Simona & his winger

[guyofthetiger]

I'd pick JAC over him but he was good today. Yes he made some mistakes but what about Tedesco's dud pass. Do we haul Tedesco over the coals for two ordinary games in a row.

Watch the replay. Rankin was standing shoulder to shoulder with Tedesco when Tedesco threw it to the wing. He was about five metres out of position, again.

I agree. Tedescos pass wasn't the best but a decent winger should have been there to take it.

Rankin was in front of the line of play, as if he was playing what he anticipated (a line break/tackle bust), not what was actually happening.

 

[coopy]

I'd pick JAC over him but he was good today. Yes he made some mistakes but what about Tedesco's dud pass. Do we haul Tedesco over the coals for two ordinary games in a row.

Watch the replay. Rankin was standing shoulder to shoulder with Tedesco when Tedesco threw it to the wing. He was about five metres out of position, again.

I have to agree with above summation. I was at the game and Teddy blew up royally after the play. I think it was a set piece and Rankin was on his shoulder and not on the outside as he should have been.

I also thought Rankin's effort in the second half when he caught the ball and fell over with the line over wasn't great. It kind of looked like he stopped and didn't want to commit.

 

[Patts]

Rankin has been solid at best up until today, when he was unreliable in positioning and ball control.
Poor Simona playing outside of and defending next to Moses today!! Moses couldn't pass from right to left today. And he showed he again that he panics when put under pressure.
On a positive note WOW Brooks has improved defensively.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

Rankin was out of position several times during the game, the pass was on it wasnt Teddys fault Rankin wasnt in position.

 

[fergiefurr]

Rankin was just about worst on field today. I seriously can't fathom anyone defending him.

Again I don't blame him, he tries, the poor bloke just isn't a winger. This isn't 20 years ago when you could chuck anyone on the wing and it was fine. Wing is now an important and specialist position. To be a winger in the NRL you need to:

* makes meters early in the set to get the team off to a good start
* be quick/strong enough to finish off any opportunity given to you by your inside men
* always be awake/alert for the ball coming your way even if it's 30m infield
* smart decisions in defence when faced with overlaps/third man plays

These are just the basics needed. To me Rankin shows ZERO of these attributes. I would say that he has knocked on once in every single game this year brining the ball out of our own end. He got 1 chance today that any NYC winger would finish and completely botched it. There were 2/3 other half to slim chances to finish and he never looked like it.

Again I don't blame him, it's on Taylor for picking a guy who had never played wing there. But quiet simply he needs to go.
* safe under the high ball/clean up grubbers etc

 

[southerntiger]

I'd pick JAC over him but he was good today. Yes he made some mistakes but what about Tedesco's dud pass. Do we haul Tedesco over the coals for two ordinary games in a row.

Watch the replay. Rankin was standing shoulder to shoulder with Tedesco when Tedesco threw it to the wing. He was about five metres out of position, again.

I agree. Tedescos pass wasn't the best but a decent winger should have been there to take it.

Rankin was in front of the line of play, as if he was playing what he anticipated (a line break/tackle bust), not what was actually happening.

Yep I blame Rankin primarily for that one. He should have been wider. I don't get the Rankin hate but he was well out of position for that one. At this level, players have to expect you to be where you should be.

 

[TYGA]

He did the same at Cambo against the warriors. If he hugs the touch line he scores.

 

[Tuiaki_Chicken_Wings]

Rankin is a stop gap and it shows.

He ahs 1 or 2 howlers in him a game.

He is either a yard behind where he should be or a yard too close.

He is not a winger fullstop.

Time to end this experiment.

Ill got a solution - put a natural winger out there.

JAC swallows up that cross field kick from Brooks in the first half. Rankin was running in towards the middle before realising it was heading over his head. Blokes a half not a winger. This is a change I would expect from Sheens, thought we were past this crap.

 

[Tuiaki_Chicken_Wings]

I think Simona has been off. Rankin was good today.

Wow Steve, dont normally have a issue with your posts but seriously? Simona has received no qaulity ball on the left and has been a machine defensively. Rankin has been poor.

Can I ask how much early ball Simona got today? Maybe one/two max. Gives him no time to do anything. Whenever Kev got early ball he looked dangerous, if only we did this on the other side too.

 

[jirskyr]

I am reminded of a game where Beau Ryan caught a pass whilst standing in touch. He didn't step into touch trying to catch an errant pass - he was standing in touch when they passed it to him.

Rankin has that kind of positional play every time. I know two weeks now Brooks has put in a dodgy cross-field kick that Rankin chased in vain, but I have no confidence in his finishing whatsoever.

Say what you might about Patty Richards, at least the dude was in the right place, could catch and could break a tackle. Rankin can barely muster a tackle break, is always a metre in front or behind the pass, and somehow today fell like a lopped tree without anyone within cooee of him.

Actually Rankin has one good trait - he suddenly takes some good hitups really late in the match when we are pretty much done. I don't know where they come from, but he has 2 or 3 really good hitups at about the 75th minute mark.

 

[Geo]

Rankin as a winger is not in Fitzy or Ryan class…More 4 TRY Keith IMO....

He's solid but we need more...

 

[Harvey]

I'd pick JAC over him but he was good today. Yes he made some mistakes but what about Tedesco's dud pass. Do we haul Tedesco over the coals for two ordinary games in a row.

Tedesco ordinary?? One bad pass is all you can find wrong with his game?? We lose that game by 20 today if Tedesco is not in the team.

He wasn't up to his usual standard for the past two games and he make a shocking pass at a critical time. We definitely don't lose that game by 20 without Tedesco. We didn't score any points. Yes his defence was great but it wasn't 20 points great.

He definitely saved 2 certain tries that i can remember the Radradra tackle which he was certain to score and holding Jennings up over the line = 8 points for sure and tmaybe 12 points if the conversions go over.

Could not agree more. Hope people aren't expecting the attack to be based on pass it to Teddy

 

[Tigermama]

Nope, poor effort every game he's played.
He's on a 3 year deal too, lol…

Maybe when Asipeli signs with the Panthers - this idiot can be the state cup captain.

Three year deal?? What the…Are u kidding? :astonished:

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

He isnt a winger. Always out of position, lacks any threat what so ever on the wing.

Today he wasnt even close to solid, he never holds his line on the wing let alone again (2 games in a row) making a mistake hitting it up from our own end which isnt on.

What I find frustrating the most out of him is he holds his wing position in defence but not attack.

He is a half/fullback has played that most of his career and looks for the ball rather than wait for it.

Time for JAC

Well our halves aren't brilliant, so if JT wants to do his mad experiments, then do it with Rankin in the halves, I don't care which one either.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

I seem to remember Taylor saying when he came to the club that the days of playing players out of position , or with injuries were over,
Let's see….half playing on the wing........... something doesn't fit there. Not sure what !!
At least he didn't say anything about putting a Hooker on the bench to cover for our other two Hookers.
It's going to be interesting when hooker No 4 is fit then we can have 3 Hookers on the bench and still have one on the field.
Maybe Taylors theory with this , is that the other team will be rolling around ,piddling themselves with laughter at these tactics, and we can simply roll up the field and score at will. This could well revolutionize Coaching '

A cunning plan :roll

 

[Tiger_Watto]

He may be a decent player, but he's a terrible winger. Looks all at sea.

unfortunately you have hit the nail on the head

X3

He isn't a winger. He must be doing something right at Training for JT to be picking him every week though.

The correct combination on the Left is staring us in the face, but I doubt JT will make changes to the defensive pattern now.

 

[maxxy86]

I was real keen on seeing rankin back in the nrl but it's just not working. You can tell he's not at ease with it also. Jt had to bite the bullet and play JAC