2024 pre-season discussion: Pre-season Premiers

[Chewed]

Nas is bigger than 115. He's probably 130 minimum. Clubs lie about player stats all the time.

 

[theshed]

Ben says just over 100kg

yeah still got plenty of filling out to do. Bit of a bean pole. Is he 19?

 

[Mustafur]

Ben says just over 100kg

he Definitely lacks alot of muscle still to fill out, I think with his frame he can be at around 125kg and still be fine at first grade.

 

[Sproj]

He’s already looking a great prospect. Once he does fill out he’s going to be scary. I hope we lock up Willison long term soon because a middle five of Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Hetherington and Te Kura has the potential to be the best middle rotation in the comp long term.

 

[theshed]

He’s already looking a great prospect. Once he does fill out he’s going to be scary. I hope we lock up Willison long term soon because a middle five of Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Hetherington and Te Kura has the potential to be the best middle rotation in the comp long term.

They already are the best middle rotation in the comp imo

 

[Sproj]

They already are the best middle rotation in the comp imo

Yeah certainly could argue that and no one is going to be shocked. I guess the question marks really are on Willison and Te Kura reaching their potential or not. Willison of course looks ready to explode but he has a long injury history. Te Kura really is a total unknown, just has a very impressive size and agility for a big man.

Other teams in the conversation though are:
Dolphins: Flegler, Bromwich, Wallace, Gilbert, etc - their forward pack is going to dominate quite a few sides this year
Titans - Mo, Tino, Palasia, etc
Eels - RCG, Paulo, Hopgood, Greig, etc
Penrith - Leota, JFH, Yeo, etc
Roosters - Collins, Radley, JWH, May, Leniu

Everyone else is decent but lacking one or two to be right up there

 

[McHunt]

I love the first trial you really get a good look at the youngsters all together.

My favourite game of the year.

The year Walsh and Cobbo debuted was a cracker of a match.

 

[McHunt]

He’s already looking a great prospect. Once he does fill out he’s going to be scary. I hope we lock up Willison long term soon because a middle five of Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Hetherington and Te Kura has the potential to be the best middle rotation in the comp long term.

We're not doing too bad when Kobe is the weak link.

 

[1910]

yeah still got plenty of filling out to do. Bit of a bean pole. Is he 19?

Yeah 20 this year, he's about the same weight as Willison was at the same age.

His issue will never be physical, he's been the same specimen since he was at Dolphins and Wavell.

He still has to learn how to apply his body to tackles and use it and have an impact. His best two games were against Toowoomba and Hunters. He started at prop in both of them and really used his running and offloading as a smart weapon.

Against Toowoomba he linked up on the right and passed- not offloaded but a nice pass for space and time for his man.

Against the Hunters away against huge PNG monsters and he stood up, running and off-loading from the kickoff after his try. That run and the fact he didn't just run and go to ground but looked for something else and found Mozer to make another 15m was smart.

I think the key for his development is smart players around him, Mozer helps him out a lot but I would love to see him with a really smart half. The impact on Piakura when he had Ahearn and Gamble was massive and I think Te Kura would be the same. Souths' attack comes so much through Sailor and he's not really helping forwards too much.

Te Kura still needs that, explicit instruction about what run I need and why. Willison has had Weaver, Rogers and Ahearn and I think when you have a young forward with lots of weapons someone needs to be his brains.

 

[McHunt]

Yeah certainly could argue that and no one is going to be shocked. I guess the question marks really are on Willison and Te Kura reaching their potential or not. Willison of course looks ready to explode but he has a long injury history. Te Kura really is a total unknown, just has a very impressive size and agility for a big man.

Other teams in the conversation though are:
Dolphins: Flegler, Bromwich, Wallace, Gilbert, etc - their forward pack is going to dominate quite a few sides this year
Titans - Mo, Tino, Palasia, etc
Eels - RCG, Paulo, Hopgood, Greig, etc
Penrith - Leota, JFH, Yeo, etc
Roosters - Collins, Radley, JWH, May, Leniu

Everyone else is decent but lacking one or two to be right up there

Sad thing is the wire comes down to injuries, suspensions and Origin. We were so fortunate last season.

If we're travelling well, Piakura might even enter the conversation around Origin time.

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

They already are the best middle rotation in the comp imo

Dont agree with this. Last year yes there's a definite argument there, but until proven otherwise fleger and paliasia will dent our middle.

I think until willison and te kura prove themselves they aren't even in the best rotation at the club. I'm really excited by willison and te kura too, think they will become absolutely amazing players, but jensen, baker and even tapau are still infront of them. Think by the end of the year willison will be ahead of them all but ppl have to remember jensen gets sent back to qcup and he is making around 215 metres on AVERAGE. It's a large step up to being a consistent nrl performer, and those 3 are there already.

 

[Fitzy]

Dont agree with this. Last year yes there's a definite argument there, but until proven otherwise fleger and paliasia will dent our middle.

I think until willison and te kura prove themselves they aren't even in the best rotation at the club. I'm really excited by willison and te kura too, think they will become absolutely amazing players, but jensen, baker and even tapau are still infront of them. Think by the end of the year willison will be ahead of them all but ppl have to remember jensen gets sent back to qcup and he is making around 215 metres on AVERAGE. It's a large step up to being a consistent nrl performer, and those 3 are there already.

If Penrith retained Leniu they would be the best forward pack but I think Haas, Carrigan, Jensen, Baker, Hetho, Willison (respectfully don’t agree with Taupau) is a very well balanced forward pack both salary cap wise, tactically, experience wise and size wise. Very complimentary to what we require and when require it. Not to mention Taupau, Hunt, Te Kura as backups with an additional likely to come.

Penrith have a great starting middle but Lindsay Smith and the young bloke forgot his name are the next best that’s not good enough to beat this in my opinion.

Warriors are in the convo as well I think it has the depth but not quite imo probably even with Penrith cause they still have a strong bench whereas Penriths is shithouse. I just don’t think it’s effective enough for how much cap is tied up in it.

Roosters would be up there if they could actually click but there teams hasn’t performed for a while so they can’t gain that off scraping finals 2 years in a row.

I think you got to back Penrith and Broncos they are still the best until someone or they prove otherwise.

I think Keenan is a huge loss cause he played his role perfectly for being on not much. Tom whilst an awesome player as the number 3 his ability was wasted and his talent was an excess to our needs at times.

Sometimes you just need a few players who play there role and have a good hit up for a good price and we have that. We have our two spear heads, 3 role players (3 of the best) in Hetherington, Baker, Jensen and then you have that big, athletic body with heaps of potential to bring some size and punch to the game. You can afford to carry him because there is no doubt the rest of the middles will play there role. I’ve rarely ever seen Carrigan, Haas, Jensen (at the broncos) or Hetho play a bad game. Baker has a fast play to the ball, great support play and heaps of potential as well as versatility. That’s an awesome pack and it will be even more awesome when Baker and Willison live up to their potential and Te Kura comes in and plays on the bench for Jensen. I think it has been managed excellently and personally Keenan’s quality isn’t hard to live up to just his role and as talented as Flegler was you don’t need to be that talented to play the role we needed him to play.

 

[Chewed]

He’s already looking a great prospect. Once he does fill out he’s going to be scary. I hope we lock up Willison long term soon because a middle five of Haas, Carrigan, Willison, Hetherington and Te Kura has the potential to be the best middle rotation in the comp long term.

Yep, I can see Haas leaving at the end of this contract. He's said he wants to be like Lazarus, so wants to win at other clubs.

Willison and Te Kura come off contract around the same time as Haas, well if we are dumb they will come off contract.

 

[Scorchie]

Yeah certainly could argue that and no one is going to be shocked. I guess the question marks really are on Willison and Te Kura reaching their potential or not. Willison of course looks ready to explode but he has a long injury history. Te Kura really is a total unknown, just has a very impressive size and agility for a big man.

Other teams in the conversation though are:
Dolphins: Flegler, Bromwich, Wallace, Gilbert, etc - their forward pack is going to dominate quite a few sides this year
Titans - Mo, Tino, Palasia, etc
Eels - RCG, Paulo, Hopgood, Greig, etc
Penrith - Leota, JFH, Yeo, etc
Roosters - Collins, Radley, JWH, May, Leniu

Everyone else is decent but lacking one or two to be right up there

Phins didnt dominate last year with pretty much the same pack. Adding Flegler won’t make a difference (given Jensen kept him at 16 for months) without a spine that can do anything.

Only time that’ll change is when they bite the bullet and put Herbie at FB but they’re 2 years off.

Bromwich twins only worked because of the Storm spine, the same as how they were always ineffective playing for the kiwis

 

[BroncsFan]

Phins didnt dominate last year with pretty much the same pack. Adding Flegler won’t make a difference (given Jensen kept him at 16 for months) without a spine that can do anything.

Only time that’ll change is when they bite the bullet and put Herbie at FB but they’re 2 years off.

Bromwich twins only worked because of the Storm spine, the same as how they were always ineffective playing for the kiwis

I think the other aspect people are taking into account is Gilbert coming back from injury, who looked their best middle last year. He's basically a new signing for them as he missed half the year with that shoulder injury.

I would agree they are middle of the pack though... it's basically Flegler and Gilbert, as far as middes go... and I don't really rate Flegler all that highly. Lemuelu turned up later in the year and looks a very promising edge back rower moving forward, but beyond that it's an ageing pack in the Bromwich's (who look pretty finished as pack leaders), Kaufusi and Wallace.

 

[Scorchie]

Yup forgot about Gilbert! They’ll be better, but I think Bris/Panthers still remain well ahead

 

[theshed]

Yeah certainly could argue that and no one is going to be shocked. I guess the question marks really are on Willison and Te Kura reaching their potential or not. Willison of course looks ready to explode but he has a long injury history. Te Kura really is a total unknown, just has a very impressive size and agility for a big man.

Other teams in the conversation though are:
Dolphins: Flegler, Bromwich, Wallace, Gilbert, etc - their forward pack is going to dominate quite a few sides this year
Titans - Mo, Tino, Palasia, etc
Eels - RCG, Paulo, Hopgood, Greig, etc
Penrith - Leota, JFH, Yeo, etc
Roosters - Collins, Radley, JWH, May, Leniu

Everyone else is decent but lacking one or two to be right up there

I think the panthers are the only serious contenders for the title of best middle. We definitely lose a step with Flegler leaving.

I should clarify that I am not overrating Te Kura and Willison too soon. It is just a. reflection of how highly I rate Haas and Patty. Swap Willison with Jensen or Taupau and I think we are still top 1-3 tier. I don’t suspect Ben will even get many if any minutes outside of exceptional circumstances this season

 

[Sproj]

I think the panthers are the only serious contenders for the title of best middle. We definitely lose a step with Flegler leaving.

I should clarify that I am not overrating Te Kura and Willison too soon. It is just a. reflection of how highly I rate Haas and Patty. Swap Willison with Jensen or Taupau and I think we are still top 1-3 tier. I don’t suspect Ben will even get many if any minutes outside of exceptional circumstances this season

Yeah we are for sure top 3, no doubt about it. I still agree with most that it is still us and Penrith above everyone else but not by as much as last season.