LIVE GAME Trial 1 vs. Warriors

Live Game Discussion
The Chad said:
I think most people got very similar feels for things after 1 trial.

Fullback is set- Bula is unchallenged. Mildly concerning that probably Mason is the back-up as he doesn't look ready. Staines I guess is the back-up.

Wingers for mine are up for grabs. Tupou is going to get more heat than he deserves because he is leaving. He has mistakes in him & that could cost him gametime. But he is far & away the best at making metres of the guys we saw today. Staines is a liability hitting the ball up on the dirty carries. He's slight, weak & gets dominated in every carry. I'm yet to see how his speed compensates for that. For mine- he's more in danger of losing his spot to Lobb. Lobb looks solid if unspectacular. Doesn't hurt to have a big guy jumping for kicks though. The Rugby guy could swoop & take the role of either Tupou or Staines right now. Willett is not ready. Not a knock- he's just a lower grade player until his body is right.

Centre is between To'a, Olam, Naden & then Doueihi when he's fit. Faataape might have played himself closer to this group today- he looks like he can add something to the team. Tupou & Alaimalo are probably in the mix if injury plays it's part. The other guys we saw shouldn't see the 1st grade field this season. There's quite a bit of depth, numbers-wise. But the team needs 2-3 guys to step up & own these spots.

Halves- Sezar is everything I hoped. He's not going to be flashy, but he's Hastings with a proper kicking game. He allows his halves partner to be more creative & individual. Which is where we saw Sullivan look his best. Once Sullivan had run of the team...he was Brooks level. I think Sezar-Sullivan can work. Latu Fainu will be interesting. We almost need him to be more Sezar-like in case we lose Sezar at any point. Galvin might not be as far away as I originally thought. Mason, Doueihi & Matai are quite clearly below the top 4 options. Galvin-Fainu might want to learn as much as possible from Sezar as I think Luai is more Sullivan-like. I think Sullivan struggles alongside Luai.

Forwards look close to set. Utoikamanu, Klemmer, Twal, Seyfarth, Pole, Papali'i & Bateman probably walk up if fit. The next bench spot or two & the role of back-up/fill-in is between Sam Fainu, Sione Fainu, Kepaoa with a gap to Porter, Lualili'i, Faagutu, Sukkar (looked better than I expected). Matamua, Tumeth have next game to push any claim they might have. But they'll probably all be playing for back-up roles at this point. Sam & Sione Fainu looked tough. While there might be a penalty or two in them, we have come across as whipping boys for too long. Lastly Lui-Toso could be a smokey. Very limited opportunity but seemed to run very hard when given the chance.

Hookers were interesting. Api is brilliant & with consistantly good forward play will have a great season. TDS is going to be a great attacking player. His ability to pick his time to attack is not trained but natural. He could very well become our best player going forward. Simpkin was interesting to me. Solid defender. Threw in a few kicks for good measure. Seemed to play 5/8 at times. If he can be versatile, if he can add some semi-decent running to his game, I don't think he's out of the running for #13. His defence alone allows him to compete. He's probably not a good enough dummy half to command a spot. But, as a Brandon Smith type player, he could be very useful to the club as we do not have an out-and-out #13 locked in as yet.
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Do you think Simpkin could be a Cameron McInnes type player?
 
jirskyr said:
I didn't mind the match. First 20 or so were solid - low errors, good ball movement and the halves kicked arguably better than the normal stuff Brooks offered up last year.

I appreciated that Benji put the younger players on for long minutes and left them there even when clearly fatigured. Yeah Warriors had 12 but Tigers looked more focused on defence and working the ball up than throwing it around. If Benji was serious about trying to kill the match off he would have put the starting halves and strike forwards back on after we scored to make it 18-6, but he didn't, he put more kids on.

Good way to use a trial IMO, when you already know your Top 15 or so players. God also knows how many big forwards Warriors kept rotating fresh onto the paddock - despite having 12 they always seemed full of running.

I agree with some of the points made about specific players, and others I had:-

- Lobb arguably more effective than Tupou. Not quite as much of an athlete but rangy and attacking under the high ball. Tupou is leaving, you might as well invest elsewhere

- Personally also pretty sick of watching Tupou go high into contact and allowing the defender to force the ball up to his shoulders - just a fumble waiting to happen

- I thought Stefano looked very mobile and strong

- Navren Willett looks a real athlete, just needs some more kg on his frame and time in the system.

- I think Samuela Fainu has capability of regularly playing on the bench. A bit one-dimensional but fundamentally strong and his hands look pretty safe.

- Pole came on later, I wonder if that means he's a little down the pecking-order now. Was decent but had a few hairy moments with some dodgy passes.

- Faataape was decent. Staines almost invisible. Casey looked alright and energetic, shame he got knocked cold so early.

- TDS clearly being played third-string after Simpkin; I must assume that continues into the regular season.

- Seyfarth OK, he'll do a job but I doubt he's got a lot of improvement in him.

- IP looked keen to get through his work. I hope he can get some better ball out of the halves.

- A lot of the other young lads were average to ordinary. I suppose they did a lot of defence and weren't too bad in that respect; didn't really get a lot of opportunity to throw the ball around or paly against a heavily fatigued Warriors team.

Not to forget - playing away against a vocal pro-Warriors crowd!
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Finally someone who understands footy
 
Odessa said:
It's not just the head gear Livewire jack in the box could be super sub number 14 hooker half and I do believe he has played number 1 as well TDS has competition
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He may have value as a super sub, but I was disappointed with his fullback play. Think he’s a long way off being an NRL fullback currently. Bula goes down, we shouldn’t be tempted to go with him this year.
 
Spartan117 said:
Missed the Game, Daddy /Daughter time...

How was the attitude in defense??
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Good. When the first team was on in the first 13 mins, good attitude coupled with good structure. Looked positive and encouraging.

When the firsts guys went off and we filled the team with Flegg kids, the structure fell away badly but was replaced with effort and scramble which ultimately got us the W.
 
jirskyr said:
I didn't mind the match. First 20 or so were solid - low errors, good ball movement and the halves kicked arguably better than the normal stuff Brooks offered up last year.

I appreciated that Benji put the younger players on for long minutes and left them there even when clearly fatigured. Yeah Warriors had 12 but Tigers looked more focused on defence and working the ball up than throwing it around. If Benji was serious about trying to kill the match off he would have put the starting halves and strike forwards back on after we scored to make it 18-6, but he didn't, he put more kids on.

Good way to use a trial IMO, when you already know your Top 15 or so players. God also knows how many big forwards Warriors kept rotating fresh onto the paddock - despite having 12 they always seemed full of running.

I agree with some of the points made about specific players, and others I had:-

- Lobb arguably more effective than Tupou. Not quite as much of an athlete but rangy and attacking under the high ball. Tupou is leaving, you might as well invest elsewhere

- Personally also pretty sick of watching Tupou go high into contact and allowing the defender to force the ball up to his shoulders - just a fumble waiting to happen

- I thought Stefano looked very mobile and strong

- Navren Willett looks a real athlete, just needs some more kg on his frame and time in the system.

- I think Samuela Fainu has capability of regularly playing on the bench. A bit one-dimensional but fundamentally strong and his hands look pretty safe.

- Pole came on later, I wonder if that means he's a little down the pecking-order now. Was decent but had a few hairy moments with some dodgy passes.

- Faataape was decent. Staines almost invisible. Casey looked alright and energetic, shame he got knocked cold so early.

- TDS clearly being played third-string after Simpkin; I must assume that continues into the regular season.

- Seyfarth OK, he'll do a job but I doubt he's got a lot of improvement in him.

- IP looked keen to get through his work. I hope he can get some better ball out of the halves.

- A lot of the other young lads were average to ordinary. I suppose they did a lot of defence and weren't too bad in that respect; didn't really get a lot of opportunity to throw the ball around or paly against a heavily fatigued Warriors team.

Not to forget - playing away against a vocal pro-Warriors crowd!
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Good take and spot on re kids defending.

Warriors had 62% of the ball in 2nd half & completed 83%, 1st half we had the ball 51% of the time so 2nd half saw a big swing to the Warriors.
 
Tucker said:
He may have value as a super sub, but I was disappointed with his fullback play. Think he’s a long way off being an NRL fullback currently. Bula goes down, we shouldn’t be tempted to go with him this year.
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True but if he's on the bench and if your 9 6 or 1 goes down is he better value on the bench then TDS ?
 
I saw a lot in young Nav Willet today very raw elite talent.

Apparently he knocked back a deal with the Sydney Swans to sign with us - I can’t help but see similarities to Bula’s game if I’m being honest he’ll be one to keep an eye on next to Lobb.

Luke Lualili is another coming through the ranks who boosts our wing depth.

Tupou leaving does sting, however we got some options moving forward due to the power of our strong junior system.
 
Just remember it’s a trial.
New halves will take a while to gel, cherry recently said the same thing about him and brooks. So give them time.
Kit will come good.
Mason was good, busy.
Good ti see sione playing well, maybe having has his Bros there is helping!
 
Mistymuzzle said:
No that would read.....wah wah ....waaahh!
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There was a few things to like.
Our starting pigs were strong. Our starting halves had them scrambling. Faataape looked comfortable at centre. Our defence was effective, albeit messy once the top liners went off, but still got the job done. Not sure how many minutes Pole got but he busted out over 100m and 26 tackles. The Fainu brothers were aggressive and did some good work.

Our depth concerns me. Despite the valued insights of many on here telling us otherwise, our young depth players are not first grade material this year for mine, including TDS. If we have another season where we need to use heaps of players, the spoon will be hard to avoid. Additionally, our outside backs are an obvious weak link. Some of the new tall lads looked ok in sections…we need more though.
 
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