2027 half back and five eigth

[Rock Hopper Steve]

I think this talk of Averillo to 5/8 is silly, we have a glaring hole at right centre and people want to move him out of that position before he puts on a jersey.

If injury puts us in a dire position well yes by all means use him as cover but we are desperate for his speed in the outside backs.

I can see a lot of tries being scored by him or his winger outside KPP.

 

[hammertime]

I think this talk of Averillo to 5/8 is silly, we have a glaring hole at right centre and people want to move him out of that position before he puts on a jersey.

If injury puts us in a dire position well yes by all means use him as cover but we are desperate for his speed in the outside backs.

I can see a lot of tries being scored by him or his winger outside KPP.

I don't think people do - he mentioned it in an article mate that he'd love to play 5/8th.

I think it's fair that he battles it out with AD for that role. Best man gets it; the other plays centre.

 

[batboy]

I think this talk of Averillo to 5/8 is silly, we have a glaring hole at right centre and people want to move him out of that position before he puts on a jersey.

If injury puts us in a dire position well yes by all means use him as cover but we are desperate for his speed in the outside backs.

I can see a lot of tries being scored by him or his winger outside KPP.

Keeps you young Steveo..

Moving a Back Rower to Prop
A Utility to Lock
Another Utility / Centre to 5/8

Who else can we move,
Turuva to Fullback?

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Keeps you young Steveo..

Moving a Back Rower to Prop
A Utility to Lock
Another Utility / Centre to 5/8

Who else can we move,
Turuva to Fullback?

Don’t forget the classic trying turn a centre into a back rower. The list of players we have successfully transitioned is not very long.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Keeps you young Steveo..

Moving a Back Rower to Prop
A Utility to Lock
Another Utility / Centre to 5/8

Who else can we move,
Turuva to Fullback?

Tried that when Bula was injured B, worked about as good as a hole in a bucket halfway up a hill.

 

[Tiger Stripes]

I don't think people do - he mentioned it in an article mate that he'd love to play 5/8th.

I think it's fair that he battles it out with AD for that role. Best man gets it; the other plays centre.

In another article Latu said he wants to be a 5/8.
So many wanna be number 6's.
We need a half that wants to be a halfback [but quicker than Madden if possible].
At the moment the half will be Madden---or whoever impresses Benji in the off season---up for grabs.
Truckloads of 5/8's, but I hope it is Andrews--feeding Averillo at centre.

 

[hammertime]

In another article Latu said he wants to be a 5/8.
So many wanna be number 6's.
We need a half that wants to be a halfback [but quicker than Madden if possible].
At the moment the half will be Madden---or whoever impresses Benji in the off season---up for grabs.
Truckloads of 5/8's, but I hope it is Andrews--feeding Averillo at centre.

Doueihi shouldn't be in the 7 in my opinion and i suspect latu just said that out of respect that he has that jersey. But AD to 6 and latu, madden or andrews to 7.

 

[Billy M]

You could be right unfortunately. I think Benji knows that AD is not the future in the halves but we have three 5/8s and one average half in our roster. We will have to reinvent the roles and structure of how we play if we are not going to make some changes to our squad.
I can see a hybrid style where we have a first receiver on either side of the ruck with a running 5/8 player outside him and then adding in an extra link player from time to time to get them running wider. We could have them coming in waves on either side of the ruck and swapping around to make our A unpredictable.
Kicking game will be where we will need some real help.

Been following along and feel like adding my 2 cents. Agree with this and reckon our halves situation goes part of the way in explaining the Mann signing.

So much of our early attacking success this year was second phase playing off our back rowers, which we could do with the high rate of 6 agains. I suspect we’ll have Mann at first receiver a fair bit to get our halves (my guess is AD and Latu) wider of the ruck as @orange&black suggested. That would allow Samuela and KPP to attack the edges, which could make Taylan and Averillo very dangerous playing outside those two.

The fact Mann is only signed for a year makes me feel they have an eye to moving AD into that ball playing lock role, with Javon developing for another year then coming into the halves. He’s obviously listed as a 6 but between the games he played in Cup with Latu, and the fact Benji was willing to shuffle things around to get him in last year I think they’d be comfortable at this stage with those two in the halves beyond next season.

Our obvious main deficiencies are still kicking and game management, but with the squad we have for next year I think that’s how we’ll line up.

 

[Tiger_Yoshi]

It was obvious that AD didn’t like Luai and the perceived favouritism he was getting from the club… a major reason why he spat the dummy…. Can AD and the club overcome the fallout from his dummy spit?

 

[Fainu Brothers]

It was obvious that AD didn’t like Luai and the perceived favouritism he was getting from the club… a major reason why he spat the dummy…. Can AD and the club overcome the fallout from his dummy spit?

Wish we could swap AD for Sandon Smith

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

I would start with
7. Latu Fainu
6. Averillo

put AD to 14 role

 

[innsaneink]

I would start with
7. Latu Fainu
6. Averillo

put AD to 14 role

Neither of them kick i think
Dont recall Averillo kicking much

 

[TurnStyle]

I place absolutely zero weight in Averillo carving up in that stupid national championship whatever thing.
It's the most pointless game imaginable and likely won by the team who has managed to recover better from winning the previous week.
He should be depth for 6 at best.

 

[Speed2burn]

I place absolutely zero weight in Averillo carving up in that stupid national championship whatever thing.
It's the most pointless game imaginable and likely won by the team who has managed to recover better from winning the previous week.
He should be depth for 6 at best.

That Penrith team played like they were still on a bender

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

I want Latu to be there. However, I have zero confidence he stays fit for any length of time. That just leaves us with AD, Madden and Andrews. A guy out for himself, a guy who is a fringe first grader if you want to be generous, and a rookie who has played one game. Slim pickings.

The second bloke, while a fringe first grader, was the half that led us to the most wins from the least amount of games.

 

[Speed2burn]

The second bloke, while a fringe first grader, was the half that led us to the most wins from the least amount of games.

Because sometimes all you need is someone who can give you direction and kick to corners. Madden is a good goal kicker too iirc.

I actually think the need for a super star half is getting less and less. Knights were rolling teams with Sandon Smith and Fletcher Sharpe. Warriors went through majority of the season with basically their 3rd string halves. Souths have an 80 year old Cody walker and at times had Sullivan steering the ship etc

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

Neither of them kick i think
Dont recall Averillo kicking much

that is an issue

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

I still don't understand why Averillo is in the equation at 5/8. We have a number of options at 5/8 and he's played most of his career at centre where is a decent player and we need another decent first choice centre.

 

[innsaneink]

I still don't understand why Averillo is in the equation at 5/8. We have a number of options at 5/8 and he's played most of his career at centre where is a decent player and we need another decent first choice centre.

Its only paper talk JA 5/8...probably his agent pushing it thru media mates

He does have a good pass tho

 

[Tiger Stripes]

The second bloke, while a fringe first grader, was the half that led us to the most wins from the least amount of games.

No one on here wants to acknowledge that from Madden.
Also Skelton scored 3 tries when Douelhi was out for 4 weeks.
But not glamorous enough. Just results.
But I agree, he is a genuine back-up.
And we do need a half with resilience. That's the grey area of Latu, resilience?