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Canteen Worker

First Grader
Did a lot of good defence tonight. Was very strong and our ruck looked best when he was there. Ballin does a similar job in defence in PL.

In attack he looked lost at five-eighth though he did some good things at times. He isn' the running five-eighth to get our backline moving though and he and Ox confused each other. He still only passes one way but certainly had a dig.
 
he always has a dig.in a perfect world he should share the 9 with Ballin but we simply have no 5/8 that complements orford.this conundrem will kil us all year.

our props tonight were a disgrace.kite was awfully dissappointing and king was simply the usual kin.the real nightmare will come if beaver and bk finally start to feel there age.

i can handle orford and monaghan having no cohesion yet but our second tier forwards do not look competitive.

i have reassessed my forecast on that game-it was a poor quality affair and we still managed to lose.penetration out wide except for bell is absolutely nil as well.

changes must happen

hicks,dunley,king and williamson must go for robertson,ballin,rose and cuthbertson.next week is a loss making the sharks a must game with the roosters to follow.no time to muck around des-do it!
 
Have to agree with Sue here. What we need is a settled five-eight and two solid choices at hooker - one to start, one for impact. Switching the two positions between three players (Monaghan, Dunley and Burns) is a recipe for disaster, and certainly did young Burns no favours. If you're going to give him a go, give him a proper go - a full game at number six. Otherwise he's just taking up a spot on the bench. If it's not Burns, play Witt or Monaghan there, but leave them there. That's the only way we'll ever get a halves combination working.
As for the hookers, Dunley is strictly an impact player. What he's good at is running from dummy half. His service from there is horrible - it always has been. He can't start. That leaves Ballin (who I haven't seen this year) or Monaghan. Personally I like Monnas at hooker; I figure it's his natural position. But if Ballin and Dunley are to share the hooking spot, Monaghan needs to be the five-eight. If you're picking your best 13, he consistently falls somewhere in the top half of the list - certainly on tonight's performance, where he was one of our best.
Oh, and while you're at it, Des, fix the defence, OK? I don't need GPS trackers to tell me we're still soft up the middle and hesitant out wide. Our attack was always going to take some time to click, but there's no excuse for the poor defence.
On a brighter note, it's only one game. I'd much prefer us to stutter a little at the start of the season and then come good than start out on fire and fade away. I'm not sure I can take another second-half seasonal slump.
 
I think that you are spot on with your changes Sue. The raiders were better than us all over the park. King got hammered and pushed back almost every time he took the ball up. It is time for him to be in PL.

Williamson was just a waste of a bench spot as he played very little time and didn't do anything when he was on the field anyway.

Its the same issues as last year with paperthin defence particularly in the second half and no 5/8 and we are a centre short. Our props also gave us very little go forward.
Nothing appears to have changed from last yera.

I also thought that dunley chose the wrong option several times and he runs away from his support. Would prefer to see Monnas at hooker with ballin off the bench. I know that witt is not the answer at 5/8 but we don't have too many other options and at east he would also give us a goalkicker.

Rose, ballin and Cuthbo were good in PL and I also liked the look of wells when he came on. There seems to be a real issue throughout all grades in that we don't have enough big dominant props/ second rowers who can give us go forward. We also have stuff all in the way of 5/8's and centres.

I also question our offseason training as the players look to be very fit but don't appear to have much strength and bulk hence our inability to get go forward happening. They look like greyhounds.

The Raiders all looked much stronger and more agile than our players partialualrly in the leg strength area. I hate to say it but Beavers best days are now well behind him and he may just be playing one season too long. He lacks the ability to make any sort of impact these days and we need more support for BK who cannot do it all himself..

It looks like a long hard season unless Sione and maybe Arnold can come through during the season and give us some mongrel. King just doesn't have it and gets smashed and pushed back almost every time he takes the ball up.
 
In all fairness Monaghan was completely lost at hooker. When he played 5/8 he put some excellent attacking kicks in. His defense was also stellar. Monas and Orford in the halves is the go IMO, leave them there though and don't change it during the game, give them time.

Start with Bryant instead of King, Hicks to the centres, Robertson wing, seeya later Matai. Ballin starting hooker, Dunley bench, Cuthbo/Rose both on bench.
 
well said Blunty. I agree entirely.

I thought Monas had a great game in attack and defence.. a few great kicks forcing dropouts ( i see he didnt grubber much lol) but his standard was alot better. It was great having two options in attack.

Monas and Orford will prove to be a very successful combination in the halves. I still dont rate Burns.. i dont think hes good enough from what ive seen. Dunley was horrible. Ballin has to get a go.

1. Stewart
2. Robertson
3. Bell
4. Hicks
5. Stephenson
6. Monas
7. Orford
8. Bryant
9. Ballin
10. Kite
11. Menzies
12. Watmough
13. BK

Reserves:
14. Lulu
15. Rose
16. King
17. Williamson

I know this is unlikely.. but id like to see Rose and King replace the props.. and Lulu coming on in the 2nd row. He would be damaging outwide..
 
We looked better in defence with him playing 5/8

He was put under a bit of pressure a couple of times when awfulford did his best witt impression then tossed the pill to monas when the defence was on him - it was the last tackle in our half kick the ****en thing your on 450K surely you can kick
 

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