LIVE GAME Trial 1 vs. Warriors

Live Game Discussion
weststigers said:
Faataape did well today.

Lobb looks good under the high ball. Not as sure of his ability to do the dirty hitups out of our end. Defensively looks sound. Would like to see him get time with proper players around him.

Fainu boys looked strong in both attack and defence. Some lack of discipline at times.

Halves looked pretty sharp. Good short kicking.

Mason looks a prospect.

Stef and Seyfarth looked strong. Particularly Stef.

Da Silva played big minutes in a lazy defensive unit and looked pretty gassed.

Simpkin. Meh...

Willett. Next...

Staines was quiet, but didn't have much opportunity. Bula pretty quiet too, but game plan seemed to be centred around the forwards.

Trials are hard...it's one of the most disruptive games to play because of all the changes. I'm not looking too much into the result, but there are clear standouts for NRL.
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Mate question do you think Mason is a fresh out of the gate young Connor Watson
 
king_sirro said:
It's his running style. David Peachey like. Looks like he is cruising when he is actually flat out.

Today his work rate was down, I'm confident that will rise. That didn't disappoint me, what did disappoint is that it looks like Benji hasn't included Bula in our backline sweeping movements. Did he chime in out the back once? I don't recall if he did.
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If he did then I missed it.
 
The only thing you want to achieve out of trial match is no serious injuries.

If it was round eight you would be worried but happy with two points, but being a trial you jump on the plane and start cranking up the ball work in the coming weeks in hope some combinations start gelling.

I guess it shows how far we need to progress to be a competitive team, but most teams are in the same boat at present. If I could signal out one area of concern it’s discipline,it’s been our downfall for so long
 
balmain boy said:
A pretty horrible performance once our first graders went off after 20. No one put their hand up. I still don't understand why we recruit so many undersized players. Outside of Lobb and Willett nearly all our youngsters are less than 6 foot. Backs and forwards, a whole bunch of tiny nuggets and they couldn't get anything to happen against a superior warriors side who definitely deserved to win
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I agree.
I think the recruiting brigade have seen the light or have been replaced?
Wests HM have some big, tall, lean players in their pack now! eg. Maddax Fui, Christian Moors, Henare Reti who will hopefully replace the nuggets.
 
I didn't mind the match. First 20 or so were solid - low errors, good ball movement and the halves kicked arguably better than the normal stuff Brooks offered up last year.

I appreciated that Benji put the younger players on for long minutes and left them there even when clearly fatigured. Yeah Warriors had 12 but Tigers looked more focused on defence and working the ball up than throwing it around. If Benji was serious about trying to kill the match off he would have put the starting halves and strike forwards back on after we scored to make it 18-6, but he didn't, he put more kids on.

Good way to use a trial IMO, when you already know your Top 15 or so players. God also knows how many big forwards Warriors kept rotating fresh onto the paddock - despite having 12 they always seemed full of running.

I agree with some of the points made about specific players, and others I had:-

- Lobb arguably more effective than Tupou. Not quite as much of an athlete but rangy and attacking under the high ball. Tupou is leaving, you might as well invest elsewhere

- Personally also pretty sick of watching Tupou go high into contact and allowing the defender to force the ball up to his shoulders - just a fumble waiting to happen

- I thought Stefano looked very mobile and strong

- Navren Willett looks a real athlete, just needs some more kg on his frame and time in the system.

- I think Samuela Fainu has capability of regularly playing on the bench. A bit one-dimensional but fundamentally strong and his hands look pretty safe.

- Pole came on later, I wonder if that means he's a little down the pecking-order now. Was decent but had a few hairy moments with some dodgy passes.

- Faataape was decent. Staines almost invisible. Casey looked alright and energetic, shame he got knocked cold so early.

- TDS clearly being played third-string after Simpkin; I must assume that continues into the regular season.

- Seyfarth OK, he'll do a job but I doubt he's got a lot of improvement in him.

- IP looked keen to get through his work. I hope he can get some better ball out of the halves.

- A lot of the other young lads were average to ordinary. I suppose they did a lot of defence and weren't too bad in that respect; didn't really get a lot of opportunity to throw the ball around or paly against a heavily fatigued Warriors team.

Not to forget - playing away against a vocal pro-Warriors crowd!
 
The game was like a doner kebab... Started out beautiful ended up a mess

I would disregard. The 2nd.half...that was 13 guys basically playing theirnown way

First hf we saw some structure,. I was pleased to see the halves work well, Papalii was good as was Seyfarth runnigh hard again.. Faataape the new center went OK seems to have potential

A wins a win.it.means.not. Much but better to go to work. With this positivity behind you... Thankfully no injuries I'm sure Casey will be OK. Commentators said he seems fine soon after the hit
 
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One interesting thing to me was that Stefano is playing tackle 1 prop and Klemmer 2nd hit up which is the opposite of last year. Expect a huge year from Stef in that role.

Thought Ipap looked great - interesting he was on the right - will Bateman play left outside Sezer ?

Very much liked what Seyfarth brought at lock although unlike most I was keen on this so mayby I am bias

Sezer and Sullivan looked good.

Impressed by Sione Fainu off the bench - will be a good 5th prop if injuries
 
I think most people got very similar feels for things after 1 trial.

Fullback is set- Bula is unchallenged. Mildly concerning that probably Mason is the back-up as he doesn't look ready. Staines I guess is the back-up.

Wingers for mine are up for grabs. Tupou is going to get more heat than he deserves because he is leaving. He has mistakes in him & that could cost him gametime. But he is far & away the best at making metres of the guys we saw today. Staines is a liability hitting the ball up on the dirty carries. He's slight, weak & gets dominated in every carry. I'm yet to see how his speed compensates for that. For mine- he's more in danger of losing his spot to Lobb. Lobb looks solid if unspectacular. Doesn't hurt to have a big guy jumping for kicks though. The Rugby guy could swoop & take the role of either Tupou or Staines right now. Willett is not ready. Not a knock- he's just a lower grade player until his body is right.

Centre is between To'a, Olam, Naden & then Doueihi when he's fit. Faataape might have played himself closer to this group today- he looks like he can add something to the team. Tupou & Alaimalo are probably in the mix if injury plays it's part. The other guys we saw shouldn't see the 1st grade field this season. There's quite a bit of depth, numbers-wise. But the team needs 2-3 guys to step up & own these spots.

Halves- Sezar is everything I hoped. He's not going to be flashy, but he's Hastings with a proper kicking game. He allows his halves partner to be more creative & individual. Which is where we saw Sullivan look his best. Once Sullivan had run of the team...he was Brooks level. I think Sezar-Sullivan can work. Latu Fainu will be interesting. We almost need him to be more Sezar-like in case we lose Sezar at any point. Galvin might not be as far away as I originally thought. Mason, Doueihi & Matai are quite clearly below the top 4 options. Galvin-Fainu might want to learn as much as possible from Sezar as I think Luai is more Sullivan-like. I think Sullivan struggles alongside Luai.

Forwards look close to set. Utoikamanu, Klemmer, Twal, Seyfarth, Pole, Papali'i & Bateman probably walk up if fit. The next bench spot or two & the role of back-up/fill-in is between Sam Fainu, Sione Fainu, Kepaoa with a gap to Porter, Lualili'i, Faagutu, Sukkar (looked better than I expected). Matamua, Tumeth have next game to push any claim they might have. But they'll probably all be playing for back-up roles at this point. Sam & Sione Fainu looked tough. While there might be a penalty or two in them, we have come across as whipping boys for too long. Lastly Lui-Toso could be a smokey. Very limited opportunity but seemed to run very hard when given the chance.

Hookers were interesting. Api is brilliant & with consistantly good forward play will have a great season. TDS is going to be a great attacking player. His ability to pick his time to attack is not trained but natural. He could very well become our best player going forward. Simpkin was interesting to me. Solid defender. Threw in a few kicks for good measure. Seemed to play 5/8 at times. If he can be versatile, if he can add some semi-decent running to his game, I don't think he's out of the running for #13. His defence alone allows him to compete. He's probably not a good enough dummy half to command a spot. But, as a Brandon Smith type player, he could be very useful to the club as we do not have an out-and-out #13 locked in as yet.
 
Bigscreentv said:
We had a buck of youngsters and guys that will never play first grade in second half.
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So why are they even on our books getting paid ? We can all see particular players that are just void of any skill, ability and potential to ever become an NRL player even after watching them in just one game ,,, Yet our club seems to continually have a plethora of these guys in our ranks year after year.
 
The Chad said:
I think most people got very similar feels for things after 1 trial.

Fullback is set- Bula is unchallenged. Mildly concerning that probably Mason is the back-up as he doesn't look ready. Staines I guess is the back-up.

Wingers for mine are up for grabs. Tupou is going to get more heat than he deserves because he is leaving. He has mistakes in him & that could cost him gametime. But he is far & away the best at making metres of the guys we saw today. Staines is a liability hitting the ball up on the dirty carries. He's slight, weak & gets dominated in every carry. I'm yet to see how his speed compensates for that. For mine- he's more in danger of losing his spot to Lobb. Lobb looks solid if unspectacular. Doesn't hurt to have a big guy jumping for kicks though. The Rugby guy could swoop & take the role of either Tupou or Staines right now. Willett is not ready. Not a knock- he's just a lower grade player until his body is right.

Centre is between To'a, Olam, Naden & then Doueihi when he's fit. Faataape might have played himself closer to this group today- he looks like he can add something to the team. Tupou & Alaimalo are probably in the mix if injury plays it's part. The other guys we saw shouldn't see the 1st grade field this season. There's quite a bit of depth, numbers-wise. But the team needs 2-3 guys to step up & own these spots.

Halves- Sezar is everything I hoped. He's not going to be flashy, but he's Hastings with a proper kicking game. He allows his halves partner to be more creative & individual. Which is where we saw Sullivan look his best. Once Sullivan had run of the team...he was Brooks level. I think Sezar-Sullivan can work. Latu Fainu will be interesting. We almost need him to be more Sezar-like in case we lose Sezar at any point. Galvin might not be as far away as I originally thought. Mason, Doueihi & Matai are quite clearly below the top 4 options. Galvin-Fainu might want to learn as much as possible from Sezar as I think Luai is more Sullivan-like. I think Sullivan struggles alongside Luai.

Forwards look close to set. Utoikamanu, Klemmer, Twal, Seyfarth, Pole, Papali'i & Bateman probably walk up if fit. The next bench spot or two & the role of back-up/fill-in is between Sam Fainu, Sione Fainu, Kepaoa with a gap to Porter, Lualili'i, Faagutu, Sukkar (looked better than I expected). Matamua, Tumeth have next game to push any claim they might have. But they'll probably all be playing for back-up roles at this point. Sam & Sione Fainu looked tough. While there might be a penalty or two in them, we have come across as whipping boys for too long. Lastly Lui-Toso could be a smokey. Very limited opportunity but seemed to run very hard when given the chance.

Hookers were interesting. Api is brilliant & with consistantly good forward play will have a great season. TDS is going to be a great attacking player. His ability to pick his time to attack is not trained but natural. He could very well become our best player going forward. Simpkin was interesting to me. Solid defender. Threw in a few kicks for good measure. Seemed to play 5/8 at times. If he can be versatile, if he can add some semi-decent running to his game, I don't think he's out of the running for #13. His defence alone allows him to compete. He's probably not a good enough dummy half to command a spot. But, as a Brandon Smith type player, he could be very useful to the club as we do not have an out-and-out #13 locked in as yet.
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Good assessment TC.
 
Carefactor said:
So why are they even on our books getting paid ? We can all see particular players that are just void of any skill, ability and potential to ever become an NRL player even after watching them in just one game ,,, Yet our club seems to continually have a plethora of these guys in our ranks year after year.
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Every club has them. They play to get minutes in legs.
 
Interesting takes by everyone. For me you can see it's a while new backline we were a bit disjointed etc. 2nd half the young fellas had a crack but again they are in a new system really and it's their first run I actually thought the effort was there the execution not so much. The Warriors still had bunty rts and others in the game with 10 to go.

Our middles once our top graders went off was my only really concern. First trial lots to learn. Young fellas will grow from the xp
 
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