Walker special mention

[Chunkytuna]

I’d keep Walker and Lawton on the bench.

Both utilities who can cover most positions except prop.

Walker
Lawton
Aloiai/Paseka/Taupau
Keppie

That would be my bench. I love Sips and the energy his brings. However, I think he tires the easiest/laziest and the weakest middle defender out of the bunch of props.

Paseka has to start IMO. He's been awesome. Way better than Taupau. I won't be sad to see Taupau leave, if he does next season.

 

[The Who]

another question is at full strength does schuster go benchy, which throws another spanner into it

Shoey goes benchy?
I like the cadence of that!

 

[Tragic Eagle]

I am a huge fan of Schuster, I agree his attacking skill is being somewhat dulled by the amount of work he does in defence. But I am a firm believer in not fixing it unless its broken. I think we have the best backrowers we have had for a decade. The only way for the Schuster on the bench idea to work would have to be at the expenses of Walker at 14 and Keppie starting in the backrow.

 

[Kevinward777]

I'm loving Walker's role in the middle. Watching him prove the sausage roll eaters wrong has been a real treat.

 

[Class of 96]

I was not thrilled to see Walker back, but kudo’s to him for playing so well these past few weeks. Makes for a powerful bench as it stands coming into the championship games.

 

[Mataiforever]

The LawMan has played 57 NRL matches so he is not inexperienced. He can also play hooker, halfback and five eighth, making him a valuable back-up to Froggy, DCE and even Foran. DESpicable has given him the role of a defender, which he does well, but if you have a look at his brag video you'll see he was/is a speedy attacker.
For me he offers both surety in his performance, and utility value, over Walker.

I rate him highly
However even if you have a gripe with Walker as a person, you must admit he’s been in far superior form to Lawton in the past few weeks. He’s come on and changed the game multiple times for us this year
Walker also has played more games and offers a similar utility value. I’m not sure where Lawton playing in the halves has come from but it has been thrown around a lot lately - I don’t think he has played a minute of halves in the NRL so definitely wouldn’t consider him “cover” for that position

 

[Dan]

Without going through the whole thread, did anyone else notice how much he had bulked up?

 

[Ben]

I’m absolutely loving this roll Walker is playing off the bench. Another Desmond master stroke. His link play attacking the line has really unlocked our outside backs and especially Foz

 

[47MVEagle]

Without going through the whole thread, did anyone else notice how much he had bulked up?

Is it possible it's simply been a case of him being hangry all these years & now that he's eating all the pizza he desires he no longer has hanger management issues?

 

[The Who]

I rate him highly
However even if you have a gripe with Walker as a person, you must admit he’s been in far superior form to Lawton in the past few weeks. He’s come on and changed the game multiple times for us this year
Walker also has played more games and offers a similar utility value. I’m not sure where Lawton playing in the halves has come from but it has been thrown around a lot lately - I don’t think he has played a minute of halves in the NRL so definitely wouldn’t consider him “cover” for that position

He played half and 5/8 in the Queensland Cup, I believe, before being recruited by the Worriers. I've seen his early form and he was an attacking back.

 

[Mataiforever]

He played half and 5/8 in the Queensland Cup, I believe, before being recruited by the Worriers. I've seen his early form and he was an attacking back.

Hmm really
I remember when he was at Titans he was a hooker and in their ressys i thought

Would still have Schuster / Walker / Cust over Lawton in the halves any day of the week. Probably Croker too

 

[Eagles4Life]

He played half and 5/8 in the Queensland Cup, I believe, before being recruited by the Worriers. I've seen his early form and he was an attacking back.

He has definitely spent a lot of in the halves. @Mataiforever When he was recruited by the Gold Coast Titans, he was recruited as a half. He was then turned into a hooker, and played off the bench in the halves and as hooker, when he was there. Injuries intervened and he was signed to the Warriors primarily as a hooker. Whilst he was at the Warriors he started as second row, hooker and had two games as starting centre. In his QLD cup career, when he was playing five eight he had a very similar style to Foran, but Lawton has a better kicking game in my opinion. He just hasn't been able to showcase these parts of his game. Essentially, Lawton is a pure footballer that plays the role that he is asked to play. That's what he doing for us. If he had a bit more latitude on the field, I think he would surprise many of you with his skill set.

 

[Kevinward777]

Walker is killing it - making it harder for his detractors to continue the whole "he can't tackle - he's useless diatribe."

DCE is proving many wrong as well.

 

[Eagles4Life]

Walker is killing it - making it harder for his detractors to continue the whole "he can't tackle - he's useless diatribe."

DCE is proving many wrong as well.

Walker is doing a great job off the bench. I think Des has now got the seventeen he has been working towards since the early rounds. Lawton and Walker together on the bench is working well. Paseka and Keppie will provide the impact we were missing in recent matches. Our bench could take us deep into the finals, and Walker's impact will be pivotal to that. I think DCE is not far off career best form. All of this is down to Des's coaching. Coach of the year for sure. In Manly We Trust.

 

[40 years an eagle]

As much as some here think Walker is doing a good, even great job, I see his replacing a prop in the interchange scheme as disruptive to the attack of DCE, Foran and Schuster.
It doesn't FLOW with him there and or middle is DEFINITELY more porous...more probably because he is not experienced there, than because of lack of effort. He is NOT a middle player.
He is playing Jake's role sometimes and other times Shuster is pushed one space wider because he is in the line. It appears to me this is the reason for Shoo's COMPLETE lack of impact since this tactic started. There is no space outside Shoo when Walker is involved in a left side play. It has become really messy.
As all probably know, I am not a Walker fan but this is not about that...I think he has been doing a pretty good job of the role given to him but the tactic is making a mess of our attacking structures.
We have more than enough strike in the playmaker dept and leave our middle to the guys who have done a great job getting us to where we are..

I am vey concerned this tactic may cost us BIG TIME in the finals as teams WILL target our middle cos it is NOT a properly structured middle...as has been proven over the last month or so by small fast guys ripping it open. It lacks cohesion and harmony.
Slippers on the bench for ALL finals games instead of Walker please Des...or try the same tactic using Lawton on saturday instead, if you have to continue using this strategy. Walker carrying it out is not the answer.

 

[manlyfan76]

As much as some here think Walker is doing a good, even great job, I see his replacing a prop in the interchange scheme as disruptive to the attack of DCE, Foran and Schuster.
It doesn't FLOW with him there and or middle is DEFINITELY more porous...more probably because he is not experienced there, than because of lack of effort. He is NOT a middle player.
He is playing Jake's role sometimes and other times Shuster is pushed one space wider because he is in the line. It appears to me this is the reason for Shoo's COMPLETE lack of impact since this tactic started. There is no space outside Shoo when Walker is involved in a left side play. It has become really messy.
As all probably know, I am not a Walker fan but this is not about that...I think he has been doing a pretty good job of the role given to him but the tactic is making a mess of our attacking structures.
We have more than enough strike in the playmaker dept and leave our middle to the guys who have done a great job getting us to where we are..

I am vey concerned this tactic may cost us BIG TIME in the finals as teams WILL target our middle cos it is NOT a properly structured middle...as has been proven over the last month or so by small fast guys ripping it open. It lacks cohesion and harmony.
Slippers on the bench for ALL finals games instead of Walker please Des...or try the same tactic using Lawton on saturday instead, if you have to continue using this strategy. Walker carrying it out is not the answer.

I called Walker out many times this year, because he was horrid at fullback, diabolical at halfback, below average in most other games until the last three weeks where he has started to put it together.
I think the amount of Gametime he has got off the bench has been a luxury, against the storm he had much less time and I think at full strength Des will use him in a smaller role unless we get a jump on teams.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Walker is killing it - making it harder for his detractors to continue the whole "he can't tackle - he's useless diatribe."

DCE is proving many wrong as well.

ohhh ask someone on here who claimed Walker was at fault for the break on halfway with the inside ball on the weekend ... using that as validation for Walker having poor defence.... yet obviously having no clue on defensive line responsibilities given I pointed out the inside player was not Walker's responsibility at all... but rather Sipley as marker. Funny there was no gee I am sorry - I made an error - didn't realise - my mistake... just silence. Love it how people just throw ill informed garbage out there with little/no understanding of the realities of how the game is played. Walker is playing really well - his effort and enthusiasm has been great and this nonsense of him stifling the attack.... again is just nonsense. Because if he was.... and he wasn't playing the role and doing exactly what Des wanted... Des would sack him plain and simple. Des obviously is asking him at times not not pass and just take the line on to keep the defense honest. Totally ridiculous to think that he needs to pass everytime he gets the ball. Same as DCE, Foran, Jake - at times they take the line on just to keep the defence in two minds. So this stifling attack business....is just total rubbish. Now is he perfect - is his defence perfect and his attack at times perfect - no way. Did he have an ordinary game about 6 weeks ago - yes he did. But show me a player who never makes a defensive or attacking mistake. The haters need to find another whipping boy and understand the game strategies even just a tiny bit better.... that would help them.

 

[##fanboy88]

Bench forward such as Toff, Aloai adds new life to a tired pack.

Similarly Walker adds life to our attack. I have also noted his defense has improved this year. He plays more a bit a direct instead of too much side to side movement, this is important when opposition are defending well (Melbourne, Canberra) . Some say he choking the attack and yes this it happens but I think this is more about balance and variety.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

As much as some here think Walker is doing a good, even great job, I see his replacing a prop in the interchange scheme as disruptive to the attack of DCE, Foran and Schuster.

We've broken all kind of scoring records with this disrupted attack, so maybe a disrupted attack is a clever innovation.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

ohhh ask someone on here who claimed Walker was at fault for the break on halfway with the inside ball on the weekend ... using that as validation for Walker having poor defence.... yet obviously having no clue on defensive line responsibilities given I pointed out the inside player was not Walker's responsibility at all... but rather Sipley as marker. Funny there was no gee I am sorry - I made an error - didn't realise - my mistake... just silence. Love it how people just throw ill informed garbage out there with little/no understanding of the realities of how the game is played. Walker is playing really well - his effort and enthusiasm has been great and this nonsense of him stifling the attack.... again is just nonsense. Because if he was.... and he wasn't playing the role and doing exactly what Des wanted... Des would sack him plain and simple. Des obviously is asking him at times not not pass and just take the line on to keep the defense honest. Totally ridiculous to think that he needs to pass everytime he gets the ball. Same as DCE, Foran, Jake - at times they take the line on just to keep the defence in two minds. So this stifling attack business....is just total rubbish. Now is he perfect - is his defence perfect and his attack at times perfect - no way. Did he have an ordinary game about 6 weeks ago - yes he did. But show me a player who never makes a defensive or attacking mistake. The haters need to find another whipping boy and understand the game strategies even just a tiny bit better.... that would help them.

Are you related to Dylan? It’s funny that people that are critical of players are often labelled haters. Quite an overreaction really. Dylan has improved his defence and is playing well.