OFFICIAL Pathways - KOE General Discussion

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Went to the Lidcombe oval games today. Left disgusted at 1/2 time of KOE.
Watched close to 80 Plus points put on us to our ZERO! Had enough.
Penrith were too big, too fast and too skilful for our "future stars", both grades.
Was expecting to have a look at our hyped up next generation of future NRL players.
Didn't see them in Flegg or KOE today.
Penrith had class players way better than ours; right across the park.
I will be taking all the tipster predictions on almost all of these players with a grain of salt.
Years away from anything of NRL standard.
On a positive note, I thought number 20 - Josh Russell in Flegg stood out in that pack.
Apart from the dire football how is the old girl looking?
 
And then they get an over-inflated opinion of themselves & cry foul when they are dropped.
It is the in grained lack of positive attitude that starts in the front office and works its way down.
There is a lot of very talent kids in our club but until the direction changes then the repeat cycle is always going to happen.
 
We aren’t a development club. We collect good juniors and fast track them to first grade

I winced watching the Jordan Miller interview when he mentioned more than once about how ‘hard’ he’d ‘worked’ to earn his first grade debut….

If that’s what he thinks - he best line himself up an apprenticeship somewhere…

He’s like 18 years old and done a pre-season….
He doesn’t even know what work is yet, let alone hard work!!
 
I winced watching the Jordan Miller interview when he mentioned more than once about how ‘hard’ he’d ‘worked’ to earn his first grade debut….

If that’s what he thinks - he best line himself up an apprenticeship somewhere…

He’s like 18 years old and done a pre-season….
He doesn’t even know what work is yet, let alone hard work!!
All good, but give him a little slack.
He's 18, young, still growing up.
He might feel that way now, but his 25 year old self will know differently.
 
I winced watching the Jordan Miller interview when he mentioned more than once about how ‘hard’ he’d ‘worked’ to earn his first grade debut….

If that’s what he thinks - he best line himself up an apprenticeship somewhere…

He’s like 18 years old and done a pre-season….
He doesn’t even know what work is yet, let alone hard work!!
100%.
The top line props in the game must have had a chuckle to themselves hearing that.
One of my big concerns with juniors is this. The club and fans call them superstars when they are young. Once they enter the senior programs they are very swiftly elevated to NRL status…most of them years before their time. This validates the superstar mentality. Over the past 3 years we have debuted a number of 18-19-20 year olds who HAD NOT earned the right to play first grade due to putting the hard yards in and achieving success in the senior pathways. For every success like Bula and Galvin, there are many more who have struggled. Take Matamua as an example. At 21 he is approaching the time where he should be really pushing for top grade. We fast tracked him 2 years ago and stalled his development. Had he come through the grades organically, he would be likely demanding selection later this year. Instead we chuck him in every so often with no clear plan and he doesn’t shine. He is still a long way off being a consistent performer in the NRL.
The worst saying in RL is “good enough, old enough”. A thorough apprenticeship through the pathways is far more beneficial and entirely better preparation for what I assume is a very demanding job.
 
100%.
The top line props in the game must have had a chuckle to themselves hearing that.
One of my big concerns with juniors is this. The club and fans call them superstars when they are young. Once they enter the senior programs they are very swiftly elevated to NRL status…most of them years before their time. This validates the superstar mentality. Over the past 3 years we have debuted a number of 18-19-20 year olds who HAD NOT earned the right to play first grade due to putting the hard yards in and achieving success in the senior pathways. For every success like Bula and Galvin, there are many more who have struggled. Take Matamua as an example. At 21 he is approaching the time where he should be really pushing for top grade. We fast tracked him 2 years ago and stalled his development. Had he come through the grades organically, he would be likely demanding selection later this year. Instead we chuck him in every so often with no clear plan and he doesn’t shine. He is still a long way off being a consistent performer in the NRL.
The worst saying in RL is “good enough, old enough”. A thorough apprenticeship through the pathways is far more beneficial and entirely better preparation for what I assume is a very demanding job.
Hopefully this changes under new admin. Richo has openly talked about needing more first grade foot soldiers. I.e. proven first grade talent
 
I gave up on expecting wins in Cup very early in the season. They regularly have 8 or 9 changes per week. We also consistently have to use Massey players due to injuries and suspensions. The positional selections are head scratching. Players should only play in positions that they may play at NRL level. Just an example Mason at 7 and Casey at 6, No offence to either player but moving forward they won’t be playing NRL in those spots. Maybe it was out of necessity. I think any player in cup that is eligible for Flegg should play the remainder of 24 in Flegg. We may just salvage something out of this season if we do that.
Absolutely agree with this.
Sure there are the golden few that have been marked out as needing to go up and down the grades for development but aside from that we should be picking our best side available. Valetua is a utility and should be our fill in player when required.
However when injuries strike this is where the promotion/ demotion should take place.
There are some players that have the skills and instincts to cover multiple positions at a pinch but a lot of players grow up specialising in one or two positions.
The club really should have a list from the top to bottom of every player in top 30, next tier and then juniors in their position and promote and demote according to this.
This would also help with where these players are placed come the end of the year and discussions of who to retain and where to recruit.
This should be our bible and takes the guessing work out of the game day selections.
Eg Casey is a Centre or winger. If in game an injury strikes he should play at 5/8 . If we are naming a side from the start of the week bring Matai up.
The Flegg boys are up to 21 years old. Ideally just about everyone of them should handle cup for at least a game or two.
 
Went to the Lidcombe oval games today. Left disgusted at 1/2 time of KOE.
Watched close to 80 Plus points put on us to our ZERO! Had enough.
Penrith were too big, too fast and too skilful for our "future stars", both grades.
Was expecting to have a look at our hyped up next generation of future NRL players.
Didn't see them in Flegg or KOE today.
Penrith had class players way better than ours; right across the park.
I will be taking all the tipster predictions on almost all of these players with a grain of salt.
Years away from anything of NRL standard.
On a positive note, I thought number 20 - Josh Russell in Flegg stood out in that pack.
Simple strategy.... poach the Penrith juniors.
 
All good, but give him a little slack.
He's 18, young, still growing up.
He might feel that way now, but his 25 year old self will know differently.
I’d suggest our ‘culture’ (or lack there of) allows these kids to think this way…
I’ve heard some of our young blokes speak, you’d think they’re 50 game first graders who don’t know why they’re still in Ressies
 
The club itself has been fuelling this mindset. Sheens was talking them up, and only recently, 3 or 4 of them did an official club podcast. They’re also signing NRL top 30 deals before their 20th birthday.

All but Galvin should still be on development or junior deals. At least Latu Fainu consistently proved he can excel at Cup level when he was at Manly and the couple matches he played for Magpies early this season. Likewise his brother.

Miller, the Lauliliis, Da Silva, Mason, faagatu, Tumeth, Sukkar have done nothing at either Flegg or Cup level to somehow have WT#xxx next to their name. They really haven’t done anything at SG ball level either over the past two seasons. They’re still living off under 17 form.

The club panicked after the Harold Matthews premiership. Signed up all of these kids on future top 30 deals like it was shooting fish in a barrel. In the mean time, there are no actual senior players outside the NRL top 20, or on reserve grade part-time deals, to provide some experience in reserve grade matches. Porter and Casey seem to be it, and Porter is now regularly in first grade. That tells you that a 27yo train and trialists is a better option than 18-20yo NRL or dev contracted players for an NRL forward pack.

The forward pack being consistently named and sent out to play in reserve grade is a blight on the club. Every player except Johannssen are still eligible for Jersey Flegg or Sg Ball. These are the next men up for the NRL forward pack - to take on the likes of JWH, Collins, Leniu, May, Whyte, etc. as an example.

It’s a joke how the old admin managed the salary cap and recruitment/retention to get to this stage. It’s an absolute mess.
Right
 
I'll be at this game on Saturday. A few mates and I go to the Wests v Newtown game at Henson every year. It's a great day. Looking forward to seeing how Naden handles fullback and how Latu goes at 5/8. Hope they haven't brought him back too soon. We don't need to hurry with the season blown from our NRL and KOE sides.
 
Hopefully he can get some quality game time from here until the end of the year. For that reason, I wouldn't put him on the bench for NRL. Play 6/7 for Cup for a while and then if opportunity presents, maybe do the same at NRL for a game or 2 before the year is out.
Be great to see these halves absolutely blitzing reserve grade for a month for their own confidence as much as anything.
 
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