KEY QUESTIONS / ISSUES

[Crushercleal]

Key questions for the remainder of the season:
1. FRONT ROW - Is the front row damaging enough in attack? I for one don't think they have been. Sides that go far into September generally have props that make large metres with the ball - O'Meley, Price, Asotasi, Cayless, Morley, Clinton, Lang. Kite has been pretty good, but for a guy his size he should make more yards. King has been disappointing. Dunley's go forward has been great.
2. BACK ROW - Can they keep it up? The Big 3 are the key to our success. Continue playing like they have, both in attack and defence, and they can take us far. Hopefully Origin doesn't have too big of an effect on them.
3. HALVES - It's very important that Monnas and Witt keeping progressing in attack. Monnas needs to create much better last tackle options, especially his kicking game. Witt needs to free up the outside backs a little better. We should sign Monnas as soon as possible and get it out of the way.
4. CENTRES - My major concern. Premiership teams generally have very good centres - Tonga, Cross, Girdler, etc. I don't think Stepha and Tezza are good enough to take us deep into September, let alone win us the Holy Grail - just not fast enough or make enough breaks. Interesting to see what happens here. I'd love for them to prove me wrong.
5. OUTSIDE BACKS - Stewart has been great all year, and is the real X Factor for the team. His linking with those who have made breaks is outstanding. However, he will continue to get targeted with bombs. Are Donald and Hicks good enough for September football? Pace is an advantage we may have over other teams here.
Any thoughts?

 

[Canteen Worker]

Some great posts Crusher. You are asking the hard questions too. Analysis is great.

Front Row is interesting as King's form has dropped lately. Suspension and injury is hurting us. Bryant is good, Hecks will be back soon and Kylie and Cleal will be over their suspensions in a few weeks. Kite has been good though his SC injury has slowed him down a bit. We need to do a bit better here.

Centres is my big concern and this affects the halves and the wingers as they link the two. To have gun players running hard and straight outside Witt and co and then drawing and passing to Hicks and Donald would be awesome. Alberts looked great in PL and it can be only a matter of time before he gets a guernsey in the 1s.

 

[lasvegas]

crusher i think you have raised fair points and i think thats why we are searchng for players in these positions and not just signing monas straight away. we are a good team but we need a few top notch signings to take us to the holy grail.with better halves (sorry byso)and centres i think we could challenge for a flag with our forward pack.

 

[Fluffy]

1) If the front rowers are fit and not suspended we are fine. Kite and Hecks will make the 100+ metres, King and Kylie for impact. This last month king and kylies form has been down, hecks injured and kylie suspended. This is the worst our fornt row should fair all season.

2 Our backrow can handle one injury/suspension as we have Glen Stewart. However if they stay fit we have the best backrow all round in the comp

3 Witt is improving in attack which means monas doesnt have to carry his load. Once we get 2 genuine options in attack we will be much better. I expect us to improve as we did last year as the teams gells more and more.

4 Flash Ash will be good enough and cant be far away from a nrl call up. Tezza will fire up for the big matches. Matai and Steppa as reserves is not too bad.

5 Stewy is still improving and is one of the better fllbacks. Hicks got far more involved on sunday and is improving slowly. Don will get better service from flash once he is in the team.

We have a lot of young players in our team and our combos are improving, our backs have been better recently. We have a chance of going a long way. We showed that under lights against good opposition we can compete - parra and we can win under lights - dogs.

Last year at the same time we all thought the cowboys wouldnt make it and they came within a try of the GF