LIVE GAME 2023 Trial 1: Wests Tigers v Warriors

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Live Game Discussion
Thaiger said:
Have seen both over time and and agree Hill definitely deserves his chance - an excellent prospect & gets my nod of approval as a player. Went well on the LHS when he came on with limited opportunities. He will go well in Cup and has a big future in my opinion. He is also a great kid.

Scolari will bounce back and is a prolific try scorer. He has fire in the belly. He had not played since June 2021 after Covid and an ACL & only commenced preseason just before Christmas. Of course he will be rusty first game in nearly 2 years particularly with Tommy who was coming back from serious injury (also written off).

The hysterics on some posts here about a trial is quite amazing. All of a sudden, this player/kid will make it, this one won’t etc. Yes of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion and take on things. Players will have bad games and deserve to be called out. However, I doubt there is sufficient evidence just yet.

Defensive structures in the first game of the year from an opposing team that actually gets the ball to their wings will test any coming back from hefty layoffs. Both will admit and own their mistakes and work on them no doubt. You can practice as much as you like but you need game time which both have seriously lacked. Both can tackle, don’t worry about that.

Funnily enough, you can’t score tries if you can’t get the ball. Also starved, Tupou was sadly wasted and yet all of a sudden, players are labelled by some as slow and not up to standard. There is even rubbish on here that players have bulked up and not as fast anymore. I suggest people actually go out and have a look at these guys train before making rash statements (I am semi retired) - some are much quicker than you think and will show it if they get the opportunity.

Whoever plays Cup out wide, if Thursday night is anything to go by, and I doubt it, it’s going to be very lonely out there.

Hopefully the new found “throw it around” strategy will actually occur with actions, not just words.
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Great post Thaiger. Objective and fair as always.
 
Agree our attack and defence looked crap, but in the boy's defence (about game time) there's a vast difference of combined NRL experience between both teams.

Afoa (108), Kosi (11), Montoya (90), Te Maire Martin (64), Williame (46), Metcalf (7), Ale (7), Jackson Ford (12), Lussick (14).
Total: 359

Staines (39), Tupou (4), Talau (22), Kepaoa (21), Wakeham (25), Stefano (33), Seyfarth (33), Simpkin (9).
Total: 186
 
To put this game into some perspective

If you were having a punt on this game and you needed to win to put some dinner on the table ...you'd take Warriors 13 +

True ??

Then why are people freaking out so much ??

If we get lapped next week ...run around in circles and scream "the sky is falling ...the sky is falling "

I might even join you lol
 
Lauren said:
Agree our attack and defence looked crap, but in the boy's defence (about game time) there's a vast difference of combined NRL experience between both teams.

Afoa (108), Kosi (11), Montoya (90), Te Maire Martin (64), Williame (46), Metcalf (7), Ale (7), Jackson Ford (12), Lussick (14).
Total: 359

Staines (39), Tupou (4), Talau (22), Kepaoa (21), Wakeham (25), Stefano (33), Seyfarth (33), Simpkin (9).
Total: 186
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That is no excuse for looking completely lost in both aspects of the game.
 
I can’t understand why so many posters are rolling out excuses for our poor performance?
Have the player’s mothers infiltrated the forum? I mean that’s ok if they have, I don’t have a problem with that and I respect the unconditional love. But I have a strong sense that we haven’t moved our thinking to changes.
I realise we were going back to 2005 to right the wrongs etc etc. and all the bs which goes along with “but it’s only a trial and this is how WT plays in a trial”.
The only thing we achieved by taking the kids to NZ and pumping their tyres is that the top 17 are safe. I wonder if the coaches are happy with their progress?
 
happy_tiger said:
To put this game into some perspective

If you were having a punt on this game and you needed to win to put some dinner on the table ...you'd take Warriors 13 +

True ??

Then why are people freaking out so much ??

If we get lapped next week ...run around in circles and scream "the sky is falling ...the sky is falling "

I might even join you lol
Click to expand...
I can’t speak for everyone, but for mine, I don’t trust our coaching staff at all. Sheens should be playing golf and Benji should be cutting his teeth in the juniors.
This leads to being sceptical of what they will produce. Letting 9 tries in is a true indication of how we have seen defensive preparation this off season. It also shows that our top 30 is really only a top 20.
Long season ahead.
 
Lauren said:
Agree our attack and defence looked crap, but in the boy's defence (about game time) there's a vast difference of combined NRL experience between both teams.

Afoa (108), Kosi (11), Montoya (90), Te Maire Martin (64), Williame (46), Metcalf (7), Ale (7), Jackson Ford (12), Lussick (14).
Total: 359

Staines (39), Tupou (4), Talau (22), Kepaoa (21), Wakeham (25), Stefano (33), Seyfarth (33), Simpkin (9).
Total: 186
Click to expand...
Interestingly, the rookie with only 7 games starred for the warriors. Ran through our forwards up the middle without a pat on the back. 😂
 
twentyforty said:
I can’t understand why so many posters are rolling out excuses for our poor performance?
Click to expand...

I don't see it like this. I don't see a bunch of excuses. I see people stating it was basically a reserve grade team with a bunch of kids getting a run.

twentyforty said:
The only thing we achieved by taking the kids to NZ and pumping their tyres is that the top 17 are safe. I wonder if the coaches are happy with their progress?
Click to expand...

My take is that the coaches are only going to be happy when kids are killing it in first grade.
 
Earl said:
I don't see it like this. I don't see a bunch of excuses. I see people stating it was basically a reserve grade team with a bunch of kids getting a run.



My take is that the coaches are only going to be happy when kids are killing it in first grade.
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I meant, are the coaches pleased with their own progress. Does Benji have too much influence too soon. Is it his “man management style” that is not working?
There were about 18 players out there who didn’t look like they’d been to the training sessions?
I blame myself. 🤣When we missed out on Ciraldo, Sheens said we were now looking for a “development coach”. I posted here that if the club was now a “development club” why aren’t they developing their next coach. Sorry guys...Buzz must have seen the post 😫🤪
 
The scoreline wasn't good can’t argue with that. shit performances in professional sport is criticised and that was overall a shit performance. When you cop 40plus points it’s not good.

You could see a few were rusty, those I expected to, did play well, a few I saw no progress.

At times our defensive structure was non existent, we were outclassed/muscled out wide, which is a worry. A few breaks up the middle but I expect that will be tighter next week.

my real concern is halves depth and depth in general.

Want to see a better performance next week.
 
TCL said:
The scoreline wasn't good can’t argue with that. shit performances in professional sport is criticised and that was overall a shit performance. When you cop 40plus points it’s not good.

You could see a few were rusty, those I expected to, did play well, a few I saw no progress.

At times our defensive structure was non existent, we were outclassed/muscled out wide, which is a worry. A few breaks up the middle but I expect that will be tighter next week.

my real concern is halves depth and depth in general.

Want to see a better performance next week.
Click to expand...
My concern is NOT halves at all.
Defensive structure was Non existent, we totally agree. So why is the focus on Mitchell Moses?

Last year we had too many defensive holes to even work out where we needed to plug. Sheens knows he has new players playing together, Sheens should know that a Winger needs a centre who knows when to move in and when he can move out. We need a defensive line, Moses is ZERO help in this.

One thing Bellamy and Smith said of Slater, Slater apparently did a lot of work in the back line on defence and would help organise players who were out of place and identify gaps. We have Laurie who IMHO is a future of our club, yet at Fullback he isn't going to know what a defensive line should look like.

I truly hope Sheens and Co get their acts together. Loosing 48 points means we haven't been practising tackling or hodling a defensive line. These players haven't played much together and really need to have confidence in their partners, instead it seems were at Square 1.
 
Roar_Power said:
Completely agree KR, I think AJ will go ok this year.
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Our outside backs are very weak on paper.

Just have to hope a few improve off the back of a better forward pack.

From the possible Round 1 outside back starters that played on Thursday, Talau was dreadful and Kepaoa was very solid on both sides of the ball.
 
We were outclassed by a rookie coach.
Webster was impressive in his prematch presser. He spoke about putting into practice what they’ve been working on over the last 12 weeks. He was clear about his expectations.
On the field we looked lost, we also had a rookie coach with less experience than Andrew Webster.
M
 
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