Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:47 am  

I started writing this on another forum but thought it would go better here.

I was very impressed with Olsi last night against Leeds, thought he worked hard and put himself about. I still think he's too small to ever be a really dominant prop forward because he lacks size but he's a tough bugger and I like his attitude. I do think he'd make an excellent loose forward, one of those tackling machine types like Dallas Johnson, Ryan Hoffman and Paul Gallen. I'm also thinking Steele Retchless. I think he's got a decent career in front of him, even moreso if he gets good coaching......

It also got me thinking about some of our other youngsters. We seem to forget just how young some of them are simply because they've been in and around first grade for such a long time. Krasniqi is 21, Sarginson 20, Dixon 20, Bishay 20, Lovell 20, McMeeken 19, Woodburn-Hall 18, Dollapi 20, Thomas 19. It's always been clear that Londoners develop later than northern kids simply because they're not immersed in RL from a young age. They have more rough edges that need working on. Sam Tommkins, by way of comparison, debuted at 19 and became a regular at 20. And he's the best player of his generation.

The club, IMO, have been reckless with these kids and have quite possibly damaged their development. Even the oldest amongst them should only now be squad players, they simply aren't ready for week in, week out first grade rugby league.

This is all made much worse by senior players, no doubt on four times the wages of these kids, being so horrendously uninterested in playing for this club. Howell, Randall, Rodney, Witt, Kaufusi, Robertson have all stolen their wages over the last few years. Throw in the signing of players who were known to be injury prone and/or regularly unfit - Colbon, Wheeldon, and others in the past - and it becomes even more apparent that the playing staff has been badly mishandled.

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:58 am  

Olsi would have been my MOM last night, thought he went very well.

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:09 am  

I thought Colborn was MOM last night. He has guts thats for sure

When OK was prowling the line last night to come on I said to my mate I bet Peacock is shi**ing himself with the thought!!

Sam Tommkins, by way of comparison, debuted at 19 and became a regular at 20. And he's the best player of his generation.(A one of though he isnt the norm)

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:13 am  

Does O'Callaghan count as a senior player?

Or are we all trying to forget he exists.

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:38 am  

I think Krasniqi is getting better and better as the season goes on - also I've been impressed with how Dollapi has given it a real go when he's played

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:42 am  

Krasniqi's been consistently very good for a few seasons now.

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:44 am  

wire quin wrote:

I thought Colborn was MOM last night. He has guts thats for sure

When OK was prowling the line last night to come on I said to my mate I bet Peacock is shi**ing himself with the thought!!

Sam Tommkins, by way of comparison, debuted at 19 and became a regular at 20. And he's the best player of his generation.(A one of though he isnt the norm)

That's my point though, if a freakish talent like Tomkins is making the jump at that age then our lads should be doing it later. They've been pushed far too fast. And from the outside it doesn't look like they've had the support (from senior players and coaching staff) they need.

We need to use this winter's recruitment properly or else these kids will be dumped on again.

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:50 am  

I don't think they've been pushed too early.

The problem, as I see it, is that some of them have been played all over the place and still don't know what their best role is: Sarginson, McMeeken, Lovell.

The wingers and props who know their roles and haven't been switched about are the ones handling the step up best: Dixon, Krasniqi, Dollapi.

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:14 pm  

nadera78 wrote:

I started writing this on another forum but thought it would go better here.

I was very impressed with Olsi last night against Leeds, thought he worked hard and put himself about. I still think he's too small to ever be a really dominant prop forward because he lacks size but he's a tough bugger and I like his attitude. I do think he'd make an excellent loose forward, one of those tackling machine types like Dallas Johnson, Ryan Hoffman and Paul Gallen. I'm also thinking Steele Retchless. I think he's got a decent career in front of him, even moreso if he gets good coaching......

It also got me thinking about some of our other youngsters. We seem to forget just how young some of them are simply because they've been in and around first grade for such a long time. Krasniqi is 21, Sarginson 20, Dixon 20, Bishay 20, Lovell 20, McMeeken 19, Woodburn-Hall 18, Dollapi 20, Thomas 19. It's always been clear that Londoners develop later than northern kids simply because they're not immersed in RL from a young age. They have more rough edges that need working on. Sam Tommkins, by way of comparison, debuted at 19 and became a regular at 20. And he's the best player of his generation.

The club, IMO, have been reckless with these kids and have quite possibly damaged their development. Even the oldest amongst them should only now be squad players, they simply aren't ready for week in, week out first grade rugby league.

This is all made much worse by senior players, no doubt on four times the wages of these kids, being so horrendously uninterested in playing for this club. Howell, Randall, Rodney, Witt, Kaufusi, Robertson have all stolen their wages over the last few years. Throw in the signing of players who were known to be injury prone and/or regularly unfit - Colbon, Wheeldon, and others in the past - and it becomes even more apparent that the playing staff has been badly mishandled.

I strongly agree with most of this post.

Olsi does lack a bit of a size, but a Paul Gallen style back row could be perfect for him, he's comfortable ball in hand, mobile and handles the rough stuff well, a "bit of mongrel" in him as the Ockers say.

Our juniors are outshining a lot of the older players at the moment, but there's a big question over whether all of them are quite good enough. Some like Olsi, Dan S and Kieran D are definitely SL standard, a few of the others have yet to convince me, but that's not to say they won't given a bit more time.

I think it's clear we've hindered the development of some of the talent we've produced over the last few years, I think we should have moved Clubby to back row permanantly earlier rather than swapping him about and now using him (when fit) as a third prop/LF. Earlier in his development we should have tried to coach out his impulse to go for the biggest hit he could when a solid tackle is actually more effective game in game out. LMS probably should have played more as a back-row and less as a prop, either that or we should have worked on his defensive work rate as he's not quite reached his potential (even at Saints). It's clear we can produce SL standard talent, it's clear we can turn them into regular SL players, but it's not clear we can take them to their full potential, with Clubb and LMS two potent examples of decent SL who could have been very good (maybe they still could, my opinion certainly isn't final). Mike Worrincy is another who could have potentially been better with better coaching.

On the other hand I think we've persevered with players who are not quite good enough for SL, like JOC, he's probably a SL squad player or a very good lower league player but not a regular. He reminds me of Ian Hardman who came through the Saints ranks but ultimately found the right level as a very good Championship player. I suspect we'd have persevered with Will Sharpe had he not walked, but ultimately he isn't really SL standard, and certainly not in same class as Kieran D.

We've spent too much on experienced players who have been poor e.g. Kafusi, Randall, Witt and Howell, and probably had too many players who are solid where we actually need a bit more like Robertson, Rodney, Bailey and Bryant (I don't blame these guys, they are what they are, the sort of unglamorous players you'll find doing the grunt work in most NRL sides, the difference being that in those sides they'll be alongside a player like Glenn Stewart or Jamie Lyon and not JOC or Melling or one of our UK journeymen like Cook, Colborn or Wheeldon).

Re: Olsi Krasniqi (and the other youngsters) : Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:19 pm  

The fundamental problem for this generation of locals is that they didn't play the game young enough. Despite that some will be good enough (I count Olsi and Erjon among them).
We'll see when the next generation come through that when Londoners have been playing the game since they were 5 not 13 that we'll have that innate "game sense" that often marks out the difference between our guys and the northerners. You can already see that our Under 19s look a better side than the first team; they do tend to be more natural Ruby League players and that will only increase over the next 5 years.