We must look at the truth; our club lacks talent in first grade, heaps of it. We are crappy in the following positions:
Wing
Center
5/8
1/2
Prop
Second Row
Lock
I will start off from the top of the list, Koroibete is NOT a top winger and all of you need to realise this. Koroibete had one good game in first grade and that was against a wooden spoon Eels side, his defence is not even up to NRL standard yet. Right now Koroibete would be an ideal winger for us but if he does not improve I just can't see a spot for him in the team. Most of the forum will disagree with me on the point though. We don't have another winger that is up to it yet, Tuqiri and Utai are past it. We should of kept Beau.
Center is probably our weakest position in the team, we have no speed, shocking defence and none of our centers can take on the line like a center should and make a break. You would notice that most teams are scoring there tries from their center but our centers are not good enough. I will admit that I am a huge Ayshford fan, he has been having a good year but he is not as good as he was. I can not see him being the same player he was again in his career, same with Lawrence.
Benji…Benji....Benji, his problem is he tries way to hard, I can guarantee if Benji stopped trying so hard he would be a better player. He needs to worry less about pulling magic out of a hat and start taking on the line like he used to. I have not seen a proper run by Benji since 2010\. I think the pressure has got to him and he should start looking elsewhere. If he wants to be the player he used to be he should be looking at Storm, he would be better than he was here. They surely can afford him ater losing Widdop and have a couple of centers/wingers off contract next year, they are loaded. We have a clear replacement for Benji in a couple of years with Mitchell Moses coming through. I rate Moses as a better player than Brooks to be honest. He has a great running game and also has a good kicking game.
Halfback is the position we have been troubled with in the past 5-7 years. We had and still have some good halfbacks including Miller, Lui, Brooks, Moltzen and the list goes on. Our problem is we have not been able to develop them like we should. We are still hoping for Brooks to be a world beater but he is our only option left for halfback at this stage. Lui was a good halfback, his defence was not first grade standard but was good enough to be kept in the team, unfortunately he decided to be an idiot not once but twice so he deservedly got let go.
We have some top props including Buchanan, Galloway, and Woods. These are really good props and at this stage Buchanan and Woods are our future. Really good props that will be rep's in the future. We need to look at our options on the market though. We have Michael Weyman, Lami Tasi, Bryan Norrie, Frank Paul-Nuasala and many other decent props available, we should buy at least to of them for next year. Props are a very important position in the team and our props other than Buchanan and Woods are not doing a good job.
Second Row, we need to give Bodene Thomson some time there and he needs a second row partner. He needs a partner that is willing to play aggressive and tackle hard. Bodene is a great player and deserves his spot at second row IMO, he is just what we need. We have some options available on the market; Jason Buyaka, Cameron Ciraldo and Neville Cositgan. My only fear is if we sign one of them they become duds just like Blair. My top preference to sign would be Buyaka, he is a pretty damn good backrower and has a high work rate. Thomson and Buyaka would be ideal.
Our obvious options at lock are Brenden Santi and Curtis Sironen both really good players and are going to have a bright future. Adam Blair should be released ASAP.
Fullback and Hooker are sorted, we have two great players in those positions. James Tedesco is a good young player with a bright future as well and Farah has proven himself as one of the best hookers in the game, best hooker in my opinion. I would have Farah in my team over Smith 'any day of the week'.
All those reasons summarise why we won't be a finals team for the next few years. I for one hope that the team proves me wrong.
Wing
Center
5/8
1/2
Prop
Second Row
Lock
I will start off from the top of the list, Koroibete is NOT a top winger and all of you need to realise this. Koroibete had one good game in first grade and that was against a wooden spoon Eels side, his defence is not even up to NRL standard yet. Right now Koroibete would be an ideal winger for us but if he does not improve I just can't see a spot for him in the team. Most of the forum will disagree with me on the point though. We don't have another winger that is up to it yet, Tuqiri and Utai are past it. We should of kept Beau.
Center is probably our weakest position in the team, we have no speed, shocking defence and none of our centers can take on the line like a center should and make a break. You would notice that most teams are scoring there tries from their center but our centers are not good enough. I will admit that I am a huge Ayshford fan, he has been having a good year but he is not as good as he was. I can not see him being the same player he was again in his career, same with Lawrence.
Benji…Benji....Benji, his problem is he tries way to hard, I can guarantee if Benji stopped trying so hard he would be a better player. He needs to worry less about pulling magic out of a hat and start taking on the line like he used to. I have not seen a proper run by Benji since 2010\. I think the pressure has got to him and he should start looking elsewhere. If he wants to be the player he used to be he should be looking at Storm, he would be better than he was here. They surely can afford him ater losing Widdop and have a couple of centers/wingers off contract next year, they are loaded. We have a clear replacement for Benji in a couple of years with Mitchell Moses coming through. I rate Moses as a better player than Brooks to be honest. He has a great running game and also has a good kicking game.
Halfback is the position we have been troubled with in the past 5-7 years. We had and still have some good halfbacks including Miller, Lui, Brooks, Moltzen and the list goes on. Our problem is we have not been able to develop them like we should. We are still hoping for Brooks to be a world beater but he is our only option left for halfback at this stage. Lui was a good halfback, his defence was not first grade standard but was good enough to be kept in the team, unfortunately he decided to be an idiot not once but twice so he deservedly got let go.
We have some top props including Buchanan, Galloway, and Woods. These are really good props and at this stage Buchanan and Woods are our future. Really good props that will be rep's in the future. We need to look at our options on the market though. We have Michael Weyman, Lami Tasi, Bryan Norrie, Frank Paul-Nuasala and many other decent props available, we should buy at least to of them for next year. Props are a very important position in the team and our props other than Buchanan and Woods are not doing a good job.
Second Row, we need to give Bodene Thomson some time there and he needs a second row partner. He needs a partner that is willing to play aggressive and tackle hard. Bodene is a great player and deserves his spot at second row IMO, he is just what we need. We have some options available on the market; Jason Buyaka, Cameron Ciraldo and Neville Cositgan. My only fear is if we sign one of them they become duds just like Blair. My top preference to sign would be Buyaka, he is a pretty damn good backrower and has a high work rate. Thomson and Buyaka would be ideal.
Our obvious options at lock are Brenden Santi and Curtis Sironen both really good players and are going to have a bright future. Adam Blair should be released ASAP.
Fullback and Hooker are sorted, we have two great players in those positions. James Tedesco is a good young player with a bright future as well and Farah has proven himself as one of the best hookers in the game, best hooker in my opinion. I would have Farah in my team over Smith 'any day of the week'.
All those reasons summarise why we won't be a finals team for the next few years. I for one hope that the team proves me wrong.
