tigerballs
Well-known member
Just watch the Broncos game last week, see if Billy Walters makes a difference.
Hookers. (9)
- Thread starter TIGERS
- Start date
TIGERS
Well-known member
I love Api. Don't get me wrong. I think its absolutely correct to have him at the club and to let TDS go for the reasons we did. This isn't a WT discussion.
I think @Jolls , -- is indeed correct. (If Rugby League was played with dot points he'd be an immortal).
But have you noticed that the clamour around who plays 9 for NSW is not really the same as it was 15 years ago? It was a BIIIIIIGGG deal back in the day. Like from 2008-2012... it was Buderus or Farah or Ennis?? It was war. It was a discussion that was almost as important as the halves debate. Maybe I'm just older?? The fuss isn't the same and I guess there is more of a feeling of any decent Hooker will do a job so long as the forwards win the battle.
I think @Jolls , -- is indeed correct. (If Rugby League was played with dot points he'd be an immortal).
But have you noticed that the clamour around who plays 9 for NSW is not really the same as it was 15 years ago? It was a BIIIIIIGGG deal back in the day. Like from 2008-2012... it was Buderus or Farah or Ennis?? It was war. It was a discussion that was almost as important as the halves debate. Maybe I'm just older?? The fuss isn't the same and I guess there is more of a feeling of any decent Hooker will do a job so long as the forwards win the battle.
Jolls
Well-known member
Sorry CC, no - just the way Army taught me to write an alalysis. State what you are going to say, say it, then tell them what you said.
I think the key to the whole thing is how you go about building your team and what the key plyers in your spine do. While a hooker touches the ball more than enayone else he isn't the playmaker. So without a decent playmaker a high quality hooker on big $ is not worth the expense (unless he brings omething else - like Api did). So you have to spend $ on your halves first. You can also probably delay on the fullback if you need to.
But it doesn't matter what talent you bring in it can't fuction well behind a beaten pack. If we rewind the clock to Bateman/Stef/Papalii where they could hodl there own but not dominate we had halves that couldn't really direct the show. Brooks/Wakeham, Sullivan, Sezer, Galvin - they really couldn't control the game even though they were benefiting from Api's service. If we remember to when Api first came across our middles just couldn't develop a combination because he was steps ahead of him.
Api was worth it at the time for the additional stuff he bought to the team and, on paper, we had a forward pack that should have been able to hold its own. So we had the right strategy but we didn't have the right halves to enable it all.
Our halves are developing and we haven't quite got the go forward we need to dominate for decent periods of time. It is getting there though and Api is more than useful. Having said that Hope is probably better for us than TDS because he does the basics well and holds up the middle in defence. I see him being the starting hooker as things progress to take the energy out of the game and allow Api to use his craft when he comes on.
Totally agree on Taruva.
Jolls
Well-known member
I think at SOO/Kangaroo level you can do basic well, go the other way and do crafty/quick - or do both. QLD were using a combination of Grant and Hunt and NSW has gone with Robson and Watson.
If we look at the NSW combination Robson is there to provide good service but more importantly shore up the middle during the opening onslaught. With Connor Watson coming on the run riot once the sting is out of the game. He is more about speed than crafty - but both have the ability (Watson moreso) to keep the A/B defenders enetertained to give the halves/middles more time. I think Api is the best hooker of the the three by a few yards - but what NSW are after is a solid middle and then speed.
At SOO/Kangaroo level there is so much strike across the park that you can affor to be less cunning around the middle - and certainly for SOO it is defence that wins games. Robson is there for his defence and Watson is there for his abiity to break apart defence with his speed. What he offers above Api is the ability to play multiple positions.
In clubland it is a different story as you don't have strike in almost every psoition so you have to prioritise. The top 4 teams all set a good platform and have a stable spine and the hooker is a key part of that. In fact if we look at our match up in NZ this weekend one of the key points on the tip sheet is sure to be how to exploit the forced changes to the Wahs spine.
Based on what I saw from Hope last weekend, and the size of the Kiwi pack, it woudl not surprise me at all if Benji takes a leaf out of the NSW book and has Api on the pine for the first 20 so he comes on fresh and uses his guile to create havoc down the middle corridor with Taruva. It would probably be my game plan if I had the clipboard this weekend.
BAGNF05
Well-known member
Too intelligent for AI
crazycat
Well-known member
That makes sense. Heck a common training technique.
.. Yep so what do we do as a club. Hire Api at Hooker and develop Bula into a fullback .. ROFL.
I would love to see Hope make it. I think there is something too a 28 year old who goes "this is my last shot" as opposed to 20 years olds with managers pushing them.
That said, it's an interesting hypothetical... We hired Api then we hired a fairly large pack in Paps/Bateman/Klem/etc. None of "Brooks/Wakeham, Sullivan, Sezer, Galvin" ever clicked. I hated the idea that we hired Sezer as I really thought he was a hasbeen, but he was the closest we got to a NR7 of that group.... Imagine if the halves pairs clicked, we would have had the pack and hooker to go really forward.
Damn glad Api is here, but your point is proven so well. Releasing TDS is 100% the right decision. We don't have the forward pack to benefit from him and we should build for Haywood in due time.
