TRADE OFF WITH TITANS

[ManlyArmy]

Lurker mate, what type of sauce are you on?

 

[The Eagle Has Landed]

That's great mate-I disagree.
Anyone who thinks Bird is some career drug addict is deluded. There are probably players in our squad who have done exactly the same.
One thing for certain-nobody will ever question Bird's ticker-he is a winner

I agree he hasn't been found guilty of anything as of yet.
I'd have him at Manly in a heartbeat he has what Watmough has mongrel and right about now we don't have much of it.

 

[The Eagle Has Landed]

It's funny how people think that playing specialist players out of position like Ballin at 5/8 will be beneficial. I think we need to let 2V do his job he's a good coach and I have faith in him.

 

[lurker]

Lurker mate, what type of sauce are you on?

in the parra game he was mixed in a bit at first and second receiver. I'm only talking about till Foz is back not long term. It's outside the box but if we aren't getting go forward why not get a quick nimble hooker on to exploit the new play the ball rules and make some metres. Did anyone see how good Isaac luke went out of dummy half? Play it like a rolling dummy half for the first few tackles. Force the opposition onto the back foot

 

[lurker]

It's funny how people think that playing specialist players out of position like Ballin at 5/8 will be beneficial. I think we need to let 2V do his job he's a good coach and I have faith in him.

I'm just spit balling an idea in a forum. Geez. Why is that any more stupid than playing hiku at 5/8. at least our defence would be solid with ballin. He can kick and pass and has the fundamentals to play in that position. Its def not the worst idea.

 

[Kevinward777]

I'm just spit balling an idea in a forum. Geez. Why is that any more stupid than playing hiku at 5/8. at least our defence would be solid with ballin. He can kick and pass and has the fundamentals to play in that position. Its def not the worst idea.

Yes. Yes it is.

 

[lurker]

Yes. Yes it is.

enlighten me oh wise one. it certainly wouldn't concede us points which I see all the alternatives doing

 

[Kevinward777]

enlighten me oh wise one. it certainly wouldn't concede us points which I see all the alternatives doing

The fact you need to be enlightened says it all. Typical gen y pie in the sky logic.

 

[lurker]

The fact you need to be enlightened says it all. Typical gen y pie in the sky logic.

if you're going to disagree with something how bout you rationalise the disagreement instead of just being a tool

 

[pjayz]

The fact you need to be enlightened says it all. Typical gen y pie in the sky logic.

uh oh

 

[Kevinward777]

if you're going to disagree with something how bout you rationalise the disagreement instead of just being a tool

Matt Ballin is a hooker, not a 5/8. In fact he is so far from being a 5/8 that it makes your suggestion ludicrous. Does that clear it up for you champ?

 

[pjayz]

I'm just spit balling an idea in a forum. Geez. Why is that any more stupid than playing hiku at 5/8. at least our defence would be solid with ballin. He can kick and pass and has the fundamentals to play in that position. Its def not the worst idea.

Personally I don't think he would have the ball playing nous to play 5/8th, even just for two games - but I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time let me give you the tip). It could lock-out one side of the field in terms of attacking play, unless DCE roams. Having said that, I do agree that Hodges could take advantage of the ruck interpretation which we lacked in round 1.

 

[Sideline Eye]

I haven't seen anything of Elgey so for all I know he may be the next Australian half...but it's a tall order to bring in a 21 yo and expect him to step into 1st grade and fill the shoes of a seasoned half. If he's as good as everyone say's I hope we get him but I think we'll need a back up plan in case it takes him time to step up.

When we lost Hodkinson to the Dogs, Des brought in DCE who did not have any first grade experience and was playing in the QLD cup. That was four ears ago in 2011 when Foz was 21 and DCE was 22 and look where they are now!!!

Hopefully history has a way of repeating itself. Jump on Youtube and search for his highlights by name.

 

[Sideline Eye]

Ballin is not a 5/8 but in his earlier years, 2008, he did do some kicking and landed a few 40/20s from dummy half. He is a kicking option although i don't know how good he is with any other type of kicks in general play.

 

[Shoe1]

The way the game panned out on friday night buried some interesting things that I saw in the 1st half. Matty B was locking the scrums and passing the ball from lock. He was also 1st or second receiver on the right a few times - on at least one occasion enabling dce to play next to Kieran. The try by brett saw both halves on the left of the ruck, with dce passing to Kieran then Kieran back inside to brett.

It is clear that our spine have been working on mixing things up a bit. The terrible start to the second half (penalty goal on tackle one, then 2 tries from the next 2 or 3 sets of 6) destroyed any chance we had, then losing our number 6.

But there was something brewing there in terms of variation among our 1,6,7 and 9. Using ballin more like a half in some circumstances isn't entirely crazy.

 

[Daddycool08]

I took the time to watch the Titans this weekend. Just to see how the 5/8 and halfback would go.

They both seemed Ok to me.

Suggestion: Why not go to the Titans and exchange DCE for Mortimer (an experienced player who won't have a position next year.) Try and get Mortimer now on a three year contract.

Also try and pick their 5/8 Aidan Sezer. With the view of picking him up next year on a three year contract.

This way the club would not be having to negotiate with two players off contract at the same time.

Together, they'd both be cheaper than DCE what was getting.

They both seem solid at the moment.

 

[lurker]

Matt Ballin is a hooker, not a 5/8. In fact he is so far from being a 5/8 that it makes your suggestion ludicrous. Does that clear it up for you champ?

has anyone told you you're a bit of a dick? Why aren't any of his skills transferrable? ^^ above at least 1 person agrees its not stupid so how about you don't act like a tosser towards me for expressing an opinion. By all means refute it with some validation beyond "he's just not".

Does that sound good 'champ'?

 

[Kevinward777]

has anyone told you you're a bit of a dick? Why aren't any of his skills transferrable? ^^ above at least 1 person agrees its not stupid so how about you don't act like a tosser towards me for expressing an opinion. By all means refute it with some validation beyond "he's just not".

Does that sound good 'champ'?

Well a bit of a dick is better than being labelled a total cock, so i thank you for holding back. I think Ballin is nothing like a 5/8. Using him as a stop gap during games while both halves pair up on one side of the field doesn't equate to filling in at 5/8 for an entire match. He's a hooker and a damn fine one at that.

 

[Go manly]

Got an idea out of the box- pretty optimistic and far fetched-cause like people have said-good halves are hard to find and buggar all on the market- But
Why don't we,---------

Play DCE at 7 and Fox at 6 this year and ask them to do what thjey are getting paid to do and have argeably the best halves combinations in the game,playing inside the likes of snake,Killer skivvy and jamie when he is back.
get our forwards to tighten up and have a crack at making ing the fucn 8 again
lighten up and get to the ground this week and cheer.
Go manly-whatever happens-

 

[lurker]

Well a bit of a dick is better than being labelled a total cock, so i thank you for holding back. I think Ballin is nothing like a 5/8. Using him as a stop gap during games while both halves pair up on one side of the field doesn't equate to filling in at 5/8 for an entire match. He's a hooker and a damn fine one at that.

I agree he is an awesome hooker. But he has a nice solid kicking game. He is rock solid in defence and he can pass and run from second receiver. In addition getting hodges on the field can exploit the rule changes. Ultimately though the point was that our other options at 5/8 in my opinion will cost us points through weaker defence. We need to rebuild the maroon wall and use our defence to force field position. We don't have the cattle to make 60m a set.