OFFICIAL Jersey Flegg Cup

Looks like all 3 of our matches at Lidcombe will be covered by NSWRL TV on Saturday including Jersey Flegg going by this paragraph in a press release from NSWRL:

NSWRL TV will showcase all Jersey Flegg Cup matches in Australia and New Zealand featuring the Silktails, one game per week from the Ron Massey Cup, and the finals series of all competitions including the Sydney Shield.

They only ever have cameras at one ground, so Lidcombe it is for Saturday. But i wouldn't put it beyond them to turn the camera off after Ball either.
 
Watched the game on NSWRL app today and not bad for first hit out. Plenty to work on especially our edges in defence towards the back end there. Our middles were great both starters and bench. Faagutu, Tumeth, Matai and Clarke showing why they are who they are. Wouldn't be surprised if these boys make their way to cup soon too
 
Watched the Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg match against Fiji live & went back to rewatch on the NSWRLTV app. Here are some observations …

Impressive start to the season for most part (55 of the 70 mins). Much inferior opposition but a few of their forwards & outside backs gave our guys an opportunity against some much bigger bodies.

My best were Iverson Matai, Bailey Hodges, Zak Clarke, Tumeth, Broederlow, Faagutu & Ahu with Cayne Nicholas also good.

Our forwards were strong in both A & D, in contact, fast play-the-balls and gave Hodges (hooker), Matai (5/8), Nicholas (lock) & Teapua (half) time to set some shape.

Faagutu & Aho excellent. Aho provided some useful 2nd phase & with Hodges provided some strong goal-line defence saving a few tries from dummy half dive over attempts.

Tumeth was great in the 1st 20 mins but there was something just as impressive about his backrow partner Lachlan Broederlow with his strength, aggression & effort areas.

I think Hodges could go on to become our 3rd choice dummy half behind Api & TDS, good passing game, good vision, good defence & knows when to run! Watch this space with him.

Cayne Nicholas was impressive as a linkman, good energy and defence was fine. If he can add some size, no reason why we can’t see him progress with the right development.

Our bench middles in Zac Clarke, Fisher & Taungatua were all strong. I can see how they have kept Herman out of the side. Zac is special. Can play middle, edge & 5/8 plus a very good goal kicker. Not overly big but deceptively strong with some nice footwork at the line. He went to 5/8 when Matai went off in the final 15 mins (pretty sure Matai wasn’t injured so maybe will be promoted to Cup this week as he was impressive on the left hand side setting up a few tries & good short kicking game).

We were found out at times in the outside backs defence & our fullback’s cover defence was weak (mind you against some bigger bodies). Not sold on Curl, Naicori, Malloy or Lene off this game as all made some errors or poor defensive reads or poor tackle attempts.

In terms of the players who stood out to me to watch for future progression …

Matai, Hodges, Clarke, Tumeth, Broederlow, Faagutu, Ahu, Nicholas (and keen to see how Fisher, Taungatua & Wright Jr go through season too).
 
We were found out at times in the outside backs defence & our fullback’s cover defence was weak (mind you against some bigger bodies). Not sold on Curl, Naicori, Malloy or Lene off this game as all made some errors or poor defensive reads or poor tackle attempts.
If we are fair dinkum about development of our best players, I see the likes of Nav Willett, Luke Laulili'i, Will Craig, Heath Mason (if not higher in Cup) taking most of their spots shortly.
 
Watched the Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg match against Fiji live & went back to rewatch on the NSWRLTV app. Here are some observations …

Impressive start to the season for most part (55 of the 70 mins). Much inferior opposition but a few of their forwards & outside backs gave our guys an opportunity against some much bigger bodies.

My best were Iverson Matai, Bailey Hodges, Zak Clarke, Tumeth, Broederlow, Faagutu & Ahu with Cayne Nicholas also good.

Our forwards were strong in both A & D, in contact, fast play-the-balls and gave Hodges (hooker), Matai (5/8), Nicholas (lock) & Teapua (half) time to set some shape.

Faagutu & Aho excellent. Aho provided some useful 2nd phase & with Hodges provided some strong goal-line defence saving a few tries from dummy half dive over attempts.

Tumeth was great in the 1st 20 mins but there was something just as impressive about his backrow partner Lachlan Broederlow with his strength, aggression & effort areas.

I think Hodges could go on to become our 3rd choice dummy half behind Api & TDS, good passing game, good vision, good defence & knows when to run! Watch this space with him.

Cayne Nicholas was impressive as a linkman, good energy and defence was fine. If he can add some size, no reason why we can’t see him progress with the right development.

Our bench middles in Zac Clarke, Fisher & Taungatua were all strong. I can see how they have kept Herman out of the side. Zac is special. Can play middle, edge & 5/8 plus a very good goal kicker. Not overly big but deceptively strong with some nice footwork at the line. He went to 5/8 when Matai went off in the final 15 mins (pretty sure Matai wasn’t injured so maybe will be promoted to Cup this week as he was impressive on the left hand side setting up a few tries & good short kicking game).

We were found out at times in the outside backs defence & our fullback’s cover defence was weak (mind you against some bigger bodies). Not sold on Curl, Naicori, Malloy or Lene off this game as all made some errors or poor defensive reads or poor tackle attempts.

In terms of the players who stood out to me to watch for future progression …

Matai, Hodges, Clarke, Tumeth, Broederlow, Faagutu, Ahu, Nicholas (and keen to see how Fisher, Taungatua & Wright Jr go through season too).
Thanks for that good assessment. A good insight to some players and our deficiencies out wide.
 
Jersey Flegg Cup - Round 2 vs. Raiders

Saturday, March 16 - 11:00 a.m. AEDT
GIO Stadium, Canberra

WESTS TIGERS

1. Matthew Curl
2. Tutonu Junior Wright
3. Brenden Naicori
4. William Malloy
5. Ofele Lene
6. Kobie Wilson (c)
7. Naati Teaupa
8. Vaka Aho
9. Bailey Hodges
10. Chris Faagutu
11. Lachlan Broederlow
12. Brandon Tumeth
13. Cayne Nicholas

14. Thomas Fisher
15. Zakauri Clarke
16. Metuisela Taungatua
17. Fangavalu Hammond

18. Tristyn Ball
19. Herman Tofaeono
Coach: Leon Latulipe
 
Jersey Flegg Cup - Round 2 vs. Raiders

Saturday, March 16 - 11:00 a.m. AEDT
GIO Stadium, Canberra

WESTS TIGERS

1. Matthew Curl
2. Tutonu Junior Wright
3. Brenden Naicori
4. William Malloy
5. Ofele Lene
6. Kobie Wilson (c)
7. Naati Teaupa
8. Vaka Aho
9. Bailey Hodges
10. Chris Faagutu
11. Lachlan Broederlow
12. Brandon Tumeth
13. Cayne Nicholas

14. Thomas Fisher
15. Zakauri Clarke
16. Metuisela Taungatua
17. Fangavalu Hammond

18. Tristyn Ball
19. Herman Tofaeono
Coach: Leon Latulipe
Decent looking side, but will be a much bigger test than round 1 against the Fijians.
Let’s hope they go well and put pressure on our NSW Cup side that doesn’t look real strong.
 
Attended all three matches unfortunately today and this is my take on the game.

The raiders completely exposed our edges. We cannot defend on our edges at all.

Cayne Nicholas is not a lock at all. He gave our big boys hospital passes right at the line. Deserved to get smashed for his efforts today. Would rather have Faagutu or Clarke at lock, maybe even bring TDS up and put Hodges at lock

Big Herman Tofaeono coming into the game in the last 13mins made absolutely no sense to me either.

Our middles in Faagutu, Aho, Herman were solid again but not much you can do offensively when you're defending majority of the game

Our halves were shocking. 14 was shocking

Our coach needs to pull his head out and change our gameplan of one out running then kicking on the last cos it doesn't work
 
Attended all three matches unfortunately today and this is my take on the game.

The raiders completely exposed our edges. We cannot defend on our edges at all.

Cayne Nicholas is not a lock at all. He gave our big boys hospital passes right at the line. Deserved to get smashed for his efforts today. Would rather have Faagutu or Clarke at lock, maybe even bring TDS up and put Hodges at lock

Big Herman Tofaeono coming into the game in the last 13mins made absolutely no sense to me either.

Our middles in Faagutu, Aho, Herman were solid again but not much you can do offensively when you're defending majority of the game

Our halves were shocking. 14 was shocking

Our coach needs to pull his head out and change our gameplan of one out running then kicking on the last cos it doesn't work
TDS played in the NSW Cup game. Not sure how many minutes though as I only caught the last 10 of the game and he was still at hooker.
 
TDS played in the NSW Cup game. Not sure how many minutes though as I only caught the last 10 of the game and he was still at hooker.
He didn’t play long enough and this is our problem. Our potential future stars need to be playing 80mins a week irrespective of the grade. TDS is good enough to start in Reggie’s and play for 80.
 
Attended all three matches unfortunately today and this is my take on the game.

The raiders completely exposed our edges. We cannot defend on our edges at all.

Cayne Nicholas is not a lock at all. He gave our big boys hospital passes right at the line. Deserved to get smashed for his efforts today. Would rather have Faagutu or Clarke at lock, maybe even bring TDS up and put Hodges at lock

Big Herman Tofaeono coming into the game in the last 13mins made absolutely no sense to me either.

Our middles in Faagutu, Aho, Herman were solid again but not much you can do offensively when you're defending majority of the game

Our halves were shocking. 14 was shocking

Our coach needs to pull his head out and change our gameplan of one out running then kicking on the last cos it doesn't work
Thanks for the report.
Did anyone standout in a badly beaten side ?
 
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For me it was our props Aho, Faagutu & Herman once he got on. Also Junior Wright our winger was dangerous with ball in hand but apart from that it was a hard time for our boys defending majority of the game
Yeah I definitely think we'll see Faagutu, Aho & Herman progress to Cup this season (Faagutu possibly sooner than later). These 3 all have qualities we lack in the middle.
 
Yeah I definitely think we'll see Faagutu, Aho & Herman progress to Cup this season (Faagutu possibly sooner than later). These 3 all have qualities we lack in the middle.
The problem in Flegg is our gameplan of attack. When we use our big boys as link men instead of battering rams all game we open up the field for our backs which we showed glimpses of against the raiders and tbh tore their edges apart.
 
Seriously, I've been seeing this guy Faagatu's name repeatedly here on these forums as the future saviour of the club. I've watched three games with him in Flegg now, and at the moment he is a myth! On Saturday, he gave away two ill-disciplined penalties, barely had any impact running the ball, and seems to pick and choose when he'll put in some effort in defence such as getting back onside, line speed, kick pressure, or kick chase. No different to the two games I saw last year.

Aho was #8? Easily the most damaging forward in that Flegg side on the weekend. Lots of post-contact metres. Got through lots of tackles too for a big fella. However like Faagatu, has lazy retreat speed, lazy kick pressure and chase. If your two starting props are lazy in these areas, then it's not a surprise getting pumped by a well-drilled opposition who's props make the effort like Canberra's on the weekend.

Herman barely had any game time, so I don't know how you can deduce he will move up to Cup at this stage. I agree he can be a damaging ball runner from what I saw in two games last year, but I assume like the other two above but worse, he only likes to play on one-side of the ball if the coach isn't putting him on before half time. If that's the case, it's a shame he gets the short end of the stick because it seems the whole club in all senior grades has a similar attitude to defence.

IMO, these issues aren't a fitness thing. It's happening from the Kick Off. It's an attitude thing. And for that reason, none of them would progress to first grade at any other NRL club.
So you disregard the ball skills that provided space on both edges on to Tumeth and the last play of the game where they made metres from Faagutus offload, the effort to stop Canberra from making it 40-0 with a last ditch effort. You can't expect these young kids to be game changers when playing off the back foot and he's been playing out of position since he's been here with us.

Have you tried defending majority of the game as a middle forward and not getting tired because your team is getting pumped and the opposition scoring non stop?

Not saying the kid is Payne Haas or Tino Faasuamaleaui by any means but to say the kid is lazy is a reach from two games you watched last year and one game you watched this year.
 
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