PRE-GAME Round 1 - Roosters v Broncos

I think that development deals are what the Innes' of the world should be for- not Shibasaki. There is still value in Shibasaki but it's train and trial and maybe two games in Origin after round 11.

If at the end of this season Innes had played two NRL games and 20 Cup games on a development deal that's a great outcome.
 
I think that development deals are what the Innes' of the world should be for- not Shibasaki. There is still value in Shibasaki but it's train and trial and maybe two games in Origin after round 11.

If at the end of this season Innes had played two NRL games and 20 Cup games on a development deal that's a great outcome.
It think it's just a need from coaches to have squad depth.

17 players picked each week, leaving only 13 top 30 players left... so coaches are filling up their dev deals with guys that have some experience if you need them to fill in through the year.

It would be nice if they extended the squad to 40, but talent across the league may not be there.

It's something the NRL need to look at, because those deals outside the top 30 look a bit all over the place... T&T deals, but only after round 11... dev deals I'm assuming were intended for rookies, but is being used by coaches as a mix of journey men and rookies.

NFL has the IR list, which if in NRL could allow something like a T&T player being promoted to the squad during that IR duration.

Souths at the moment have Murray gone for the season... there's talk they might need someone signed to a dev deal to cover the loss, which is probably not ideal if they could find a T&T player to promote instead... except they would need to argue that they have no Murray replacement in their Top 30 / Dev Deal.

I think the NFL IR would also remove Murray's salary from the cap for the duration of his stint there... that would greatly reduce risks to squads because they could then promote a T&T or Dev Deal into Murray's spot without having to commit a full roster spot
 
What a shame about Staggs. Just when I thought we could begin a season virtually injury free.

It's a loss, one of the few true strike centres in the game, plus what he gives us coming out of yardage. Big shoes to fill.

I "do" believe that this roster has brought into what Madge is selling.

But the litmus test is this Roosters game. If i was Madge, i'd basically say to the guys that no-one has any credit in the bank with me. You all must earn it starting round 1 of the season.

And earn it through your defence.

I don't think it will be as straightforward as some posters here think.
 
What a shame about Staggs. Just when I thought we could begin a season virtually injury free.

It's a loss, one of the few true strike centres in the game, plus what he gives us coming out of yardage. Big shoes to fill.

I "do" believe that this roster has brought into what Madge is selling.

But the litmus test is this Roosters game. If i was Madge, i'd basically say to the guys that no-one has any credit in the bank with me. You all must earn it starting round 1 of the season.

And earn it through your defence.

I don't think it will be as straightforward as some posters here think.

Staggs is a loss but I wouldn't say we will miss his yardage, he's been pretty poor with that compared to other backs. I was really hoping he'd step up there though this year.
 
The thing with Jetski starting is we lose out on a bench spot with Piakura there.

14. Billy/Smoothy.
15. Jensen
16. BTK/Piakura
17. Willison/Piakura

With Piakura starting we dont have the potential of Willison or BTK missing out.
 
Staggs is a loss but I wouldn't say we will miss his yardage, he's been pretty poor with that compared to other backs. I was really hoping he'd step up there though this year.
Yeah I don’t think it’s a big of a loss as it was back in 2022. That being said, I felt really confident that Staggs was primed for a big year under Madge - I couldn’t see Madge being so conservative with his work rate.

Though given Staggs susceptibility to injury, maybe there was a reason he was the Ferrari who was kept in the garage until they were in good ball. .
 
Roosters may be down on troops but we need to start strong- if we take it easy any team can beat us

Staggs missing a few weeks is a negative but gives Mariner and Shib time to show which one is better long term

Also staggering Staggs and then Mam 4-5 weeks later brings that high energy in when the daily grind starts to bite
 
I was keen to see staggs terrorise an inexperienced roosters back line.
Yea no matter how we played as a team, you could always count on Staggs to destroy half the opposition while making a length of the feild try.

He would have destroyed this Roosters edge.
 
The thing with Jetski starting is we lose out on a bench spot with Piakura there.

14. Billy/Smoothy.
15. Jensen
16. BTK/Piakura
17. Willison/Piakura

With Piakura starting we dont have the potential of Willison or BTK missing out.

IMO, it doesn't change anything at all. Even if Piakura starts, we'd carry a backrower on the bench (probably Jetski) ... We saw first hand last year that middles playing on the edge when a backrower goes down, doesn't work well
 
Regarding Innes if it was long term inclusion, I would say no but short-term couple of weeks I think he could do it. Certainly not my normal MO to think a player could play NRL after two Cup games.

He's stepped up every time he has had to, and I think he could play NRL. He was outstanding on Saturday for the Bears. In Meninga but he played both sides of the field scores a great try on the right then minutes later goes over on the left and puts Tohihi away on the left.

His two Cup games have been off the bench and fullback- against the Pride- he was really promising. Moving to fullback and just reacted really well to the pace of Cup and his first two or three touches were excellent. Bears got run down but his first 20 minutes was good on the right. Two try assists were legit try assists and involved good fullback work and then he sets up other players too.

This year is his third year of Mening and game 21 plus his two Cup games and he's now been involved in two NRL trials with limited game.

His speed will compensate for any physical weakness. His first 40m is breathtaking to watch. - his break on Saturday off a Marley pass and he was gone and then just calmly passes inside to his unmarked man.

He's not on a dev deal at the moment and not top 30 but I said at the end of last year the next Broncos outside back will come from Coates, Innes or Tonlhi. Innes has gone past those two at the moment.
From our outside backs, I really like the look of Joey Tupuse. Big unit.
 
The thing with Jetski starting is we lose out on a bench spot with Piakura there.

14. Billy/Smoothy.
15. Jensen
16. BTK/Piakura
17. Willison/Piakura

With Piakura starting we dont have the potential of Willison or BTK missing out.
I think we need backrow cover on the bench... if anyone in the back 5 goes down, we'd be moving one of the starters out to centre and then potentially Willison to the edge, and Willison didn't look great on the edge in the all stars game.

So an injury at 7 different starting positions (back 5 + 2 starting edges) would see us moving two guys to non-preferred position and is potentially just writing off the game, because they can't cover the defensive requirements.

We also have two big minute middles in Haas and Patty... having 3 middles on the bench is just too many mouths to feed and we would end up seeing one of them playing a token 10mins per game, which is basically wasting a spot in the 17 and handicapping the team.
 
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