Martin Kennedy signs with Broncos

[Coxy]

Something like:

Hannant-McGuire-Parker: 0-20
Kennedy-McGuire-Parker: 20-50
Kennedy-Tasi-McGuire: 50-60
Hannant-Tasi-McGuire: 60-70
Hannant-Tasi-Parker: 70-80

Mcguire: 70
Parker: 60
Kennedy: 40
Hannant: 40
Tasi: 30

 

[Kimlo]

I'm not negative towards him but I don't think he has kicked on. He looks unfit. Good player for depth who could develop. Still young enough to get better IMO. With Dodds and Hala as depth props our pack looks pretty good.

Of course his aerobic fitness isn't as good as some other forwards, the guy benches 187kg! He's not in our team to be a workhorse he's in the team to provide an impact, another off season to work on his fitness and he's as good a chance as anyone else to make the first 17. Like you say though even if he doesn't make the first 17 he'd be a very solid depth player.

 

[Coxy]

The way I see it though Hala would be competing with Tasi for that low minutes, high impact bench prop. Guy that's meant to come on and cause havoc in attack and defence.

Unfortunately Hala's been too timid most of the time this season, obviously with confidence down from injury. An injured shoulder is just going to make that worse for him. I just worry about his durability.

 

[Morkel]

There are players that come in and look first grade from the start. McGuire an excellent example. Hoffman's debut in Hunt's absence was the same. I have not seen a shred of that potential with either Hala or Lui. Hala, even if unfit, with his talked-up weights records etc, should be barrelling defenders like George Burgess for every one of his 5 or 6 runs a game. Whether it's technique, mental demons, or whatever, I've seen maybe 2 in his NRL career. He was a machine in U20s but just doesn't seem cut out for FG. Are we willing to wait until he's 26 or 28 to find out if he's a late bloomer?

And Lui has shown zero in the NRL. I wish every single one of our younger, developing players kicked on and became world beaters, but it's just not going to happen, so am much as it pains me, Lui & Hala might just need to be shuffled on.

Reading that, it makes me think about Hunt & McCullough. Hunt has an excuse - his development has been rooted by being played out of position for 4 years, only getting 20 minutes a game. But McCullough, who I have been willing to give the BOD for a while now, well, what do you do? If I'm going to believe what I wrote above, is he also someone we need to move on? Or do we wait & see what the new recruits add to the squad, give Andrew 2014 to see what he can do with some stars around him?

 

[Bucking Beads]

I know he isn't a workhorse [MENTION=2021]broncospwn[/MENTION] but he still needs to get fitter. He didn't really make the impact I thought he was capable of this year.

 

[Kimlo]

The way I see it though Hala would be competing with Tasi for that low minutes, high impact bench prop. Guy that's meant to come on and cause havoc in attack and defence.

Unfortunately Hala's been too timid most of the time this season, obviously with confidence down from injury. An injured shoulder is just going to make that worse for him. I just worry about his durability.

He's played every game this from round 5,, which is more games than Hannant. He's still young, only 23, I rate Hala highly and think he has massive potential, I'd hate to see his career go to waste.

 

[Renegade]

Lui is and has always been rubbish at NRL level. I'm not sure what he was like at u20's level cause I don't watch it consistently, but he has been absolutely useless from the moment he stepped into top grade.

I'm actually surprised Manly are after him, I would've thought he would end up playing Q Cup for the rest of his career. I really don't rate the guy at all.

 

[noisetheory]

tasi being underated here imo. was great for roosters last year and worth 40 mins easily

 

[Anonymous person]

No need at all to have McGuire playing 80 minutes. When you've got a good prop rotation you may as well use it and have them fresher.

but having said that, if youve got a great prop who plays his best when he plays 80 minutes, why take him off? both the bulldogs starting props regularly play 65+ minutes because theyre best when they play big minutes.

having a good prop who can play very well for 80 minutes is a godsend. its 1 less position to worry about, gives you more options with the interchange, and gives your team at least 1 consistent worker. IMO having parker and mcguire as 80 minute work horses gives us a huge leg up over other teams. they both make 50+ tackles, make tonnes of hitups, and look to offload (parker a lot more, but mcguires been doing it as well as passing before the line recently).

subbing them off just for the sake of it because you have others on the bench isnt a good move. a good prop rotation gets the most out of each prop, and apart from mcguire none of our props are capable of 40 good minutes apart from hannant, and even then hes better off in 20 minute sets. its a HUGE advantage having an 80 minute prop. lord knows QLD couldve used it in the origin this year! when scott went off we lost our way big time.

 

[Coxy]

tasi being underated here imo. was great for roosters last year and worth 40 mins easily

Maybe, but matter of whether he makes better impact with fewer minutes. Whereas guys like McGuire and Parker deliver better with longer minutes.
Kennedy I don't know about yet. Hannant certainly has a maximum limit, after which time he just looks completely shagged and gets dominated in attack and caught out in defence.

 

[Coxy]

but having said that, if youve got a great prop who plays his best when he plays 80 minutes, why take him off? both the bulldogs starting props regularly play 65+ minutes because theyre best when they play big minutes.

having a good prop who can play very well for 80 minutes is a godsend. its 1 less position to worry about, gives you more options with the interchange, and gives your team at least 1 consistent worker. IMO having parker and mcguire as 80 minute work horses gives us a huge leg up over other teams. they both make 50+ tackles, make tonnes of hitups, and look to offload (parker a lot more, but mcguires been doing it as well as passing before the line recently).

subbing them off just for the sake of it because you have others on the bench isnt a good move. a good prop rotation gets the most out of each prop, and apart from mcguire none of our props are capable of 40 good minutes apart from hannant, and even then hes better off in 20 minute sets. its a HUGE advantage having an 80 minute prop. lord knows QLD couldve used it in the origin this year! when scott went off we lost our way big time.

Having players who CAN play 80 minutes in the middle is great. But it's a long season. You don't want to do that every game if you don't have to.

When you've got QUALITY players who can come off the bench, like Kennedy and Tasi, why not make the most of them, and have the added benefit of keeping your 80-minute capable players a bit fresher throughout the season?

Sure, at a pinch they can play 80 minutes if a particular game calls for it (injuries, or the situation of the game doesn't suit the bench player). And that's where it's a godsend. But I think it's foolish to play them 80 minutes week in week out. That applies equally to Parker given next year he'll be what, 32? Sure he's not slowing down yet, but at that age it's probably worth starting to protect him a little bit.

 

[Bucking Beads]

but having said that, if youve got a great prop who plays his best when he plays 80 minutes, why take him off? both the bulldogs starting props regularly play 65+ minutes because theyre best when they play big minutes.

I think 65 minutes is perfect for McGuire. No need to drive our forwards into the ground when all are capable and need to get adequate minutes.

 

[noisetheory]

i think this gives us the best forward pack in the competition, if everyones fit. souths would rival it once they start playing both the burgess twins at the same time.

hannant, mcguire, tasi, kennedy. backup hala/dodds
thaiday parker gillet glenn backup stagg/whoever

 

[Unbreakable]

Kennedy is averaging around the 40 minutes per game mark at the Roosters this year, and he seems to be doing pretty good with that amount of time, I say we leave it at around that mark.

Hannant, McGuire, Parker ~ 0-20
Kennedy, Tasi, Parker ~ 20-40
Hannant, McGuire, Parker ~ 40-60
Kennedy, Tasi, McGuire ~ 60-70
Kennedy, McGuire, Parker ~ 70-80

Hannant - 40 minutes
McGuire - 60 minutes
Kennedy - 40 minutes
Tasi - 30 minutes
Parker - 70 minutes

 

[Mr Fourex]

Unfortunately Hala's been too timid most of the time this season, obviously with confidence down from injury. An injured shoulder is just going to make that worse for him. I just worry about his durability.

Must have been a reflection on just how shit the rest of the forwards were going but Hala was getting rave reviews from his limited time in the earlier rounds.

Personally, I thought he was making a good impact, and certainly added some "oomph" to the forwards, particularly in attack.

As you say....his durability seem to be the weak spot. Hoping another off season and an injury free start to next season could see him come on well.

Great to have as depth and potential.

 

[Renegade]

i think this gives us the best forward pack in the competition, if everyones fit. souths would rival it once they start playing both the burgess twins at the same time.

hannant, mcguire, tasi, kennedy. backup hala/dodds
thaiday parker gillet glenn backup stagg/whoever

in theory, yeah. in theory we had a good pack this year too until it was shown up.

let's wait and see how they perform before labelling them equal best pack. bulldogs have a pretty good pack as well and i'd argue their youngsters are better than ours. Klemmer, Jackson, Finucane, even Tapau looks alright. That's on top of Graham, Tolman, Pritchard, Kasiano, yeah, the Bulldogs have a better pack than us as well.

 

[Kimlo]

I know he isn't a workhorse @broncospwn but he still needs to get fitter. He didn't really make the impact I thought he was capable of this year.

That's fair enough but I personally don't think Tasi is ahead of him for next year, I think the preseason will be what determines who gets the 17 spot.

 

[Coxy]

Must have been a reflection on just how **** the rest of the forwards were going but Hala was getting rave reviews from his limited time in the earlier rounds.

Personally, I thought he was making a good impact, and certainly added some "oomph" to the forwards, particularly in attack.

As you say....his durability seem to be the weak spot. Hoping another off season and an injury free start to next season could see him come on well.

Great to have as depth and potential.

Don't get me wrong, he's had good moments. But I think most people are still remembering that game against the Dragons, maybe in 2011, where the game was in the balance and he just torpedoed in from close range and inspired the team.

I haven't seen that much from him since, but undoubtedly he has potential to be a real game breaker if he can stay fit and get consistency.