Hi All,
I have been a regular reader for a while. Finally got around to having my first rant about my opinions on a few issues.
Robbie Farah – nowhere near as effective as previous seasons. He is rarely running out of dummy half (except when looking for a penalty). His decision making and short kicking game have been very poor at times. Also why is he always picking up the ball one handed from dummy half? It is like he is in slow motion and is slowing us down. He is equally as important as Benji to our performance so I hope it is all due to injury and he bounces back next season. He is still a classy player and is still trying hard this year.
Gareth Ellis – what a great player he is, truly world class. Where would we be without him?? He hits hard and has a great workload in defence. Also fantastic in attack. Unfortunately for us he does so much of our grunt work we are not utilising all his skills. He can run great lines and scores tries like this last year and has an offload.
Interchange – not only do we have a back on the bench to use for 5 minutes at the end of the game, but often we have one forward who sees very little game time. While out backrow can play big minutes, we may see more impact if they had more rest during games.
Young forwards – we may have some young forwards with potential however we need to have a balance in out forward rotation. I know Woods and BMM are young, however when we have too many in the team at one time we seem to struggle. Woods is starting to feel the effects of the weekly grind of the NRL, has some handling errors in his game and his defence still needs to improve. Despite this I can still see Woods as a great prospect however I am still unconvinced on BMM. His defensive technique is poor and his involvement in games will need to improve. I have great concerns if we need have Woods, BMM & Groat etc all in the top 17 next year.
Chris Lawrence – another standout and happy he recovered from the injury so well. His defence has improved greatly and in attack he can play tough at the line, hit a hole, is quick in open space and can set up his support. He is the ideal centre. To top it off he seems very professional and is an asset all-round for the club.
Benji – he is a very good player. The only thing I will add is that he is up there will the best RUNNING players in the game. When he takes the line on and runs direct he is so dangerous. Unfortunately he spends most of the game looking to set up others and often looks like he doesn’t even know what he is doing. If I was a defender I would love to see him drift sideways looking for support. It would scare me if he was running straight at me. He needs to find a better mix. If Benji does run more, he would create more space for others as it would keep the defence guessing.
Mitch Brown – some selections are puzzling, and just not the interchange bench. Mitch Brown last year was impressive playing at fullback and handled the pressure of finals football. This year we have often been without our fullback yet Brown has never been given a chance again. I could understand if he was a failure last year, but he played his best football at fullback and surprised me. Mind you, I would never play him in the centres again like he was ealier in the year.
Simon Dwyer – I hope he does fully recover from his injury. He receives mixed reports on the forum but I see him as our best prospect. Of the young brigade he has already shown he can handle first grade (and the next level up at City/Country) and this year I thought he was going well. Dwyer is another who can hit hard in defence, however needs to improve his consistency as he still seems to miss a few too.
Overall- our kicking game has to be one of the worst in the NRL, especially when attacking. Also. does any other side fail to find touch from penalties as much as us?? Can we please start playing a more direct game. Our go forward at time can be terrible, partially because of our forwards, but I am sure they are coached to go side to side.
I have been a regular reader for a while. Finally got around to having my first rant about my opinions on a few issues.
Robbie Farah – nowhere near as effective as previous seasons. He is rarely running out of dummy half (except when looking for a penalty). His decision making and short kicking game have been very poor at times. Also why is he always picking up the ball one handed from dummy half? It is like he is in slow motion and is slowing us down. He is equally as important as Benji to our performance so I hope it is all due to injury and he bounces back next season. He is still a classy player and is still trying hard this year.
Gareth Ellis – what a great player he is, truly world class. Where would we be without him?? He hits hard and has a great workload in defence. Also fantastic in attack. Unfortunately for us he does so much of our grunt work we are not utilising all his skills. He can run great lines and scores tries like this last year and has an offload.
Interchange – not only do we have a back on the bench to use for 5 minutes at the end of the game, but often we have one forward who sees very little game time. While out backrow can play big minutes, we may see more impact if they had more rest during games.
Young forwards – we may have some young forwards with potential however we need to have a balance in out forward rotation. I know Woods and BMM are young, however when we have too many in the team at one time we seem to struggle. Woods is starting to feel the effects of the weekly grind of the NRL, has some handling errors in his game and his defence still needs to improve. Despite this I can still see Woods as a great prospect however I am still unconvinced on BMM. His defensive technique is poor and his involvement in games will need to improve. I have great concerns if we need have Woods, BMM & Groat etc all in the top 17 next year.
Chris Lawrence – another standout and happy he recovered from the injury so well. His defence has improved greatly and in attack he can play tough at the line, hit a hole, is quick in open space and can set up his support. He is the ideal centre. To top it off he seems very professional and is an asset all-round for the club.
Benji – he is a very good player. The only thing I will add is that he is up there will the best RUNNING players in the game. When he takes the line on and runs direct he is so dangerous. Unfortunately he spends most of the game looking to set up others and often looks like he doesn’t even know what he is doing. If I was a defender I would love to see him drift sideways looking for support. It would scare me if he was running straight at me. He needs to find a better mix. If Benji does run more, he would create more space for others as it would keep the defence guessing.
Mitch Brown – some selections are puzzling, and just not the interchange bench. Mitch Brown last year was impressive playing at fullback and handled the pressure of finals football. This year we have often been without our fullback yet Brown has never been given a chance again. I could understand if he was a failure last year, but he played his best football at fullback and surprised me. Mind you, I would never play him in the centres again like he was ealier in the year.
Simon Dwyer – I hope he does fully recover from his injury. He receives mixed reports on the forum but I see him as our best prospect. Of the young brigade he has already shown he can handle first grade (and the next level up at City/Country) and this year I thought he was going well. Dwyer is another who can hit hard in defence, however needs to improve his consistency as he still seems to miss a few too.
Overall- our kicking game has to be one of the worst in the NRL, especially when attacking. Also. does any other side fail to find touch from penalties as much as us?? Can we please start playing a more direct game. Our go forward at time can be terrible, partially because of our forwards, but I am sure they are coached to go side to side.
