PLAYER Billy Walters

[theshed]

But the only reason he isn’t a depth player is because the other two players shit the bed.

Paix definitely did not shit the bed. Turpin was also the same old Turpin - nothing more, nothing less.

 

[McHunt]

He hates Billy because he took his boy's (Turpin) place in the team

you know, i always thought Billy would be a handy player ... I didn't realise he was a gun. I mean he must be because McHunt's agenda's are against the gun players (Herbie) while he loves the shit players (Turpin)

Mchunt hates Billy because he got picked behind the coaches son as a kid. Billy had not been the worst on the field this year in any sense. He's been more than serviceable

I don't "hate" Billy. I just don't think he's NRL standard, let alone a premiership winner, and so far he's been guaranteed a position in our spine. And at this point we have the choice not to let that happen again, so the ongoing argument that he's the best we have is invalid.

As for him being chosen BECAUSE he's the coach's son. None of us can say either way on that, but if you want to ignore that he IS the coach's son, and that he's any better than barely adequate, you're sadly deluded.

Let's aim higher than having this "cheap depth player" in our team 40 minutes every week because the club got us in a position where he's the best available. **** sake, we're the richest club with the largest development program in the entire comp, and this is where we are? Get fucked.

 

[McHunt]

Billy is perfectly fine and what you need out of a depth player. In a perfect world he's not in the 17 without injuries. I won't entertain any wobblies about extending him.

He's not used as a depth player. He played more games in our spine than anyone else. He handled the ball more times than any other player in the squad. If we re-sign Billy, his father will have to make the decision to send him back to Cup to wait for an injury, or we'll have another year of this "depth player" running our attack. He has never been sent back to the Cup yet, there is no reason to think it's going to happen next season.

 

[McHunt]

I'm not getting the Billy hate either. He's a solid bench hooker. If Smoothy or Paix can step up for 60 mins then I'm fine if he is in the 14 jumper.
One thing being overlooked so far is he has only played 35 NRL games so there is a possible upside with that experience under his belt and improved combinations with Reynolds and Ezra.

Smoothy, Paix, Walters: all depth hookers.

 

[McHunt]

I don't agree that Billy was responsible for the dip in form towards the end of the year. There were other players who failed to replicate their form earlier in the season and the loss of players like Carrigan, Farnworth etc. affected the team.

Go through what again? A Turpin/Walters combination? It's gone - the Walters/Paix combination showed promise and I'd be willing to give it another shot.

I neither say he was responsible for the rise in form or for the dip in form. Only that he's a depth player who should never get a game in an ideal season. The Walters/Paix combo was sacked by the coach, with his son retained to partner the universally maligned Turpin.

Tyson Smoothy looks by far the best hooker option, and outmarked Paix in the Cup. Here's how it was reported when he was called up by Bellamy this season (but wasn't needed) as a 6th option. The difference being, rather than "desperate" we're excited to have access to this much class:

"Bellamy is so desperate that he's been forced to call upon a QLD Cup player just to get through the weekend's game, with Smith nowhere near 100 per-cent fit after suffering an injury in the season opener a fortnight ago. The ongoing saga has seen Bellamy recall Tyson Smoothy - a man who has just four NRL games to his name and isn't officially contracted with the club - to step up against the Eels."​

​

Craig Bellamy reveals the full extent of Melbourne Storm's hooker crisis | Sporting News Australia

Brandon Smith has a broken hand, Harry Grant and Tyran Wishart are in COVID isolation, and Bronson Garlick has a broken leg - but Storm coach Craig Bellamy won't be making excuses for his side when they take on Parramatta.

www.sportingnews.com

 

[john1420]

I would be following another team.

At last something to look forward to

 

[Cult]

Paix definitely did not shit the bed. Turpin was also the same old Turpin - nothing more, nothing less.

Paix was unfit and injured for half of the season, so yes he absolutely did. Even then, the hooker rotation should have been Walters/Paix. Turpin is the bloke people should have been worried about, he regressed on what was already very average, yet we are here discussing the only guy playing hooker that could have actually done the job, claiming he shouldn't have been signed at all but giving no realistic options to show otherwise. McHunt and co are just loving the sound of their own voices at this point, repeating the same shit over and over without giving any actual answers and completely throwing logic and any reasoning whatsoever out the window.

 

[pagey]

I neither say he was responsible for the rise in form or for the dip in form. Only that he's a depth player who should never get a game in an ideal season. The Walters/Paix combo was sacked by the coach, with his son retained to partner the universally maligned Turpin.

Tyson Smoothy looks by far the best hooker option, and outmarked Paix in the Cup. Here's how it was reported when he was called up by Bellamy this season (but wasn't needed) as a 6th option. The difference being, rather than "desperate" we're excited to have access to this much class:

"Bellamy is so desperate that he's been forced to call upon a QLD Cup player just to get through the weekend's game, with Smith nowhere near 100 per-cent fit after suffering an injury in the season opener a fortnight ago. The ongoing saga has seen Bellamy recall Tyson Smoothy - a man who has just four NRL games to his name and isn't officially contracted with the club - to step up against the Eels."​

​

Craig Bellamy reveals the full extent of Melbourne Storm's hooker crisis | Sporting News Australia

Brandon Smith has a broken hand, Harry Grant and Tyran Wishart are in COVID isolation, and Bronson Garlick has a broken leg - but Storm coach Craig Bellamy won't be making excuses for his side when they take on Parramatta.

www.sportingnews.com

desperate because he wasn't signed for Melbourne he was with the Falcons, meaning he had to be the last option for Bellamy to be able to use him.

 

[Big Pete]

I neither say he was responsible for the rise in form or for the dip in form. Only that he's a depth player who should never get a game in an ideal season. The Walters/Paix combo was sacked by the coach, with his son retained to partner the universally maligned Turpin.

Tyson Smoothy looks by far the best hooker option, and outmarked Paix in the Cup. Here's how it was reported when he was called up by Bellamy this season (but wasn't needed) as a 6th option. The difference being, rather than "desperate" we're excited to have access to this much class:

"Bellamy is so desperate that he's been forced to call upon a QLD Cup player just to get through the weekend's game, with Smith nowhere near 100 per-cent fit after suffering an injury in the season opener a fortnight ago. The ongoing saga has seen Bellamy recall Tyson Smoothy - a man who has just four NRL games to his name and isn't officially contracted with the club - to step up against the Eels."​

​

Craig Bellamy reveals the full extent of Melbourne Storm's hooker crisis | Sporting News Australia

Brandon Smith has a broken hand, Harry Grant and Tyran Wishart are in COVID isolation, and Bronson Garlick has a broken leg - but Storm coach Craig Bellamy won't be making excuses for his side when they take on Parramatta.

www.sportingnews.com

Then you should have said that instead of saying he was one of the components, suggesting he was responsible. I still wouldn't agree with you. Walters/Paix wasn't sacked, Paix suffered a serious injury and tried to rush back and couldn't get himself right.

No doubt Smoothy was down on the pecking order, but I think it's dishonest to frame it as the sixth best choice.

 

[Big Pete]

I don’t mean to ask this as a debate about Walters but I’m genuinely curious where you would rank Walters compared to the rest of the 16 first choice 9’s in the comp?

Without weighing up every argument, 11th.

I'd have him over Woolford, Clark, Randall, McCullough & F. Brown based on this season. There's a few like Marshall-King, Egan, Verrills, Croker I'd lump him in with, but those players get through more work per game so you'd have to give them the edge.

 

[Harry Sack]

Other teams won’t let go of them yet B Smith, Api, Hodgson, Reed, and Varellis are all moving club next season? That’s 4 of the games best hookers of the last 5 years, all on the move.

The question I have about this is, what state was our cap in when these guys started negotiating? How many players are we still paying to play elsewhere? Genuine question, not being a dick. Api, Reed and Hodgson I don't care about for various reasons....but Verrills is a genuine head scratcher for me given he's shown a willingness to move North by signing with the Tits. Was his asking price more than we could afford due to the state of our cap? Does he just flat hate the Broncos like Reed etc.

 

[theshed]

Without weighing up every argument, 11th.

I'd have him over Woolford, Clark, Randall, McCullough & F. Brown based on this season. There's a few like Marshall-King, Egan, Verrills, Croker I'd lump him in with, but those players get through more work per game so you'd have to give them the edge.

I think that sounds about fair. i also couldn’t be bothered weighing up every argument but it passes the eye test

 

[McHunt]

Then you should have said that instead of saying he was one of the components, suggesting he was responsible. I still wouldn't agree with you. Walters/Paix wasn't sacked, Paix suffered a serious injury and tried to rush back and couldn't get himself right.

Wasn't Paix supposably sent back to the Cup to work on his defence?

No doubt Smoothy was down on the pecking order, but I think it's dishonest to frame it as the sixth best choice.

My apologies. Fifth best choice.

 

[McHunt]

Without weighing up every argument, 11th.

I'd have him over Woolford, Clark, Randall, McCullough & F. Brown based on this season.

Would it be fair to say fans of their clubs would also be baying to upgrade their hookers?

 

[Big Pete]

Wasn't Paix supposably sent back to the Cup to work on his defence?

Fan speculation.

My apologies. Fifth best choice.

Yeah, I don't buy Garlick as the 4th cab off the rank, especially as the season wore on. He's a second-row who can provide some utility but he's not forcing Hale Finau out of dummy half at Cup level.

 

[Big Pete]

Would it be fair to say fans of their clubs would also be baying to upgrade their hookers?

I look at the Broncos situation like the Raiders. The Raiders have Woolford there who made a positive difference and while nobody is confusing him for a world class dummy half, he's done enough to earn a contract while Trevilyan develops his game in NSW Cup.

 

[McHunt]

I look at the Broncos situation like the Raiders. The Raiders have Woolford there who made a positive difference and while nobody is confusing him for a world class dummy half, he's done enough to earn a contract while Trevilyan develops his game in NSW Cup.

So how long should we have to suffer Walters at dummy half while we wait for someone decent to come along? We had him all 2022, because his father somehow never found anyone better. Do we really need to sign him again for 2023, because, again, his father somehow failed to find anyone better?

 

[Big Pete]

So how long should we have to suffer Walters at dummy half while we wait for someone decent to come along? We had him all 2022, because his father somehow never found anyone better. Do we really need to sign him again for 2023, because, again, his father somehow failed to find anyone better?

We'll find out when his contract is announced. Personally I'm happy to give Walters another year based on his performances and I was satisfied with the Walters/Paix combination when it was fully fit.