Hodges @ fullback

theshed said:
Who does then? The warriors? The eels?

Beating Melbourne is a huge ask but that's what being a sporting fan is about. I personally love cheering for the under dog.
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To be honest, I think Eels deserve it more.

They were wooden spooners 2 years in a row, the turnaround at the club has been massive and the effort they have put on the field this year despite having an average roster has been great to see.
 
So....how did Hodges go last night?

I remember making a comment that the negatives of Hodges outweigh the positives...and I think that really showed last night.

Hoffman's try, Cronk's try, letting the ball bounce when Cronk was doing it on purpose, constantly overplaying his hand. Those are just a few things.
 
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Super Freak said:
So....how did Hodges go last night?

I remember making a comment that the negatives of Hodges outweigh the positives...and I think that really showed last night.

Hoffman's try, Cronk's try, letting the ball bounce when Cronk was doing it on purpose, constantly overplaying his hand. Those are just a few things.
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Agreed

His positioning for most of the night was terrible on defence, he is pretty rubbish under the high ball as well. What really annoyed me was the way he thinks he should play every position. It completely kills our structures. Constantly pushing macca out of dummy half was embarassing
 
Delivery was always going to be an issue when a team is allowed to wrestle and slow down the ruck, however Hodgo interferring is worse. He rarely makes more than 5m running from dummy half (because everyone knows his game).
Hodgo should been more worried about his own positioning in defense rather than putting McCullough off his game in attack.
If he wants to remain Captain then he should have a hard look at himself. McCullough is not the first player he has put out. His milking attempts often results in a turnover in favour of the opposition.
 
He was a bit sketchy in defence but no worse than I anticipated. I still think his attack outweighed his defensive flaws. Without Hodgo in attack we would have offered nothing.

The worst thing he done, which potentially cost us the game was become to involved but he does that at centres too so it's not a positional issue.


This threads irrelevant now though. Hodges was better than Hoffman but the seasons over and thank god for Milford.
 
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I was scared last night every time he was under the high ball. Well any kick I guess. I know alot of people don't Hoff man buy you can't deny how much you miss how much you miss his defence at the back? A lot of you other guys have seen a lot more of Milford than me, how well is under the ball?
 
johnny87 said:
I was scared last night every time he was under the high ball. Well any kick I guess. I know alot of people don't Hoff man buy you can't deny how much you miss how much you miss his defence at the back? A lot of you other guys have seen a lot more of Milford than me, how well is under the ball?
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IMO Milford is one of the best under the highball, very confident.
 
Just for the record, on both sets where Hodges gave McCullough the ass at Hooker, I'm pretty sure we made ~60 metres.
 
Hodges was shit out of dummy half. A lot of his passes were high or behind. Macca was shit too though, threw passes behind his players and thought he was at fault for Kennedy's knock on.

Hodges tried too hard but it's easier to excuse him being shit at hooker as he doesn't play there. What's maccas excuse?

If we had structures than Hodges would definitely have killed them, but we don't. No real cohesion in any of our spine players.
 
Ari Gold said:
Hodges was **** out of dummy half. A lot of his passes were high or behind. Macca was **** too though, threw passes behind his players and thought he was at fault for Kennedy's knock on.

Hodges tried too hard but it's easier to excuse him being **** at hooker as he doesn't play there. What's maccas excuse?

If we had structures than Hodges would definitely have killed them, but we don't. No real cohesion in any of our spine players.
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THIS ^^^

Last night was a dog's breakfast. What precious little structures we had were torpedoed by Hodges's self imposed messiah complex, at dummy half irrespective of the metres he made. The fact remains that little happened as a result with the result that any cohesion we had went out the window.

Also, sadly, it was a game of 2 Smiths. When Smith was on, he exposed Macca for what he is: competent, solid and basically ordinary - way too slow. But then, it's not all his fault. The difference between us and the Storm is that when Smith gets his hands the ball, almost the whole team is moving. With Macca, we have a single ball runner who inevitably dies with the ball.

As a FB, that's where he belongs, except that someone needs to be at the back to take the high balls and position themselves defensively because Hodges is too slow to read the play, too slow to react and too slow to move.

In attack he is great, especially when he comes up into the line. That's it. Next year, centre, or retirement.
 
That game was the perfect example of why some of us have been dead against Hodges moving to fullback permanently. He's slow, cant catch a kick to save his life, gets too involved, and just isn't agile enough. Trying to pickup grounded balls at full flight without even getting down close to it, not once but at least twice, one which resulted in a try. Letting simple bombs bounce numerous times. And where was he for the try off the bomb? Attempting to take it? Nope. Attempting to tackle him after he caught it? Nope. Trying to hols him up? Nope. He was nowhere to be seen!

People comparing his dummy half work to mcculloughs are missing the bigger picture there - mccullough is and always will be one of the worst NRL hookers around in terms of anything other than tackling. His service is just deplorable and has shown no signs of improving. He picks the ball up, stands up straight, has a look around, then throws it. It puts enormous pressure on the first and second receivers, and puts us on the back foot from the get go.

Copley had a bad night too. Some terrible passes from him that hurt us.

Hunt was a mixed bag. Great individual try, terrible terrible decision to throw that pass which snuffed out any hope we had. His kicking game is still nothing more than wallaces for most of the game - 40m bombs. Best running half in the game, worst kicking half in the game.
 
Anonymous person said:
That game was the perfect example of why some of us have been dead against Hodges moving to fullback permanently. He's slow, cant catch a kick to save his life, gets too involved, and just isn't agile enough. Trying to pickup grounded balls at full flight without even getting down close to it, not once but at least twice, one which resulted in a try. Letting simple bombs bounce numerous times. And where was he for the try off the bomb? Attempting to take it? Nope. Attempting to tackle him after he caught it? Nope. Trying to hols him up? Nope. He was nowhere to be seen!

People comparing his dummy half work to mcculloughs are missing the bigger picture there - mccullough is and always will be one of the worst NRL hookers around in terms of anything other than tackling. His service is just deplorable and has shown no signs of improving. He picks the ball up, stands up straight, has a look around, then throws it. It puts enormous pressure on the first and second receivers, and puts us on the back foot from the get go.

Copley had a bad night too. Some terrible passes from him that hurt us.

Hunt was a mixed bag. Great individual try, terrible terrible decision to throw that pass which snuffed out any hope we had. His kicking game is still nothing more than wallaces for most of the game - 40m bombs. Best running half in the game, worst kicking half in the game.
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I agree 100% with you AP about Hodges (and Hunt).

As for Macca, I also agree except I think the lack of coached structures adds to his problems which you imo correctly identify. His service from dummy half only works when the 1st or 2nd receiver decide to pass the ball to a running support which is all too rare.

Watching Smith play compared to Macca last game was a revelation at how ordinary he can be except maybe defence
 
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