PRE-GAME Round 12 - Raiders vs Broncos

[Splinter]

It is interesting to just watch Blair during a match, especially in Defence

 

[Porthoz]

He might be simply putting Blair on the bench, knowing that we'll need his size and starch to combat the Raiders bench. If it is being used as a wake-up call though, I won't argue. I think he's been better than most give him credit for, the benefits of his style are hard to quantify, but I wouldn't say he's justified his price tag quite yet.

Nil should do it.

 

[Huge]

Nil should do it.

Overly harsh and pretty sure you don't mean it. Is it possible that he is better than Kennedy was...truly nil for him so unless you think Blair and Kennedy were on par. I don't.

 

[coreyh88]

Blair is our only player that consistently pressures kickers.

 

[Porthoz]

Overly harsh and pretty sure you don't mean it. Is it possible that he is better than Kennedy was...truly nil for him so unless you think Blair and Kennedy were on par. I don't.

If you compare both seasons, probably not, but I honestly think Kennedy would be better than Blair under Bennett!

Blair is our only player that consistently pressures kickers.

Gillett is the one that does it most, Parker does it a lot as well, but yes, Blair is the prop that consistently does it most in our team.

 

[Unbreakable]

If you compare both seasons, probably not, but I honestly think Kennedy would be better than Blair under Bennett!

With performance enhancing drugs or without?

 

[jarro65]

From memory, he also passed the ball a fair bit when it was the right thing to do rather than dying with it. I actually thought he was ok but as a metre gaining prop, I don't rate him very highly. His defence wasn't too bad either and I also am glad to see him benched.

Having said that, the game v Knights for me was special because we had an excellent passing game and Blair contributed to that, and, Milford and Hunt were both pivotal in getting the ball to do the work out on the edges and wider, with the result being some good tries.

For mine, keeping the ball moving thanks to the evolving combination of our halves, plus their individual draw/passing games is the ONLY way we are going to make it through to the top 4, and timely passing by our forwards will only help further.

I so hope we don't revert to the one-out shit up the middle. Our mobility and speed on the edges and in the backs is our greatest asset while our poor defensive line speed is our greatest liability.

If we let the Raiders make the same metres up the middle as we let the Knights they will put on a lot of points against us.

Good points here .....

I noticed that Blair did take a hit when he felt it was required, but also stopped at the line a few times and passed to a support player.

At the time i was kinda yelling at him to just crash into the line, but afterwards could see the reasoning in the pass as Newcastle were indeed a tad frail on the edges.

I think Blair is playing to Waynes instructions and leaving the majority of the hits to the other props.

 

[abashii]

With performance enhancing drugs or without?

It's all making sense now. Kennedy always ran like he was lacking a bit of ticker, and the roids can give you shrunken little balls. Obviously the issue was with Kennedy's plums, not his heart. Should have put him in the women's league instead.

 

[rnabokov]

Good points here .....

I noticed that Blair did take a hit when he felt it was required, but also stopped at the line a few times and passed to a support player.

At the time i was kinda yelling at him to just crash into the line, but afterwards could see the reasoning in the pass as Newcastle were indeed a tad frail on the edges.

I think Blair is playing to Waynes instructions and leaving the majority of the hits to the other props.

Blair doesn't strike me as much of a line breaker up the middle, but is good at passing. in some ways like Thaiday - maybe natural back rowers playing in the middle?

In any case, for mine, when the Broncos play football rather than footbrawl, they win ... hmmm, well, except for that slow defensive line speed. Wayne needs to fix that ASAP

 

[Porthoz]

With performance enhancing drugs or without?

Depends whether you consider Wayne a performance enhancing drug...

 

[mitch222]

Blair was pretty decent on Monday night against the knights. He carried the ball up a lot more times to shoulder the responsibility with our origin players out and was also passing at the line which actually set up a few tries and linebreaks for Reed and Milford. He cops way too much criticism. Bennett didn't buy him because he wanted 200 metres a game out of him, Bennett bought him to be what Jeremy Smith was to him at other clubs which is a defensive minded player who tightens up the middle. And our ruck defence as compared to last year has improved out of sight

 

[Huge]

Blair was pretty decent on Monday night against the knights. He carried the ball up a lot more times to shoulder the responsibility with our origin players out and was also passing at the line which actually set up a few tries and linebreaks for Reed and Milford. He cops way too much criticism. Bennett didn't buy him because he wanted 200 metres a game out of him, Bennett bought him to be what Jeremy Smith was to him at other clubs which is a defensive minded player who tightens up the middle. And our ruck defence as compared to last year has improved out of sight

This post is spot on. I think Blair has struggled getting the balance right, the balance between ball playing and bash'n' rage. Monday night was so much closer to what was needed hence my belief that he hasn't been benched, rather he has been placed where best suits the team for the game ahead. I'd be mightily surprised if WB was unhappy with him.

 

[Porthoz]

Blair was pretty decent on Monday night against the knights. He carried the ball up a lot more times to shoulder the responsibility with our origin players out and was also passing at the line which actually set up a few tries and linebreaks for Reed and Milford. He cops way too much criticism. Bennett didn't buy him because he wanted 200 metres a game out of him, Bennett bought him to be what Jeremy Smith was to him at other clubs which is a defensive minded player who tightens up the middle. And our ruck defence as compared to last year has improved out of sight

Blair does a good job defensively, but his contribution to our defensive starch is exaggerated imo. Bennett's coaching and tactics are mostly responsible for it, which is why I don't think Kennedy wouldn't be doing worse than Blair btw.

I'm not Wayne's greatest fan, mainly because of his safety first mindset, but one thing he has always been a master at, is to instill confidence in players and get the best out of each one in the collective's favour, and his work with underrated forwards has always been excellent... just look at Weyman.

Blair did play better than most games last Monday, but his overall contribution this season just hasn't been good enough.

 

[Renegade]

Blair's effort on Sims was woeful

 

[1910]

No injuries last night; Doc passed everyone and checked in with every club doctor last night to let them know.

 

[jarro65]

No injuries last night; Doc passed everyone and checked in with every club doctor last night to let them know.

Even Hodges !?!

 

[mitch222]

I would start McGuire and Blair in the front row and Gillett at lock for the game this week. Let Parker & Thaiday come off the bench to give them a bit of a rest because they played big minutes in origin.

 

[Unbreakable]

I could've swore I saw Hodges grab a left hammy last night at one point, wouldn't be surprised if he's rested.