Positives from Today

agree with Tcat API starts Brown on the bench
Brooks to centre
AD and Hastings in the halves
Pole and Musgrave up front
Joffa at Lock
Blore , Papi , Matta , etc for the back row and bench
2023 could be a change up for us
 
I said the other week, we look great forward future wise, with a decent hooker coming, blore hopefully will have some luck, joffa, Stefano pole matamua and papali, we will have a great forward pack, but we need backs desperately sheens needs to drag Brooks, Douhi, toa, and liddle in tomorrow and tell them they are free to negotiate with another club
 
Tcat said:
Atm, I'd have Api start, keep Brown on the bench and hope Simpkin continued his development in the lower grades. Simpkin may throw his toys out and leave but we need to put our best team forward and an Api / Brown combination looks good to me.
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At this point, Brown is not Top 30 next year and won't be eligible until about Round 10, unless upgraded. Has been good, but with Api arriving, I am unsure he gets an upgrade (depends on who we release I guess).

I think the forgotten one is Rua Ngatikauru. Had he not copped a serious injury, chances are he would have debuted by now and would have been a regular stay in our 17 for the rest of the year. He was the only reason we were scoring points in NSW Cup for first 5 or so games. Hopefully he recovers well and has a big off season ready to go in 2023.
 
Thanks Earl for posting this, I was hoping someone would. And thanks for all the observations. I didn't see the game but listened in on the live stream. It sounded like there were many positives on top of some of the same old same old. I'll watch the replay tomorrow. Cheers
 
Spacecub said:
I said the other week, we look great forward future wise, with a decent hooker coming, blore hopefully will have some luck, joffa, Stefano pole matamua and papali, we will have a great forward pack, but we need backs desperately sheens needs to drag Brooks, Douhi, toa, and liddle in tomorrow and tell them they are free to negotiate with another club
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Brookes and Liddle I agree but Douehi isn't going anywhere. To'a is still developing - some time in reggies will help him.
 
Tcat said:
Atm, I'd have Api start, keep Brown on the bench and hope Simpkin continued his development in the lower grades. Simpkin may throw his toys out and leave but we need to put our best team forward and an Api / Brown combination looks good to me.
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Brown isn’t signed next year and we’d be crazy to sign him given we currently have Api, Liddle, Simpkin, Rua all taking up top 30 spots next year.

Even if we punted Liddle we don’t need 4 hookers.
 
Earl said:
I don't like this argument. Doueihi was a passenger.

Do you think any top club gives him the spot after poor performances ?
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For me, it is the choice we need to make. For a few reasons:

Brooks in the halves doesn't work. He has his moments, but not good enough overall. Based on his comments this week, he will be gone when his contract is up, if not sooner.

A new coach is about to be appointed and will quickly need to decide whether or not to retain Douiehi/Hastings before November 1 comes around. He needs to see how they play together.

Douiehi should be in a playmaking position. He is not a centre. 6 is his spot. Limited opportunities playing where he was last night.

The season is long gone in terms of finals. Let's use this time to try help the future coach rather than persist with something that doesn't work.
 
Tigers_Wests said:
For me, it is the choice we need to make. For a few reasons:

Brooks in the halves doesn't work. He has his moments, but not good enough overall. Based on his comments this week, he will be gone when his contract is up, if not sooner.

A new coach is about to be appointed and will quickly need to decide whether or not to retain Douiehi/Hastings before November 1 comes around. He needs to see how they play together.

Douiehi should be in a playmaking position. He is not a centre. 6 is his spot. Limited opportunities playing where he was last night.

The season is long gone in terms of finals. Let's use this time to try help the future coach rather than persist with something that doesn't work.
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I am happy to let the new coach make the decision. Doueihi to me since juniors is a 13 playing out of position. The question is, is he a better 13 than Matamua or Ofahengaue? After two knee recos and being unhappy not playing 6, I'd be happy to let him go at end of contract.
 
Tigers_Wests said:
For me, it is the choice we need to make. For a few reasons:

Brooks in the halves doesn't work. He has his moments, but not good enough overall. Based on his comments this week, he will be gone when his contract is up, if not sooner.

A new coach is about to be appointed and will quickly need to decide whether or not to retain Douiehi/Hastings before November 1 comes around. He needs to see how they play together.

Douiehi should be in a playmaking position. He is not a centre. 6 is his spot. Limited opportunities playing where he was last night.

The season is long gone in terms of finals. Let's use this time to try help the future coach rather than persist with something that doesn't work.
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It's a good argument and the same one I've had for a while. The thing is I seriously think Brooks was the best half we had yesterday and I don't think it was close. AD was a passenger apart from poor defense and decent goal kicking.

What happened to the AD who at centre or 6 was making busts and throwing some nice passes along with that towering boot. He is a tenth of the player he was last year. Is it his injury ? Is it lack of game time ?

If I was coach I'd be spewing at Douiehi. I'd tell him I want to give him the 6 spot but he has to prove he is a gun player by killing it out there.
 
pawsandclaws1 said:
I am happy to let the new coach make the decision. Doueihi to me since juniors is a 13 playing out of position. The question is, is he a better 13 than Matamua or Ofahengaue? After two knee recos and being unhappy not playing 6, I'd be happy to let him go at end of contract.
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It's a bad situation from a guy I think a lot of us saw as a key player to lead us forward.

Hopefully it's just lack of game time. I think the best decision is to play him in reserve grade at 6 for a month and see how he goes.
 
Tcat said:
Atm, I'd have Api start, keep Brown on the bench and hope Simpkin continued his development in the lower grades. Simpkin may throw his toys out and leave but we need to put our best team forward and an Api / Brown combination looks good to me.
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Brown has shown he is better then liddle and Simpkin combined. Don’t forget Rua. I’d be telling liddle and Simpkin see ya later.
 
Earl said:
It's a bad situation from a guy I think a lot of us saw as a key player to lead us forward.

Hopefully it's just lack of game time. I think the best decision is to play him in reserve grade at 6 for a month and see how he goes.
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I agree. He will take a full year to get back to his best. Really, by end of his contract, there should be youngsters coming through for many positions in our NRL team which is what we want.
 
Come the end of the day, the difference between winning and losing was the 2 tries the Slimy Eels scored while we were a man down.

Dumb kicks early in the tackle count attacking the opposition line while we are down a man when holding possession should be the main objective, is just typical of the way we open up the flood gates and invite oppositions to destroy us.
 
To the fools coming after AD, you've made excuses for Brooks rubbish performances for 9 years yet you want to go in on a guy who is three games back from an ACL injury? Just admit you were wrong about Brooks instead of embarrassing yourselves further.

It's like I said before: You would rather watch the team fail with Brooks than see them succeed with any other half.

Put AD at 5/8 and stop messing around with a low IQ player like Brooks. We have looked like a far better team with him there and Brooks is clearly wanting out so lets give him what he wants.
 
Johns on 9 just said - the key is getting Laurie more involved in the game. Hastings to 13, Brooks at 7 and Doueihi at 6. Johns said he watched Brooks closely and he really competed last night.
 
pawsandclaws1 said:
Johns on 9 just said - the key is getting Laurie more involved in the game. Hastings to 13, Brooks at 7 and Doueihi at 6. Johns said he watched Brooks closely and he really competed last night.
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Hastings to 13 to me just sounds dumb. Doueihi to 13 doesn't sound as dumb but I'm not convinced it will work.

Brooks is a terrier. He competes as much as any player in our team. He also makes critical mistakes at key moments. I don't know what you do with Brooks.

I suppose the idea is you are basically playing one controlling half in Hastings and two edge runners in Brooks and Doueihi. That sounds good for attack if the other forwards get us on the front foot.

The problem is could Hastings do the defensive work required in the middle.

Our halves are a bit of mess. Plenty of talent but so so many flaws.
 
Earl said:
Hastings to 13 to me just sounds dumb. Doueihi to 13 doesn't sound as dumb but I'm not convinced it will work.

Brooks is a terrier. He competes as much as any player in our team. He also makes critical mistakes at key moments. I don't know what you do with Brooks.

I suppose the idea is you are basically playing one controlling half in Hastings and two edge runners in Brooks and Doueihi. That sounds good for attack if the other forwards get us on the front foot.

The problem is could Hastings do the defensive work required in the middle.

Our halves are a bit of mess. Plenty of talent but so so many flaws.
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Johns emphasised the key is getting Laurie involved more in the play. He's a great ball player and is quick. He is unfairly targeted by a few on this forum.
 
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