jrtiger
Well-known member
having the physical attributes is one thing, being a footballer is another. you need both to play NRL, whereas you can get away with one or the other in Cup.That’s your opinion, but it’s quite obvious the Bulldogs via Gus Gould bases his retention and recruitment very similar to how it’s done at the Melbourne Storm ensuring there is a good quality of depth players and ensuring each developing player has a feature such as size, speed, strength, aggression which is relevant to the position they play.
We need to be bette and when you say things like Jordan Samrani and Eli Clark are reserve graders, well so would every outside back currently in our squad if they had the Bulldogs NRL players in front of them.
Samrani as a depth player has enormous potential, not many with his height, size and speed and Clark is physically strong, runs the ball much harder than any of our outside backs except maybe Olam when he plays and switches on 3-4 times per season. Clark also has the added benefit of being a high percentage accurate goal kicker, so not sure how you could write him off as a likely NRK prospect.
I also don’t k is how you can say Allan Fitzgibbon ca crackle, I’ve watched a few Bears games this season and he is now regularly tackling extremely hard and has forced some turnovers from hitting hard, when is the last time you seen any of our NRL backs do that ?
Not forgetting g him being way out in front of the NSW Cup try scorers list, many of his tries not get winger would score due to his blistering speed. Aside from one from Bula last night and Doueihi’s intercept, when is the last time you seen any of our NRL backs score a long range individual try ?
Reimis Smith will stay in Catalans, he won’t be coming back anytime soon.
I think nearly all our fans agree Jeral Skelton would be a good signing and many agree Taylan May based on what he has shown on the rugby league field, would also be ideal if his co yea t could be registered.
Stonsteet as you have agreed would be ideal for 2026 if we could sign him.
In light of it appearing that Brian To’o will not be an option, it is blatantly obvious we need more size and power from outside backs getting us out of our danger zone. Ravalawa is not perfect, but does this exceptionally well, finishes try scoring opportunities very well, is generally decent under the high ball and is extremely h fit, so no idea how you come up with a Joey Leilua comparison ?
Shane Richardson isn’t going to go out and sign a handful of reserve graders from the Dogs that are clear and obvious projects. he might go after a guy like Sam Stonestreet hypothetically who is ready for week to week first grade and actually possesses the talent required, but with guys like Willett, Laulili’i, Makasini, Goodfield etc in the pipeline, why would he bother with the other suggestions?
Fitzgibbon is in reserve grade for a reason. any half worth their salt in the NRL will just bait him and hit short or over the top. he can’t make the defensive reads required.
as for Ravalawa, you’re not looking at it from all angles. do you think he, much like Leilua, possesses the discipline to be what we need? in a side that is about to set the record for the most sin bins in a season? do you think we need a player that abuses match officials?
like I said, pursue Reimis Smith and Jeral Skelton. if there’s unrest elsewhere, you try and take advantage. the market is bare, but let’s not take brainless risks and give full time deals to project players.
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