Few Quick thoughts from the Trial

[momo_amp_medo]

My live stream to my iPad went well once the lights went back on. Thanks Forum for posting that that was the problem at 8:30!

Cowboys were asleep for most of that match and the trial mach was just that and would not get carried away too much. Next week is the better test against the sharks as to how much we have improved.

In the forwards …. considering only 1/2 the squad was in Cairns .... I was impressed with Grant, Felise, Aloiai and Mikaele. The others did their job.

In the backs ...... Brooks and Reynolds took first few positive steps however Brooks still can not find that consistency with his kicking and passing game. Most backs strung some good minutes with special mention for Marsters, Thompson and MWZ.

New kids Gamble and Sironen showed some good touches.

All in all a good 1st hit-out.... but big tests are coming in next 5-6 playing weeks.

 

[Tim Sheens]

- Cows were pretty ordinary, but i don't think they really took it too serious, probably just happy for JT and Scott to have a bit of a trot and no injuries.

- Reynolds looked way sharper than late last year.
- Brooks still can't kick, this is the number 1 thing i want to see improve. It's crucial and needs to improve 200%.
- Our D through the middle got exposed a few times when they got quick ptb, and JT ran a direct raid through there with plenty of support.

I don't know about everyone else but the live stream was pretty bad, i think i only got about 10 uninterrupted mins, the rest was constant freezes, pretty useless.
To make things worse i tried to get on here to see what's going on with the stream at the start of the game and this site had crashed, pretty frustrating when you've been waiting all day for it.

Overall we went ok, pretty hard to get a guage really given how poor NQ were, our edge D never really got tested.

Crystal clear stream throughout the match at this end.

 

[tigerap]

- Cows were pretty ordinary, but i don't think they really took it too serious, probably just happy for JT and Scott to have a bit of a trot and no injuries.

- Reynolds looked way sharper than late last year.
- Brooks still can't kick, this is the number 1 thing i want to see improve. It's crucial and needs to improve 200%.
- Our D through the middle got exposed a few times when they got quick ptb, and JT ran a direct raid through there with plenty of support.

I don't know about everyone else but the live stream was pretty bad, i think i only got about 10 uninterrupted mins, the rest was constant freezes, pretty useless.
To make things worse i tried to get on here to see what's going on with the stream at the start of the game and this site had crashed, pretty frustrating when you've been waiting all day for it.

Overall we went ok, pretty hard to get a guage really given how poor NQ were, our edge D never really got tested.

Crystal clear stream throughout the match at this end.

For a stream, the quality was surprisingly good

 

[Harvey]

Felise, Rochow, Gamble and Thompson were much better than expected. Some of the lesser light new players really highlighted how bad some of our depth players have been in recent years.

Were a bit rusty in other departments with some average kicks & passes and the ball holder taking runners lines etc.

I hope someone fed that ground announcer to the crocs

 

[Kul]

Our forum website needs more grunt during games…..can this be looked at.?

I've kicked off the upgrade process this morning.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Our forum website needs more grunt during games…..can this be looked at.?

I've kicked off the upgrade process this morning.

Sorry, just finished notifying you in a site issue thread and then immediately saw this post.

Thanks in advance for attending to it.

 

[Munk]

- Cows were pretty ordinary, but i don't think they really took it too serious, probably just happy for JT and Scott to have a bit of a trot and no injuries.

- Reynolds looked way sharper than late last year.
- Brooks still can't kick, this is the number 1 thing i want to see improve. It's crucial and needs to improve 200%.
- Our D through the middle got exposed a few times when they got quick ptb, and JT ran a direct raid through there with plenty of support.

I don't know about everyone else but the live stream was pretty bad, i think i only got about 10 uninterrupted mins, the rest was constant freezes, pretty useless.
To make things worse i tried to get on here to see what's going on with the stream at the start of the game and this site had crashed, pretty frustrating when you've been waiting all day for it.

Overall we went ok, pretty hard to get a guage really given how poor NQ were, our edge D never really got tested.

Crystal clear stream throughout the match at this end.

For a stream, the quality was surprisingly good

Stream was shocking on my end. Id see 10 seconds of play then it would freeze for 20 seconds, then it would skip forward and repeat. Completely unwatchable. I came on here to read comments but access was even more limited. I ended up reading cows forum. They were cranky hahaha.

 

[king_sirro]

Just on Martsers, they say he's dropped 10kg in last year…..looks like he's thicker if anything. Nofo looks almost too trim.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

The team will be better for the hit out.

Brooks took the line on early and looked promising and then faded out which is a real worry.

Defence in all was pretty good, considering one Cowboys try was off the back of a rubbish pass. They look to be defending better as a unit.

Agree with many that Reynolds is not the answer at 9, his service is very poor. He'll be the 6 to start the year.

Rochow, Marsters, Felise and Gamble were all very good I thought. Marsters will have to be in the starting 13 you would think.

A lot of positives, but unless the kicking game gets lot better we are going to struggle to put on points against the better teams.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

- Cows were pretty ordinary, but i don't think they really took it too serious, probably just happy for JT and Scott to have a bit of a trot and no injuries.

- Reynolds looked way sharper than late last year.
- Brooks still can't kick, this is the number 1 thing i want to see improve. It's crucial and needs to improve 200%.
- Our D through the middle got exposed a few times when they got quick ptb, and JT ran a direct raid through there with plenty of support.

I don't know about everyone else but the live stream was pretty bad, i think i only got about 10 uninterrupted mins, the rest was constant freezes, pretty useless.
To make things worse i tried to get on here to see what's going on with the stream at the start of the game and this site had crashed, pretty frustrating when you've been waiting all day for it.

Overall we went ok, pretty hard to get a guage really given how poor NQ were, our edge D never really got tested.

Crystal clear stream throughout the match at this end.

For a stream, the quality was surprisingly good

Stream was shocking on my end. Id see 10 seconds of play then it would freeze for 20 seconds, then it would skip forward and repeat. Completely unwatchable. I came on here to read comments but access was even more limited. I ended up reading cows forum. They were cranky hahaha.

Did you watch it off a tablet? I started watching it off my tablet and had the problems you have mentioned, then I put it on my laptop and it was smooth throughout the whole cast.

 

[Russell]

- Cows were pretty ordinary, but i don't think they really took it too serious, probably just happy for JT and Scott to have a bit of a trot and no injuries.

- Reynolds looked way sharper than late last year.
- Brooks still can't kick, this is the number 1 thing i want to see improve. It's crucial and needs to improve 200%.
- Our D through the middle got exposed a few times when they got quick ptb, and JT ran a direct raid through there with plenty of support.

I don't know about everyone else but the live stream was pretty bad, i think i only got about 10 uninterrupted mins, the rest was constant freezes, pretty useless.
To make things worse i tried to get on here to see what's going on with the stream at the start of the game and this site had crashed, pretty frustrating when you've been waiting all day for it.

Overall we went ok, pretty hard to get a guage really given how poor NQ were, our edge D never really got tested.

Crystal clear stream throughout the match at this end.

Stream was good for me too!

 

[The_Old_Fox]

Few quick observations from the trial game. Keen to here what everyone else saw from the live stream.
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* The benefit of having a new side essentially was there for all to see. Everyone wanted to impress. Everyone is playing for spots. We ran there ball a lot harder then the Cowboys. We played with far more intent and energy.

* Our 2nd string pack was dominant. JJ Felise played like an animal getting over the advantage line and getting quick play the balls. Aloli was really really strong when he came on. Even Grant was getting over the advantage line and Eisentuth and even Lawrence played pretty strong.

*Cowboys were terrible. I reckon they gave away about 12 penalties, 4 or 5 when they had the ball. They struggled to compete a set in the first half.

* Brooks an Reynolds had their moments individually. Brooks running game is really dangerous. I think he gave up 3, 7 tackle sets thought so that is an ongoing concern. Reynolds looked very busy. I much prefer him at 6\. He throws too many off passes too be eve a half decent hooker. Gamble looks a strong boy and scored a really nice try taking the line on. All our halves took the line on.

* Our goal kicking looks bad. Real bad.

TYSON GAMBLE????…. How do we fit this guy into the team because what he did last night was no fluke...first touch of the ball he scores a try and makes it look easy...2 plays later and 20 out from the cowboys line he runs,steps beats the first man a quick play the ball and we are over..his defence was no fluke neither..smothered a cowboy in broken play of which made him drop the ball and done the same thing minutes out that led to Nofo scoring a try..he's only blemish of which was near Cameron Smith genius was with 12 minutes to go, 12 men on the field and 14 in front, he punts the ball 60 metres down the field to give he's team mates a long walk and break and misses the sideline by inches..he doesn't need 12 months in reserve grade he already did that up there with the Broncos..if we are not careful and starve him of first grade I reckon he will move on like Blake Austin and Martin did before..I think Cleary played him for a reason last night and that's to put Brooks on notice..Cleary needs to pick the team on form and I think we finally have a coach that will do it..instead of playing favourites and sticking with the same old,same old!

 

[tigeress]

I was very happy with the live stream once it got up and running. I had problems trying to access the forum…..

The whole game appeared to be a bit messy, but I like the looks of Thompson, Rochow & Felise too, so I guess there are a few good signs here, lets hope they can all improve in the season proper.

 

[tigeress]

Oh and we DESPERATELY need a decent goal kicker…......

 

[cqtiger]

Oh and we DESPERATELY need a decent goal kicker…......

I thought Tui kicked ok. He kicked the first two conversions, the first from the sideline that was still going up at the goalposts and the touchies didn’t move much so it didn’t miss by a lot. The second was from right in front. He also successfully kicked the last conversion at an angle.

I think it was Milne who tried the other kicks and they missed by miles. Very poor.

 

[upthetigers]

Oh and we DESPERATELY need a decent goal kicker…......

I thought Tui kicked ok. He kicked the first two conversions, the first from the sideline that was still going up at the goalposts and the touchies didn’t move much so it didn’t miss by a lot. The second was from right in front. He also successfully kicked the last conversion at an angle.

I think it was Milne who tried the other kicks and they missed by miles. Very poor.

Marsters was the other kicker. I think Tui will be our goalkicker.

 

[Harvey]

Oh and we DESPERATELY need a decent goal kicker…......

I thought Tui kicked ok. He kicked the first two conversions, the first from the sideline that was still going up at the goalposts and the touchies didn’t move much so it didn’t miss by a lot. The second was from right in front. He also successfully kicked the last conversion at an angle.

I think it was Milne who tried the other kicks and they missed by miles. Very poor.

Marsters was the other kicker. I think Tui will be our goalkicker.

Both Milne and Marsters had shots which looked awful. I thought Reynolds & Thompson had both kicked in the past.

 

[southerntiger]

Milne took one and it was a shocker.

Gamble would presumably be our 2nd or 3rd best kicker (including Marshall) but presumably didnt kick as he is not likely to play a lot of firsts, particularly at the start of the year.

My thoughts generally.

I was impressed by Felise and Mikalale (spelling).
Reynolds looked very good when playing in the 6\. It was great to have a half that can defend in his own right.
Milne will be a very good buy for us. Strong and fast.
Lawrence looked in good shape and made strong carries every time. Hopefully his body holds up.
Thompson was sharp.
MWZ looked a step faster than last year.
Tui looks like he will make a decent fist of fullback, although I would like to see him play more straight when he chimes into the attack.
I love the look of Gamble. He has time, is strong and can pass. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

Brooks worries me. His left to right passing was again very poor last night. You can't afford to have a half back that throws the poor passes that he does regularly. If he can fix that and his short kicking game, he will be a good player.
Matty McK isn't an 80 min hooker and Liddle should be given first crack.

Cows were very ordinary but we contained them well in defence in the first 39 minutes. We nullified Coen Hess quite well.

With Packer, Matalino, McQueen, ET, Twal and Sue to come back, I think we will have a good forward pack this year with good depth. I am more confident than ever that we won't miss Woods at all.

I am also liking the look of the depth in our backline. Thompson, Nofa, Fonua, MWZ and Kev are going to have a real battle for a wing spot. Whilst none are genuine speedsters, they will all make a good fist of it.

Given how ordinary we have traditionally been in trials, I am feeling more optimistic about this year than I was before that game.

 

[strrretch]

I thought it was a great showing from the team. Attitude was good , sliding defence was better than seen for some time. Enjoyed watching the new players.. Thompson, Rochow, Mikeala, Godinet, and if he continues on that showing Gamble will force his way in somewhere. Was surprised by Felise, marsters was good , most players played with zest throughout the entire match. I think Brooks could struggle to keep his spot this year. Good to see

 

[The_Patriot]

Was hoping to see that sort of game from Tyson Gamble.

He's my breakout pick this year. Have a look at his Qld cup highlights and he is one of those players that is always in the right spot and makes things happen.

It's no fluke when a player does that.

Anyone saying he needs 12 months in Nsw cup doesn't understand development and the strength of these state comps.