The dissection of todays team - sell or keep

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Garrick - easy to see what top fullbacks are so good. Apart from freakish skills their fitness over the 80 min is key. Garrick did OK tonight but was blowing most of the match. Not a fullback. Not sure a comp winning winger either.

Funa - just a bit blah. Does he look really small to you? Don't thinks he's NRL first team quality. Sell

Parker - strong and reliable as always. Gives 100%. Not the best player but someone that can do a job. Getting better with experience without doubt. Keep

Suli - still not sure about this kid. Has magic in there somewhere but just seems to lack game awareness. Would let him go on current form. Sell

Tafua - like the Hill at brookie. Will always be there. Reliable and can do the hard stuff. Has got the catching and handling issues under control. Can score a good try. Keep for now.

Croker - sell sell sell. Nothing in the bag.

DCE - almost totally out of form but is there anyone better out there? And before you say Cleary or Keary they aint coming here. Keep

Jake - needs a quality no.9 to give him time to scheme. Heat and sound of the club. Keep

Thommo - been loyal but needs to go. Hard as nuts but we need more. Sell

Sirro - just not sure. He has flashes of brilliance and mongrel followed by brain snaps and mediocre. Keep

Marty - top 8 ports in game. With better no.9 would be able to shine. Keep.

Levi - no. Sorry. Gave him a good go and just doesn't have it. Sell

AFB - top 4 of props but needs to add some explosive speed. Just ambles up offers his arse and backs that baby up. Keep
 
Garrick - easy to see what top fullbacks are so good. Apart from freakish skills their fitness over the 80 min is key. Garrick did OK tonight but was blowing most of the match. Not a fullback. Not sure a comp winning winger either.

Funa - just a bit blah. Does he look really small to you? Don't thinks he's NRL first team quality. Sell

Parker - strong and reliable as always. Gives 100%. Not the best player but someone that can do a job. Getting better with experience without doubt. Keep

Suli - still not sure about this kid. Has magic in there somewhere but just seems to lack game awareness. Would let him go on current form. Sell

Tafua - like the Hill at brookie. Will always be there. Reliable and can do the hard stuff. Has got the catching and handling issues under control. Can score a good try. Keep for now.

Croker - sell sell sell. Nothing in the bag.

DCE - almost totally out of form but is there anyone better out there? And before you say Cleary or Keary they aint coming here. Keep

Jake - needs a quality no.9 to give him time to scheme. Heat and sound of the club. Keep

Thommo - been loyal but needs to go. Hard as nuts but we need more. Sell

Sirro - just not sure. He has flashes of brilliance and mongrel followed by brain snaps and mediocre. Keep

Marty - top 8 ports in game. With better no.9 would be able to shine. Keep.

Levi - no. Sorry. Gave him a good go and just doesn't have it. Sell

AFB - top 4 of props but needs to add some explosive speed. Just ambles up offers his arse and backs that baby up. Keep
The backline has been our issue for a while, Toms individual brilliance has masked this issue.

With Tom and Dylan out I think our best team in the backs is :
1. Albert Hoppa
2. Garrick
3.Parker
4. Suli
5. Jorge
6. Cust
7.DCE

The right edge has been an easy read for opposing teams, Siro always cuts back on an inside run, today not as much though. Moses needs some room and early ball, DCE needs to get him one on one against the opponent.

The left side I agree with Thomo, I feel Guacamole is a better option running off Cust on that edge.
 
Garrick went better than last week but not a FB

Funa gets better each week with confidence ; he is looking for the ball now and not waiting back for a pass.

Cust out shadowed Croker; should start at 6.

Jake had his usual strong game but is starting to look like Gallen. Needs to get the ball out more - a decent 9 would help.

Good D in the second half, with no 50/50 calls or luck of the bounce. We should have/could have won if not for outside influences.
 
Taufua is not a first grader. I love him but he’s been picked on loyalty for a while - he improved his form in the early rounds when we were playing well but he’s got to be the slowest winger in the comp. Manly through and through but in a fully fit side we’re just counting down the days until Hopoate takes that #2 jersey. Despite form our 3,4 and 5 (Garrick) are safe.

Would really like to get fainu’s court date sorted. Oh, and Cust is a first grader.
 
Hooker and halves are where we are weak. At this stage Des is left with one or 2 specialists and a whole lot of mr fix it durability types with no obvious stand outs.

Unfortunately with manese out and turbo, manlys game plan rests on cherry and he isnt that guy. Like him or not his contract is the major hurdle in all on going attempts at beefing up the spine.

Cherry is a durable player and has many upsides but his contract is the team balance problem

He needs to be realistic and take his market value to remain a manly man. And that value is probably 750 ish. Then he is a valued member of the squad.
Thommo going is good.
Jake playing first reciever really blunts his game. We need to decide if he is going to be a proper forward or not.
Croker looks very much like parker did not so long back, with the yipitees
We need waddell back as he takes up some of what we lost with apis work rate around the middle

Paseka needs some more but thats building slowly. Maybe he is a trader.
If manese is back next year id like to see levi gone but another genuine hooker about.

Cust is very cherry like , its either all or nothing, but he does have a go , too early to tell

I think id like to see walker as our mr fix it cover centre, 6 and fullback to cover injuries. If we are to persist with cherry , he needs a "go to" battering ram back rower to pass to on his edge like kikau to force him to give early ball

Marty, afb, keppie, waddell, jakey, tom, parker, dylan, sirro, manese, are keepers
Too early on funa
Garrick, croker, suli, tafua, levi, jetski, paseka, sipley, cust, elliott, are all pretty much possabilities depending on what it allows you to bring in. Not saying get rid of them all but under the right situation
 
The last few weeks have certainly been disappointing. The defence yesterday was strong I thought but is it any real surprise how disjointed our attack looks at times when our 1,6 and to a lesser extent 9 we were banking on are not there?
 
We are 6 weeks in to the restart. It is obvious that we have a good, tough and resilient team. What we need is players who will make us into a great team.

I see some holes in our team. The lack of options we have for five eighth and hooker continue to stop the team from really progressing.

If we are fair dinkum we need to assess the players over the whole season before any one is moved on.

We do not know what will happen with Fainu and it might be a year before it even goes to trial, do we stick with him? I just wish we knew!!

We will need to replace Thommo and we have some decent options there.

I would be looking at bringing in some speed in our backline. I really hope that club try and sign Alex Johnson as he has the skills to play wing or fullback and he has blinding speed, the try he scored yesterday is evidence of that

I hope that we see some of the young talent we have at our disposal, Surely Schuster has to get a chance soon especially as our halves are not creating much.

Its fair to say that every player is under the microscope and tough decisions will be made. Hindsight is a great thing and when you see how Gutho and Api are performing and the current gaps in our team it does make you wonder, like all recruitment, you win some, you lose some.
 
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Garrick improved massively from last week especially positionally in defence. My main concern is his passing game and lack of a running game that can beat his opposite number. If you look at most our tries this year they come through set plays with Tommy linking around and playing the right pass or going himself. I love Garrick and his heart but I am not sure if he can even do a spiral pass to save his life. Having him at fullback eliminates one of the key positions in most set plays. This was seen last night. Both Cust and Cherry Evans were forced to mainly play down the short side and we were unable to switch sides like we did to great effect with Tommy. Even if we are able to create a 3 on 3 I seriously doubt his ability to beat his opposing player. Please name Albert Hopoate. None of this comes from a dislike towards Reuben who is a fantastic player with lots of guts, fullback just isn't his spot and another 8 weeks without Tommy could really damage our finals potential.
 
I'm not sure. He has passion and aggression but I'm not sure he's good enough. When you say FG that's a pretty big window. Is he a premiership first grader or just a bloke good enough to be in the top 200 playing the game?
He's better then croker and dont forget He's rusty.. i think he's what we need he runs hard and is a handful. Gives dce time to count numbers and play whats in front of him. He has to be our 6.. croker offers nothing he's a good back up 9 thats it's. Definitely he has to be sold
 
Garrick improved massively from last week especially positionally in defence. My main concern is his passing game and lack of a running game that can beat his opposite number. If you look at most our tries this year they come through set plays with Tommy linking around and playing the right pass or going himself. I love Garrick and his heart but I am not sure if he can even do a spiral pass to save his life. Having him at fullback eliminates one of the key positions in most set plays. This was seen last night. Both Cust and Cherry Evans were forced to mainly play down the short side and we were unable to switch sides like we did to great effect with Tommy. Even if we are able to create a 3 on 3 I seriously doubt his ability to beat his opposing player. Please name Albert Hopoate. None of this comes from a dislike towards Reuben who is a fantastic player with lots of guts, fullback just isn't his spot and another 8 weeks without Tommy could really damage our finals potential.
He improved big time but he looked gassed the poor guy. He's been coasting on the wing now he has to be everywhere in D and attack. Agreed he has no passing game but it could come. I still think Elliot is better at fb... in des we trust
 
We are 6 weeks in to the restart. It is obvious that we have a good, tough and resilient team. What we need is players who will make us into a great team.

I see some holes in our team. The lack of options we have for five eighth and hooker continue to stop the team from really progressing.

If we are fair dinkum we need to assess the players over the whole season before any one is moved on.

We do not know what will happen with Fainu and it might be a year before it even goes to trial, do we stick with him? I just wish we knew!!

We will need to replace Thommo and we have some decent options there.

I would be looking at bringing in some speed in our backline. I really hope that club try and sign Alex Johnson as he has the skills to play wing or fullback and he has blinding speed, the try he scored yesterday is evidence of that

I hope that we see some of the young talent we have at our disposal, Surely Schuster has to get a chance soon especially as our halves are not creating much.

Its fair to say that every player is under the microscope and tough decisions will be made. Hindsight is a great thing and when you see how Gutho and Api are performing and the current gaps in our team it does make you wonder, like all recruitment, you win some, you lose some.

We've been sorely lacking in backline pace for some time now. Spot on.
 

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