Squad Depth for Season 2023

Just on our centres….
Last year we had 8 guys play in that position:
To’a 14 matches
Kepaoa 8
Garner 7
Gildart 7
Roberts 6
Naden 3
Peachey 2
Doueihi 1

Of that group, we have let Garner, Gildart, Roberts and Peachey go. They played a combined 22 matches between them out of 48. They have not been replaced.
Our backups in this position are going to see a bit of game time this year.
 
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gregjm87 said:
The forward depth is most worrying to me. It is the forwards who are most frequently injured and suspended. It is not a matter of if, but when the depth will be required there. Outside of Seyfarth, whom himself is limited as a player, there is maybe 10 games of experience between the lot of them. From what we saw of them last season none of the young forwards are ready for first grade. We may be able to get away with one of them playing a role in a game if they have developed over the off season. But, once we have 2 or 3 of the front liners out i think opposition packs will run over the top of us.
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So you're saying that if half our starting forwards are injured, we don't have enough first grade standard replacements ?
 
Go_You_Good_Things said:
So you're saying that if half our starting forwards are injured, we don't have enough first grade standard replacements ?
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He is right…in the pigs we let 10 players who were playing regular first grade go in the past year and replaced them with 4 regular first graders and upgraded 5 others with very little experience. Now the 4 we brought in are all higher quality, but a lot of experience has left the building over the whole forwards group.
 
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Go_You_Good_Things said:
So you're saying that if half our starting forwards are injured, we don't have enough first grade standard replacements ?
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Pretty much. But i dont think 2-3 forwards missing from our best pack would be unexpected. In fact i would suggest it would be more common than not from about rd 6 onwards. Particularly given the injury history of Blore, Utoikamanu, Twal and Bateman.
And by top line, i include the bench of our best 17 not just the starting players. So 2-3 missing wouldnt quite be half.
 
Tucker said:
He is right…in the pigs we let 10 players who were playing regular first grade go in the past year and replaced them with 4 regular first graders and upgraded 5 others with very little experience. Now the 4 we brought in are all higher quality, but a lot of experience has left the building over the whole forwards group.
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Yeah, small steps Tucker.
A rebuild takes a lot of time and many steps to complete the process.
We've scored an A+ so far . . . but a lot more steps to go yet.
I'm happy that we've got it right so far. Depth, etc will come.
 
Tucker said:
He is right…in the pigs we let 10 players who were playing regular first grade go in the past year and replaced them with 4 regular first graders and upgraded 5 others with very little experience. Now the 4 we brought in are all higher quality, but a lot of experience has left the building over the whole forwards group.
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Great thread Tuck.
I think Garner added a lot of depth by playing both forwards and centres. Remember the game last year when noone could catch him to score.
I would feel a little more comfortable with our rebuild if we had retained him. The others that we released..mere.
The strategy from sheens, by showing his hand when asked what type of coach he wants and he said a pathways developing type of coach. This indicates he wants to use our cap on quality players and hope youngens come through and we pay for cheapies.
We still have some who have cut their teeth like Rua and Tupou but are still developing. I just hope we get through this year injury free and we unearth some stars in 2024-5.
Also look at young players like Josh Feledy and James Roumanos who might get a run sooner than later.
 
Tucker said:
This isn’t a club bashing thread and by no means designed to teach them to suck eggs…
More of an informative way of detailing our stocks. @KingRobbie and @Buttface have suggested changes already, feel free to add to that.
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The posts re- weaknesses , i agreed with. I was only pointing out that the club is aware of them, and would be working to fix these positions. Sheens said 2025 is the target, and probably worried about signing more duds as we have done previously, what i call panic buys. There is not much around at the moment and quality halves are being chased by 2 or 3 clubs. The fact that we chased a player worth a mill or more proves this. With Brooks, AD, Laurie, and Stains,we have well over 2 mil $ if we do not extend , plus others. And we still have the unspent dollars used to tempt Moses.
So at a rough guess we could have at least 3 mil to buy players for next year, if they don't perform.
I think that puts us in a great position going forward, this year is just baby steps.
 
Maybe if Noddy had given blokes like Tumeth and Kautoga some minutes in games near the end that didn't matter they would be more ready for this season.But all they could think of was not getting the spoon.Whats the difference in coming last or second last.Brisbane ran last 2 years ago and nobody talks about it
 
Cobarcats said:
Great thread Tuck.
I think Garner added a lot of depth by playing both forwards and centres. Remember the game last year when noone could catch him to score.
I would feel a little more comfortable with our rebuild if we had retained him. The others that we released..mere.
The strategy from sheens, by showing his hand when asked what type of coach he wants and he said a pathways developing type of coach. This indicates he wants to use our cap on quality players and hope youngens come through and we pay for cheapies.
We still have some who have cut their teeth like Rua and Tupou but are still developing. I just hope we get through this year injury free and we unearth some stars in 2024-5.
Also look at young players like Josh Feledy and James Roumanos who might get a run sooner than later.
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I liked Garner, he was a classy player in a bad side, i rate him higher then Bateman. Time will tell.
There are so many unknowns this year , we just have to see who performs and who goes.
 
Tucker said:
I’ve seen a few comments recently surrounding our depth for the coming year.
Some state it’s stronger whilst others maintained it’s still weak.
Here’s the rundown. Please feel free to correct any mistakes and/or make comments.

PROP
Front liners Klemmer, Twal, Utoikamanu, Pole
Backups Fainu, Seyfarth, Simpkins, Saukuru, Ma’anaima

HOOKER
Front liners Koroisau, Simpkin
Backups Ngatikaura

SECOND ROWER
Front liners Papali’i, Bateman, Blore,
Backups Seyfarth, Kautoga, Mansfield, Tumeth,

LOCK
Front liners Ofahengaue
Backups Papali’i, Matamua, Ngatikaura

HALFBACK
Front liners Brooks
Backups Simpkin, Smith*

FIVE EIGHTH
Front liners Doueihi
Backups Laurie, Smith*

CENTRE
Front liners Naden, Talau
Backups Feledy, To’a, Tupou, Kepaoa, Reilly

WING
Front liners Nofoaluma, Maumalo
Backups Staines, Kepaoa, Tupou, To’a

FULLBACK
Front liners Laurie
Backups Staines

* Smith unavailable for first 3rd of the season

For mine, depth will kill us this year.
Our front row stocks look strong with a great starting 4 however there is a drop off that has to be dealt with afterwards.
Our hookers are strong and is our best position depthwise.
Our backrowers and lock are fine with plenty of talent and depth as long as we keep most players healthy.
Our halves depth is a huge concern. Very light on for options after the starters, who have big question marks over them to begin with.
Our centres are also a big concern. Hopefully it gets stronger as the year moves forward with Feledy and Tupou standing up.
Our wingers aren’t bad with plenty of options
Our fullback stocks are pretty low, mainly due to all, including Laurie being makeshift at NRL level. A few options, but nothing too exciting yet.

I still envision this year seeing certain players playing multiple roles, especially in the backs.
Any thoughts on this?
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great post mate
 
sleeve said:
I liked Garner, he was a classy player in a bad side, i rate him higher then Bateman. Time will tell.
There are so many unknowns this year , we just have to see who performs and who goes.
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nah. garner did well, has all the the attacking assets. skilful, runs great lines. lacks size, defence when tired. personally I like him, but if you rate Garner to ice and kikau to garner we win that one hands down

edited to say Bateman just wants to win, garner hasn't shown that so far.
 
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