The halves problem

My only contribution to all that - I believe Madden is the best halfback on our roster currently.

AD played a big hand in a win last night.

The tape will show that he made two line breaks, receiving the ball as third receiver and ignored an overlap to run the ball on each occasion. Thankfully we scored twice.

Doesn’t make him a halfback though.
I agree with all that. I think Latu is better than the lot. I also have never seen Madden throw a cutout ball either . All I’ve been saying is chill out .
 
I know L, these posts that get carried away especially after an exceptional win can get on your goat, best to let them go through to the keeper to prevent steam venting out of your ears.

Something I've been trying to practice after the HBG crap lol.
Yea I guess . It’s crazy because I’ve been accused of being a massive homer before , and a sheeple who believes everything out of the club .. what was the other one … happy clapper ..: 😜 anyways
 
I agree with all that. I think Latu is better than the lot. I also have never seen Madden throw a cutout ball either . All I’ve been saying is chill out .
I haven’t seen anyone stressed out. We’ve got another month before Luai is available. Good to have options for a change.

Hopefully Latu gets himself right and lives up to all the wraps.
 
I haven’t seen anyone stressed out. We’ve got another month before Luai is available. Good to have options for a change.

Hopefully Latu gets himself right and lives up to all the wraps.
Stressing? No the correct word is manic ! guys who as @titosantana was saying were cutting their wrists , punting players as recently as yesterday lunchtime .. are now wanting the team flipped on its head because the the backup had a good game . I would classify that as manic .. and people being a slave to their emotions . Chemically speaking its the dopamine hit that comes from winning. Just like when we lose it will be dopamine and serotonin depletion that will cause mass depression .
It’s round 4 . It’s a long season . We will see how the team goes move forward . It’s a good thing to know we have options , but for now that’s all it is . Options !
 
Stressing? No the correct word is manic ! guys who as @titosantana was saying were cutting their wrists , punting players as recently as yesterday lunchtime .. are now wanting the team flipped on its head because the the backup had a good game . I would classify that as manic .. and people being a slave to their emotions . Chemically speaking its the dopamine hit that comes from winning. Just like when we lose it will be dopamine and serotonin depletion that will cause mass depression .
It’s round 4 . It’s a long season . We will see how the team goes move forward . It’s a good thing to know we have options , but for now that’s all it is . Options !
It’s a footy forum mate, people come on here and react to what they witness.

I’m not sure what posts you’re referring to but certainly not going to criticise anyone who saw Jock Madden play a complete halfback performance in a hostile environment and get excited that he might improve our side.

Noting that he also looked sharp in both trials.

And our attack without him last week was pretty pedestrian.
 
It’s a footy forum mate, people come on here and react to what they witness.

I’m not sure what posts you’re referring to but certainly not going to criticise anyone who saw Jock Madden play a complete halfback performance in a hostile environment and get excited that he might improve our side.

Noting that he also looked sharp in both trials.

And our attack without him last week was pretty pedestrian.
Man I’m not going repeat myself for the 5th time. Everyone is entitled to thier opinion . All I’m saying for those who reading this, is it’s round 4, an he’s a backup half . Do With that knowledge what you will .
 
Man I’m not going repeat myself for the 5th time. Everyone is entitled to thier opinion . All I’m saying for those who reading this, is it’s round 4, an he’s a backup half . Do With that knowledge what you will .
Backup to what though?

What’s Adam Doueihi’s resume as a 7?
 
Madden has to be our 7 for the rest of the season. Throughout the trials and tonight he's organising is very well and had an excellent kicking game. Things that we haven't had for years, he's the best hair we've had in maybe a decade.

Luai will be the 6 and AD who knows, lock? AD is exclusively a ball runner. He has poor passing skills and a highly erratic kicking game, but itms a strong runner of the ball, and he knows it. But he's also not a centre. Too slow for that and not a second rower either. He just doesn't have a position. A solid squaddie but he's essentially homeless, yet we've re-signed him for 4 years for some reason.
After last nights game you wonder why we re-signed him?
 
It looked like Doueihi went to left centre or even playing like a 2nd fullback when Latu came on.

Eg. The Bula try in the 60th min went Api -> Latu -> Madden -> Doueihi.

Similarly in the 75th-minute try, Doueihi was on the left outside Madden.

Was that just Doueihi roaming or was there a reshuffle? Or was Latu playing as lock/first receiver? We had 3 halves out there linking up beautifully.
 
It looked like Doueihi went to left centre or even playing like a 2nd fullback when Latu came on.

Eg. The Bula try in the 60th min went Api -> Latu -> Madden -> Doueihi.

Similarly in the 75th-minute try, Doueihi was on the left outside Madden.

Was that just Doueihi roaming or was there a reshuffle? Or was Latu playing as lock/first receiver? We had 3 halves out there linking up beautifully.
Latu was playing as a distrubuting lock. When that happens the 6 often ends up a bit wider, running the sort of sweep lines a ball-playing fullback would (especially on one side), with the fullback just sniffing around the ruck more. So there wasn't a reshuffle per se but that structure is different to when teams just pick an extra middle forward at 13.
 
The best thing I’m seeing now is that all the players really enjoying playing together . Hats off to Benji and his team for moving on older players not performing , and bringing skilful players to the club such as Madden and KPP, and giving younger players a go , Malachi, Tavana and others.
AD was our best player last night, closely followed by Twal, moving these 2 around now is not a good idea; let’s not make lots of changes this early in the season, we’re going well at the moment.
 
I think a big part of AD's form this year, his extension, the general morale of the side etc is that he's been backed for the role he wanted in the halves instead of having to train in multiple positions in the offseason because he was going to be moved around all the time.

Ultimately you have to do what's best for the team, but moving him to lock or especially centre when he's been playing so well and has only trained in in a ballplaying role all offseason would be a big call with impacts beyond just what we can jot down on paper.

We've got another three weeks or so of the AD/Madden combination to see how they both go, but if AD keeps playing well I think Madden will just get benched, right call in a vacuum or not.
Well said. We can't risk AD dropping his head and luai can't be moved. I think benji has options with jock at 14 - he may come on to spend time at both hooker and then shift AD fo centre for a period.

But we can't make these calls now. Injuries can happen and things can just completely change. Decisions like this may not need to be made.

Put it this way. This is a brilliant problem to have and all these guys will contribute to our success, starting role or not.
 
Going forward, I still feel both Luai and Doueihi are suited to the 5/8 role. BUT, as I (and others) have stated, there is a world and a game plan that could fit our team and the faster pace of the game...

Start with Luai and Doueihi in the halves and Twal at 13. Then after 20 or so mins, when the forwards have tired, bring on Latu at lock, and Twal goes into the prop rotation, but Latu plays as a ball distributor/first receiver. Ostensibly, Latu plays as a halfback and to his strengths (digging into the line and pinpoint passes) with 2 five-eighths outside him. If this is what happened in the second half yesterday, imagine what it would do when we have Luai and Taylan May back, not to mention Samuela and KPP. Everyone has to be fit first for this to happen though.
 
Man I’m not going repeat myself for the 5th time. Everyone is entitled to thier opinion . All I’m saying for those who reading this, is it’s round 4, an he’s a backup half . Do With that knowledge what you will .
It doesn’t matter if it’s round 4 or round 24, there’s no denying that Madden is the best half we have. Benji may be forced to recognise that at some stage, regardless of his liking for Doueihi. And I think you’ll also stop continually calling him a back up half.
 
I agree. However im not ruling out centre for him as I think his best year in the NRL was last season at right centre. With the injuries we have i would be sitting him in there and giving him a bit of a licence to roam like Joey Manu.
If Madden can play 4 games likes this, then he should be at 7 as you were saying before the game.

I still think that he's not a genuine attacking threat, and maybe the element of surprise really threw the Warriors.

I hope I'm wrong though. Maddens long kicking game was exquisite
 
With how Jock performed in the trials and last night , we should see if there is any interest to ‘lend’ Latu to the panthers or the eels (or maybe even Melbourne) for the remaining of this year and or next year , to learn from a dominant halfback.
(I would also extend his contract with us now until 2030 or 31, before we agree to lending him to anyone)

He would be a spare in any of those sides so there is little chance he would have to play against his brothers and he would get lessons from one of the best halfbacks there are

This would solve all our halves issues for this year and next (Jock at 14)

It’s clearly worked for Jock to go away and come back ,it might be the best thing for Latu (and for us without loosing him completely)
 
With how Jock performed in the trials and last night , we should see if there is any interest to ‘lend’ Latu to the panthers or the eels (or maybe even Melbourne) for the remaining of this year and or next year , to learn from a dominant halfback.
(I would also extend his contract with us now until 2030 or 31, before we agree to lending him to anyone)

He would be a spare in any of those sides so there is little chance he would have to play against his brothers and he would get lessons from one of the best halfbacks there are

This would solve all our halves issues for this year and next (Jock at 14)

It’s clearly worked for Jock to go away and come back ,it might be the best thing for Latu (and for us without loosing him completely)


This is Bat Sh!t Crazy no words for it really we could also lend Melbourne Big Mac and throw in Terrell May and they could room together to save money on rent

Because we need to find spots for Alex Seyfart and Will Craig
 
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