2022 NRL Round 1: Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs. Canberra Raiders @ GIO Stadium - Friday March 11 @ 6:00 pm

[Sir Chadley]

OK, time to get a wee bit excited!

Round 1 is just 9 days away now. A tricky little trip to Canberra against Ricky's boys.

It will certainly be a tough game, especially with no Wade, no Williams, no McInnes, no Trindall, and no Pele.

What does Fitz do?

Does he bring in Berrell to cover Blayke or 13? Does he bring in Fifita on the bench - he has shown good form in the trials.

And what is the end result going to be?

I don't think Canberra are the team they have been in the past year or two, Hodgson is not the player he once was and they are also without Rapana.

I think we can win this but it will be a tight one.

 

[snowman]

Jamal Fogherty is out for 4 months

 

[Gumby]

Jamal Fogherty is out for 4 months

Lol ****

 

[bort]

Jamal Fogherty is out for 4 months

article from two days ago about him aged badly

If the Raiders are to convert their trial wins over two of last year’s finalists into a strong start to the season proper, much will depend on how Fogarty and Wighton gel.

 

[Blair]

Jamal Fogherty is out for 4 months

Ooof. That's rough.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Easy win for us, we always win round 1.

 

[Western Sharkie]

That evens us out then
Wade and Fogherty

 

[Deleted member 3365]

That evens us out then
Wade and Fogherty

How big is the loss of Wade?

 

[bort]

How big is the loss of Wade?

Depends which Wade, recent times Wade I think Wilton can do a competent job to cover.
The long forgotten good Wade would have been one of the best players on either team list

 

[Shortfin Mako]

The long forgotten good Wade would have been one of the best players on either team list

On any team for that matter.

 

[Bundy Shark]

OK, time to get a wee bit excited!

Round 1 is just 9 days away now. A tricky little trip to Canberra against Ricky's boys.

It will certainly be a tough game, especially with no Wade, no Williams, no McInnes, no Trindall, and no Pele.

What does Fitz do?

Does he bring in Berrell to cover Blayke or 13? Does he bring in Fifita on the bench - he has shown good form in the trials.

And what is the end result going to be?

I don't think Canberra are the team they have been in the past year or two, Hodgson is not the player he once was and they are also without Rapana.

I think we can win this but it will be a tight one.

I anticipate atleast 2/3 if not all 3 of Talakai, Wilton & Nikora to be in our 17.
That said, I think Fitz with the availability of our squad, plus us playing Canberra will see us run with 14-17 being all forwards to match the Raiders big boppers
He’ll lean of the above mentioned to be cover for our backs being able to use them in the centre’s.

 

[snowman]

forward pack will look like:

frudolph
hooker chad
bhu
teig/talakai
nikora
finucane

teig/talakai
hunt
fifita
tolman (hopefully this is connor tracey though)

 

[bort]

I anticipate atleast 2/3 if not all 3 of Talakai, Wilton & Nikora to be in our 17.
That said, I think Fitz with the availability of our squad, plus us playing Canberra will see us run with 14-17 being all forwards to match the Raiders big boppers
He’ll lean of the above mentioned to be cover for our backs being able to use them in the centre’s.

It's their offloading that is more of a concern for me than the size (although being big does make it easier to get offloads at times).
They've got some guys who will be wrapped by three or four on the try line and pop a ball out to turn a nothing hit up into a try. Tapine is one who is dangerous close to the line, he also as far as I am aware can't currently play in Queensland or Vic so may be chasing a big game knowing his team are without him the week after.

CHN averaged 11th in NRL for offloads, Papalii 20, Tapine 32, Young 99, Guler 115, Whitehead 119

We've got Nikora 43rd... Hunt 176

Ramien 6th and Chambers, Dugan, Mulitalo (108), Woods, Johnson all offloaded more than Hunt but most of them aren't forward comparisons anyway and I didn't even look at Raiders backs.

From a team perspective our crummy old defence conceded the third most offloads a game, Raiders were 7th for offloads (we were 13th). Tigers actually killed it at offloads so goes to show you need to actually offload to someone half decent for it to matter.

 

[greenie1957]

Feeling confident in this one

 

[HaroldBishop]

Feeling confident in this one

I'm never confident in round 1

 

[apezza]

I'm never confident in round 1

I'm never confident in any game!

 

[Gards]

hooker chad

ahahahahaha

 

[BurgoShark]

It's their offloading that is more of a concern for me than the size (although being big does make it easier to get offloads at times).
They've got some guys who will be wrapped by three or four on the try line and pop a ball out to turn a nothing hit up into a try. Tapine is one who is dangerous close to the line, he also as far as I am aware can't currently play in Queensland or Vic so may be chasing a big game knowing his team are without him the week after.

CHN averaged 11th in NRL for offloads, Papalii 20, Tapine 32, Young 99, Guler 115, Whitehead 119

We've got Nikora 43rd... Hunt 176

Ramien 6th and Chambers, Dugan, Mulitalo (108), Woods, Johnson all offloaded more than Hunt but most of them aren't forward comparisons anyway and I didn't even look at Raiders backs.

From a team perspective our crummy old defence conceded the third most offloads a game, Raiders were 7th for offloads (we were 13th). Tigers actually killed it at offloads so goes to show you need to actually offload to someone half decent for it to matter.

The “Rugby League Eye Test” guy did some analysis last year on passing/offloading. He said the Sharks were an outlier versus the rest of the league because they have so few offloads while also passing the ball more than most teams. They are expansive in their shape and ball movement but conservative once they go in to contact. I assume coaching was a factor in that.

 

[Proud Shark]

The “Rugby League Eye Test” guy did some analysis last year on passing/offloading. He said the Sharks were an outlier versus the rest of the league because they have so few offloads while also passing the ball more than most teams. They are expansive in their shape and ball movement but conservative once they go in to contact. I assume coaching was a factor in that.

That is really interesting. Wonder how that will go under Fitz.

 

[Sparkles]

The “Rugby League Eye Test” guy did some analysis last year on passing/offloading. He said the Sharks were an outlier versus the rest of the league because they have so few offloads while also passing the ball more than most teams. They are expansive in their shape and ball movement but conservative once they go in to contact. I assume coaching was a factor in that.

We were just awful with our offloads for a while there