Big issues with roster balance

[susan]

We have SIX halves( if you include Shuster) , ONE hooker and our 4 three quarters have scored a total of EIGHT tries all year between them,. Of those our wingers have scored FIVE all year. Katoa has scored TWELVE tries in a team that has been decimated with injuries all year..Our ENTIRE backline outside of Tom has scored 15 tries this year.

Eight individual players from other teams have scored more than our entire three quarter line combined.The outside backs also have ZERO tries from kicks and conceded quite a few.

Why we have DCE , Croker, Cust , Metcalfe, Walker and Shuster in the top 30 is beyond me.Saying Croker and Cust are 9s doesn’t cut it. It’s probably the second most important position on the field.

Need to seriously address this going forward.Tom CANT be the make or break every year for us.Someone like Johnston is essential. Have to keep Levi when Fainu back. One hooker is madness.And we need to inject some speed.

Roster is so unbalanced right now. Not talking about spending more , just spending or upgrading / releasing in the right areas To be a contender it has to change big time.Its not an easy task but it has to be done , particularly finding a way to make Toms hamstrings not being the sole factor in delivering a premiership.

 

[mave]

Alex Johnston would be great, though Im sure part of his issue at Souths is the desire to play fullback. Granted, he would get plenty of opportunity here, behind a hamstrungTommy.

I can't see him rushing over to Brookvale tbh.

Agree re Levi. 2 years. Even if Fainu makes a return for next year.

 

[susan]

Alex Johnston would be great, though Im sure part of his issue at Souths is the desire to play fullback. Granted, he would get plenty of opportunity here, behind a hamstrungTommy.

I can't see him rushing over to Brookvale tbh.

Agree re Levi. 2 years. Even if Fainu makes a return for next year.

Why Souths would let him go is beyond me. He absolutely burned those St Merge backs the other night and Lomax, Dufty aren’t slow. Great player.

 

[Disco]

Our backs scoring less is probably a bit more to do with our playing style rstger than their quality

 

[susan]

Our backs scoring less is probably a bit more to do with our playing style rstger than their quality

Maybe but we are running ninth. If we lose to the team running first tonight we are effectively two wins with our F/A from sixth and you don’t win from 7 or 8.

I think we play the way we do partly BECAUSE of our weakness out wide and not so much because our forwards are very good ( which they are).With Fainu there is a huge reason to stay middle third. Not with Danny whose skill set is different.

I just can’t see a premiership under the new rules with little speed and zero effectiveness in terms of kick tries. It’s way too out of wack and needs some balance so we aren’t so predictable.

We will always compete hard (that’s a constant )but win a comp with this balance?. Just can’t see it. It’s a tough task when competing with the likes of Melbourne and Roosters but something has to give.

 

[mave]

Why Souths would let him go is beyond me. He absolutely burned those St Merge backs the other night and Lomax, Dufty aren’t slow. Great player.

Agreed.

Souths have put their eggs in Latrell I want fullback money Mitchell, and it will cost them Johnston, and has already cost them Adam Doheui (spelling)

I know who I would rather in my team...and it ain't Mitchell.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I just can’t see success under the new rules with little speed and zero effectiveness in terms of kick tries. It’s way too out of wack and needs some balance so we aren’t so predictable.

Yeah but remember, the new rules were brought in part way through the season, bit hard to plan your roster for changes that haven't been made yet!
The focus in our squad on strong middle forwards and playmakers ('halves') is probably very deliberate on the part of Des.
For sure we could use more height, speed and dummy half depth and smarts, and clearly the absence of Turbo and fainu hurts us there, they are massive losses for any team.
I agree we need more speed and Albert will make a difference there. Des has some specific plan to use him. Surely!

 

[Dion Johnson]

We have SIX halves( if you include Shuster) , ONE hooker and our 4 three quarters have scored a total of EIGHT tries all year between them,. Of those our wingers have scored FIVE all year. Katoa has scored TWELVE tries in a team that has been decimated with injuries all year..Our entire backline outside of Tom has scored 15 tries this year.

Eight individual players from other teams have scored more than our entire three quarter line combined.The outside backs also have ZERO tries from kicks and conceded quite a few.

Need to seriously address the make up of roster going forward.Tom CANT be the make or break every year for us.Someone like Johnston is essential. Have to keep Levi when Fainu back. One hooker is madness.And we need to inject some speed.
Roster is so unbalanced right now. To be a contender it has to change big time.Its not an easy task but it has to be done , particularly finding a way to make Toms hamstrings not being the sole factor in delivering a premiership.

I agree on the hooker situation, definitely short, though for me I think Cust will be a good hooker given a chance.

Schuster has been training at left centre.

Agree on the wingers we have are struggling this season, we have Albert who we may retain for 2021 who could fill wing / fullback role.

Big questions on Miski and Andersen, what happens with these two development players? Andersen is signed for 2021, I am uncertain if the club will retain them.

Coming through is Smalley, some rate this guy, I have not seen much of him, not able to form an opinion on him.

The formation of the 36 for next season is going to be difficult as we have so many forwards coming through the system, Titmus and Saddler will be pushing to be in the 30 and S.Fainu and Tuitavake will be pushing for development contracts.

Maybe Sipley, Miski and Waddell will join the departing Elliott and Thompson.

I think Johnston is out of the $$ range, the recruitment team will need to have their eye on someone not getting a crack at another club that has a bit of class about them. 200K for a winger or two maybe all the coin that is left.

 

[Waz13]

Maybe but we are running ninth. If we lose to the team running first tonight we are effectively two wins with our F/A from sixth and you don’t win from 7 or 8.

I think we play the way we do partly BECAUSE of our weakness out wide and not so much because our forwards are very good ( which they are).With Fainu there is a huge reason to stay middle third. Not with Danny whose skill set is different.

I just can’t see a premiership under the new rules with little speed and zero effectiveness in terms of kick tries. It’s way too out of wack and needs some balance so we aren’t so predictable.

We will always compete hard (that’s a constant )but win a comp with this balance?. Just can’t see it. It’s a tough task when competing with the likes of Melbourne and Roosters but something has to give.

Won the last two. See how we go tonite v first team. Time will tell. It’s not like we had all these great outside backs last year and we really should have been playing for a spot in the GF. Plenty of teams with handy outside backs tgat don’t get near the finals. Garrick has pace and potential. Just been a bit disappointed in his performance this year. Bit of second year syndrome perhaps. We certainly don’t need both Croker and cust they are kinda the same player. Walker pushes back into the centers might help the balance a bit too. I’d have liked to keep cust at 6 tbh. It would be A tough call as Parker is sound defensively but Walker in for Parker and with Tom back, there ain’t much wrong with the balance of that 1-7 imo. In fact it would be pretty good as we would have to power outside men in Suli and Jorge and two speed men in Garrick and Walker.

 

[susan]

Fainu and Tuitavake have huge talent. TuitavKe doesn’t get a mention but love this kid.

 

[susan]

Won the last two. See how we go tonite v first team. Time will tell. It’s not like we had all these great outside backs last year and we really should have been playing for a spot in the GF. Plenty of teams with handy outside backs tgat don’t get near the finals. Garrick has pace and potential. Just been a bit disappointed in his performance this year. Bit of second year syndrome perhaps. We certainly don’t need both Croker and cust they are kinda the same player. Walker pushes back into the centers might help the balance a bit too. I’d have liked to keep cust at 6 tbh. It would be A tough call as Parker is sound defensively but Walker in for Parker and with Tom back, there ain’t much wrong with the balance of that 1-7 imo. In fact it would be pretty good as we would have to power outside men in Suli and Jorge and two speed men in Garrick and Walker.

Yes Walker to centre changes things quite a bit but unfortunately it’s not the plan by the look of it.Not that I don’t like Walker at 6 , he’s been very good. It’s just that with Cust firing it’s so much a better balance.
Last year there was no six again so very different.

 

[Dion Johnson]

Fainu and Tuitavake have huge talent. TuitavKe doesn’t get a mention but love this kid.

I think Alec is the pick out of them two, but I am impressed with Titmus!!

Could be a Smokey in 2021.

 

[susan]

Yeah but remember, the new rules were brought in part way through the season, bit hard to plan your roster for changes that haven't been made yet!
The focus in our squad on strong middle forwards and playmakers ('halves') is probably very deliberate on the part of Des.
For sure we could use more height, speed and dummy half depth and smarts, and clearly the absence of Turbo and fainu hurts us there, they are massive losses for any team.
I agree we need more speed and Albert will make a difference there. Des has some specific plan to use him. Surely!

Yep rules were thrust on every team. Just saying the roster needs to reflect this going forward. But things like one hooker is a mistake under any rules.

 

[Dion Johnson]

Yep rules were thrust on every team. Just saying the roster needs to reflect this going forward. But things like one hooker is a mistake under any rules.

On the hooker spot, the club have an opinion of Birt he is younger than Ott who also showed promise.

2021 will be hot for development contracts.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Agree, and they must have known Fainu needed a shoulder reco when they decided not to replace Api with another specialist, quite strange really.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

As for quality wingers we seem to have been trying our luck with some tall younger players such as a couple of the guys at Blacktown last year, and Sam Smith. We were probably hoping to strike gold somewhere in there but hasn't eventuated.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

@susan I actually agree with all the comments about roster imbalance! But for another perspective, we'd be sitting level with the Chooks on 14 points if not for that bad call vs the Eels, despite losing our only hooker and also having Turbo missing some games. Definitely we have some gaps and weaknesses yet are still in the mix. We do need a result tonight though!

 

[Chip and Chase]

We've got another 3 years before we can seriously look at revamping the squad.

Lack of tries from kicks is the telling fact in this thread. That's criminal in the modern game.

 

[sheridanstand78]

Our defence is pretty solid. We lack strike and dont score anywhere near enough points, The Guppies have scored over 100 more than us and they look threatening even with a big injury toll. Our attack is very one dimensional and when DCE is controlled there is not a lot of creativity.

We are hard to beat most weeks but I believe we will struggle against the top sides under pressure to score enough points.

I would like to see the club really try to either get Addo Carr or Johnson so that we can get some genuine speed on our wings. Jorge gets us go forward from the start of sets but he is no threat scoring from a high kick and is found out time and time again when defending the high ball.

 

[Tomay]

We play a completely different style to the sharks and a lot of teams though.

We built a squad based on the pre-Covid landscape - without the 6 again rule and with the Canterbury Cup to get our young talent reserves ready for the big time. Going back further we lost Fainu unexpectedly.

You can't underestimate the effects of this makeshift season in the pandemic to our young team which was perhaps the one roster most likely to benefit most from reserve grade and continuity (except maybe the Broncos).