Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
Nah mate.
He's a little paler - here's a shot I nabbed yesterday at Brooky 👇
OFFICIAL SG Ball Cup
- Thread starter ancient_magpie
- Start date
He's a little paler - here's a shot I nabbed yesterday at Brooky 👇
jrtiger
Well-known member
ugly win for Wests SG Ball but good signs that there's an ability to find another gear when the going gets tough. thought the forward pack played well as a unit and Paea was lively once again at the back.
a win against Manly this week will have them in contention for the 8 after a very slow start. regardless of whether Pheonix and Christian go up they should be winning.
a win against Manly this week will have them in contention for the 8 after a very slow start. regardless of whether Pheonix and Christian go up they should be winning.
Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
I was out at Brooky yesterday and Manly got monstered by Souths.
While he was playing in a well beaten side, Onitoni Large was hugely disappointing.
The kid has all the attributes yet continues to play in a dinner suit.
I didn't notice him taking the line on once in the opening half.
In saying that he'll probably have a blinder against us.
Souths are getting better and better and their clash with Parramatta this weekend should be a beauty.
I watched bits and pieces of this game on BarTV and as you say the Rabbitohs are a very good team with plenty of size, speed and a couple of rising superstars in centre Dayne Jennings and 5/8 Taj Alvarez who was out injured when they played Wests Magpies.
I agree Onitoni Large was virtually invisible which is not uncommon for him when his team is being dominated.
I’ve been saying it since I first watched him as a 16y.o playing for Wests Magpies, he is not a 5/8 as he stops running when his team is under the pump, he should be playing fullback to reduce his playmaking responsibility and force him to use his strength which is running the ball.
He has looked as dangerous as ever when running the ball this season, but does not do it near enough and I’d say that is part of the reason why Manly are keeping him playing SG Ball to give him a kick up the backside when a couple of others have already been promoted.
I still think he could be an elite NRL quality fullback if he changes position sometime soon.
I’m near certain the Rabbitohs have Dayne Jennings contracted for a few years, but he is an elite talent being a big, tall, strong, fast and skilful right centre.
I think he will play NRL later this season if the Rabbitohs get a few injuries to their outside backs.
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Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
Of course both these fine young gents are from Terrigal
Start bottling the lagoon water footy fans
We might need HBG to put you on the payroll as a Terrigal based talent scout 😎
Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
It’s been a long time between drinks for Wests.
I think the last Terrigal Shark to wear our colours
was the great Tim Moltzen
It’s a very good talent producing club with the likes of Scott Drinkwater in recent years.
In all seriousness you would hope our club being Wests Tigers is casting our junior talent net far and wide and not leaving hot spots such as the Central Coast just for the likes of the Roosters and Rabbitohs, particularly when we have a Central Coast local in Shaun Miekekamp now in charge.
As I’m sure you would know there is a large number of ex Balmain district people now living on the Central Coast and I assume there is also a decent number of ex Western Suburbs district people living there too.
On a side note if our NRL team beat the Cowboys on Saturday, I’d say our following game at Gosford against the Bunnies will sell out very quickly as they also have plenty of support and ex South Sydney people on the Central Coast.
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Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
Souths & Manly seem to have a pipeline into Terrigal of late. Benji Keene-Okeefe & Aymn Hamilton in Manly Flegg side and the aforementioned lads at Souths along with Taj’s brother Corbin and Matt Humphries (who played alongside Makasini at Newington).
But seriously Terrigal is small fry on the Coast. We run near the tail of the ladder in first grade most years. The biggest pool of talent is found at The Entrance, Wyong, Kincumber etc
Yeah I know Benji Keane-O’Keefe’s family and my cousin has had plenty to do with the Wyong Roos over the years.
There has always been plenty of good young talent on the Central Coast and it’s only getting stronger.
I hope Wests Tigers don’t forget to tap in and get our share.
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he was terrible in every game i watched last year
balmain boy
Well-known member
Yep, it was an ugly, disjointed win. Tough conditions, not easy to have a 90 min break mid match. But there was no standouts. The NRL contracted his eye again disappointing. Godinet was invisible all match until one good run towards the end to set up CTM, whom also had been very quiet all match.
Their spine just isn't good enough. Lele is one of the dumbest footballers I've ever seen. Just not up to Ball level.
Lanyon is the shining light in this squad. And a good goal kicker too. Glassie with back to back sin bins though is disappointing. He also contributed absolutely nothing all match.
The pack is solid, the backs are better than the losers they had at the start of the season, but we still lack X factor. Very little speed or power to break a tackle through out the squad.
If this team had a leader, a halfback and a coach they'd challenge for top 4.
Illawarra had some strong prospects despite being winless. Weatherall, Talbott for starters
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Tigerstigerstigers
Well-known member
Disagree on Glassie. Thought he was good
Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
It’s a small world ...
I was heavily involved with Benji’s original club, Gosford Kariong.
I’ve been cheering the kid on since the under 7s and as you would know, his dad Phil coached a bunch of teams throughout the juniors - famously the only man to ever make use of a white board in the halftime huddle at under 10s level 🤣🤣🤣
Bus 2 Terrigal Lagoon
Active member
Wasn’t he injured for much of last year?
But yeah, on Saturday he played like a Rugby Union five eighth, just trying to set up his supports without ever providing a run threat.
I think @Vicious idea of trying him at fullback is interesting.
But from what I saw of him in his final year at Wests and on Saturday, I really don’t see him as a #6, unless someone can change his mindset - his first option needs to be to run the ball. He needs to watch a bit Ethan Strange.
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Saw things a little bit differently.
Yes we're not the most fluid or explosive side at the moment but they really dug in and fought out a good win against good opposition, both dry weather and for the most part very wet weather football.
We looked good early on in the dry opening up a lead and should have been more then Steelers got a try they shouldn't when fullback Aaron Paea hoped the ball was going dead from a grubber and a Steelers player snuck under his guard to score. That was one of very few faults from Paea in this match.
Thought Havea Jr was by far and away our best ... scored with strength, good service from dummyhalf, tackled with ferocity causing crucial errors and also some good clean-up defence, then in his 2nd stint some good ball-running and ball-playing at lock. When he was off the field is when Steelers scored most of their points, same with CTM but he was less dominant apart from his match-winning try.
Lakeman is vital to this side, good game management and is actually quite strong & busy in defence. Nothing flashy about him but he did produce another try assist albeit lucky grubber when Paea was jolly-on-the-spot to score. Still holding hope he can progress much further because he has game smarts.
Glassie had his best game for the season despite his sin bin (collecting legs of the kicker on follow-through). Would not be surprised if he misses a week so that'll be why if he's not in today's team list. But he strong in his runs often breaking at least one tackle and was solid in defence, and nice try assist for Lanyon.
Lanyon, quality touches ... Paea, dangerous in attack and safe (well except for that one time) at the back in wet conditions ... and Ta'ai, his usual all-effort game adding some variety in attack with his leg speed & footwork in the middle.
Agree on Godinet, 2 or 3 good strong runs, a couple of handling errors, solid contact in D but no barnstorming performance. Hopefully he's just going through the motions working on specific things before Cup or Flegg call-up.
balmain boy
Well-known member
Wests attack is atrocious. There's no shape, no game plan, it's all chaos. Wests have had many opportunities attacking opponents line this season and rarely look like scoring, except against an undermanned Balmain side.
We scored from two bargeovers, a lucky ricochet and an overlap when they had a man in the bin. No amazing team work or skill involved in any of that. Conditions were poor but Illawarra looked the more dangerous side for most of the match.
Lakeman has absolutely no impact on the game. His kicking game is poor, there's no organisation or game management, he's just going through the motions.
He also has no support as there's not a single player in Wests squad with any playmaking ability. No one. Why? How is that even possible given the amount of players at their disposal.
Paea is ok, he has a crack at least, but still he doesn't standout. That error was so ridiculous given the context of the game, and he seems to have a few errors in his game.
There's a few work horses sure but at sg ball level of yours bit standing out the changes of you moving any higher than flegg are very slim. And we don't have many standout players, given our clubs appalling inability to improve players in doubtful that we'll see much improvement in our youngsters, but there's always hope that individual determination can Trump, who is a convicted Rapist and Felon our poor setup
BlackWhiteGold
Well-known member
Hard to disagree with a lot of that but I think you're being a bit harsh on Lakeman. He may not possess that x-factor or quality that suggests NRL potential but he is the game manager of that team and often let down by those around him.
If we compare players to previous years from our pathways, yes I would rate Marc Tannous above him and someone like Riley Oitmann above Paea.
I think we know those who will progress - obviously the NRL signed trio of Havea Jr, CTM & Godinet and James Lanyon & Glassie Glassie have NRL potential qualities about them. Peter Ta'ai as well even though he lacks in bulk, he has good skills for a middle, a huge motor, good defence and nice footwork at the line.
