2024 Pre-Season

BAGNF05 said:
Not all great players are in a great environment, a point you always seem to miss.

Benji plays at Melbourne with Slater, Smith and Cronk he’s winning at 95%.

Word of the day: Context.
Click to expand...

Watching a player like Thurston drag some dogshit teams into the finals (more than 3 times) negates that somewhat for me.
Also watching Benji have a decent winning record against the Storm for the most part does your argument no favours either...

I'm not knocking the bloke
- But winning as often as losing doesn't make him a winner for mine...
 
batboy said:
Watching a player like Thurston drag some dogshit teams into the finals (more than 3 times) negates that somewhat for me.
Also watching Benji have a decent winning record against the Storm for the most part does your argument no favours either...

I'm not knocking the bloke
- But winning as often as losing doesn't make him a winner for mine...
Click to expand...
The same team that made the grand final the year after Thurston retired. Good call 👍
 
batboy said:
Watching a player like Thurston drag some dogshit teams into the finals (more than 3 times) negates that somewhat for me.
Also watching Benji have a decent winning record against the Storm for the most part does your argument no favours either...

I'm not knocking the bloke
- But winning as often as losing doesn't make him a winner for mine...
Click to expand...
Win %
Thurston - 55.11%
Marshall - 52.31%
Farah - 49.5%

Not a big difference.
 
PrattenParkMagpie said:
Win %
Thurston - 55.11%
Marshall - 52.31%
Farah - 49.5%

Not a big difference.
Click to expand...
I'm following this thread with interest.
There's always stand-out players in every era, and zillions of opinions about who's best etc.
Reminds me of the old quote “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Because what "we" see as individuals is one thing: what statistics reveal is another.
And perhaps the best narrative is from fellow players.
Personally, Benji is the best of my time (and I've seen a few) and no one has changed our game for the better than him.
 
PrattenParkMagpie said:
Win %
Thurston - 55.11%
Marshall - 52.31%
Farah - 49.5%

Not a big difference.
Click to expand...

JT - 17 Years in Grade 9 Finals
Farah - 17 Years in Grade 3 Finals (All at WT's)
Benji - 19 Years in Grade 6 Finals (3 at WT's)
- 4 Finals with him playing a main role in the team.


A reasonable difference considering 2 of them were in the same team for the majority of that time...
 
batboy said:
Thurston retired 2018…

which 2019 grand final are you talking about?
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Ah that’s right he was injured, my memory obviously let me down there. My bad. I do remember watching Michael Morgan lead the Cowboys to a GF though. Point still stands. Benji had to overcome much more dysfunction than JT.

Also, JT is more of a winner than Benji, I’m not disputing that. Doesn’t mean Benji was not a winner. Lol.
 
I couldn’t be bothered looking for it but I remember Newcastles win percentage used to plummet without Joey, from like 75% to 15%. It would be interesting to see the top 10 list in this statistic-probably tell you more about winners.
 
Not sure if it's been touched on before but really interested to see the old Canberra Raiders connection of Aidan Sezer and John Bateman this year. They'll probably be on opposing sides though. Does anyone know which side of the field Bateman/Papali'i are training on? Papali'i was left and Bateman was right in 2023
 
BAGNF05 said:
Ah that’s right he was injured, my memory obviously let me down there. My bad. I do remember watching Michael Morgan lead the Cowboys to a GF though. Point still stands. Benji had to overcome much more dysfunction than JT.

Also, JT is more of a winner than Benji, I’m not disputing that. Doesn’t mean Benji was not a winner. Lol.
Click to expand...
If JT was more of a winner than Benji, what happened in 2005 ?
Surely nobody is questioning Benji’s credentials as a champion player ?
I believe that will transition into him also being a champion coach, but as he says himself results will speak louder than words.
I just hope the club and the fans are willing to at least give him the benefit of the doubt if things don’t go to plan in 2024 and judge him based on results by the end of 2025.
 
Vicious said:
If JT was more of a winner than Benji, what happened in 2005 ?
Surely nobody is questioning Benji’s credentials as a champion player ?
Click to expand...
More so his ability to stand up at big moments. He underachieved for a player of his calibre. It’s not even debatable.
 
GNR4LIFE said:
More so his ability to stand up at big moments. He underachieved for a player of his calibre. It’s not even debatable.
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Like when he captained the World Cup Final win over Australia, or was is the Trans Tasman rest with the NZ try in the last minute?
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
This is how I reckon we'll line up in our 1st trial next week.

Leaving out those with any injuries or niggles (Olam, Sullivan, Bateman, AD, Sam Fainu) and Latu Fainu suspended.

Reckon we'll go in close to full strength in 1st half to build combos & act as a reward for pre-season then ease those senior players out of the game.

Fullback - Bula (Staines & Naden in 2nd half)
Wings - Staines, Tupou (Lobb & Alaimalo in 2nd half)
Centres - T'oa, Naden (Feledy, Faataape, Galvin & Tupou rotating through in 2nd half)
Halves - Galvin, Sezer (Matai & Oliver Lawry rotating through with Sezer in 2nd half)
Lock - Seyfarth (Matamua in 2nd half)
Backrowers - IPap, Kepaoa (Tumeth & Sukkar in 2nd half)
Props - Uto, Klemmer (Pole, Twal & Sione Fainu on rotation)
Hooker - Api (Simpkin & Da Silva on rotation)

Then in 2nd trial, Latu Fainu & few others who have impressed in pre-season (Kit Laulilii, Faagutu & Solo Saukuru) to replace some of the secondaries above plus hopefully Sullivan, Sam Fainu good to go by then.

Let's see.
Click to expand...
What's Sullivan's injury?
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
This is how I reckon we'll line up in our 1st trial next week.

Leaving out those with any injuries or niggles (Olam, Sullivan, Bateman, AD, Sam Fainu) and Latu Fainu suspended.

Reckon we'll go in close to full strength in 1st half to build combos & act as a reward for pre-season then ease those senior players out of the game.

Fullback - Bula (Staines & Naden in 2nd half)
Wings - Staines, Tupou (Lobb & Alaimalo in 2nd half)
Centres - T'oa, Naden (Feledy, Faataape, Galvin & Tupou rotating through in 2nd half)
Halves - Galvin, Sezer (Matai & Oliver Lawry rotating through with Sezer in 2nd half)
Lock - Seyfarth (Matamua in 2nd half)
Backrowers - IPap, Kepaoa (Tumeth & Sukkar in 2nd half)
Props - Uto, Klemmer (Pole, Twal & Sione Fainu on rotation)
Hooker - Api (Simpkin & Da Silva on rotation)

Then in 2nd trial, Latu Fainu & few others who have impressed in pre-season (Kit Laulilii, Faagutu & Solo Saukuru) to replace some of the secondaries above plus hopefully Sullivan, Sam Fainu good to go by then.

Let's see.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure Latu is ok to play in trials, just has to sit out an nrl approved game.
 
Enmore_Tiger said:
Like when he captained the World Cup Final win over Australia, or was is the Trans Tasman rest with the NZ try in the last minute?
Click to expand...
You can’t name any moments he did that for our club? And do you really think in 13 seasons at our club, 3 finals series is an adequate return?
 
GNR4LIFE said:
You can’t name any moments he did that for our club? And do you really think in 13 seasons at our club, 3 finals series is an adequate return?
Click to expand...
You’re not considering context.
What was the probability of the Tigers making the finals for all those years, given that a Benji Marshall injury was all that was needed to derail a club that didn’t have the high profile playing roster of its competitors. I don’t recall a season (maybe there were a couple around 2010) where we were considered a strong chance of finishing top four and competing for the trophy. Each time we finished 9th most experts still considered the Tigers had probably over achieved. And I’ll ask again, name another halfback/five eighth who has lifted the Tigers into the top eight just once.

Josh Reynolds ❌
Mitchell Moses ❌
Luke Brooks ❌
Moses Mbye ❌
Adam Douehi ❌

Some of those players won at origin level and played grand finals at stronger clubs.
 
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