Jake Simpkin signed until 2026

[eaglebuzz]

Croker has been great and completely changed my opinion of him. In my opinion with Lawton heading out the door next season, there is no point persisting with him, we should be moving towards Simpkin so when Froggy is back I would say its those two playing. Froggy is getting toward the end of his career and with his tackling its just expediting things.

We have 100% missed Crokers defence and if we had unlimited interchange, I would say just swap him and Simpkin for attack and defence.

Gordy just hasn't really developed, so I think we need to look at a future where Froggy may be out for long stretches if not retire, neck injuries never really get better and the head knocks the guy gets I think we may see the curtain call soon. So for me let Froggy play out his career dump lawton into the back row whilst we need him there, but once we don't let him head off to his new team. The future at this point appears to be Simpkin and Gordo so lets choose the one we want to be our lead hooker and give him as much game time as possible and then start bringing in the other more slowly once that transition happens

You don't put good defenders on the bench, though. Either Croker is 9 with Simpkin at 14, or Simpkin is 9 and Croker is NSW cup.

Lawton is far more useful on the bench than Croker is, because he can play second row. Croker could maybe play lock but we don't need him for that because Jake plays the same role.

 

[LeonardCohen]

Croker is bog average and a big reason for our mediocrity the last few years. Love the bloke but he is a 5/8 pretending to be a hooker every day of the week. We can’t do it anymore.

The notion that his great defence has held us together on many occasions over the years is a fallacy. If he had helped our forwards over the advantage line, allowed DCE to kick on the front foot and stay in the yardage battle, he may not have needed to be so courageous in defence.

 

[Disco]

Croker is bog average and a big reason for our mediocrity the last few years. Love the bloke but he is a 5/8 pretending to be a hooker every day of the week. We can’t do it anymore.

The notion that his great defence has held us together on many occasions over the years is a fallacy. If he had helped our forwards over the advantage line, allowed DCE to kick on the front foot and stay in the yardage battle, he may not have needed to be so courageous in defence.

Bog average seems harsh.....a limited player perhaps.

I agree though, a lack of quality at hooker has been a huge limitation for the team.

Hopefully Simpkin can step forward and be our solution. Promising start.

 

[Eagles4Life]

Brown?

Oops. Brain implosion.

 

[Eagles4Life]

Brown?

Brown for Waddell. Its not going to happen but look how well a mobile pack worked for us last week. Just saying.

 

[manlyfan76]

Brown for Waddell. Its not going to happen but look how well a mobile pack worked for us last week. Just saying.

This is why Jake moves to prop and we buy a fast 13

 

[LeonardCohen]

Bog average seems harsh.....a limited player perhaps.

I agree though, a lack of quality at hooker has been a huge limitation for the team.

Hopefully Simpkin can step forward and be our solution. Promising start.

I’m no Croker hater, but I think he is out of his depth and our inability to stay in yardage battles is a big reason why we’ve been so inconsistent. It’s certainly not all his fault, but it’s probably his fault more than anyone else 😂

God love his effort, he’s a champion bloke, just a bad dummy half.

 

[Rocky]

I’m no Croker hater, but I think he is out of his depth and our inability to stay in yardage battles is a big reason why we’ve been so inconsistent. It’s certainly not all his fault, but it’s probably his fault more than anyone else 😂

God love his effort, he’s a champion bloke, just a bad dummy half.

The team just isn't good enough to have Croker at dummy half.

His defence is elite but Simpkins effort last week showed that the trade-off (i.e Froggys limitations as a dummy half) just isn't worth it.

 

[Adz]

Going to go against the grain right now....
Just watched the first half as did not see the game and so far,not overly impressed.
His movement to the left and then to the right for Ola try achieved nothing,the defense was stacked on the right and lucky Ola beat 3 players and was extra lucky Ben T did not give away an obstruction.
Fell off Flanagan allowing him to run up the middle and then 2 tackles later fell off Sloan.
A couple of minutes later fell off the centre Feagi running up the middle.
Then threw a looping pass a foot above DCE head on the 5th tackle.
Will have a look at the second half, can't say he really gets the forwards on the front foot or is great defensively from the first half.....

 

[Adz]

Second half was solid, didn't get isolated defensively so missed no tackles.Doesn't seem defensively better than Gordie but definitely not worse.
Jake's try had little to do with Simpkin,it was a planned move,DCE was up flat looking to put a kick in for Jake,just had to pass him the ball.
Good,solid game in the second half considering he trained with the side for only 2 weeks,his service is good and hope he builds on this ...

 

[Marto1970]

Second half was solid, didn't get isolated defensively so missed no tackles.Doesn't seem defensively better than Gordie but definitely not worse.
Jake's try had little to do with Simpkin,it was a planned move,DCE was up flat looking to put a kick in for Jake,just had to pass him the ball.
Good,solid game in the second half considering he trained with the side for only 2 weeks,his service is good and hope he builds on this ...

Most opinions have been the same first game, 80 minutes, solid game , didn't do anything outstanding but performed well, good service and defence especially 2nd half when no reserves

 

[Will on the hill]

Second half was solid, didn't get isolated defensively so missed no tackles.Doesn't seem defensively better than Gordie but definitely not worse.
Jake's try had little to do with Simpkin,it was a planned move,DCE was up flat looking to put a kick in for Jake,just had to pass him the ball.
Good,solid game in the second half considering he trained with the side for only 2 weeks,his service is good and hope he builds on this ...

It definitely wasn't all rainbows and lollipops but the shining light was his ability to engage markers and get his ball runners on the front foot. He had a lot to do with the way we rolled through their middle in the 2nd half. Something we haven't seen from our pack in sometime, even at full strength.

 

[eaglebuzz]

You can't easily see the impact of a good hooker by watching the hooker, you see it in the way the whole team looks better.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Love Froggy , and he’s been a mainstay of our side for a few years now , and boy we have missed his defence in the middle but that’s about his only main attribute.

Like a few others I think he lacks a darting running game ( very occasionally you’ll see one work ) and his passes out of dummy half aren’t always crisp and on point.

As someone said for a 5/8 he’s been a good stop gap hooker but it’s clear we need a proper hooker.

Is Jake S that player ??

Hard to define after one game, but could be.

Seems Gordie 3 names is on the outer now so unless he’s signed long term I’d be surprised if he’s still around in 2025, and even if he is signed long term he might be sold off to another side.

 

[Dion Johnson]

Had a solid game, his defensive numbers outstanding, no running game tonight though..

 

[HK_Eagle]

Mixed bag tonight. Generally decent service from DH, but a few poor tackle attempts. At one moment in the second half, he looked completely lost at dummy half and it was amateur hour. Happy to give him more time to develop though.

 

[eaglebuzz]

Mixed bag tonight. Generally decent service from DH, but a few poor tackle attempts. At one moment in the second half, he looked completely lost at dummy half and it was amateur hour. Happy to give him more time to develop though.

He tackled himself to a standstill in the humidity in a game that had very few stoppages. Not surprising that his impact in attack was a bit blunted tonight

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

Perfect bullet pass for DCE’s field goal is the play that mattered.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Horrendous error getting caught at dummy half when we were going for field goal position,but aside from that.... seemed OK. Everyone in that team showed ticker so he'll get plenty of opportunity to improve.

 

[LeonardCohen]

He tackled himself to a standstill in the humidity in a game that had very few stoppages. Not surprising that his impact in attack was a bit blunted tonight

Yes he was very brave. With Ben T going off HIA, the plan to give Lawton more minutes at 9 and bring Simpkin on later, was thwarted. It was an absorbing contest and we were clearly out on our feet. I think the kid has some real ticker.