My Thoughts On 2023 So Far...

Honkylips

Honkylips

Well-known member
Hi everyone
After a demoralising start to this year we are in a position now to consolidate and claw our way up to a position where I believed at the start of the year we would finish. Anywhere from 8th down to 12th. To our credit we have been competitive week in and week out.

I've been a Brooks basher for 5 years+ Whilst I have never questioned his effort, I have always questioned his ability. Even today I'm still not sold. If the Newcastle switch happened and we kept Hastings I would have been over the moon. Brooks has definitely improved (from a very low bar) and because of this and the current shortage of halves available we should re-sign him. I can't believe I just said that. Maximum 2 year offer. Hopefully his manager doesn't go stupid and demand overs. If so let him go.

Our forwards have been great this year led by Api. I wasn't really sold on his signing but I was wrong. Without him god knows where we would be. Stefano, Klemmer, Twal, Bateman have all shone. Pole & Ice are on the improve week by week. Our defence has been pretty good all season.

It's great to see Nofo back in first grade and weeks ago I thought he was gone forever. Bula has been the surprise packet of the year with Toa a close second. Tupou is also on the improve. We are slowly getting our attack sorted and the sooner it clicks the sooner we can really trouble some of the better sides.

I have no idea who the coach is at present and there are more people in that box than ever before. So I can't comment on this. All I can say is Sheens still $hits me in our weekly presser.

In summary I think this year could have got really ugly and we have saved some face. There were games we should have won but all teams can say the same. Let's hope we can continue our improvement and shoot for a definite top 8 finish in 2024. Maybe even this year if we go on a run.
 
Good thread.

Api/John/Klem are the no brainers, have all been equally impactful. Klem the forward leader the club has lacked for years. John the uncompromising edge that leads through actions and refuses to be beaten in contests. Api obvious. Wakeham is best value for $$.

Ice playing a different role to Parra but his level of overall performance, work rate, effort and buy in overlooked because he’s not creating/scoring.

Starford is the most improved player for mine. Thought Star was a good 18th man who could cover 1-5 at a decent level. Now think I wouldn’t waste money trying to upgrade right centre based on his output this year. Since being dropped, has returned with a much better attitude.

Jahream has surprised/impressed me the most, talent, more how easily he has taken to the NRL level.
 
In season 22, the squad faced a lot of adversity.
Many injuries, lost our coach mid season, poor roster, trading/releasing players during the season, management pretty much wrote the season off. It was a perfect storm that delivered a well overdue spoon.

In season 23, the squad was significantly strengthened.
We cut dead wood, hired Api, Klemmer, Papali’i, Bateman and Staines. Started under a new and more experienced coaching regime. Had a soft start.
During the year we have seen our pack dominate most other forward lineups, we’ve seen To’a and Tupou go up a level, unearthed a very exciting fullback, reinvigorated Nofoaluma, seen our halfback transform his game into a primarily running game, improved defence and discipline, kept close to our strongest lineup on the field most weeks…and we are sitting at 3 & 9. Equal second last on the table.

We are on track to have a similar year to last season and it’s equal parts frustrating and confusing.
 
Tucker said:
In season 22, the squad faced a lot of adversity.
Many injuries, lost our coach mid season, poor roster, trading/releasing players during the season, management pretty much wrote the season off. It was a perfect storm that delivered a well overdue spoon.

In season 23, the squad was significantly strengthened.
We cut dead wood, hired Api, Klemmer, Papali’i, Bateman and Staines. Started under a new and more experienced coaching regime. Had a soft start.
During the year we have seen our pack dominate most other forward lineups, we’ve seen To’a and Tupou go up a level, unearthed a very exciting fullback, reinvigorated Nofoaluma, seen our halfback transform his game into a primarily running game, improved defence and discipline, kept close to our strongest lineup on the field most weeks…and we are sitting at 3 & 9. Equal second last on the table.

We are on track to have a similar year to last season and it’s equal parts frustrating and confusing.
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This is why I think we might end up going on a little run towards the back end of the year.

We're a really tough side, I wasn't surprised Souths lost to Parra a couple weeks ago because we hammered them for 70 minutes the week before.

I think I tipped us to come somewhere between 10th-12th before the year and we probably would've finished there (or higher) if we played like we have the last five or six weeks for the entirety of the year.

Still 13 rounds to go though.
 
KingRobbie said:
This is why I think we might end up going on a little run towards the back end of the year.

We're a really tough side, I wasn't surprised Souths lost to Parra a couple weeks ago because we hammered them for 70 minutes the week before.

I think I tipped us to come somewhere between 10th-12th before the year and we probably would've finished there (or higher) if we played like we have the last five or six weeks for the entirety of the year.

Still 13 rounds to go though.
Click to expand...
Our side, if healthy, are good enough to play finals.
Our side is returning a multitude of stat domination and excellent numbers, commensurate with those who will play finals.
I picked us for 13th. This side is better than that, however winning 10 from their last 12 will be a tall order.
Missing the 8 will be a failure and when the season review is held, people are going to be shocked that we lost so many games this year based upon the numbers most guys are returning each week.
 
The team has barely any holes. Ideally we'd have a marquee half but we don't. Brooks and Wakeham though are good enough to get us to the 8 or higher. Ideally we'd have a lock forward who offers more in the middle. I think they can move Bateman there and pick someone else as an edge backrower. A quality left centre would be great as well. I think Naden can do the job and maybe even Talau although it sounds like he is gone. Those two need work though.

We had a terrible start to the season and I blame the coaching staff but at the same time they've put this team together. Brooks and Joe O shouldn't have been picked at the start of the season and Doueihi was played out of position and probably should have been dropped. The coaching staff have to get those decisions right. IP is not performing to the level that he can and we need more out of him. The coaching staff have to work this out.

I think we'll end up with more wins than last season and that is a massive positive. We've outperformed based on my expectations at the start of the season but the squad is better than what I thought it was.

A couple of good recruits, some luck with injuries and if the coaching staff can get the team playing well more consistently throughout the game and throughout the season we can move up the ladder.
 
Tiger_heart said:
My only worry is that we need to stay healthy. Lose any of the guys already mentioned and our lack of depth will become obvious. When Api came on , against Canberra, we started to look a lot better.
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Key injuries will hurt us more than most sides as our depth is so shallow.
 
2023

Defence - not bad
Attack - average
Effort - not bad
Stats - good
Top 8 - 50/50
Wooden spoon - don't think so
9th - big possibility 🤣
New recruits - great
Young bloods - good ( Bula great)
Coaches - getting there
Crowd - great
Refs - as usual always against us
Half year report card
B+
😁
 
Tiger_heart said:
My only worry is that we need to stay healthy. Lose any of the guys already mentioned and our lack of depth will become obvious. When Api came on , against Canberra, we started to look a lot better.
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I always think this is the wrong thinking.

We have Juniors, were not Easts or ... East! (I think almost every other club has a decent junior nursury).

There were a lot of players we cut, all of those players could have been "depth" signings. Instead, cut cut cut.

Leaving us with:
Bateman, Pole, Ice, Api, Stef and Klemmer.

If one of them gets injured. We still have a decent forward pack.

Last year we had a squad that wasn't first grade worthy. Any of them get injured?? who cares. Crap in -> crap out.

I'm glad we have decided to sign first rate and neglect the "depth". Any injuries I would be happy for any of our juniors to jump into our front line that we have this year!

Because it is far better then our second rate line we had last year.
 
crazycat said:
I always think this is the wrong thinking.

We have Juniors, were not Easts or ... East! (I think almost every other club has a decent junior nursury).

There were a lot of players we cut, all of those players could have been "depth" signings. Instead, cut cut cut.

Leaving us with:
Bateman, Pole, Ice, Api, Stef and Klemmer.

If one of them gets injured. We still have a decent forward pack.

Last year we had a squad that wasn't first grade worthy. Any of them get injured?? who cares. Crap in -> crap out.

I'm glad we have decided to sign first rate and neglect the "depth". Any injuries I would be happy for any of our juniors to jump into our front line that we have this year!

Because it is far better then our second rate line we had last year.
Click to expand...
Won exactly the same amount of games.
Don’t kid yourself, if we lose Api tomorrow night for the rest of the year, we will struggle to win another game. If we lose Klemmer or Bateman with him, we will get the spoon.
 
Massive game tomorrow night.
Despite a very ordinary first half, we should have won last week.
If we win tomorrow night I’d say the players become very confident they can win the majority of their remaining games .
If we lose tomorrow night I’d say a lot of self doubt creeps back in and we will be lucky to avoid a second straight wooden spoon.
 
Vicious said:
Massive game tomorrow night.
Despite a very ordinary first half, we should have won last week.
If we win tomorrow night I’d say the players become very confident they can win the majority of their remaining games .
If we lose tomorrow night I’d say a lot of self doubt creeps back in and we will be lucky to avoid a second straight wooden spoon.
Click to expand...


Yep 2moro is our GF
 
Whoa, hold up folks - from where we were at last season - turning this club around was always going to be a process. We all knew that it wasn’t going to happen in one season. Rebuilding our roster, bringing on our juniors, fixing our coaching team- are all medium to long term goals.
Before one game was even played this season I honestly thought that what we had achieved in the way of our squad clean out and recruitment was fantastic- well there is more work to do. We are short 3-4 quality NRL players still.
A plan was put into place and actioned by the club and it was going to take a few seasons to reap rewards. The hard part for us fans is to be patient, try to enjoy the journey and have faith that we are heading in the right direction.
 
Honkylips said:
Hi everyone
After a demoralising start to this year we are in a position now to consolidate and claw our way up to a position where I believed at the start of the year we would finish. Anywhere from 8th down to 12th. To our credit we have been competitive week in and week out.

I've been a Brooks basher for 5 years+ Whilst I have never questioned his effort, I have always questioned his ability. Even today I'm still not sold. If the Newcastle switch happened and we kept Hastings I would have been over the moon. Brooks has definitely improved (from a very low bar) and because of this and the current shortage of halves available we should re-sign him. I can't believe I just said that. Maximum 2 year offer. Hopefully his manager doesn't go stupid and demand overs. If so let him go.

Our forwards have been great this year led by Api. I wasn't really sold on his signing but I was wrong. Without him god knows where we would be. Stefano, Klemmer, Twal, Bateman have all shone. Pole & Ice are on the improve week by week. Our defence has been pretty good all season.

It's great to see Nofo back in first grade and weeks ago I thought he was gone forever. Bula has been the surprise packet of the year with Toa a close second. Tupou is also on the improve. We are slowly getting our attack sorted and the sooner it clicks the sooner we can really trouble some of the better sides.

I have no idea who the coach is at present and there are more people in that box than ever before. So I can't comment on this. All I can say is Sheens still $hits me in our weekly presser.

In summary I think this year could have got really ugly and we have saved some face. There were games we should have won but all teams can say the same. Let's hope we can continue our improvement and shoot for a definite top 8 finish in 2024. Maybe even this year if we go on a run.
Click to expand...
Great insight into bias and ignorance!

How would we be going with Hastings???

You want to see lack of BOTH effort and ability - your fave Nofa would not be back if Staines was fit - and hopefully will finally be gone at season end!!

Sheens is the coach DUMBO!!! I am glad he shits you - enjoy the wins!!
 
TigerSJ said:
Whoa, hold up folks - from where we were at last season - turning this club around was always going to be a process. We all knew that it wasn’t going to happen in one season. Rebuilding our roster, bringing on our juniors, fixing our coaching team- are all medium to long term goals.
Before one game was even played this season I honestly thought that what we had achieved in the way of our squad clean out and recruitment was fantastic- well there is more work to do. We are short 3-4 quality NRL players still.
A plan was put into place and actioned by the club and it was going to take a few seasons to reap rewards. The hard part for us fans is to be patient, try to enjoy the journey and have faith that we are heading in the right direction.
Click to expand...

With the team we have had this year we should not be 3-9 for the season,our performance this year is underwhelming at best
 
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