If Boyd is picked at left centre, he better be there for form and not experience. Fck he better be able to make tackle break. He didn't make one all last year. If Macca is in the 17 (please no) he has to start unfortunately. I see no value him being on the bench. He is not an impact player.
Nines / Trial Games
- Thread starter Fitzy
- Start date
Cowboys fielded a strong side in the first half, pretty close to their top side.
So it looks like Flegs is the new forum whipping boy? He had a good game, especially in defense. He stopped plenty of forwards in their tracks, rag dolled a few backs as they make half breaks and defended aggressively for entire sets. He was one of our defensive leaders in that game.
Wolfie
International Captain
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Not really. Their entire backline barring Holmes would probably be different. Cooper would also be there. They pretty much played their first choice front row for 20 mins. You could easily add Feldt, Morgan, Opacic, Cooper, Moose, Marsters, Hamiso and even Granville and Hampton to that Squad from last night and 5 or 6 of them would start.
ethos
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Think Bird, Carrigan and Arthars stocks all rose after that one. Hadn't really seen anything of Arthars but made some really good reads in defence. Plus if he can keep hitting holes off Milford, no reason not to pick him ..
Bird looked the better of he and Isaako at fullback. However, did have a stronger team around him.
Bird looked the better of he and Isaako at fullback. However, did have a stronger team around him.
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Yeah, I know plenty have wraps on this kid, but for mine he has ordinary to woeful ball handling skills, is a penalty machine and is a bit of a grub. He should be the last option for us. Only takes the field if we have multiple injuries.
Broncos Maestro
NRL Player
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I disagree about Macca not being an impact player-once he’s on the field, it really makes an (awful) impact on the team and a (wonderfully) shocked impact for our opposition!
Lockysillegitimatechild
State of Origin Rep
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Moose is injured so that'd mean we'd add lodge and I'd take lodge any day over moose now, hamiso won't be in their starting side for months (especially with greens track record), even though Granville is their starting hooker those 2 were a vast improvement on his past 2 years, marsters isn't all he's hyped upto be (ask any tigers fan and they were not dissapointed he left), Hampton played well last season but with Granville their macca they'd be a worse side without a proper hooker on the bench, Cooper is solid and experienced but it'd be the equivalent of us missing Glenn but we had a more experienced team. Opacic is a solid first grader, that's it.
Feldt adds a fair bit, but we were missing oates, and Morgan would add a tiny bit but he has been competly found out since Thurston retired and for mine he should be anywhere near a rep Jersey. I'd take d fifitas impact over Morgan every day of the week.
So in closing, it's really they add moose + Feldt + Morgan, we add d fifita + Lodge + oates...
I know which 3 I'd be taking!
There were a lot more positives than negatives last night, and that's what I want to see in a trial. We played them in cairns too. There's a lot of hype from cowboys fans because of Holmes but take away taumololo and they lose about 90% of their games, we were missing our young forward leader and the 2nd most promising forward in the game (after haas) and our pack didn't miss a beat. Losing haas would hurt us but we'd be able to still patch a few wins together with the cover we have, no way they would.
Finbar
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He's been on the right for more games but can play both and swaps a lot.
Herbie's strength is his ability to adapt and be versatile. One of the reasons I have been saying he is more ready than Coates is because he has developed his game. I commented last season he scored tries against the Jets in the centres pushing guys off on the left but then scores tries on the right wing for the rest of the year.
He started last season on the left and then Smith moved him round 9 against Tweed back to the right. Then back to the left and got four tries against the Pride- finals back to the right. It was an even split by the end of the year with 10 tries on each side.
Coates isn't ready to fill that role.
Wolfie
International Captain
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The point was though not a comparison between the two sides ( which obviously, we have the better squad ) it was to point out that @big k said it was pretty close to their top side, and it wasnt. I think you will see at least 5 changes to their backline and halves for a start. Holmes i reckon is the only certain starter for them in their backline.
They actually have some decent young forwards at the Cowboys. Hola, Pere and especially Gilbert all look good prospects. Be interesting to see what their record is like without JT2.
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Lockysillegitimatechild
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I completely agree with all of that. Farnworth can play both sides and he is more ready than Coates but defence isn't a one man job.
Defence benefits greatly from combinations and teamwork. From the looks of things Farnworth has been on the left the whole off season working with boyd or arthars inside him. Teamwork in defence is especially important on the edges where communication is absolutely critical so defenders need to be comfortable telling each other where to go and also listen to each other.
I know it won't happen but I'd stick with isaako or perhaps even on the bench in that perese role as cover for Coates (we have 2 high standard forwards on the bench who can play a quality 50 mins at a push and all our starting forwards could play a full game if absolutely requried, we don't necessarily need a 3rd forward, at least for a few games) until Coates builds up his game. We'd benefit from isaakos goalkicking too, which is worth 2-6 points a game compared to staggs'.
Arthur's defence was really solid. I hope Boyd had the notepad out.
Lockysillegitimatechild
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And my point was it may not be close to their back line but the players they were missing will hardly change their performance, less than the players we had missing in fact.
I don't think they have a bad squad at all, it just doesn't really excite me. Take out taumolo from that team and they will be luck to win 10%. Take out haas, fifita and lodge and we'd still string more wins together I think. Players have relied on 1 player in the past but not a middle forward, its a very risk squad. They could have a great season, or it could be 2019 all over again. Really hard to say, but I do know it will have nothing to do with Holmes and a lot more to do with taumololo and the back up he gets after his runs. It'd be an interesting stat to look at but I would guess that >75% of their tries are scored the play after or directly from his runs. Rush him, even if you give away a few off side or slowing ruck penalties, and you'll go a long way to a beating them.
I don't disagree with the cowboys having good young forward prospects but I don't think it's anywhere near as strong as some other clubs. There are a lot of good young forwards at the moment, I don't remember a time like it when there has been so many quality young forwards running about.
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Wolfie
International Captain
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I think they could change their team a fair bit tbh and it would be a lot better. They were fairly weak last night i thought. The only thing i think that will hold them back is Green and his propensity to play the guys like Granville, O'Neill and Cooper over their younger players. Robson and Cotter looked pretty good, but you know Green will pick Granville.
1 Holmes - Holmes
2 Tualagi - Hamiso
3 O'Neill - Opacic
4 Russell - Marsters
5 Lemuelu - Feldt
6 Drinkwater - Drinkwater
7 Clifford - Morgan
The group on the right has far more going for it than the group that played last night. I think you will see O'Neill instead of Hamiso on the wing though. Our first 17 is much stronger than theirs on paper though. It will be criminal imo if we dont finish top 6 minimum even with Lodge out.
Next step for us is to beat the Titans next week convincingly.
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Lockysillegitimatechild
State of Origin Rep
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Tualagi was one of their best last night. And im not sure how much of masters you've watched recently but he was treading water at the tigers at times. Hamiso is talented (mostly due to speed) but let's see if he has the extra stuff for the nrl before we start saying he's an improvement on someone else. It'd be the equivalent of me saying niu and Coates are an improvement on players, we don't actually know until they get a run.
Wolfie
International Captain
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Marsters is a curious one. Thought he was brilliant a couple of years ago, but then ordinary last year. Tbf to him, he was playing with an injured ankle which he has now had surgery on, but he is certainly better than Dan Russell who is more a back rower anyway who can play center rather than a genuine center. Big year for Marsters to show he wasnt a flash in the pan.
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Dazza 92
NRL Captain
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My takeaway is; Cowboys biggest impediment to success this year is how long they keep Paul Green in a job.
They are similar to us in regards a new spine is being constructed just before the regular season begins...
Croft has a quiet confidence about him, keeps things tight but already shows good game management with a few of his deep clearing kicks and setting up a set of six to get Milf outside this man..
Dearden isnt ready yet so again emphasis the importance of getting Croft this year. Maybe SoS does have a future here as the back up to Brodie..?
They are similar to us in regards a new spine is being constructed just before the regular season begins...
Croft has a quiet confidence about him, keeps things tight but already shows good game management with a few of his deep clearing kicks and setting up a set of six to get Milf outside this man..
Dearden isnt ready yet so again emphasis the importance of getting Croft this year. Maybe SoS does have a future here as the back up to Brodie..?
