Team v Roosters trial

Depends on their Vegas hangover.
Yes we have that in our favour as well as the Leichhardt factor.
Should be a cracker of a game, but we will have to be at our very best to win.
We struggle against fast and classy fullbacks and centres and not many quicker than Drinkwater and Purdue.
 
Yes we have that in our favour as well as the Leichhardt factor.
Should be a cracker of a game, but we will have to be at our very best to win.
We struggle against fast and classy fullbacks and centres and not many quicker than Drinkwater and Purdue.
They'll be running at Toa like they did the last time at L.O. in the 2nd half, test out that shoulder I hope his defense is ready.
 
Yes we have that in our favour as well as the Leichhardt factor.
Should be a cracker of a game, but we will have to be at our very best to win.
We struggle against fast and classy fullbacks and centres and not many quicker than Drinkwater and Purdue.
Yeah our defence historically doesn’t like speedy opponents.
Mahoney in the middle causing grief with Deardon and Clifford lurking nearby is just as big of a risk.
It will be interesting to see how or if our attitude towards defence has changed.
 
Reed suits them


I had a good 15 minute chat with him at Westfield before he went up to north Queensland he was buying suitcases he was such a softly well spoken young man so polite and dress in a nice shirt long pants nice shoes looked like he was a real estate agent I was so shocked that he gave me so much time and so gently as a person so different to what you see on the field like a rude attack dog
 
I had a good 15 minute chat with him at Westfield before he went up to north Queensland he was buying suitcases he was such a softly well spoken young man so polite and dress in a nice shirt long pants nice shoes looked like he was a real estate agent I was so shocked that he gave me so much time and so gently as a person so different to what you see on the field like a rude attack dog
That’s lovely. After being turfed at the dogs I hope he has a good year
 
So do the bulldogs and roosters. For whatever reason, we seem to prioritise slower, smaller, weaker, and/or workmanlike players in our juniors.
Just in tonight’s trial games we have seen 19y.o Prop/2nd Rower Cooper Clarke look very good for the Storm.
He was in our Magpies system along with his older brother Zak and Cooper was very highly regarded from as young as 15.
At age 17 he got poached by the Storm when we at that time were fascinated with others such as Jordan Miller.
He has the potential to play at a very highest level and is someone we should have moved heaven and earth to keep.
Probably not Shannon Gallant’s finest moment in letting him go, but we all make mistakes.
His brother Zak a 2nd Rower who is around 2-3 years older than Cooper was always a very good performer for the Wests Magpies. He has always been a big unit and very quick for his size. His issue has always been his lack of conditioning and even though he had some very good moments in tonight’s trial for the Panthers, he still seems like he is lacking a little bit of conditioning.
Although much older, not forgetting Thomas Mikaele and Sam McIntyre were both Wests Tigers players who made their NRL debut’s with us. Both have plenty of size and both are now maturing into very handy NRL forwards.
Cameron Kanaan who has come through our Balmain Tigers junior reps and our Wests Tigers pathways has always shown promise as a fullback or winger.
We didn’t make him a priority and he was snapped up by the Panthers. He always had a strong build, but tonight wearing Panthers colours looked to have bulked up and now has an extremely strong physique.
So we do have our fair share of big and strong athletes coming through our pathways, but we seem impatient and don’t allow a lot of times for these players with the bigger, stronger physiques to mature and become the best verson of themselves.
As the old saying goes you can’t keep them all, but with an obvious need for big, strong, fast and powerful athletes in certain positions, let’s hope we learn from past mistakes and make this a bit more of a focus moving forward.
 
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So do the bulldogs and roosters. For whatever reason, we seem to prioritise slower, smaller, weaker, and/or workmanlike players in our juniors.
Yep.
Looking at our Matt's and Ball matches last week we were noticeably smaller than our opponent in each match. Shannon Gallant is out there looking for his clone, rather than an Inglis clone.

Some terrible recruitment and retention with our juniors, prioritising players who are 1000000/1 chances of making it. Our backs are small. Forwards very skinny for the most part. A few big boys who all seem to have hands like feet.

Recruit athletes and turn them into footy players. We have no pace or power coming up through the ranks. No one with X factor in any grade in junior reps.

You can't coach size or speed, you either have it or you don't. We don't even look for it
 

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