Lucky we have a good backrow

[Matabele]

It's lucky our backrow is just about the best in the competition right now, because our front rowers are ****.

I have a new name for the Princess. It is "King Turtle". He cannot help but be rolled onto his back and thrash around with his play the balls being amongst the most ponderous in the NRL. Also, have you ever seen a player that the ball seems to avoid so much? (Apart from Sam Harris)

Kite persists in slowing down as he hits the line, and he is still geining his knee a horrible lift. It's only a matter of time before he gets pinged. And it seems like he's intent on wriggling like a worm at the point of impact rather than trying to punch through the line.

Minogue is good for one big hit a game but his workload leaves a lot to be desired.

Then you have Bryant, the only player who seems to be able to hit the line with venom and punch through. He is more than adequately covering for Heckenberg, but if the other three could follow his example ...........

 

[Crushercleal]

Completely agree. Why does Kite slow down so much before he gets to the line? How can a man of that size be scared of getting hit? He doesn't take ANY forward momentum with him once he gets tackled and surrenders meekly. King seems to be running at a 45 degree angle these days, and also doesn't carry defenders forward with him. I though Lulu actually had a decent game - attacked the line with venom and made some powerful tackles. Bryant was good once again and surely must start. But my main concern is Kite. We are paying him a whopping $350,000 a year. I wouldn't even pay him half of that.

 

[Matabele]

Didn't you read this thread Fluffy?

 

[gomanly]

king has improved dramatically this year so far and kite hasn't, king still has along way to go. kite and king need to get some agro about them, fire up!

 

[Fluffy]

only now, a long time coming and i agree with the comments.

Just to add we are still (under Des) one of the lowesst metres gained teams in teh comp - last year we were last or second last and i imagine this year isnt too different. We tend to rely too much on our kickers (having 3 just encourages that) to make metres up field. We need more hit ups from our front rowers - we have 4 big boppers who can each give that little bit extra and then have a good rest.

I watched the live stats yesterday closely, King Kite and BK did it well int he first 15 - 20 minutes. Then it fell down. Lulu made 1 tackle and 3 hitups in 15 minutes, bryant a few more tackles but the same in hitups - des then replaced them with the starting props. Watmough made most of his metres in the second and was fairly quiet early. Bryant went hard in the second half and grabbed every chance he got, lulu made a good hit and a good hit up then went back to sleep.

I think Des could help imrove this by letting the players know how long they need to last for - lulu seems to be saving himself.

I would much prefer 15 minutes of King dominating the rorsters last year followed up by 10 minutes of bone crunching lulu than 20 mins of king average and 15 mins of lulu average.

Bryant does need to learn to shut his mouth - he is not the only one. Hopefully as monas improves at hooker he will start telling matai steppa etc to get out the way early on so the big boppers can hit it up

That said we are improving up front and look better than last year

 

[Matabele]

Despite King's "improvement" Kite still averages far more metres than him - something Fluffy conveniently neglects to mention.

 

[Canteen Worker]

Have you noticed that both Cuthbo and Watmough have leg drive and keep driving on contact. King just surrenders and falls to the ground like a domino. Kite is a worry though his mobility in defence has been good, though he is falling off tackles a bit this year. Kylie is only intense for a few minutes. Against physical packs like the dogs and knights we are going to have to lift or we will be slaughtered.

 

[Fluffy]

Im not sure of the average mata - i guess king is about 70 and kite around 80, not a huge difference. i would guess bryant is about 70 as is cuthbo and lulu about 50 as well.

but as you say who is on more money - kite.

Hence why bryant is getting all the wraps

 

[Matabele]

As you can see Fluffy - I'm not excusing or making light of Kite's mediocrity.

It is very clear that Bryant is showing them all up.

BTW - divide King and Kite's annual salaries by the amount of metres they make and I think you will find Kite's metres cost less than Kings.

And let's not get started on missed tackles shall we?

 

[robbiea]

He was worthy of SOO selection a couple of years ago ,at that time he was in a team that had gun forwards.He can & will reach that level again ,players dont just lose their game .He just has to find it ,& when he does he will be worth every penny...Hopefully soon ,so everyone can eat their words...

 

[Fluffy]

Kite is on 350K, king about 250K, both overpaid

if King earnt 300K he would be better value per metre.

 

[robbiea]

Its also round 5 ,we have 21 games left ,isnt anyone optimistic that we could have a good team ,capable of improving ????????

 

[Fluffy]

i am happy that this year we are winning when not playing our best footy, last year we were winning but playing our best.

 

[Matabele]

i am happy that this year we are winning when not playing our best footy, last year we were winning but playing our best.

Agreed - our wins have been very ugly but we have still managed to pull them off.

Add to that the second half of our season is easier than the first half (on paper at least) and there is some reason to believe we are capable of a finals berth.

 

[Canteen Worker]

Last time King was up for Contract he was supposedly chased by the Roosters. I would be very surprised if he wasn't on big money given his reputation.

 

[Dan]

Last time King was up for Contract he was supposedly chased by the Roosters.given his reputation.

Yeah at the petting zoo. Rumour has it he ran screaming like a little girl

 

[robbiea]

Last time King was up for Contract he was supposedly chased by the Roosters. I would be very surprised if he wasn't on big money given his reputation.

I remember when there was talk about the Roosters chasing him & yes it was when he was up for talks on his contract.The roosters denied ever speaking to him.I thought then it was probably a rumour started by his manager ,to gain a bigger pay-out for both of them .I honestly wouldnt be suprised if it is the players managers who start most of the rumours !!!They are the greedy lawyers of the game ...

 

[ads]

I think King has been improving. While someone is improving I wont knock them - I want to see at what point he ends up. I thought our forwards dominated in the first 20 minutes, which was the platform which won us the game.

Im not convinced with Kite's performance though.

 

[Canteen Worker]

I have been very happy with Kite's defensive work but it is his hit ups that are the problem.

At St G he was one of five big boppers yet at Manly with the roster he has been carrying a lot of responsibility. He has been affected by the two suspensions for knee lifting. Hope he can recapture his form as we need a dominant Prop rotation to be up there with the big boys!

 

[ManlyBacker]

I spotted King lifting his knee in a hitup near the end of the game. They are both going to get pinged if they keep it up. I agree with everyone, the only prop deserving a decent wage so far is Bryant and that goes back to the end of last season. I still hope the Director who decided on giving King a 5 year contract is in charge of handing out cheese sticks at the Royal Easter Show. Kite keeps showing glimpses but the dollars we brought him across on are definitely not being repaid in deeds on the field.

We are lucky in that Burns, Monas, the pack back 3 and even Ox are very solid in defense and this covers for the mainly poor efforts of the bookends. We are are also lucky that Bailey and Ryles are missing as they killed us last year in one of the most dominant displays I have seen.

We are winning games we would have lost last year and each week we are showing improvement so I haven't lost total faith that both King and Kite could start to repay everyone.