Sea Eagles’ best 17: Pressure on the big three with depth to be tested

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Not if Des is the same old Des. I can remember us really struggling in games and screaming at the TV..."Put Jamie on! Why won't he use him???".

If we weren't struggling back then....why did he name him in the starting sides?
I dont share your view on this ...
The same squad in 2010 that Jamie made his debut won the Grand final the following year . Our depth this season is not as good
BALLIN, Matt
BUHRER, Jamie
CROSS, Matthew
FARRAR, Ben
FORAN, Kieran
GALUVAO, Joseph
HODKINSON, Trent
HOPOATE, William
KING, Jason
KITE, Brett
LYON, Jamie
MATAI, Stephen
OLDFIELD, Michael
PERRY, Josh
ROBERTSON, Michael
RODNEY, Shane
ROSE, George
SEUSEU, Terence
STEWART, Brett
STEWART, Glenn
WATMOUGH, Anthony
WHARE, Dean
WILLIAMS, Tony
 
I’d give Funa first crack at the wing spot ( hoppa not old enough as suggested)
But they might go with experience then most likely Elliot
I have not seen much of young Funa. He is rated highly by some . Have you seen much of him on the playing field ?
 
If young Slow-Mo-Suli is in the centres (we'll be bottom 3 again). With possibly Walker out, and Hoppa not available yet, we have :

02.
03.
04.
05.

To fill with the following options:

Jorge Taufua
Moses Suli
Reuben Garrick
Brendan Elliott
Brad Parker
Tevita Funa

Talk about scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel. Not thinking one of those players breaks into a Chooks backline talent wise.

Says a lot.
 
If young Slow-Mo-Suli is in the centres (we'll be bottom 3 again). With possibly Walker out, and Hoppa not available yet, we have :

02.
03.
04.
05.

To fill with the following options:

Jorge Taufua
Moses Suli
Reuben Garrick
Brendan Elliott
Brad Parker
Tevita Funa

Talk about scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel. Not thinking one of those players breaks into a Chooks backline talent wise.

Says a lot.
I agree we aren’t stacked in that position but I don’t think many players would crack the roosters backline. They have the best fullback, the best two centres and 3 rep wingers
 
I agree we aren’t stacked in that position but I don’t think many players would crack the roosters backline. They have the best fullback, the best two centres and 3 rep wingers
Okay, change it for The Storm, or Broncos. Or Panthers. Or Sharks. Etc, etc. Same applies.
 
If young Slow-Mo-Suli is in the centres (we'll be bottom 3 again). With possibly Walker out, and Hoppa not available yet, we have :

02.
03.
04.
05.

To fill with the following options:

Jorge Taufua
Moses Suli
Reuben Garrick
Brendan Elliott
Brad Parker
Tevita Funa

Talk about scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel. Not thinking one of those players breaks into a Chooks backline talent wise.

Says a lot.
They are players that would struggle to make some other teams roster but all have been mentioned in the past as promising players so hopefully with the new look back room staff on board some might be able to step up finally and show they deserve to be in first grade
 
If young Slow-Mo-Suli is in the centres (we'll be bottom 3 again)

I agree I don't want to see Suli in the centres .... not yet anyway (he is still only 20) ..... but I will have a side wager with you that he is not as slow as you think he is .....

.. and remember we now have both a sprint coach and a recognised Sports Phychologist ... Suli is one of many of our youngun's that will benefit from those areas.
 
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What I meant was.....if Hoppa gets a run this year....and Des is the same character he was....he will probably ease him into top grade slowly. Like he did with JB.

Those winning sides Des had success with years ago were freaky. They played a lot of footy together on their way up. They were not only talented...but they had brains.This side we have now is not in the same ball park as the players we had last time he was here. That's why I find it hard to get on board with the majority here...thinking Des = instant success. I'm sure there'll be a honeymoon period and we'll hit the ground running...but as the year grinds on, I think we'll slide down the ladder. (I DON'T WANT THAT....but I think it'll happen)
 
I agree I don't want to see Suli in the centres .... not yet anyway (he is still only 20) ..... but I will have a side wager with you that he is not as slow as you think he is .....

.. and remember we know have both a sprint coach and a recognised Sports Phychologist ... Suli is one of many of our youngun's that will benefit from those areas.

I must be one of the only Suli fans here. I believe he will develop into a weapon. If he's serious about giving it a red hot go....and we have the resources in place to help him develop (we do now!) he'll make a lot of people eat their words!
 
I agree I don't want to see Suli in the centres .... not yet anyway (he is still only 20) ..... but I will have a side wager with you that he is not as slow as you think he is .....

.. and remember we know have both a sprint coach and a recognised Sports Phychologist ... Suli is one of many of our youngun's that will benefit from those areas.
I honestly hope you're right mate.
 
What I meant was.....if Hoppa gets a run this year....and Des is the same character he was....he will probably ease him into top grade slowly. Like he did with JB.

Those winning sides Des had success with years ago were freaky. They played a lot of footy together on their way up. They were not only talented...but they had brains.This side we have now is not in the same ball park as the players we had last time he was here. That's why I find it hard to get on board with the majority here...thinking Des = instant success. I'm sure there'll be a honeymoon period and we'll hit the ground running...but as the year grinds on, I think we'll slide down the ladder. (I DON'T WANT THAT....but I think it'll happen)


Too early to compare the side they are developing today with the side of 2004-5 for example. We have three champion players in the Trbojevics and DCE. We have potentially two of the best front rowers in the game in Blake and Taupau. We have a test quality centre in Walker, if we can get the best out of him. We have five young kids who are potentially rep players coming through in Fainu, Suli, Albert Hopa, Schuster and Ben T. Sironen could yet mature into one of the best second rowers. There are a couple of young forwards coming into the team who could be anything. Elgey may be the lynchpin we have been looking for since Foran left, but maybe in 2 years, if we can hold him, Schuster or Metcalfe may hold that role if he fails. Who knows what Anderson and Funa may develop into.

Of course much will depend on injuries, and finding a way to hold on to the best players, while adding quality a little at a time. But those teams back in 2004-5, looked no better than this side and remember they added quality a bit at a time over the years with Lyon, Matai, Kennedy, Kite, Robertson, Williams etc being added between 2005 and 2008. The basis of the team is there. In a year or two this is potentially a champion side. We would never have guessed the same of the team Des had in his first year in 2004. Manly finished 13th but had a bunch of unknowns including John Hopoate, Jason KIng, Anthony Watmough, Brett Stewart, Glenn Stewart, added to a side including Menzies, Donald, Hicks, Walker, Monaghan and Williamson. I actually see similarities to the 2004-5 sides to this one in 2019. 11th to 8th in 2019, semis 2020, who knows in 2021.
 
If Albert Hoppa proves his worth in the Reggies, he will be in firsts the moment he is eligible. No way Des will leave a potential match winner in reserves, like Barrett did time and again in 2018.
I'm trying to think which potential match winners we had in reserves last year. None that I can recall. Workers were as fuked as first grade.
 
I'm trying to think which potential match winners we had in reserves last year. None that I can recall. Workers were as fuked as first grade.
We have quality match winning elite players in fist grade to do the job . A big improvement I can see is to function as a team
 
Black Town Workers [ in the games that i saw ] had some similar issues as the i st grade side last season in that they just could not string together a consistent eighty minutes and also marked by some quite lazy and ordinary defence at times . Tom Wright and Anderson were about their main match winner candidates and i st grade material . Also can only hope that a more professional and through coaching approach can get both grades to a much better competitive and consistent level for season 2019 ..
 
I'm trying to think which potential match winners we had in reserves last year. None that I can recall. Workers were as fuked as first grade.


Barrett failed to give Tom Wright, Hastings and Anderson a chance when we seriously needed some stimulus in the backline. You could see the latent talent with Wright with that try against St George. With Walker, Uate and Taupau out for much of the season, he decided to use the other Wright, an overweight Suli (he played quite well but was slow) and Parker. Its noted that in 2017 the three quarters were scoring most of the tries in the side. In 2018 it fell to DCE and TT and a couple of forwards. Kelly was the best in the three quarters scoring 7. The rest dropped away to low single figures.

Now Tom Wright may have some short comings, such as positioning for defence, and Anderson wasn't setting the world on fire in the Reggies, but both of these would have had far more impact in firsts on the wing, or maybe centre for T. Wright, than what we were seeing. It was obvious that our backline was pedestrian, and opposition teams were running around them. They needed speed. And then there was the Hastings debacle. How could you leave one of the few backline players with spark out of the game, because of a desire to punish. Hastings didn't lose anything. Manly did. When Hastings and Tom Wright were together in the Reggies, they sparked. So in response, yes there were three backline players there I would have had in first grade while Walker, Uate and Taufua were absent. At least the Workers almost made the semis
 

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