Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion
- Thread starter MacDougall
- Start date
balmain boy
Well-known member
Yes he was their player of the year. But look at who done of our NSW cup player of the year have been. Not always the best, the ones that played the most and tried hard.
Kelce68
Well-known member
As I said the other day, I think he's one to play around with. Seems he might have a playing style that lends itself to versatility, whether that's testing him on an edge and upping his line running and offload, or really up his passing development and work rate and giving him a run at lock.
Fun project I reckon.
balmain boy
Well-known member
No, it's completely different. At this time last year there was no hype over Lobb, only after the trials did anyone say anything.
Johannsen played first grade this year after fighting his way up from Massey. And was a standout in Cup, with several man of the match performances. Praise on him is based on how we've seen him perform throughout 2024, where's no one had really seen Lobb at all so to completely different scenarios
Kaito
Well-known member
Can't tell me Johannssen can't play on an edge man,
hopefully he kicks on I love seeing a late bloomer...
hopefully he kicks on I love seeing a late bloomer...
TJ has done it really tough and appears to be a man of real integrity.
I think he will really squeeze everything he can to be the best he can be.
A real Aussie battler.
He is the player I really want to succeed
FrodoTBaggin
Well-known member
Well that's a lie.. everyone was talking Lobb up before we had even signed him up.
Talked about him like he was a perfect hybrid between Daniel Tupou and Hazem El Mazri
This is awesome. I hadn’t seen it. Has edge backrower written all over him!
crazycat
Well-known member
Separating the backs out:
1. Bula
2. Skelton
3. Bird/Turuva
4. Olam
5. Turuva/Staines/Mason
6. Galvin
7. Luai
It's a far better back line. Galvin is paired with someone who can at least play halfback at the NRL level on current fitness. There will be a lot of adjustment for Luai, but at least at Penrith with a monster pack he can guide the team.
I don't see Toa in the 1-7 but I do see Mason. Maybe not at first but in due time he is in there.
No one above, bar maybe Galvin/Bula should feel really safe.
Which is good because Toa, Olam (as much as that pains me to say. You go you awesome brute you), Staines, Faagatu, etc haven't done anywhere near enough to keep their spots.
Need to look at the WT back defensive record. We need gap stoppers and to ensure we don't have a defensive so SO bad. with Luai and Turuva we will pile on the points. If we can hold our line we will be scoring.
851
Well-known member
I agree, both those players should not be in our NRL team
Jimmy
Well-known member
S. Fainu and Mats both fit the modern-day mobile lock build. However, both these guys have poor lapses in defence that often lead to line breaks. If they can work on the consistency in defence they'd offer a great duo sharing the lock role. I'd like to see Bird fill the utility role and start when injuries arise later in the year. Bird doesn't off the punch and meters the above two will offer at lock.
Canadian Club
Well-known member
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Johannssen kill it and become a first grade regular. But it seems to be a common occurrences to hype up a guy after some good performances in Cup and a game or two in NRL.
We’ve seen plenty of others do the same in Cup and never really stand out in NRL. I also can’t see him getting many games with May, Klemmer, Twal, Hunt, Pole and Sione F (likely) all in the top 30 and ahead of him in the pecking order.
Just think it’s silly to be placing so much hype on a guy so early into his journey. It’s very premature. Let him string a few consecutive NRL games together first.
We’ve seen plenty of others do the same in Cup and never really stand out in NRL. I also can’t see him getting many games with May, Klemmer, Twal, Hunt, Pole and Sione F (likely) all in the top 30 and ahead of him in the pecking order.
Just think it’s silly to be placing so much hype on a guy so early into his journey. It’s very premature. Let him string a few consecutive NRL games together first.
851
Well-known member
He has a point, Souths senior players said it's him or us, and he got sacked a couple years after winning a premiership, so he must of really been on the nose, and his tenure here was a disaster, we got worse each year
crazycat
Well-known member
Putting some stats out there:
So if were talking defense, were talking a back line of:
Mason,
Skelton
Olam
Turuva
Staines.
^which I guarantee we won't see this lineup all year.
If were talking attack:
Turuva 18 tries
Bula 10 tries
Staines 9 tries
Olam 6 tries
SKelton, Latu and even AD have crossed for 2-3 tries each...
No matter what, I can't see a starting lineup without Olam, Turuva and Staines!
So if were talking defense, were talking a back line of:
Mason,
Skelton
Olam
Turuva
Staines.
^which I guarantee we won't see this lineup all year.
If were talking attack:
Turuva 18 tries
Bula 10 tries
Staines 9 tries
Olam 6 tries
SKelton, Latu and even AD have crossed for 2-3 tries each...
No matter what, I can't see a starting lineup without Olam, Turuva and Staines!
Doesn’t he also have a kid in England?
An absolutely valid concern.
I’d be over the moon if that happened, that’s how far we’ve fallen. A bit like the petrol going up so much over the years and when it drops back down to $1.70 per litre I think that’s great 😂
hank37w
Well-known member
I'm not sure if that is completely correct, I think the main reason he was being talked up was because we were finally getting a tall winger with potentially some ability under the high ball which was a change from the usual midgets that we have trotted out on the wing for what seems like forever.
I don't think it was based on anything he had achieved in the game to date, it was based more on the hope that there was more than one Jack Bostock in the Illawarra region.
