@ said:
Kevin Walters MUST make changes and not worry too much about the result of the series, and focus on building combinations to be a threat from 2018 on-wards. With this in mind, Slater doesnt come in and we look to the future. I'm not dropping Milford, he just doesnt fit into my structure factoring what happened last night:
1\. Boyd
2\. Gagai
3\. Holmes
4\. Chambers [switches to the right]
5\. Oates
6\. Thurston [if not 100%, Morgan comes in as he is the more senior player]
7\. Cronk
8\. Napa
9\. Smith
10\. Lillyman
11\. Thaiday [switches to prop rotation once Hess comes on]
12\. Gillett
13\. McGuire
14\. McCullough
15\. Wallace
16\. Papalli
17\. Hess
Not a team which will win the series, but a team for next year moving forward.
Not having a crack, but if you're not picking Slater to "build combinations for the future", then surely you can't pick Smith, Cronk and Thurston? Two of those won't be there next year and one will probably only have a year or two left. I'd understand where you're coming from if you had Milford and say Hunt or Taylor in the halves, but the spine you've named will literally last two games.
Slater has to be there, Boyd is solid, but was down last night and lacks the X-factor that Slater does. If Billy was playing, we score on Smith's kick infield to Cronk.
Agree on Hess and Wallace, not sold on McCullough but I can see where you're coming from.
FWIW:
1\. Slater
2\. Holmes
3\. Chambers
4\. Gagai
5\. Boyd
6\. Thurston
7\. Cronk
8\. Napa
9\. Smith
10\. Thaiday
11\. Papalii
12\. Gillett
13\. McGuire
14\. Hess
15\. Wallace
16\. Oates
17\. Sims/Kaufusi
Milford played well, but unless he brings a kicking game I can't pick him, it made Cronk too easy of a target until Smith remembered he had boots on too. Wouldn't mind giving Taylor a go, handy goalkicker too.
The bench utility has worked well for us in the past but with the pack NSW has we just can't afford to. Jack Bird is strong enough to play anywhere except prop and create his own space, we don't have that luxury. Don't exactly rate Sims, but he's a bit bigger than Kaufusi I guess.
Oates to play edge, possibly moving Papalii to lock (who needs to lift).
Gillett had a rare bad game and that cost us the first two tries, doubt it'll happen again.
All that said though, we know the selectors won't change anything, don't rate Walters as a coach, and NSW should do it comfortably barring a catastrophic collapse (like picking Pearce in the halves again).
