LIVE GAME Team v Roosters trial..LIVE game discussion

Live Game Discussion
Tucker said:
Hugo did whatever he wanted out there. We couldn’t stop him.
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Sure Savala I think is a quality player. But Robinson aint a coaches ass hair, just had an unlimited salary cap to work with up till now, hence the DCE mistake.. Now the auditors are onto the rorters "retirement" plan all the rorters players talk about. Once Savala gets overcalled by the long neck brontosaurus & they start losing games. he will get the craps & go elsewhere , despite the brown paper bag.The rorters, now playing on an even field wont be any force to be reckonded with. Acutaully never where , just had more money to spend that the rest of the NRL clubs.
 
Champ1 said:
Sure Savala I think is a quality player. But Robinson aint a coaches ass hair, just had an unlimited salary cap to work with up till now, hence the DCE mistake.. Now the auditors are onto the rorters "retirement" plan all the rorters players talk about. Once Savala gets overcalled by the long neck brontosaurus & they start losing games. he will get the craps & go elsewhere , despite the brown paper bag.The rorters, now playing on an even field wont be any force to be reckonded with. Acutaully never where , just had more money to spend that the rest of the NRL clubs.
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Watched the latest Jurassic movie last night, there were a few long neck Brontosaurus hybrids in that lol.

Nothing would please me more than to see those pricks put in a stinker season, long over due.
 
Champ1 said:
Sure Savala I think is a quality player. But Robinson aint a coaches ass hair, just had an unlimited salary cap to work with up till now, hence the DCE mistake.. Now the auditors are onto the rorters "retirement" plan all the rorters players talk about. Once Savala gets overcalled by the long neck brontosaurus & they start losing games. he will get the craps & go elsewhere , despite the brown paper bag.The rorters, now playing on an even field wont be any force to be reckonded with. Acutaully never where , just had more money to spend that the rest of the NRL clubs.
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I’m not sure why you chose my post to unveil this rant to the world, but fill ya boots….
BTW, you are completely wrong but that’s an argument for another day.
 
Some take-outs & observations after watching a 2nd time.

It was a very encouraging watch but always keeping in mind this was an NRL depth trial only and against a 2nd tier Roosters team. Still a good exhibit of our young talent & systems for '26.

- Great to see our players looking very fit and the profile of players across the park. For example, fast agile fullbacks, strong decision-making metre-eating centres, game-managing halfback, smaller high leg speed middles, big powerful backrowers with offloads etc etc.

- I thought we were the better team in the 1st half despite being down 16-0 at one stage. The tries against us can be put down to inexperience. 2 of their tries were from multiple repeat sets and the 3rd was started by poor effort from Javon Andrews in cleaning up a loose ball as we attacked.

- Makasini could have easily had 5 tries, knocking on after a low pass from Madden and then Roosters getting a finger-tip to the ball when Mak had an straight run to score. Made some good decisions & contact in defence.

- Madden's passing game was immense. Dug so deep into the line squaring up and then could throw bullets a decent width to a player moving onto the ball. The speed at which his passes travel is important.

- A lot's been said about his awesome kicking game but interesting that he kicked for yardage & grass. Last year we predominantly kicked for height allowing our chasers time to be on the catcher. Maybe it was a strategy due to the windy day on Saturday or that he possesses a long kick???

- Our tackling seemed focused on hit to hurt & win the collision rather than hit & hold like last year. Very refreshing & it resulted in handling errors a few times like the Sione Fainu tackle.

- Attard & Brookes both presented issues to the defence on their sweeps with their speed & footwork.

- Another observation was we had a middle quartet of Luke Jack, Mason, Murray & Haywood in the 10 min period before halftime when fatigue sets in - focused on line speed, leg speed, agility, effort & quick PTBs.

- Tino Tavana, not only his magical acrobatic try, his effort plays were first class. Twice he contested high kicks in the 2nd half, both resulting in Roosters errors because he made it a contest with his jumping ability. Produced some strong effort tackles from marker and despite not being a powerful winger, either hit the ball at speed from the dummy half in yardage using footwork to land on his front or could accelerate quickly from dummy half.

- Was not one player who did not play their role on Saturday, Benji would have been delighted. Saukuru was outstanding at left centre in the 2nd half in A&D, Broederlow was strong on the left edge, Mitch Taotua on the right edge (just looks a player this guy), twin bro Max Taotua has exquisite hands for a centre & strong in contact and yardage, Kit Laulilii's leg speed & power was encouraging, Havea Jr's hands in the middle brilliant, Lanyon's powerful runs from dummy half, Luke Jack's hustle & bone-jarring tackles, Haywood's deception, Andrews passing game, CTM's final 10 mins, Patrick Herbert's defensive reads on the right.

- Despite criticism in some circles, I thought Mason was good as a smaller fast middle for the 1st time (Bulldogs like), Sukkar did his job and was strong in contact and Hope's defence was solid despite his skills in attack out of dh not at the same level as Haywood.

Will be interesting if some tactics are continued in the 2nd trial ...

1 Kicking for grass & yardage rather than height & time.
2 Interchange of passes between middle forwards.
3 Depth & width of attack in the red zone.
4 Smaller middles leading into half-time
5 Tackling to hurt - win the collision or force an error.
 
BlackWhiteGold said:
Some take-outs & observations after watching a 2nd time.

It was a very encouraging watch but always keeping in mind this was an NRL depth trial only and against a 2nd tier Roosters team. Still a good exhibit of our young talent & systems for '26.

- Great to see our players looking very fit and the profile of players across the park. For example, fast agile fullbacks, strong decision-making metre-eating centres, game-managing halfback, smaller high leg speed middles, big powerful backrowers with offloads etc etc.

- I thought we were the better team in the 1st half despite being down 16-0 at one stage. The tries against us can be put down to inexperience. 2 of their tries were from multiple repeat sets and the 3rd was started by poor effort from Javon Andrews in cleaning up a loose ball as we attacked.

- Makasini could have easily had 5 tries, knocking on after a low pass from Madden and then Roosters getting a finger-tip to the ball when Mak had an straight run to score. Made some good decisions & contact in defence.

- Madden's passing game was immense. Dug so deep into the line squaring up and then could throw bullets a decent width to a player moving onto the ball. The speed at which his passes travel is important.

- A lot's been said about his awesome kicking game but interesting that he kicked for yardage & grass. Last year we predominantly kicked for height allowing our chasers time to be on the catcher. Maybe it was a strategy due to the windy day on Saturday or that he possesses a long kick???

- Our tackling seemed focused on hit to hurt & win the collision rather than hit & hold like last year. Very refreshing & it resulted in handling errors a few times like the Sione Fainu tackle.

- Attard & Brookes both presented issues to the defence on their sweeps with their speed & footwork.

- Another observation was we had a middle quartet of Luke Jack, Mason, Murray & Haywood in the 10 min period before halftime when fatigue sets in - focused on line speed, leg speed, agility, effort & quick PTBs.

- Tino Tavana, not only his magical acrobatic try, his effort plays were first class. Twice he contested high kicks in the 2nd half, both resulting in Roosters errors because he made it a contest with his jumping ability. Produced some strong effort tackles from marker and despite not being a powerful winger, either hit the ball at speed from the dummy half in yardage using footwork to land on his front or could accelerate quickly from dummy half.

- Was not one player who did not play their role on Saturday, Benji would have been delighted. Saukuru was outstanding at left centre in the 2nd half in A&D, Broederlow was strong on the left edge, Mitch Taotua on the right edge (just looks a player this guy), twin bro Max Taotua has exquisite hands for a centre & strong in contact and yardage, Kit Laulilii's leg speed & power was encouraging, Havea Jr's hands in the middle brilliant, Lanyon's powerful runs from dummy half, Luke Jack's hustle & bone-jarring tackles, Haywood's deception, Andrews passing game, CTM's final 10 mins, Patrick Herbert's defensive reads on the right.

- Despite criticism in some circles, I thought Mason was good as a smaller fast middle for the 1st time (Bulldogs like), Sukkar did his job and was strong in contact and Hope's defence was solid despite his skills in attack out of dh not at the same level as Haywood.

Will be interesting if some tactics are continued in the 2nd trial ...

1 Kicking for grass & yardage rather than height & time.
2 Interchange of passes between middle forwards.
3 Depth & width of attack in the red zone.
4 Smaller middles leading into half-time
5 Tackling to hurt - win the collision or force an error.
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Javron had good sleight of hand out wide to put Makasini away.

Madfen was mega solid. Love his haircut. Accountant-like. No frills. Precise.
 
weststigers said:
How does the points system work?

We got a bonus point for tries. Is there one for defence?

We can win something!
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Champion @weststigers:

The 2026
Witzer NRL Pre-Season Challenge points system awards
12 points for a win,
6 for a draw, and
0 for a loss,
with up to 3 bonus points available per game.
Teams earn 1 bonus point each for scoring 5+ tries, 5+ line breaks, or 10+ offloads, with a maximum of 15 points per match.
 
TurnStyle said:
I like him. When he plays well I think he is awesome.

But he is pretty frustrating. At this stage consistency for Toa means playing 4 great games every year unfortunately.

Would love for him to be injury free and playing well in far more games per season, but history doesn't fill me with much hope of that sadly.
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Maybe the competition for spots will bring the best out of him. Or maybe even playing injury free. When he's on, he's on! He and Tito were sensational for a while last season.
 
TurnStyle said:
I like him. When he plays well I think he is awesome.

But he is pretty frustrating. At this stage consistency for Toa means playing 4 great games every year unfortunately.

Would love for him to be injury free and playing well in far more games per season, but history doesn't fill me with much hope of that sadly.
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I also like players that play well. We need more of them and more often.
 
tigerballs said:
Maybe the competition for spots will bring the best out of him. Or maybe even playing injury free. When he's on, he's on! He and Tito were sensational for a while last season.
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Yeh, he showed how good he can be. I mentioned in another post that I'd put Maks in front of him at centre to see if maybe that would get him firing.

Understand most likely is wing for a bit, but I think he's ready to go straight to centre. Left or right...

Probably just that I'm old (last of the generation with an inside and outside centre!) but I don't understand why the side they play on is so important at nrl level. Shouldn't they all be able to catch and pass both sides? 🤔

Openly admitting I don't know. I started at wing and preferred the right, sure, but it didn't bother me if I was on the left tbh.
 
Bigscreentv said:
I’m sure Benji knows this, but Makasini still so young. He’s awesome but I don’t think we need to rush him in. May with a full preseason will be hard to stop and will likely push for origin.
I also like Toa - if he lucky with injuries then he’ll be a handful too.
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Don’t agree with toa, pile of crap. Plays like 4 good games a year then drops of all gets injured. Good fir back up, but we need better more often!
 
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