Elijah switch eye-opener..

[TYGA]

ET made a huge difference for the second half of the 2016 season without a full pre season building combinations. His leadership is great and he just works very hard. He will have a big year. Our issues are at hooker and in the centres. Our back row will be fine ET, Sue and Aloai are good players. I am hoping a youngster overtakes Lawrence through form.

 

[bp_tiger]

was by far our best player, what a work horse. gee I would like 2-3 more like him in are pack.

 

[king_sirro]

Exactly what i said months ago. He either plays 60 minutes a week or they monitor him and give him a weeks rest to freshen him up every now and then. We cant have him fall away late in the year like he did in 2016.

On Elijah, his performance on Friday night is the first thing to get me really excited. He was unbelievable IMO.

When he was unsigned i said i didnt care if he stayed. His form fell away late in the year and i didnt know if we could carry just a small backrower who makes 40 tackles. But if he plays like he did on Friday he will be the most influential forward in the game. He basically played 3 position all in one. His ball playing was great and fast, his defence was superb, and when he just got the ball and ran hard he made as good as yards as any other middle player. 80 minutes of Brooks and Moses playing off that every week will be brilliant to watch.

The Tigers showed glimpses last year of changing the game. Every now and then a new style comes into shake the game up. A few games last year we made deliberate efforts to promote the ball through our forwards and then our young backs played off the back of that instinctively. It broke down the structured defences. The way our forwards played lead by Woods and Taylor showed the intentions of Jason Taylor and its a formula that could turn Rugby League back to the entertaining days.

Wasn't a doubt in my mind that he needed to be kept…I just presumed you were having a Heighington moment....

I loved Heighno, great player. Also loved Runciman, Nick Graham and Chris Patterson.

Thankfully Elijah is another class.

I love that we are going to be the club that brings back the ball playing lock instead of the boring 3rd front rower. Love it.

 

[innsaneink]

High rate ball movement among the forwards ala Bulldogs a few years back.
High risk but very effective when accomplished successfuly

 

[GNR4LIFE]

It's refreshing having seeing an old fashioned ball playing lock as opposed to the third prop style lock that is the norm these days.

 

[Twodogs]

He will no doubt end up at the Roosters, they always have a spare $600 000 laying around somehow.

Loose change hiding in the couch doesn't count as salary cap, obviously :unamused:

 

[happy_tiger]

He will no doubt end up at the Roosters, they always have a spare $600 000 laying around somehow.

Loose change hiding in the couch doesn't count as salary cap, obviously :unamused:

Caps seem to tighten up for the 18 months after a team has been busted

 

[Tigerdon]

Good on Jason Taylor and the rest of WTs managers to identify these skills within ET. We need another angle to our game. If our defence holds up this year we will play with confidence and win a lot more than we loose.

 

[jirskyr]

This is good news ET is just brilliant as a ball player and he plays 80 so our back row has two 80 minute players in ET & Lawrence.

Not sold on how effective Lawrence is over 80 minutes though.

Agree but he does at least run a good line in attack I think Aloai will become our best second rower this year.
If the roster doesn't change Sue will play in the front toe with Woods.

Interesting that 3 Sydney clubs are chasing Chris McQueen. He would be ideal to replace Lawrence.

Lawrence does run good lines but perhaps if he varied it up a little instead of just running the outside-in one where he just gets smashed by the defence because they know 100% that is where he is headed, especially on those decoy runs he always seems to get lumped with. He gets annihilated every time and you would have to think it takes a massive toll on his body which is why he usually loses his effectiveness. He is too tough for his own good, would like to see some of the other bigger blokes take their share to ease his punishment a bit.

Lawrence ran 3 or so outside balls last Friday. Two of them were good ones, almost outside his man (he was aiming at Morgan) one he got cut down pretty hard. Brooks loves an outside ball but his pass selection is what leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[TigerSJ]

Taylor was an absolute beast throughout - so glad we secured him.

I liked Lawrence on Friday night - i thought he looked sharp and ran and defended with intent. Like others have suggested I too am not sure that he can do that for the full 80, but at this point he's ahead of the youngsters on show. I thought Masters didn't quite find his feet and young Sirro was only just OK, however he did try hard. MCK provided a decent option and also has great utility value off the bench.

Concerned me to see Sue and Ava's attempt close to the line on half time. I'd like a stat on how many times we let in cheap points with less than 5 minutes to go before the break. Last season we lacked any urgency defending in our 20 metre zone - hopefully that doesn't continue this year.

 

[jirskyr]

Concerned me to see Sue and Ava's attempt close to the line on half time. I'd like a stat on how many times we let in cheap points with less than 5 minutes to go before the break. Last season we lacked any urgency defending in our 20 metre zone - hopefully that doesn't continue this year.

I agree, I have major concerns with Sue's ability to stick in tackles. He's strong enough and can put on good shots, but at times he seems to have a granite shoulder and bounces right off. Reminds me of the issues Akauola had in effecting tackles.