PRE-GAME Round 6 - Raiders vs Broncos

Allo said:
Like UB, I’ve been avoiding Milf to FB, but **** it why not. He’s played there before, probably take some time to get back into it and probably focus more on his fitness and acceleration again.

1. Milford
2. Oates
3. Staggs
4. Dickfingers
5. Kennar/Farnworth (pls sign Jonus back)
6. SoS
7. Dearden
8. Dis-Lodge (rough night for the big fella)
9. Turpinator
10. Haas
11. Glenn (not terrible, but not great)
12. Gillett
13. Carrigan

14. Niko
15. Fifita
16. Mago
17. Flegler

I foresee a loss to Canberra, and at 1-5 and losing players to Origin camps soon, I don’t predict we win too many more games from round 10-20.

This may not be the team for a while, but at some point provided we don’t suddenly become a Storm-level team overnight, we need to write the season off and get game time into the 2020 team. I don’t care if we miss finals, because I’d rather work towards a successful 2020 than limp into the finals like last year and have to start again with the same players derping it up
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No one will make origin at this point
 
Unbreakable said:
1. Milford
2. Oates
3. Roberts
4. Bird
5. Boyd
6. O'Sullivan
7. Dearden
8. Lodge
9. Turpin
10. Haas
11. Gillett
12. Fifita
13. Carrigan

14. Staggs
15. Glenn
16. Flegler
17. Mago

Nikorima, McCullough, Ofahengaue, Su'A all dropped to QCUP for the time being. The later of those 2 is purely to work on their match fitness, which they clearly haven't got at the moment.

I would've loved to have dropped Boyd from the team, but I'm being realistic here, he's not going to get dropped, but we seriously can't keep him at Fullback, it's costing us 1-2 tries a week with his sheer unwillingness to attempt tackles, he's going to be less of a liability defensively on the right wing and is still safe under the high ball.

Milford to Fullback is something I've been avoiding considering, but I think it's at that stage, we need to try something else. The forward pack speaks for itself, Ofahengaue has been almost under the radar our worst forward so far this season, his defense has been beyond putrid in the second halves of games.

The obvious change in 2 weeks time will be TPJ back in to the team for Mago, potentially keeping him on the bench pending how Carrigan performs in the 13 jersey.

The halves are a complete lottery, but O'Sullivan & Dearden are noted for their levelheadedness, game management and short kicking games, that's what we're really after, I'm happy to give them the keys for a few months to see what they've got.

Turpin is also a 50/50 choice, he showed last year at the very least he's got crisp service from the 9 jersey, which is more than what McCullough offers, if he struggles with the workload, I'm interested to see what Staggs can do at 9.
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neither Dearden nor Turpin can play, as they are not in our top 30, only the development squad
 
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Foordy said:
neither Dearden nor Turpin can play, as they are not in our top 30, only the development squad
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We only had 28 players in our top 30 as of the start of the season, they're both available to be moved in to the top 30 at any point.
 
Unbreakable said:
We only had 28 players in our top 30 as of the start of the season, they're both available to be moved in to the top 30 at any point.
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I thought you must have 29?

Not arguing, I just thought thats what it was??
 
broncsgoat said:
I thought you must have 29?

Not arguing, I just thought thats what it was??
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i thought that too ... which means we may be able to promote one of the two
 
If Turpin is eligible pls just play him. He’s shown more in his few games than Mccullough has in the last few years.
 
winslow_wong said:
I’ve just realised that you only say these things when we have a bad loss. And you then take it out on me most the time. It’s ok. I’m here for you.

Digital hugs ?
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I hug you wholeheartedly (but only in a digital capacity).

You're alright dude, just keep your write-offs for the end of the season.

We need to back our team to the very end. Losses suck but backing the players to turn things around is much more rewarding and always a possibility. I always give ourselves half a season to make things right before pulling the "chicken-little" mentality.

We're not that far off being the best in the comp. Imagine when we have all our best on the field and we adjust to our new coaching structures?
 
We need a bit of a shake up. This is the team I would go with.

1. Milford
2. Oates
3. Staggs (gk)
4. Bird
5. Boyd
6. Nikorima
7. Dearden
8. Lodge
9. McCullough
10. Haas
11. Glenn
12. Gillett (c)
13. Fensom

14. Ofahengaue
15. Fifita
16. Carrigan
17. Tagataese

Milford is not cutting it at five-eighth, and Boyd isn't either at fullback. Moving Milford to fullback will remove his playmaking and game management responsibilities, which will hopefully allow him to concentrate on his broken field running and support play. Ideally I would replace McCullough but due to a lack of viable options, he survives for now.

Bring in a specialist halfback like Dearden, who the club has identified as the future. See how he goes at first with Nikorima at five-eighth and if need be we can bring in SOS to partner Dearden in the halves and instead have Nikorima come off the bench to relieve McCullough at hooker.

People underestimate the importance of having older experienced forwards, especially when the rest of the forward pack is so young. I feel like having Fensom and Tagataese will help defensively and won't make us as vulnerable through the ruck. I think Ofahengaue has been underwhelming, but i'm hoping that being demoted to the bench can get a result out of him. If not, he can spend some time in reserve grade. I think Flegler also needs a rest from first grade as his impact seems to be diminishing. Su'a is lacking fitness so he should be playing 80 mins of backrow in reserve grade to get back in shape.

Isaako also needs a few games in reserve grade to gain some confidence again. At the moment it seems everything he does is turning bad for him. For the time being Boyd will have to do on the wing, although I would still like to drop him from the team altogether.
 
bb_gun said:
We're not that far off being the best in the comp. Imagine when we have all our best on the field and we adjust to our new coaching structures?
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Are you serious?

The best in the comp just dusted us by 30 points.


we just got beaten by the fucking tigers at home

we've only beaten the cowboys, who themselves couldnt beat an egg right now.
 
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People are proposing a rookie 6 & 7?

Realistically, the only change we can expect this season is Kodi to 14 & bringing in a new #7. Quite frankly that's harsh on kodi, that guys manager should be finding him a new club as he's a great player whose being scapegoated because he doesn't gel with the current makeup of the this spine.

Boyd's not going anywhere this year, you want to apply pressure do it via the #9.
 
Accept said:
You know things are diabolical when fans start calling for the likes of Turps and SOS. If anyone was born to be an ISC player, it's these two.
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The only criticism I’ve seen of Turpins NRL performances has been that it was against weak opposition. But he still looked better than Mccullough has for quite a while now against any opposition, fullstop.

Maybe Turpin is a player that gets better at the highest level? Who knows. But given that Mcc has absolutely nothing going for him anymore (and also that this season seems like a write-off) I’d be keen to find out.
 
Is it viable to have Boyd and Isaako switch positions in defense? Boyd knows how to avoid being dragged into the in-goal and over the sideline and is better under the high ball and Isaako would be better at basic kick returns with 20+ metres to wind up. In attack Isaako hasn't been that bad this year, save when he was borderline concussed against the Cowboys and Boyd still plays an important role in our backline sweeps (I actually agree with Boyd about Oates being at fault for those previous misfires). I think the Roosters did this with Minichiello and RTS, but that was more about taking advantage of their strengths rather than mitigating their weaknesses.
 
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