- Sep 8, 2009
- 7,735
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What’s the word on Radley? Is he playing?
PRE-GAME [Round 9, 2024] Broncos vs Roosters
- Thread starter ningnangnong
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Stix
NRL Player
- Mar 28, 2014
- 1,643
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I thought he’d play, but think he was named like 22nd…
- Apr 9, 2012
- 12,814
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Where's the team list?
Can it somehow be made a "sticky" in the first page ....along with game date & time etc etc?
- Mar 4, 2008
- 27,328
- 17,411
You'll find all that information at the top of every page.
Manofoneway
NRL Player
- May 22, 2022
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i guess at a pinch. The discussion is about holding a back on the bench. Its probably better than having Oates or Sailor play in the front row if a forward goes down if thats the way the cards fall..
But yeah, give him as much time in the NRL as capes and i'm sure he will be just as effective. Hes more skilful, faster and probably stronger.
- Oct 28, 2013
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We’re going to be 9 & 3 at the bye
- Apr 9, 2012
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Well apparently its been there all along kind sir......
provided you know the secret eye twitch .....and the wind is blowing NE west......at precisely 8.19 pm.
I think the first 16...is our best 16
Baker v Oates (?)
Corey....... for mine. (and I've been cold on him.......)
Bucking Beads
International Captain
- Mar 5, 2008
- 24,608
- 7,911
Listening to Lindsay Collins yesterday on the radio and his preparation for tomorrow nights game they’re worried about controlling the ruck. Typically coming to Brisbane trying to slow the play the ball down.
lynx000
State of Origin Rep
- Jul 28, 2008
- 6,592
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I fell for the bait and switch didn't I? I really regret giving you a further opportunity to push your Kill Bill agenda.The role doesn't necessarily need to be covered by a bench hooker but you have to have SOMEONE who can play in the outside backs AND in the forwards. AND you need to have their forward position covered by the bench.
As an example, the Roosters have Connor Watson, named at lock, who can also cover half, centre, hooker and fullback.
Connor Watson
The NRL profile of Connor Watson including career statistics, season stats, games, tries, goals, tackles and fantasy scores.www.roosters.com.au
But you don't really want someone as valuable in the middle as Patty playing some other bandaid position. Hence it makes more sense to have a Mr Fixit on the bench.
You're right, though: we don't have anyone on our roster who can fix our bench other than Oates, and for whatever reason, Kevvie appears loathe to use him. And if Sailor has the defensive liabilities many believe, he's not fit for NRL.
You're also right in that you can get by with 2 specialist hookers BUT someone on the bench needs to be fast enough to play in the backs.
We're in a bit of a pickle because our problem players are Walters, Smoothy and Hetherington. They're all good enough to take the team to a Grand Final in their respective positions but their collective lack of versatility causes knock-on problems. If we try to solve it by replacing them with other players, we might succeed in putting insurance in place, but might weaken the team otherwise.
For a hypothetical solution, let's start with our current hooker rotation, which is eating up two interchanges.
Walters: adequate hooker for a short burst, adequate cover in the halves. Can kick and pass. Not a playmaker. Too slow to play wider.
Smoothy: slightly better hooker for longer periods. Can kick and pass. Not a playmaker. Can play a middle defensive role. Too slow to play wider.
If a half goes down, Walters moves into the halves, Smoothy stays at dummy half. It works well enough.
Otherwise, Walters plays 25-40+ minutes looking increasingly sluggish over 25. Smoothy plays 30+ minutes, the team gathers momentum. This is our killing time. Then Walters returns, Smoothy disappears into some mystery position - lock, I think - and the team becomes a rabble. We usually lose this period.
If we were to drop Walters - which will never happen until he retires - and bring in Mozer, he might be an improvement at hooker, or his inexperience might cost us. But he's a pure hooker who covers no other position, and we'd lose Billy's utility.
If we were to drop Smoothy and bring in Mozer, again we might gain something at hooker (or not), but it would otherwise be a like for like.
To solve our bench problem, therefore, we would need to omit two of these players, and bring in a more versatile, faster utility. Humour me here: but one example might be:
Mozer at 9, Madden at 14. Mozer would need to play long minutes and be better than either of our current hookers AND Madden would need to expand his positional play, particularly dummy half. He is fast enough and has the ball skills to play wider. BUT, he's unproven, and untrained in that role.
Otherwise, we look at replacing Hetherington with a Capewell clone. Which would allow us to bench two middles like Willison and Te Kura. I've liked what I've seen from Josh Patston for this role. But I wouldn't like to say he's a better hitman than Hetherington.
The issue with all this is the players we have are all good enough to make the team on their own merits. But someone we rate will have to make way for someone we rate lower, for the sake of insurance.
Having Mozer at 9 and Madden at 14 is not going to provide cover for an outside back going down. We are in the same scenario.
It is going to be particularly galling for you if we win it this year with Billy at hooker.
- Jul 28, 2016
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That rotation actually makes things worse because we lose halves coverage from Billy
Culhwch
NRL Captain
- Mar 28, 2008
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Madden would be the halves coverage. But he wouldn't really cover anything else other than hooker, at a level well below Smoothy and Walters...
- Jul 28, 2016
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I'm talking in game... when Reynolds got injured in storm game Billy moved to halfback.
Not sure what they would do with a halves pairing of Mozer and Smoothy in the same situation
Culhwch
NRL Captain
- Mar 28, 2008
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The quoted post suggests Mozer and Madden.
- Jul 28, 2016
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mitch222
State of Origin Captain
- Apr 4, 2014
- 8,785
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We play tomorrow bud
Tomorrows the game haha don't worry I keep thinking the same thing because today's my Friday
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