Won’t look good if this game is lost. Playing against 12 for an hour
TDS really impressive again. Well ahead of Simpkin imo, but for his development, kinda want him to get solid time in NSW cup rather than 20 mins off the bench in FG every week.
@tiger5150 left centre guy has a future… sorry don’t know his name, but he runs with purpose. A lot of this squad don’t!
Top 8 2023
pretty ordinary performance today against 12 men, the fan whipping boys are gone and we were pretty damn ordinary in attack.
Bottom 4 team at this stage based on that performance
First 20-30 was pretty solid. Since then been very poor. We look very tired compared to the Warriors, and we've had a man advantage for most of it.
Both teams very understrength, but not great either way.
Its literally kids out there, SG Ball and Flegg. They will be better for the run.
Yeah I get that, but I expected a little more, given they were up against kids for the most part - and only 12 of them.
Better for the run as you say, and there's been a few impressive performers among them.
Hope the fan boys give it a rest as these young fellas are a MILE off if ever !
@tiger5150 left centre guy has a future… sorry don’t know his name, but he runs with purpose. A lot of this squad don’t!
Faataape. The vast majority of the team playing the second half are Flegg kids. Yes they were against 12 but happy they held them out.
Was happy with the changes I saw in the first 30. better shape, better timing, better kicking game from Sezer. Happy with the hit out and IMO a lot of positives.
Based on the first 20 mins with our main team on I thought we looked good.
Much better shape and structure and we looked controlled when on attack especially in the opposition 20.
Lots of positives and some good performances from a few of the young blokes.
I’m happy with that as a first hit out.
@jedi-tiger correct bottom 4 … what was Simpkin doing in the halves. Doesn’t show much there also tbbh
Decent hit out. I like the structure they were playing with in the first period. Some things to work on but some promising signs.
We obviously looked pretty good with sezer at 7 and Sullivan being left to do his thing. Less good when Sullivan was by himself in the halves.
think tupou shouldn’t make the starting team. Lobb an interesting option given his size and goal kicking. Staines also looks very small and gets dominated too easily.
sam Fainu still not close to the finished product but he looks a better than average prospect.
faatape looks a good option in the centres, probably doesn’t displace Starford but justified his position in the squad (particularly relative to Feledy who is miles away from 1st grade quality at this point).
papalli looked a lot better than last year which is critical to our red zone attack.
defendce system looked solid.
lock still a problem
overall happy with the result given we only really played 20min with a close to full strength squad.
We’ll be debating that number 14 position for round two on the next edition of the pod. Personally, I don’t think it can be Simpkin as he just doesn’t offer any real offensive threat. DaSilva is class, but still a bit raw imo.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
Also I can see why Seyfarth got the starting spot at lock. Lots of involvement in both attack and defence and he bent and broke the line with some good runs.
Sullivan definitely looked better with Seizer on the field and I think he is definitely not an organising half at this stage.
Will be interesting to see what Sullivan and Fainu do if the get a run together in the second half next week.
Our first 20min squad played more positive footy than we saw for most of 2023. Sezer looks like he is a very good addition for us. Bud showed some flair and Ice looked way more comfortable and effective that all of last year.
We still have some more experienced regulars to add to that squad so reason to be cautiously positive.
Warriors kids were much better than ours so depth could prove an issue if injuries strike.