1st trial thoughts?

[crazycat]

Can’t stand him. He has an annoying voice. I’ve literally seen us score tries and he has made comment about what we did wrong in scoring the try. He’s an idiot.

You have to understand that the guy is a perfectionist...

Apparently at the Storm, Cronk would be asking a bunch of questions "why do we lean into tackles this way, why pass here, etc" Bellamy put it "you know, sometimes he makes you think 'why do we do this'"...

Honestly as a coach, he would be diabolical or awful. "Hey that try you scored, you steped inward giving the fullback a chance to intercept you."... The tweeks, the 1% , the leaning out instead of in.... As a coach it would be incredible

As a commentator, it's damn annoying

 

[Tiger Stripes]

Does the club have more options for goal kickers?

Hope so---------------Lobb wont be there!

 

[Tiger Stripes]

He's not top 30 or in the development squad

Train & Trial 2025.
Dev. 2026

 

[bbobb]

I call Lobb ‘Queen Mary” as that’s how long it takes him to turn and chase!

Personally, I would have Galvin watch a thousand tapes of Terry Lamb. Baa wasn’t blessed with great skill like Brett Kenny but he reinvented the idea of support play. If Galvin is as super fit as they say, he should consistently push up with our attackers and BE the option if a line break is made. I think he is too concerned with play making which isn’t the strongest part of his game IMHO.

 

[Sco77y]

Ordinary game from both sides.

Dogs have some serious prospects.

For us, I liked Kit & the kid Tavana.
Think Galvin tried too hard and didn't look that good.

Had to be my picks of the game. Tavana looks like he has some good natural ability. 1 try assist and 3 line break assists. Kit was a standout for impact

 

[Sco77y]

Cronk the gronk. I’m not usually someone who plays the victim card with the “So and so hates us”, but Cronk is someone who truly does. Something about the way he talks about us. I’d describe it as subtle disdain. Though, I think that’s how is with any bottom club. He’s an elitist.

Loves to pile on because it’s the easy option. Just likes to appease the masses with his opinions I think. Definitely not a contrarian. He’ll be shouting our praises if we start winning, although I’d rather he didn’t

 

[Merlot]

I call Lobb ‘Queen Mary” as that’s how long it takes him to turn and chase!

Personally, I would have Galvin watch a thousand tapes of Terry Lamb. Baa wasn’t blessed with great skill like Brett Kenny but he reinvented the idea of support play. If Galvin is as super fit as they say, he should consistently push up with our attackers and BE the option if a line break is made. I think he is too concerned with play making which isn’t the strongest part of his game IMHO.

God dam it I attached myself to this ship of fools - decades ago -seriously will they get it together .Its a simple game .Team work and togetherness gets you over the line no matter how simple the plan.blahblahblah

 

[Merlot]

Loves to pile on because it’s the easy option. Just likes to appease the masses with his opinions I think. Definitely not a contrarian. He’ll be shouting our praises if we start winning, although I’d rather he didn’t

cronk started off honest to himself and didnt care what he said - it shot from his brain via heart but it was true ,cooper sold himself up the river a few years back.Yes he has been rubbishing our name the last few days. Really hooked in yesterday on the CentralCoast while it took 1 1/2 hrs to replace n ambulance, hospital is 5 mins away, b4 for a 2nd trial of sorts kicked of Cronk rubbished us with his statistical banter,yet gave him self a 5% chance ,incase we start winning ,and all the twin heads from queensland that commentated in the preseason rash all laughed and said what an easy gig they have just sitting here and bagging out our least favorite teams.ha ha ha

 

[The Chad]

Positive trial thoughts-

Kit Lualili'i has bulked up & started running like a damaging forward. Club needs someone to step up & claim #13 instead of being given it. Could be Kit?

Faataape has something. We might have all missed it- he could claim a starting spot.

Broederlow & Sukkar have nice size for edge forwards & didn't look out of place.

Tristan Hope looks handy.

The young fullback had a few nice touches.

Heath Mason could be the forgotten man as the #14.

Tim & Noah have good builds for NRL forwards- lanky, athletic. Lots of effort.

Skelton was a handful.

Saukuru is a monster out wide.

Negative Trial Thoughts-

Awful attempt at a tackle from Sione for the Dogs 1st try.

Lobb is wasting a spot on the roster. Will Craig is a far more willing winger.

Other than Kit, we didn't produce much go-forward. Injuries to our top squad are going to hurt.

Feledy is falling further behind. Faataape is far ahead of him & Saukuru is a much better physical specimen. Adding Makasini- I don't see where Feledy fits.

Our attack near their line was...very tame.


Overall Thoughts-

It's just a trial. I noticed a bigger emphasis on up & in defence, particularly out wide. Galvin continues to look busy. Kit might have stepped up. We have a handful of good physical shapes- Saukuru, Broederlow, Tim & Noah, Sukkar- but the Bulldogs dwarfed us on the field mostly.

The overall depth of the squad is improving, I think. But we lack forward momentum still. If our forward pack suffers any significant injury bug, there isn't a lot to bring in of NRL standard.

I think Matamua is behind Kit.
I think Faataape could be a bolter to start- overlooked by nearly everyone.
Heath Mason should be in the conversation for #14.

 

[king_sirro]

Positives

We looked to make a genuine effort to get the ball carrier on his back.

Defence generally looked in cohesion outside some bad decisions by Lobb.

Skelton ran hard.

Kit showed some promise.

Galvins talent was there to see again.

Tevano looks promising as does Max Lyles .

QLD hooker trialling for a contract ripped in and played well.

Negatives.
Our attack was again too flat.

Galvin completely overplayed his hand and took over the game cutting his halves partner out, running around like a headless chook confusing everyone. This is a big concern for me.

Our shapes in attack looked 2nd rate, but I'm hoping that will improve with better go forward as that was terrible in the first half.

Still need better line speed across the club

 

[Tigerstigerstigers]

Had to be my picks of the game. Tavana looks like he has some good natural ability. 1 try assist and 3 line break assists. Kit was a standout for impact what’s t

What’s the background on Tavana. Is he a local junior ?

 

[hank37w]

Hope so---------------Lobb wont be there!

Thankfully.

 

[finnzo]

The more I think about it this was a pretty decent effort most of these players are super young coming up against a bulldogs squad that have been dominating the jrns for the past 3 years they have won the past 2 jersey fleggs. I feel we managed to hold the ruck together way better than we would have last year.
So keen to see the big dogs play this Friday

 

[hank37w]

Pretty much agree with what you are saying.

Overall I thought for a first trial game that it was a reasonable standard and fairly evenly fought, actually a better standard than I was expecting to see.

Found it to be more entertaining than the All Stars game, which I thought was a big disappointment.

Looking forward to the second trial which should be closer to what we are likely to see running around in round one.

 

[stephen]

Ordinary game from both sides.

Dogs have some serious prospects.

For us, I liked Kit & the kid Tavana.
Think Galvin tried too hard and didn't look that good.

Tavana looks an athlete. Good mover.

 

[Ron Brodrick's Spirit]

The trial pretty much confirmed what we all know.
We have decent depth except for the backrow.
We basically only have one NRL standard edge forward in Samuela.
Other than that we can use Porter as a stopgap.
Sione isn't NRL standard and Sukkar looked like he didn't give a crap from the opening whistle.

 

[Masterton]

Curious if people felt that Feledy was the issue or was Lobb just no good at all?

Lobb was on the right outside Faatape, wasn't he?

 

[innsaneink]

Lobb was on the right outside Faatape, wasn't he?

Yep

 

[Glenji95]

I agree, there’s potential. He might need another year a he doesn’t stop other middles early enough, maybe due to less size and strength.

I say a year or two before he would play regular first grade should he make it. Potential in him for sure but he’s not ready yet for the leap.

 

[bptiger 0]

Galvin overplayed his hand.
Latu didn't get any chances.
Kit, Skelton, were good.
Looked like a reserve grade side.
The Johanssen brothers didnt impress.

Here’s my take on latu and its just my thoughts

He was never seen in that half , and yes Galvin really pushed him aside.
But latu is only young and he knows he is never going to push the two half’s out so maybe he’s feeling sore for himself , that’s why I think he should be given a shot as a ball playing lock if only as on a interchange option, I watch his defence in the game and it was very good , I think he needs to have something to get him going . And YES he’s in a team and he needs to knuckle down , but again he’s a kid and sometimes u need to cuddle them know and then .
Just my thoughts as a ex coach