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

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I can understand why Ryan cant see what supporters like me and you see what Suli is capable of as Suli was ordinary last season .
The ordinary perfomances by Suli can be contributed to his late arrival to our club as he was sacked by the Dogs and missed a big part of the pre season training as well as playing over weight and in a dysfunctionally coached team .

And sacked by The Tigers. People forget he's been sacked from both The Tigers AND Dogs (by the age of 20) for poor attitude and poor commitment to health and training.

Then he hits Manly, plays so poorly his position on the field gets targeted by the opposition (consistently), and we are found wanting time and time again there.

I really hope Donny and Des are outright flogging him. Woodsie spoke about a professional sprint coach. I hope getting him up to trotting pace, and having the ability to do so over 20 metres is the first agenda here.

Everyone keeps telling me how great he is . For mine , he's just another Paul Stephenson, without the hard work ethic Steppa had.
 
And sacked by The Tigers. People forget he's been sacked from both The Tigers AND Dogs (by the age of 20) for poor attitude and poor commitment to health and training.

Then he hits Manly, plays so poorly his position on the field gets targeted by the opposition (consistently), and we are found wanting time and time again there.

I really hope Donny and Des are outright flogging him. Woodsie spoke about a professional sprint coach. I hope getting him up to trotting pace, and having the ability to do so over 20 metres is the first agenda here.

Everyone keeps telling me how great he is . For mine , he's just another Paul Stephenson, without the hard work ethic Steppa had.
You do make some valid points there feathered friend . His supporters like me live on the hope that his attitude may change
 
I can understand why Ryan cant see what supporters like me and you see what Suli is capable of as Suli was ordinary last season .
The ordinary perfomances by Suli can be contributed to his late arrival to our club as he was sacked by the Dogs and missed a big part of the pre season training as well as playing over weight and in a dysfunctionally coached team .
Yes I can understand what ur saying , missing the most part of pre_season etc but he seems to be a bit of a whipping boy to some . This season coming won't get any easier for him either with not knowing whether Walker will be available or not , so added pressure will be thrown on him again . But I recon he deserves benefit of the doubt until season proper then judge the young bloke.
 
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!

Suli definitely has the potential to be a gun three-quarter. Unfortunately though, his past attitude and playing last year for us in a losing side has seen people forget that he is a very talented player when his head is screwed on right.

Hopefully with his head in the right place, which should lead to being a lot fitter, and some better coaching, he can show the potential that people have seen in him.
 
Yes I can understand what ur saying , missing the most part of pre_season etc but he seems to be a bit of a whipping boy to some . This season coming won't get any easier for him either with not knowing whether Walker will be available or not , so added pressure will be thrown on him again . But I recon he deserves benefit of the doubt until season proper then judge the young bloke.
The NRL is a passionate game where winning is everything and passionate supporters have high expectations of their players . Supporters expectations are based on what they have seen from a player and what they believe a player is capable of. The Suli believers have expectations of what they believe Suli is capable of and our Friend Ryan will become a believer once Suli produces what he is capable because last season he was far from his potential best and Ryan is only saying it how he is seeing it and not predicting the future like us . Every NRL forum has pin up boys and whipping boys . It is the nature of the beast .
When Suli eventually starts cracking the whips he will be a pin up boy for all on here .
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The NRL is a passionate game where winning is everything and passionate supporters have high expectations of their players . Supporters expectations are based on what they have seen from a player and what they believe a player is capable of. The Suli believers have expectations of what they believe Suli is capable of and our Friend Ryan will become a believer once Suli produces what he is capable because last season he was far from his potential best and Ryan is only saying it how he is seeing it and not predicting the future like us . Every NRL forum has pin up boys and whipping boys . It is the nature of the beast .
When Suli eventually starts cracking the whips he will be a pin up boy for all on here .
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Agreed. I was really disappointed with him last season, as well as the majority of our backline.
However, I'm prepared to give him a few matches this season before condemning him (or not) to Mr Plod status.
 
Agreed. I was really disappointed with him last season, as well as the majority of our backline.
However, I'm prepared to give him a few matches this season before condemning him (or not) to Mr Plod status.
I am with you all the way and the good old Aussie Australian way to give a kid a go .
Lets see how he goes in a full uninterrupted season and under a descent coach
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The NRL is a passionate game where winning is everything and passionate supporters have high expectations of their players . Supporters expectations are based on what they have seen from a player and what they believe a player is capable of. The Suli believers have expectations of what they believe Suli is capable of and our Friend Ryan will become a believer once Suli produces what he is capable because last season he was far from his potential best and Ryan is only saying it how he is seeing it and not predicting the future like us . Every NRL forum has pin up boys and whipping boys . It is the nature of the beast .
When Suli eventually starts cracking the whips he will be a pin up boy for all on here .
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I won't go into it mate , but I agree .
 
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.

Who are you referring to?

Hoppa - too young
Anderson - not eligible and even the great Des doesn't rate him in the top 30
T Wright - the club doesn't think so probably with Des' blessing
Sipley - very poor in first grade
Hastings - club let him go

ahh - the great Jono Wright
 
Barrett had the chance of using Tom Wright, Anderson and Hastings. He just decided to stick with slow and safe and exile those he didn't want.

Barrett had made it clear he was going to use Tom Wright out wide and not at five eighth over a year ago. Yet what happens? Wright ends up playing 5/8 for much of the season in the Reggies, rather than trying him out in the centre and wing. Barrett then used him once in the centre against St George and he performed well, as a large number on this forum agreed. He then moved him to 5/8, and though he was no where near the worst defender, he copped the blame for the next loss.

Barrett could have used Anderson or Tom Wright (maybe both) on the wing. Both are speedsters, both are good under the high ball, both have good evasive skills, and their defence would have been better than what we had. He had the chance to bring Anderson into the 30 but chose another direction twice (Suli, Fainu), neither of whom corrected the problems we had out wide.

Then there was Hastings. Yes the club let him go but only because Barrett refused to use him in first grade. Why would you refuse to use probably the best option for 5/8 you had for what were apparently minor disagreements. Good grief we have players out there with serious criminal histories playing first grade. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

As for Albert Hopoate, many players, including Albert's father, have played first grade at 18 and still do. Its not as if he is playing in the forwards. He'll be either a winger or full back, probably the former at first, and boy do we need a little speed and creativity in that position at the moment. An 18 year old Hoppa, despite his inexperience, will be a far better proposition than other options we have at the moment, even if he struggles. Fast, evasive, clever ball skills, good under the high ball and seems to be safe in defence. Why wouldn't you risk him?
 
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

For about the millionth time Anderson was INELIGIBLE to play first grade last year as he was not in the top 30 and we had other players who could play in that position already in the top 30.
 
For about the millionth time Anderson was INELIGIBLE to play first grade last year as he was not in the top 30 and we had other players who could play in that position already in the top 30.


For the millionth time Anderson could have been raised and contracted to the 30 status instead of buying Suli mid season. No reason if you have a vacancy of bringing a player up from the lower grades instead of buying away from the club. At the time Anderson would have been a far better proposition than Suli, despite Suli's potential, which I don't deny. Could have been just as easy to buy Suli for the '19 season, and bring him into the Reggies for '18. We needed a decent wing man, more than a centre last year.
 
For the millionth time Anderson could have been raised and contracted to the 30 status instead of buying Suli mid season. No reason if you have a vacancy of bringing a player up from the lower grades instead of buying away from the club. At the time Anderson would have been a far better proposition than Suli, despite Suli's potential, which I don't deny. Could have been just as easy to buy Suli for the '19 season, and bring him into the Reggies for '18. We needed a decent wing man, more than a centre last year.

Suli was a wing man .... I don't recall he ever played centre ..... and he was more experienced than Anderson ......and we swooped when he became available, it was an unplanned cheap bonus ..... and we didn't need a wingman until both Jorge and Akula got injured .....
 
Suli was a wing man .... I don't recall he ever played centre ..... and he was more experienced than Anderson ......and we swooped when he became available, it was an unplanned cheap bonus ..... and we didn't need a wingman until both Jorge and Akula got injured .....
Aaah ... I was wondering where you’d gotten to.
 
Barrett had the chance of using Tom Wright, Anderson and Hastings. He just decided to stick with slow and safe and exile those he didn't want.

Barrett had made it clear he was going to use Tom Wright out wide and not at five eighth over a year ago. Yet what happens? Wright ends up playing 5/8 for much of the season in the Reggies, rather than trying him out in the centre and wing. Barrett then used him once in the centre against St George and he performed well, as a large number on this forum agreed. He then moved him to 5/8, and though he was no where near the worst defender, he copped the blame for the next loss.

Barrett could have used Anderson or Tom Wright (maybe both) on the wing. Both are speedsters, both are good under the high ball, both have good evasive skills, and their defence would have been better than what we had. He had the chance to bring Anderson into the 30 but chose another direction twice (Suli, Fainu), neither of whom corrected the problems we had out wide.

Then there was Hastings. Yes the club let him go but only because Barrett refused to use him in first grade. Why would you refuse to use probably the best option for 5/8 you had for what were apparently minor disagreements. Good grief we have players out there with serious criminal histories playing first grade. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

As for Albert Hopoate, many players, including Albert's father, have played first grade at 18 and still do. Its not as if he is playing in the forwards. He'll be either a winger or full back, probably the former at first, and boy do we need a little speed and creativity in that position at the moment. An 18 year old Hoppa, despite his inexperience, will be a far better proposition than other options we have at the moment, even if he struggles. Fast, evasive, clever ball skills, good under the high ball and seems to be safe in defence. Why wouldn't you risk him?
Perfectly stated... Baz appears to have missed the boat at just about every juncture.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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