I guess that caught my attention was in the 2nd half the Raiders we’re aiming up in defence trying to put us under pressure near our goal line. We made only 20 metres by 5th tackle then kicked. ADs came up with a good kick and we had Raiders in their half, they then came up with an error. What I liked was that despite being put under pressure we didn’t do anything silly, just stayed composed and got a good kick in. It’s that composure I like.
