Official Blayke Brailey

Rob

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I’m happy with how his attacking game is developing it’s his defence that’s the concern.

His post contact meters conceded would of topped the league, now how much of that is due to the **** forwards around him, not being able to get a rest this year or his poor technique.

I think he needs to start off the bench and come on at 15 min mark with McInnes starting then shifting to lock for the first half of the season as Melbourne did with Smith/Grant this season.
 

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I’m happy with how his attacking game is developing it’s his defence that’s the concern.

His post contact meters conceded would of topped the league, now how much of that is due to the **** forwards around him, not being able to get a rest this year or his poor technique.

I think he needs to start off the bench and come on at 15 min mark with McInnes starting then shifting to lock for the first half of the season as Melbourne did with Smith/Grant this season.
I'd be surprised if there were many forwards in the NRL who are looking across our line before their hitup and thinking 'Imma pick out Brailey, the forwards around him are ****'

They run at Brailey because he is tiny.
**** forwards around him compound the problem* but the main cause is his size.
Had a quick glance across a couple names and Blayke wiki says 1.80 and 80kg, Reed says 1.75 and 86kg, Reece Robson says 1.80 93kg and a few others who all weighed 86kg+so he is essentially 10% lighter than he should be, which adds up.

His technique is typically okay, and he does land some good front ons at times. I think the high workrate across the park by him (attack and defence) without a good rest opportunity probably enhances the issue a bit too, but still the base issue is his size.

And lightweight also likely a big factor in why he doesn't try to dig into opposition forwards on a scoot as good chance he is dominated and gives up slow PTB, instead looks for a runner. I think right call, we just need the runners.

*On '**** forwards' the likes of Woods and Tolman actually do a good job helping him, it's just the opp player has made a few PCMs before they can complete their work as second man in because opp is already pushing through line.
Wood's issue is his own wild misses on fast paced one on ones.
But I do think Finucane and McInnes will be as good and probably better than Woods at helping Blayke out and further to that they will actively put themselves in position to be making more tackles which is not something I really wanted Woods to be doing as he wasn't up for it. Additionally lock (Rudolf) is also being upgraded so that's double benefit, and with any luck Blayke finds most of that 10% weight increase between last game and start of season.

All just my thoughts and observations obviously
 
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BurgoShark

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I'd be surprised if there were many forwards in the NRL who are looking across our line before their hitup and thinking 'Imma pick out Brailey, the forwards around him are ****'

They run at Brailey because he is tiny.
**** forwards around him compound the problem* but the main cause is his size.
Had a quick glance across a couple names and Blayke wiki says 1.80 and 80kg, Reed says 1.75 and 86kg, Reece Robson says 1.80 93kg and a few others who all weighed 86kg+so he is essentially 10% lighter than he should be, which adds up.

His technique is typically okay, and he does land some good front ons at times. I think the high workrate across the park by him (attack and defence) without a good rest opportunity probably enhances the issue a bit too, but still the base issue is his size.

And lightweight also likely a big factor in why he doesn't try to dig into opposition forwards on a scoot as good chance he is dominated and gives up slow PTB, instead looks for a runner. I think right call, we just need the runners.

*On '**** forwards' the likes of Woods and Tolman actually do a good job helping him, it's just the opp player has made a few PCMs before they can complete their work as second man in because opp is already pushing through line.
Wood's issue is his own wild misses on fast paced one on ones.
But I do think Finucane and McInnes will be as good and probably better than Woods at helping Blayke out and further to that they will actively put themselves in position to be making more tackles which is not something I really wanted Woods to be doing as he wasn't up for it. Additionally lock (Rudolf) is also being upgraded so that's double benefit, and with any luck Blayke finds most of that 10% weight increase between last game and start of season.

All just my thoughts and observations obviously
Yep. There is an elements of both "run at the little bloke" and "tire out the ballplayer".

I do find it funny that Woods and Tolman get called out for not helping him enough. They are far from the worst offenders in this area. For middles Rudolf and Williams were far worse - but the weakest defenders in the team were the edge players. That has a big effect on the amount of work Brailey has to do and the amount of times he has to be there without help.

First Storm try in the final game comes on the back of a play where Blayke makes good low contact on NAS and stops his progress, but Nikora stands there watching, Trindall tries to cuddle him like he is playing under 7's, and NAS kicks free. Ditto for 10 minutes later when Nikora and Trindall combine for a an abysmal read in defence, and the Storm make a break off a 3 on 5. Trindall covers and misses a tackle, then Brailey covers and misses a tackle on the same bloke.

Then in the second half Hynes runs at Nikora and beats him, then Trindall pats him on the back before Brailey misses him.

End result is forum says Brailey is a **** defender, and Trindall comes home with 2 points in the 3-2-1.

I actually though that was probably Brailey's worst game of the year in defence, and two of those misses were bloody soft - but come on. If those other two aren't complete garbage in defence he's never in a position to miss any of those tackles. Getting speed bumped in the middle was the least of his worries.
 
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bort

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Yep. There is an elements of both "run at the little bloke" and "tire out the ballplayer".
True, no matter how much better a prop thinks they are than Aaron Woods running at him instead of Blayke if you have a choice is just not tactically sound.

A faster (/more agile) player, especially against a more staggered line, is a different story.

The other good one was also on NAS, Blayke got beat and then actively pulled Woods off the tackle. Woods was blamed for rolling himself and Brailey off the tackle.
 

BurgoShark

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True, no matter how much better a prop thinks they are than Aaron Woods running at him instead of Blayke if you have a choice is just not tactically sound.

A faster (/more agile) player, especially against a more staggered line, is a different story.

The other good one was also on NAS, Blayke got beat and then actively pulled Woods off the tackle. Woods was blamed for rolling himself and Brailey off the tackle.
Yeah. That was a poor miss by Blayke also. He also got left waving at air in the line once (on Hughes maybe?).

I think he saved his worst game up for the final game of the year, so there is a bit of recency bias creeping in on here. He was solid for the 6 weeks prior, even in games where the team in general was poor - except for a poor miss on Milford.
 
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Sparkles

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I'd be surprised if there were many forwards in the NRL who are looking across our line before their hitup and thinking 'Imma pick out Brailey, the forwards around him are ****'

They run at Brailey because he is tiny.
**** forwards around him compound the problem* but the main cause is his size.
Had a quick glance across a couple names and Blayke wiki says 1.80 and 80kg, Reed says 1.75 and 86kg, Reece Robson says 1.80 93kg and a few others who all weighed 86kg+so he is essentially 10% lighter than he should be, which adds up.

His technique is typically okay, and he does land some good front ons at times. I think the high workrate across the park by him (attack and defence) without a good rest opportunity probably enhances the issue a bit too, but still the base issue is his size.

And lightweight also likely a big factor in why he doesn't try to dig into opposition forwards on a scoot as good chance he is dominated and gives up slow PTB, instead looks for a runner. I think right call, we just need the runners.

*On '**** forwards' the likes of Woods and Tolman actually do a good job helping him, it's just the opp player has made a few PCMs before they can complete their work as second man in because opp is already pushing through line.
Wood's issue is his own wild misses on fast paced one on ones.
But I do think Finucane and McInnes will be as good and probably better than Woods at helping Blayke out and further to that they will actively put themselves in position to be making more tackles which is not something I really wanted Woods to be doing as he wasn't up for it. Additionally lock (Rudolf) is also being upgraded so that's double benefit, and with any luck Blayke finds most of that 10% weight increase between last game and start of season.

All just my thoughts and observations obviously
Would agree with just about everything there mate, except maybe the Tolman/Woods helping defensively and just having issues with the 1-1's. Their lateral movement is as agile as a rhino with a Zimmer frame and they get found out in the middle of the park regularly, leaving others to cover (compounded by a few other forwards with similar issues) such as Baby Body Blayke.
 
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When he signed in 2019 Riccio said his deal was 400k per year. Might be incentive based but Roosters and a few clubs were after him then.

His next deal will be more than that I assume
 
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Jesus that was very generous
Maybe but there was 4 or so clubs after him and you’ve seen what clubs will pay to get them to their teams.

And he’s a spine player who touches the ball more than anyone. The good ones are always going to get paid
 

HaroldBishop

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Maybe but there was 4 or so clubs after him and you’ve seen what clubs will pay to get them to their teams.

And he’s a spine player who touches the ball more than anyone. The good ones are always going to get paid
I don't have an issue with the bold bit.
 

Jaz

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He must give the cleanest service in the game. I think we're overlooking his qualities and focusing on his deficiencies, most of which should be improved next year.

Expecting a Kennedy-like year from Blayke.
 
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I don't have an issue with the bold bit.

And you don't think Brailey is a good hooker ?

Aside from the tippy top hookers - Smith, Grant, Cook, Mahoney, Api - not sure who else imo is above Blayke.

It's not his bro, you could argue Hodgson but he's an old man and hasn't been good for a while.

Maybe I'm missing someone but he's in the top half of hookers and only going to get better with some help in the middle and more experience, and less of a workload to be more attacking
 

HaroldBishop

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And you don't think Brailey is a good hooker ?

Aside from the tippy top hookers - Smith, Grant, Cook, Mahoney, Api - not sure who else imo is above Blayke.

It's not his bro, you could argue Hodgson but he's an old man and hasn't been good for a while.

Maybe I'm missing someone but he's in the top half of hookers and only going to get better with some help in the middle and more experience, and less of a workload to be more attacking
He's OK.

If it takes $650k to get Mahoney then Brailey shouldn't be on anything over ~450k at the most.

If he wants more, maybe we should be going after Mahoney.
 

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And you don't think Brailey is a good hooker ?

Aside from the tippy top hookers - Smith, Grant, Cook, Mahoney, Api - not sure who else imo is above Blayke.

It's not his bro, you could argue Hodgson but he's an old man and hasn't been good for a while.

Maybe I'm missing someone but he's in the top half of hookers and only going to get better with some help in the middle and more experience, and less of a workload to be more attacking
It just could be that we don't have a great batch of hookers running around in the game at the moment.
Though it's likely due just as much to the way the hooker role has changed. The goal in attack is more get the ball to the fullback as fast as you can. They don't play a running game anymore. They can't just be tough slower nuggets. They don't kick a lot. They're targeted in defence. You've got the 13 playing a hybrid distributor role. They play half the game at 13... Makes you think they're having a bit of an identity crisis, and no-ones figured out just what style/body shape of player you really need or even if they should be playing 80 minutes in probably the second most demanding role behind fullback.

Hard to blame Blayke for any of this. And he's doing a job better than most. But like fullbacks, you've got to pay for a decent one as it's a huge hole if you're stuck with a dud.
 
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He's OK.

If it takes $650k to get Mahoney then Brailey shouldn't be on anything over ~450k at the most.

If he wants more, maybe we should be going after Mahoney.

I feel like Mahoney might be able to get more than that. If the two backrowers they just lost are getting that surely he can get more.
It just could be that we don't have a great batch of hookers running around in the game at the moment.
Though it's likely due just as much to the way the hooker role has changed. The goal in attack is more get the ball to the fullback as fast as you can. They don't play a running game anymore. They can't just be tough slower nuggets. They don't kick a lot. They're targeted in defence. You've got the 13 playing a hybrid distributor role. They play half the game at 13... Makes you think they're having a bit of an identity crisis, and no-ones figured out just what style/body shape of player you really need or even if they should be playing 80 minutes in probably the second most demanding role behind fullback.

Hard to blame Blayke for any of this. And he's doing a job better than most. But like fullbacks, you've got to pay for a decent one as it's a huge hole if you're stuck with a dud.

Along with halfbacks I think
 
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