Burgess & SBW Impact....

[maxta]

Theres been massive hype regarding arguably the 2 biggest recruits in recent times - Sam Burgess & SBW...
Its fair to say Roosters have grown into a far more strong & consistant team over the past 2 seasons, partly the impact of SBW but more importantly imo opinion has been the new coach & some amazing signings....fact is he has been the X Factor & without him in their team regardless of poor officiating, Manly would have another premiership in 2013.
At Souths the amount of quality combined with raw toughness from Sam Burgess in recent years has been massive....again, theres plenty of games he has been the difference & its only the fact he is the best foward in the world thats overshadowed another huge loss for Souths, hard hitting Teo who's efforts have been highly underrated imo.
Maybe these 2 losses will have more of a negative effect than most are saying, the savior at Easts is the up & coming guns in Cordner & Guerra who are top shelf...but without SBW they still lack that superstar who makes a team simply better....same at Souths....just the presence of Burgess has made them so formidable & though both teams will still be solid contenders, theres a sense of far more vulnerability for 2015 without these big guns.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Souths will miss Burgess and Teo more than Rorters will miss SBW.

I'm interested to see where Easts play Fiddler Fergo. I'm thinking probably fullback to replace Mini, he is a similar style of player to Inglis. He'll be wasted on the wing if they put RTS at 1. Or they may drop SKiDmark ?? Either way he might be the key to their season next year.

 

[Bandit]

Souths will miss Burgess and Teo more than Rorters will miss SBW.

I'm interested to see where Easts play Fiddler Fergo. I'm thinking probably fullback to replace Mini, he is a similar style of player to Inglis. He'll be wasted on the wing if they put RTS at 1. Or they may drop SKiDmark ?? Either way he might be the key to their season next year.

I know it's Friday night but that's a bit over the top.

Comparing Ferguson to just about the 8th immortal in Inglis ??

Almost 10 years of allround brilliance versus a piss-head, female dunnies loiterer, who's not done alot on the footy field??

Not a huge Inglis fan but Ferguson will never ever be 8th best to have laced on a boot.

He's not even 8th best player @ roosters in 2015 ffs.

imo

 

[Killer03]

The Rabbits are about to see why no team in a unified comp has gone back to back since 1993. Every team will lift, cellar dwellers (Raiders) will want to push the premiers, and players who were paid $100k will now want massive contracts.....plus Origin may suddenly hit harder. Burgess is a massive loss. He was their forward leader, and although I didn't like Burgess, I thought he was as dirty as Cameron Smith, he was a superb player for them.

Having a family of Roosters fans, I believe they are now discounting the impact SBW had. In 2013 he was their messiah and could do no wrong, now they are very much saying 'meh we've got Guerra and Cordner and ....' Cordner had a bad case of 2nd year syndrome last year (not sure if it was actually his 2nd year, but his break out year in 2013 was tempered by 2014). Guerra has come on in leaps and bounds, but he's no SBW. I agree with you Maxta regarding SBW. He doesn't play in 2013 GF, we win....end of story. The same couldn't be said of players like Guerra or Cordner.

I also think people are discounting the aura players like SBW and Burgess had around training. I liken it to when BK came to us in 05, there was this presence around the club.

 

[Gib the Pom]

Agree with all of this.

One thing I would say is that despite losing Mini and SBW, Roosters still have some leaders in their team and a good coach with a talented roster to fall back on.

I don't see where the leaders are in the Souths team. Inglis? As many have said in other threads, floats in and out of games too much. George Burgess? A fine prop forward but doesn't seem to carry that aura that Sam had to have as big an impact as he did. Reynolds/Sutton? Don't particularly rate Sutton, and whilst Reynolds has shown promise early in his career he hasn't really kicked on.

Souths don't have as good a roster as Roosters to fall back on either.

The only real leader I see is Gifty. But will he be in a position to do that as effectively as he did at Manly having just arrived? And if he does, would he be fit enough to play every week? I don't think thats likely.

Really don't think Souths will come anywhere near the Premiership this year.

 

[sheridanstand78]

The vermin are about to find out how hard it is to have every team after you, they have enough quality to still be the team to beat. They will miss Burgess in a big way and if they lose his brother they will struggle as I hear that English rugby clubs are circling him too.

The Rorters will continue to buy success and that makes them very powerful, I think they will cope with the loss of Money Bill who didnt have the impact in 2014 as he did the previous year. Losing Mini will be a challenge cause like Killer he was the calming influence on their team.

Bring on 2015. We have been written off already so we will be under the radar and just get on with things.

 

[SeaEagle21]

Sam out, Gift in..depending on his body I don't think they will lose much there. Tim Grant is a good pick up, would have loved him to sign with us. I still think they will be there abouts next season.

Roosters have good depth and genuine quality at a relatively young age and a good coach. SBW didn't have the impact of 2013 so they won't miss him much.

Both contenders for 2015 and as much as it pains me to say it we are behind both of them (marginally) due to the forwards and the space/impact they create and the fact that they have some good young talent in their first grade team (speed and resilience to injury etc).

Anyway can't wait for the season to start

 

[Snake]

Reynolds/Sutton? Don't particularly rate Sutton, and whilst Reynolds has shown promise early in his career he hasn't really kicked on.

I don't rate Sutton either, but I think you'd have to say that Reynolds was simply outstanding in the finals series last year. I was one of his most ardent critics, but I had egg on my face in September last year. He had the ball on a string at times, and even threw some decent passes which he was never renown for. He played a very up tempo game (which is easy when your forwards are winning the ruck) but he took good options on the back of that.

I don't think Souths will go back to back, but they will take some beating come the pointy end of the season.

 

[mickqld]

..., and even threw some decent passes which he was never renown for. He played a very up tempo game (which is easy when your forwards are winning the ruck) but he took good options on the back of that.

Therein lies our dilemma. We have the halves and backs to play an up tempo and attacking dominating game but only if we have the forwards to dominate the ruck. Losing Gift and Choc has taken an enormous chunk out of our ability to dominate a forward pack.

 

[Snake]

..., and even threw some decent passes which he was never renown for. He played a very up tempo game (which is easy when your forwards are winning the ruck) but he took good options on the back of that.

Therein lies our dilemma. We have the halves and backs to play an up tempo and attacking dominating game but only if we have the forwards to dominate the ruck. Losing Gift and Choc has taken an enormous chunk out of our ability to dominate a forward pack.

I agree with that assessment in many respects; they certainly help. Glenn's bruising defence, and Choc's yards up the guts would be nice. He was easily our most effective forward at the SCG last year against the Bunnies, when the rest of our pack went missing.

It is going to take a holistic effort from all concerned, regardless of whether we still had Choc and Gift, because the front row hasn't been supporting the back row at Manly for quite some time.

 

[BOZO]

..., and even threw some decent passes which he was never renown for. He played a very up tempo game (which is easy when your forwards are winning the ruck) but he took good options on the back of that.

Therein lies our dilemma. We have the halves and backs to play an up tempo and attacking dominating game but only if we have the forwards to dominate the ruck. Losing Gift and Choc has taken an enormous chunk out of our ability to dominate a forward pack.

I agree with that assessment in many respects; they certainly help. Glenn's bruising defence, and Choc's yards up the guts would be nice. He was easily our most effective forward at the SCG last year against the Bunnies, when the rest of our pack went missing.

It is going to take a holistic effort from all concerned, regardless of whether we still had Choc and Gift, because the front row hasn't been supporting the back row at Manly for quite some time.

This is the year that our forwards show us what they are made of . This is not about what assessments we make its about what impact in the game they will make

 

[Snake]

..., and even threw some decent passes which he was never renown for. He played a very up tempo game (which is easy when your forwards are winning the ruck) but he took good options on the back of that.

Therein lies our dilemma. We have the halves and backs to play an up tempo and attacking dominating game but only if we have the forwards to dominate the ruck. Losing Gift and Choc has taken an enormous chunk out of our ability to dominate a forward pack.

I agree with that assessment in many respects; they certainly help. Glenn's bruising defence, and Choc's yards up the guts would be nice. He was easily our most effective forward at the SCG last year against the Bunnies, when the rest of our pack went missing.

It is going to take a holistic effort from all concerned, regardless of whether we still had Choc and Gift, because the front row hasn't been supporting the back row at Manly for quite some time.

This is the year that our forwards show us what they are made of . This is not about what assessments we make its about what impact in the game they will make

I think they will do well. I like what i'm seeing from JSL, Lui and Symonds. I think TRed might end up playing SOO. The two big questions marks concern the impact of big Willie and Ferris' knee; if they both play at the top of their games we are in for a good year.

 

[rifraff]

Scared about Ferris' knee these things sometimes come in two's way too many times. Also scared about losing choc 100-200m run per game and 30+tackles, I'm prepared to give away an obligatory penalty for that.

Someone needs to step up and I think and hope someone might. Not sure it will be Mateo.

Still I am going into the new new season with confidence and think we should at least be top 4, so a lot more good times than bad.

 

[Gib the Pom]

Reynolds/Sutton? Don't particularly rate Sutton, and whilst Reynolds has shown promise early in his career he hasn't really kicked on.

I don't rate Sutton either, but I think you'd have to say that Reynolds was simply outstanding in the finals series last year. I was one of his most ardent critics, but I had egg on my face in September last year. He had the ball on a string at times, and even threw some decent passes which he was never renown for. He played a very up tempo game (which is easy when your forwards are winning the ruck) but he took good options on the back of that.

I don't think Souths will go back to back, but they will take some beating come the pointy end of the season.

I take your point. He had a strong finals series.

Still, he looked to have real potential and was consistently very good for them in 2013. In 2014, finals aside, he didn't seem to get anywhere near the form of the year before when he was being touted for a SOO spot. Considering 2014 was the year NSW finally dropped Pearce (okay it was because of off-field antics), Reynolds had a real chance to get himself a jersey, but in the end wasn't even considered, and they gave it to the most average half in the league.

You could put it down to Souths inconsistent start to the season, but either way a good finals series doesn't quite wipe out what was a very average 26 rounds.

We will see this year when Souths are in need of a leader whether he can really step up for them.