LIVE GAME Trial 1 vs. Warriors

[Demps]

 

[Tigers_Wests]

some positives today, some negatives too. my thoughts below.

- this team plays for each other. high effort and application. a lot of scramble in defence, a lot of tough carries made by outside backs.

- there seems to be a clear plan in attack. the structures look effective and we were able to unlock the Warriors’ defence a few times in a manner of different ways. Api did a lot of directing and it showed when he and Sezer were taken off.

- Sezer looks like he is going to do what we have hoped for all preseason. a measured, methodical halfback who works hard and plays smart. some of his early kicks I thought were excellent and deserved his try in limited minutes. Bud didn’t overplay his hand and his pass to unlock Faataape was pretty classy, given the way he was willing to get battered to free up space.

- the middle forward trio of Utoikamanu, Klemmer and Seyfarth were all very strong. Benji’s clearly challenged Stef to be a play 1 front rower and he looks to have risen to it. Pole was great, Sione Fainu very good. Sam Fainu needs to work on his discipline, but he is the everywhere man. in everything all the time.

- Papali’i looks back to his usual self. I have high expectations. Kepaoa chased far too hard defensively, he has work to do.

- Faataape the best of the outside backs by a distance. he’s still very raw but he is a first grader. Lobb also very good and would have him ahead of Tupou based on what I saw. thought Staines was monstered in contact coming out of trouble. feel for Casey. based on what I saw today I think Willett is going to be playing first grade fairly soon.

- Kit, Simpkin and Feledy were poor. TDS got thru a mountain of work and nearly had a 40/20. Mason and Vaihu both a mixed bag. big fan of Sukkar, I think he’ll make grade in a year or two. Lui-Toso and Porter will do well for our Cup side.

looking forward to next week to see us build further on that first 25 minutes hopefully with some injury returns. far too early to tell where we’re at but signs look promising based on that initial showing.

Agree a lot with these comments.

Was pleasantly surprised with Sione Fainu in particular. Looks a lot fitter this year. Lots of effort plays from him and Samuela when they came on. Samuela just needs to use that aggression the right way or he will be spending time on the sidelines.

Disappointed for Casey. Was a real chance to stake his claim for a spot. Will have to do it through NSW Cup now.

The team list this week will be interesting to see which players get another crack with a few hopefully coming back into the team too.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Api and Sullivan need to decide which one of them is going to keep that hair colour. I found it pretty annoying trying to differentiate them. The fact they wear 6 and 9 doesn’t help either.

 

[tiger_one]

Liked what I saw early.
Definitive direction from the halves.
Api being free.
Stef stepping up.
And the bulk of the game was given to the young ones = Benji rewarding the squad for pre-season effort.

 

[hank37w]

It does under unlimited interchange. Fatigue doesnt matter. Only matters if you strip numbers.

Sort of agree and disagree with what you say.

Fair comment about the unlimited interchange and which goes a long way towards explaining how they were able to keep coming at us and were finding the energy in defence while we were showing signs of fatigue.

Mind you, I wasn't keeping track of how many interchanges they were making but what you say does make some sense.

As far as stripping numbers goes, we still can't do it, can't make an overlap playing against 12, yet the opposition can still find a way to score.

 

[Nadz4483]

Faataape looks a keeper, so to lobb with that leap of his...

 

[hank37w]

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!

Sione surprised me, went better than Samuela who needs a kick up the arse and needs to learn a bit of discipline otherwise he will be costing us with time on the sideline.

 

[Halbrowne61]

My main concern without getting too caught up in a first up trial game, was that they played a man down for 60 minutes, yet their young forwards ran harder, looked fitter, tackled harder, were faster and stronger, and played tougher than our young forwards. That worries me about the future depth of our NRL squad.

Good point

 

[Furious1]

Sort of agree and disagree with what you say.

Fair comment about the unlimited interchange and which goes a long way towards explaining how they were able to keep coming at us and were finding the energy in defence while we were showing signs of fatigue.

Mind you, I wasn't keeping track of how many interchanges they were making but what you say does make some sense.

As far as stripping numbers goes, we still can't do it, can't make an overlap playing against 12, yet the opposition can still find a way to score.

As far as stripping numbers goes, on the limited stuff I have seen, I think Latu Fainu will be far more effective with that. Seems to play more straight and direct, as does Olam with his running.

Obviously Im only guessing, but given the long minutes Sullivan played yesterday, I think Latu will get plenty of game time in the next trial.

 

[lathami]

Sione surprised me, went better than Samuela who needs a kick up the arse and needs to learn a bit of discipline otherwise he will be costing us with time on the sideline.

Agreed mind you that sin binning was a bit over the top! Bit of a square up if u ask me

 

[Leck]

Good point

The warriors finished fourth last year and we finished last. We also got spanked in our trial with them last year..

So it's a good win.

Our club could have avoided the spoon in '22 and '23 if we had won a few of those close games, which comes down to discipline and defense.

I believe that discipline and defense is Benji and John's focus in '24

 

[lathami]

As far as stripping numbers goes, on the limited stuff I have seen, I think Latu Fainu will be far more effective with that. Seems to play more straight and direct, as does Olam with his running.

Obviously Im only guessing, but given the long minutes Sullivan played yesterday, I think Latu will get plenty of game time in the next trial.

Don’t know about game time for Latu. I reckon with the bye first round, we don’t play for a fair while after. I think u will see sezer/bud play longer minutes together to get the combos going. That’s at least what I would do. Latu to start in cup and work his way into the side.

 

[Blocker1963]

I know its only a trial, but nothing depth wise excited me (We dont have a Reece Walsh type Player), was really happy with the starting forwards for the first 30 mins, of the new players, Lobb did well, Faataape also and Willett impressed me, will need some confidence, I remember somebody said he was a string bean, you need glasses. What did concern me was the attacking structure, It was like there was no set edge structure in the opposition half. When you watch Teams like the dolphins they play to a game plan, things can only get better we all hope.

 

[getagrip]

My main concern without getting too caught up in a first up trial game, was that they played a man down for 60 minutes, yet their young forwards ran harder, looked fitter, tackled harder, were faster and stronger, and played tougher than our young forwards. That worries me about the future depth of our NRL squad.

Agree.
They also seemed, to me, a lot bigger also.

 

[twentyforty]

Round 1 preseason usually gives some idea of depth of squads. I watched some of most games and while I think our squad is showing improvement in teamwork and resilience, it’s too soon to pop the champagne. I liked the way they kept going up the middle after a 13 on 12. It showed organised leadership.
Stefano sent a strong message to Madge and Lobb was impressive.

 

[AdelaideTiger]

I watched a few of the games his weekend, and I thought that our ball security/control was exceptional compared to a lot of other teams, and to be fair the Warriors did pretty well also.
You'd have to imagine that was the type of performance Benji wanted to see, very controlled and decisive. Kicking early in the tackle count, good ruck speed, and relatively sound on defence. The razzle dazzle will come over the course of the year, but that is a solid foundation to start from.
Thought Papali'i, Stefano, Sezer, Sullivan, were standouts. Also thought Simpkin looked pretty good yesterday, and Willett was the pick of the youngsters.
Overall a good result, doesn't mean much in the scheme of things but good to start with a win none the less.

 

[SeanT]

I would just like to say congrats to Benji Marshall his first win as a coach

A win is still a win

Against 12 men fpr most of the game?

Eh i wasnt that impressed to be honest.

Maybe adding Olam and Twal eill help a little but nothing iv seen will get us out if thr bottom 4.

Sezar will help with his kicking game and match organisation but Sullivan meeds to do wsy more to keep his spot. Ran the ball.once and picked the wrong moment. Other times he failed to draw the defenders.

If we get 8 wins this year itl be a win as far as um concerned.

 

[Jay]

Its hard to take much from it. Some of the good signs I think our halves will be more dependable this year. Papali looks promising, he had a good energy around him, like he was happy to be there to know? There was a structure in attack. It served the purpose of a trial game.

Our young players coming through don't look on par with young players from other clubs ATM. Some work to go on there over the next few years.

 

[Mistymuzzle]

Sort of agree and disagree with what you say.

Fair comment about the unlimited interchange and which goes a long way towards explaining how they were able to keep coming at us and were finding the energy in defence while we were showing signs of fatigue.

Mind you, I wasn't keeping track of how many interchanges they were making but what you say does make some sense.

As far as stripping numbers goes, we still can't do it, can't make an overlap playing against 12, yet the opposition can still find a way to score.

IT was a trial match. The purpose of a trial match is to practice systems and game plans that you have drilled for 3 months, under fire. Benji did the right thing and we stuck to our original game plans to practice what we needed to do in a trial. If we had just started throwing it around trying to strip numbers we would have wasted the opportunity of the trial.

 

[Jay]

IT was a trial match. The purpose of a trial match is to practice systems and game plans that you have drilled for 3 months, under fire. Benji did the right thing and we stuck to our original game plans to practice what we needed to do in a trial. If we had just started throwing it around trying to strip numbers we would have wasted the opportunity of the trial.

Totally agree. We might win by a 40, get excited like that Raiders trial last year and be no more prepared for the season than if we didn't play trials.