LIVE GAME Round 9 vs. Bulldogs

Live Game Discussion
We have overdone it with the 18 year olds. It might pay dividends in 2026 but we are not a competitive team and the best young players won’t stay unless we improve.

The bulldogs have recruited lots of NRL players while we have about 6 18 year olds and most of them are 1-2 years away.

Big decision for Benji this week. Sezer will be suspended, so he has to decide to bring Sullivan who has been average in NSW Cup or play two 18 year olds in the halves.
No mate.. if they Good enough they are old enough,, and they are our best players right now !
 
On replay, it seems Bateman is upset about Taaffe taking out Bula in the chase to get to Staines’ kick before the brewhaha broke out. Klemmer, closer to the ref is giving it to her, echoing Batemans same argument, before Seyfarth even attempts to layout Kiraz. I believe Bula was denied a chance to play at the ball, not greatly offensive… but after the Curren penalty, officials set a precedence that minimal interference should be adjudicated on and it wasn’t.
 
Like I've said before, I hope he gets really home sick and just F#%KS OFF.
I have no idea what game you are watching .. he is the only player that plays like he expects to win and is willing to do what is necessary to win .. all effort and determination.. only thing he may be doing wrong is trying to hard at a times trying to lift his teammates
 
No doubt Bateman tries hard. But because he is so undersized (especially in the middle) he wears down and becomes ineffective. As a club we need to move to players that are effective rather than just trying hard. Although, given how poor we’ve been for over a decade and some of the poor efforts during this time I realise players who always try hard are an improvement irrespective of their effectiveness.
 
The Staines try was a highlight. Finally Naden and Staines in space and both looked fast and strong at the end of a well constructed backline movement.
Yes and Naden looked both ways before making the correct decision to feed Staines. Had he gone inside to Galvin the try may have been saved as cover was racing across.
They looked like polished professionals in that play.
 
What a disappointing performance in the second half. We lacked discipline and effort. Our forwards and outside backs were not prepared to compete and showed no hunger or desire to do the hard yards, allowing the Dogs smaller bench players to gain ascendancy. We had very little possession or field position because of this and our halves could do nothing, not even kick long on the 5th ( although I am not sure Sezer can kick long).
A number of issues added to the demise - as has happened in previous games Paps looks shagged at times and his efforts in D are poor. Also we have a problem when him and Sezer defend next to each other. Alaimalo looks lost for the most part. Bateman is no 13. Latu is no 9 and I think Simpkin should be the 14 while Latu plays in KOE for 5-6 games to get his game going.
On the Reffing performance - wow Badger was certainly out of her depth and completely lost control of the game. However what I have noticed is that ref calls tend to go with the team that has the momentum especially repeated 6 agains and penalties. The team that has the ascendancy gets the rub of the green generally so we need to be winning the ruck and dominating the game, not making mistakes and not being ill disciplined, as well as holding possession and showing good line speed. These key efforts will make a lot of the crap reffing calls disappear.
Benji has plenty of work to do to get this group to play at their individual best for 80 mins. Leaders need to step up and focus on efforts by example- cut the bonehead rubbish.
 
I couldn't believe how Bateman slacked off vs Bulldogs with the Josh Curran try.
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It could be a bad angle, but it honestly looks like Bateman was the closest player and you see Bula get involved but not Bateman.
The Bula jog across to get 1 mtre from the try was the worst performance ive seen since Bea Ryan. Bula needs some heat put on him. 2nd year syndrome, the dude is living off a few good games last year and has developed [This word has been automatically removed] all this year. Reminds me of Laurie at fullback, came across from Penrith, was the second coming of Hodgo in a few games then did zip for his remaining games. Bulas defence and complete lack of support play is embarrassing for a 1st grader.
 
The Bula jog across to get 1 mtre from the try was the worst performance ive seen since Bea Ryan. Bula needs some heat put on him. 2nd year syndrome, the dude is living off a few good games last year and has developed [This word has been automatically removed] all this year. Reminds me of Laurie at fullback, came across from Penrith, was the second coming of Hodgo in a few games then did zip for his remaining games. Bulas defence and complete lack of support play is embarrassing for a 1st grader.
Yes Bula generally ran the ball very well yesterday, but this particular lack of effort was on him at a critical stage of the game.
The whole game could have been very different if he done his job properly in this instance.
 
No mate.. if they Good enough they are old enough,, and they are our best players right now !
I’m not just talking about the ones playing NRL. We have another 3 or 4 in our top 30 who are not yet good enough. We’ve sacrificed a few spots for first graders to hang onto all of our juniors. This may work out for the long term, it may not.
 
Jake Simpkin- could he be used similarly to an old Steve Walters? A hooker that plays a little bit of backrow? Like that guy from Manly- Karl Lawnton.

I don't know how strong his running game is, but his defence is fantastic. If he's on the bench, covering hooker, lock or second row- I wouldn't be against it. Start Bateman at #13. Simpkin can slot in at #13 at times, giving Bateman/Ice or Fainu a rest, and giving a dual dummy half attack. Api can move slightly wider. Galvin could slip in at #13 and Api slip to #6 for a spell.

It offers a lot of flexibility. It's not how Penrith do it. But that's ok.
 
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