#13 Lock

Winston Churchill said:
Johnny Raper hands down the best lock Ive seen play the game, modern or old school.

Its like Bradman vs Tendulkar, both amazing and at the top of their art for their era, but there's only 1 Bradman.
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I agree about Raper.

He was a complete footballer. Not only the best defensive player I have seen, with an elusive running game, he had a good passing game as well.

He was once selected to play 5/8 for Australia.

He would be the perfect #13 in the modern game.
 
Snidest 0 said:
He is evidently a smaller frame/height than Taumalolo - but if you are seriously asking if he has any footwork at the line you must have NEVER watched him play???

Fast twitch muscles & extremely light on his feet with excellent footwork for someone with his muscle mass!

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At 182cm and 105kg, Pole could become an excellent centre. He's got the footwork, his hands are safe and he tackles well. He doesn't have the speed but he has a low centre of gravity so he'd easily roll through a lot of the current NRL back rowers. Steve Matai comes to mind.
 
I may be in the minority but I think Seyfarth could be our dark horse 13 and a strategic re-signing.

While not as effective as Pole as a metre eater, I was really impressed with his ball distribution and straightening of our attack. His ability to pass at the line was better than other forwards.

Given we have a new halves combination - and I think both Bud and Latu are both “eyes up” players (Sezer is more structured), Seyfarth may well provide the room and time for them to play their natural games.
 
Tigerwould said:
Pole will be in the 17. If we had a genuine 70-80 min lock then Pole would be a prop. Unfortunately we don’t have a standout genuine lock in the ilk of Murray or Yeo so we need to adapt with the best players we have.
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How many years have we signed Pole for ?
 
bbobb said:
I may be in the minority but I think Seyfarth could be our dark horse 13 and a strategic re-signing.

While not as effective as Pole as a metre eater, I was really impressed with his ball distribution and straightening of our attack. His ability to pass at the line was better than other forwards.

Given we have a new halves combination - and I think both Bud and Latu are both “eyes up” players (Sezer is more structured), Seyfarth may well provide the room and time for them to play their natural games.
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Yeah it depends what sort of footy we are going to play next year. If it will be loosely structured as is likely the case, Seyfarth fits the mould.
 
Tucker said:
Yeah it depends what sort of footy we are going to play next year. If it will be loosely structured as is likely the case, Seyfarth fits the mould.
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That's such a big thing (ie the type of football we play) going forward into the first season as Benji as coach.
I'm not so sure "loosely structured" - I'd think with Sezer at half, we're going to more structured than ever.
Simple style, kick for the corners, tackle, and play what's in front of us, with a sprinkling of flair till the confidence comes.
 
tiger_one said:
That's such a big thing (ie the type of football we play) going forward into the first season as Benji as coach.
I'm not so sure "loosely structured" - I'd think with Sezer at half, we're going to more structured than ever.
Simple style, kick for the corners, tackle, and play what's in front of us, with a sprinkling of flair till the confidence comes.
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Do you think Benji will coach them to be structured?
 
Tucker said:
Do you think Benji will coach them to be structured?
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I'd say "simple" getting the basics and going from there.
I actually expect he's more conservative than you'd think, based on NOT his amazing individual playing style, but more importantly influenced by his latter coaching time with Wayne Bennett.
 
tiger_one said:
I'd say "simple" getting the basics and going from there.
I actually expect he's more conservative than you'd think, based on NOT his amazing individual playing style, but more importantly influenced by his latter coaching time with Wayne Bennett.
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I’ll bet you a tenner that someone throws a cutout pass within our first two sets for no reason….
 
tiger_one said:
That's such a big thing (ie the type of football we play) going forward into the first season as Benji as coach.
I'm not so sure "loosely structured" - I'd think with Sezer at half, we're going to more structured than ever.
Simple style, kick for the corners, tackle, and play what's in front of us, with a sprinkling of flair till the confidence comes.
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I think you’re right. Given our pack and how it performed in ‘23 (it was better than our ladder position), I can see us playing a yardage/percentage game for the most part. Strong middles and kicking game via Sezer who will guide us around. I suspect we will look to take advantage of his short kicking game close to the line. Not many long range tries as we don’t have the backline at this point.
 
Halbrowne61 said:
Yes, coz invariably novice coaches do it by the book, it’s called fear of failure. Then, over time, they loosen the shackles.
Imo Benji will be coaching to stay in the fight and lose as little as possible.
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Maybe.
I won’t be surprised to see the opposite though. Possibly a leaf out of the Walker brothers from a couple of years ago…Control possession, yet continually probe through ball movement.
 
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