Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 9:15 am  

Almost all of our attacking threat comes via the left side of the field.

The left-hand edge is also where we look most vulnerable against a decent centre (Bridge, Collis, Watkins).

Slyney and Moore MUST NEVER AGAIN feature together in the middle unit defence.

We have just 3 props and 1 of them is injured.

We have a very good set of backrowers but - see above - we are having to play some of them down the middle.

Rea sees something in JOC that nobody else does.

The team is improving its attacking structure and central to this we must now give an extended run to Farrar and Drinkwater at 6 and 7.

We are about to pick up our first win.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 9:18 am  

Agree with a lot of what you say but I don't see the first win coming any time soon, and I'm worried that there is too much of the Michael Witt about Farrar.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 9:38 am  

Ok I’ll add my tuppeneth.

Macani is not a full back

Farrar is not a stand off and really blows hot and cold.

Drinkwater, you can see why St George released him, he needs to up his game big time.

Forster went well shame he had to go back to Saints.

Duckworth is injury prone.

Solomona will end up our top try scorer.

JOC deary me, you are so right.

Foster and Krasniqi are really lightweight, they try hard though.

McMeeken, I just don’t know what to make of this bloke. Does he really offer anything ?

Minns, Cook, Cunningham have really impressed me, Slyney and Greenwood put in some decent work.

And then there’s Moore. NRL player on occasions plays like a park footballer. Cut out the lapses, stay focused for 80 and he will win us games.


At times this season, I’ve just wanted to hide my eyes. I’ve seen all the games, albeit Friday on the box, and the swings from optimism to downright dejectedness have been unbelievable. But I am enjoying the ride and as many people have said, we are watching guys try hard and ok, they are well below SL standard but they embarrass the efforts of Rodney, Robertson, Kaufusi, Dorn

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:41 am  

You can't lump Luke Dorn in to a short list of non-achievers! That is just crazy. Last season it was only him and Soward of the experienced players that stood up and nursed the youngsters through.
I expect he'll get a great welcome on Thursday from those of us who are left.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:57 am  

nkpom wrote:

You can't lump Luke Dorn in to a short list of non-achievers! That is just crazy. Last season it was only him and Soward of the experienced players that stood up and nursed the youngsters through.
I expect he'll get a great welcome on Thursday from those of us who are left.

Agreed, very harsh to lump Dorn in with the other players mentioned!

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:47 am  

I guess Dorn is like marmite. I thought he was a spineless defender, prone to any number of blunders each game, but likely to score a half decent try.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:15 pm  

Cant see the point in talking about Dorn as he is not anything to do with us anymore, thought it was a discussion about the squad we have.
I have only managed the wire game so far, but from that their seemed to be something promising in the squad, it is the same problem though we need that first win to build a confidence and belief.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:06 pm  

We know, definitively, that the team doesn't know how to defend. And if you can't defend you've got no chance of winning a game.

From the limited amount I've seen I think some of the imports are probably the poorest players in the team. Atkins should already be on a plane home, Drinkwater offers no more than Bishay (I really don't know what he did to get dropped), Slyney can't defend, and Farrar is a competent centre but nothing else.

Before the squad was put together we all knew size and strength up front was a problem and, despite having a blank sheet work from, Rea still hasn't addressed that problem. There's a plethora of back rowers but no props. What really bugs me about this is that big, aggressive props are ten a penny in the Qld and NSW Cups, where we seem to be recruiting from.

The locals and the northern loanees are working their backsides off and can only be commended for their attitude.

I know this will upset a few, and there is absolutely no chance of it happening at all whilst David Hughes is in charge, but I'd remove Tony Rea and be on the phone to John Kear. He prides himself on his defence, he's worked wonders getting an underfunded Batley team to finals, and he knows how to get teams out of a relegation fight.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:33 pm  

I've started to comb through the data allied to having seen all 480 minutes as to my thoughts on 'best team'.

I'll start with the outside backs, maybe do the rest of the team if this is interesting to anyone.

Fullback: There's not much to choose between the candidates. Iliess MACANI has been the best I've seen this season with 85 metres made from kick returns and 6 tackles made from 8 in the highly pressurised game at Leeds where he also did extraordinarily well to stay in the field of play with bombs and grubber kicks raining down on him and also made 2 tackle busts. Ben FARRAR looked relatively solid but offered little returning the ball whilst Nesiasi MATAITONGA averaged over 7 metres a run but looked disappointing as a defender missing 5 from 14 attempts.

Winger: Obviously Kieran DIXON would be an automatic choice but he is injured so I'd go for James DUCKWORTH has by far the highest average gain at 11.73 metres per run and has also not missed a tackle this season although only having comparatively few tackles to make. This compares very favourably to Atkins who has missed 9 tackles from 30 attempts and O'C who has missed 6 tackles from 22 attempts. Both of Atkins and O'C have looked impotent near the opposition tryline. This is the position I feel needs most strengthening in the team as Duckworth has had injury problems since the Under 19s Grand Final last season and there seems to be a good loan market for wingers.

Centre: Mason CATON-BROWN has made 482 metres, averaging 6.89 metres per run and has made 16 tackle busts and 4 clean breaks scoring 3 tries. However, whilst he has made 77 tackles he has also missed 7 and given away 6 penalties for off-side. He would be in my first XIII and looks our most potent attacking threat.

Centre: Thomas MINNS probably gets the nod; he has scored 3 tries, mainly from following up kicks into the in goal area and averaged 20 tackles a game but he has missed 16 tackles and if I was being kind I'd put that down also to lack of work from the winger alongside him and lack of speed from the forwards rushing into make a tackle as they should. That being said Minns has made 0 try assists, 0 clean breaks and under 5 metres per drive with only 293 metres in total for someone who has been ever-present. If Iliess Macani was not already in the team I would give him a run in this position which is one I feel would benefit from genuine competition.

Winger: Denny SOLOMONA looks an automatic choice. He has averaged 8.96 metres a run with 3 tackle busts per game and crossed twice, with just 3 missed tackles and virtually no errors, penalties or off-sides conceded. He would be better if he did more to assist his centre partner.

In theory we could have a backline of:

Dorn - Caro - Channing - Sarginson - Sharp or Colbon.

Luke Dorn's 109 tries stand him in good stead for a place in the team but the other names in there I would suggest are also defensively a bit lacking although have a little more potency in attack.

I've been watching the club about 10 seasons now and I think the best we've put out would be:

McLinden - Jones-Bishop - Sykes - Howell (providing he promised to retire in 2009 upon signing!) - K.Dixon

Arguably we have not really had top quality in the centres at all in the past decade.

Re: Things we've learned in the first 6 rounds : Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:50 pm  

ok what do I think so far. well its this would TR stop messing with the halves and stick with one pair so they get use to playing together. so for that reason I would go with Drinkwater/Bishay . Farrar to me would be of more use at FB or in the centres, personally I would like to see him in the centres to keep the young ones in line or pushing them up when defending (yes I know that's a dirty word lol). at the moment with lack of decent wingers I can see why TR keeps Solomona out there, but for me I feel as I have said before he be better at FB ( mel storm fans feel the same).

J'OC i'm sorry hes had more then enough chances so should be send back to the Skolars or even Hemel. the guy never jumps for a ball in defence let alone in attack, and I don't know if its a confident thing but just seem to hesitate
going into the tackle.
Duckworth is truning into a sicknote. plays a game then out for 3/4 so I don't think we see the best of him for a while.
Slyney I feel had his best game against Leeds, so my opinion is out on him at the moment. but I take peoples word here that know more about the game that his defence is not up to it.
Moore goes alright but seems to drift out of the game the longer it goes on

I agree with everyone else here TR needs to be looking round for some big hairy ar###ed prop. someone that when he hit the line it take 2 or 3 to get him down (yes I know where do you find them or will they come to a club with a losing record). But two of them could help out and we be able to get the backrows back where they could do more damage.

Ok I have done a lot of knocking but there has been so good. Bishay has gone better then I expected and should be allowed a longer run in the squad.
Cook is showing up well and seem to enjoy the Captains role and its the best hes played.
Cunningham as been brilliant and jus a shame cant keep him. Same as Minns, I know hes a centre but does anyone else think it might be worth a punt and play him on the wing if we ship Farrar into centres
McMeeken is a odd one. Hes a big lump of a lad who you just feel as he gets older that hes going to turn into a prop. But he need to learn more about ball control and when to pass or not pass.
Greenwood and Griffin are running ok to, both putting in an effort.

If when we get them all fit, does a line of Solmona at FB and Dixon/Nesi on the wings sound like a fast setup.