Sparkles
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I don't think your expectations match what makes for a top tier 9. Who are you comparing them to that makes them all either ordinary or shite?
Official Blayke Brailey
- Thread starter Proud Shark
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snowman
Total gronk
Sparkles
Jaws
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I mean who has played 9 so much better that it makes this field look so bad?
andrew's_sharks
Great White
Koroisau and cook are both old and will only have a couple years of good footy left in them.
Will be interested to see how korisou and potentially grant go in what could be very ordinary packs (Bromwich boys etc leaving.)
B Brailey in IMO is in the next group under these guys and given his age has a lot of up side.
There is improvement in Blayke but I think some of his effort is going underappreciated.
Blayke sits atop the NRL stats list of most tackles with 1127 and most touches of the ball 3064.
Maybe that is why he isn't doing as much extra stuff as some other hookers.
You can make an argument for him trying to shirk some work then to conserve some energy for other efforts but that just means one of our other players is spending their energy doing his job instead of their own. For anyone who has ever played League and I assume most other sports it's great to have the confidence your teammate will consistently get their job done.
On Fox Sports Lab he also leads all tackles and all possessions.
Reed is second for both stats.
Reed is better in some areas but also made 24 errors compared to just 7 and gave away two more penalties (although no sin bins admittedly).
Reed also had one less run than Blayke in same amount of games.
Other hookers who had more errors on average than Blayke... Cook, Grant, JMK, Api, Verrills, Robson. In fact the only relevant hooker who didn't is probably his brother.
Blayke's 20 kicks in 26 games could certainly be more but by average the only regular hookers who kicked more often are Grant (by heaps), Booth, Mahoney, Croker, McCullough.
Not Api, not Robson, not Cook.
Grant, Cook, Robson and JMK did all noticeably outrun Blayke but running is far from the most important element of a hooker (although not unimportant). Api ran 0.2 more times per game than Blayke.
Yes, when Blayke runs he often looks to pass but that's because he weighs 69kg and gets dominated in tackles too easily.
Happened last weekend he ran and made a great gain and got dominated one on one in tackle by I think Keaon. Still a good run but lead to a slow PTB. He'd rather hit a better runner and hope they break through or can get a quick PTB for himself to play off of.
Cameron Smith played exactly the same so it's not an outlandish tactic.
Blayke sits atop the NRL stats list of most tackles with 1127 and most touches of the ball 3064.
Maybe that is why he isn't doing as much extra stuff as some other hookers.
You can make an argument for him trying to shirk some work then to conserve some energy for other efforts but that just means one of our other players is spending their energy doing his job instead of their own. For anyone who has ever played League and I assume most other sports it's great to have the confidence your teammate will consistently get their job done.
On Fox Sports Lab he also leads all tackles and all possessions.
Reed is second for both stats.
Reed is better in some areas but also made 24 errors compared to just 7 and gave away two more penalties (although no sin bins admittedly).
Reed also had one less run than Blayke in same amount of games.
Other hookers who had more errors on average than Blayke... Cook, Grant, JMK, Api, Verrills, Robson. In fact the only relevant hooker who didn't is probably his brother.
Blayke's 20 kicks in 26 games could certainly be more but by average the only regular hookers who kicked more often are Grant (by heaps), Booth, Mahoney, Croker, McCullough.
Not Api, not Robson, not Cook.
Grant, Cook, Robson and JMK did all noticeably outrun Blayke but running is far from the most important element of a hooker (although not unimportant). Api ran 0.2 more times per game than Blayke.
Yes, when Blayke runs he often looks to pass but that's because he weighs 69kg and gets dominated in tackles too easily.
Happened last weekend he ran and made a great gain and got dominated one on one in tackle by I think Keaon. Still a good run but lead to a slow PTB. He'd rather hit a better runner and hope they break through or can get a quick PTB for himself to play off of.
Cameron Smith played exactly the same so it's not an outlandish tactic.
snowman
Total gronk
what is this upside? He has been our hooker for 3 seasons now and has barely improved
Wiz
Jaws
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So according to your stats he’s doing everything right but somehow he is still in the bottom tier. That’s more concerning
Sounds like he needs to work smarter not harder, the point is we’ve seen him be very crafty but it’s like clockwork and there’ll be a whole bunch of games where he is just tackling and passing all game and is ineffective, we all know he tackles and passes but he’s been signed good money because he’s got more then that - He regularly gets outplayed by his opposite number
andrew's_sharks
Great White
Ow please take a look at the 3 -2-1's he has been one of our best performers this year.
Sparkles
Jaws
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I think you're referring to Snowys tier though mate. There should probably be a disclaimer linking to his comments
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Proud Shark
Jaws
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It only took a full season but it seems the forum has its CT replacement.
For a while I thought it was going to be Wade but his performances has made him pretty well written off across the board.
Blayke has signed long term on about 500k. If the RLPA gets it's way, and the cap goes up to about 11m next year, he will be taking up about 1/22 of our cap.
The way I see it is he is a good young hooker who provides good service and tackles well for his size.
I'd love him to have the output of Api (700k), Cook (900k) or Grant (1m), but he doesn't, yet. Cook also didn't debut till 25 and Api was barely rated till he returned to Penrith at 27. Blayke is 23 .
Blayke will continue to improve, which I think he has year on year so far. I thought this year he regularly got out of dummy half and earned us 6 agains or penalties on lazy markers.
I think he is earning his worth with us at the moment, and hopefully as his contract plays out we will be getting great value.
For a while I thought it was going to be Wade but his performances has made him pretty well written off across the board.
Blayke has signed long term on about 500k. If the RLPA gets it's way, and the cap goes up to about 11m next year, he will be taking up about 1/22 of our cap.
The way I see it is he is a good young hooker who provides good service and tackles well for his size.
I'd love him to have the output of Api (700k), Cook (900k) or Grant (1m), but he doesn't, yet. Cook also didn't debut till 25 and Api was barely rated till he returned to Penrith at 27. Blayke is 23 .
Blayke will continue to improve, which I think he has year on year so far. I thought this year he regularly got out of dummy half and earned us 6 agains or penalties on lazy markers.
I think he is earning his worth with us at the moment, and hopefully as his contract plays out we will be getting great value.
snowman
Total gronk
you mean the same forum that almost voted chad as player of the year despite him going 6 rounds with no try assists
gtfo
Players can't get better with age, this has been established.
I wanted to try and see if there was a stat for penalties earned, as I thought there was but I can't find it. Would have been an interesting one to look at.
While I was back in there I looked at a few other things...
His line breaks+line break assists is 20 (5+15), vs Grant (24), Api (21), Cook (17), Robson (13), Mahoney (10).
Blayke is right up there for total try involvements (21) except Grant (31)* is miles ahead, but Api (22), Reed (22), Cook (20), Robson (20) are all similar. *Turns out crash ball to NAS from 1m out is a good play (17 of these are TAs)...
Blayke also second for line engagement, behind Grant. A little more than Api or Cook, far more than Robson.
Other than Mahoney the rest are all pretty good with try causes and line break causes. Mahoney's total of 23 here is a bit high (for comparison Blayke/Api 15, Grant 9).
If variety is the spice of life these stats are saying Grant is streaks ahead of everyone else. He tackles and touches the ball quite a bit but pairs that with a lot more kicks and runs, and is well ahead on try contributions.
I think Blayke is a decent hooker with good chance to get better, I'm not trying to use these stats to prove he is the best hooker in the league or something, just to see where he sits statistically vs those who are up there.
He just needs to run the ball more and kick a couple of times each game and he will be much more dangerous. It’ll also add so much to our team if he can add these strings to his bow. We are so one dimensional it’s not even funny.
I would like to see him run (effectively) and kick (effectively) a tiny bit more too
I’ll say the same as I did about our half’s, no hooker can run & kick if the forwards don’t dominate.
Also we played a lot of 1 side of the field to the other football which doesn’t give him much time to be in place and count numbers.
Get him a dominating prop and he will be fine.
Also we played a lot of 1 side of the field to the other football which doesn’t give him much time to be in place and count numbers.
Get him a dominating prop and he will be fine.
andrew's_sharks
Great White
I bet that B Brailey one day plays fo both NSW and Australia.
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Unless Harry Grant has a severe form slump or is injured I can't see Blayke playing for Australia.
Proud Shark
Jaws
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Grant is clearly the best hooker in the game, by some margin. And that will likely continue for some time.
I get we all want Blayke to be up there, and it's frustrating at times because he can look super dynamic and then fade away. This is no different to a lot of players in our side though. Nikora, Ramien, Moylan, Katoa and most of our middles have struggled for consistency at times over the last two years.
Blayke is playing the toughest position in the field, and as you've described is in the upper part of most stat categories. If this is him being ****, I'll look forward to him being mediocre.