2023 Team Assessment

[Wiz]

I know I'm stretching but I try to trust my gut when observing young sports players and I seen something extra in young Dykes that excites me , I thought Metcalfe had something different but this fella looks to have real game . I have been in horse racing for decades and I trusted my gut with young horses and wasn't often wrong , usually the mentality that was the failure and you can't really read that crap until it happens . Xerri a case in point , who knew , but yes extremely disappointing .
I think Dykes with all things being even could well be entrenched somewhere in the spine by the end of next season .

Love this

The eye test for some people is unmatched if they are good with it and for others who don’t have it and can’t see it it’s all about stats and numbers

For example : Chad Townsend

 

[Wiz]

I would like to see a mongral forward , forget this no more ********s policy , every good team has ********s , good guys win nothing .

Has there ever been a team that’s won the comp with a no d*ckhead policy ?

Very strange concept from a rookie coach

Gallen
Fifita
Ennis
Bird
Barba
Maloney

all wouldn’t be part of the clubs history if Fitz had it his way

Zzzzz

 

[Sharkfox]

I know I'm stretching but I try to trust my gut when observing young sports players and I seen something extra in young Dykes that excites me , I thought Metcalfe had something different but this fella looks to have real game . I have been in horse racing for decades and I trusted my gut with young horses and wasn't often wrong , usually the mentality that was the failure and you can't really read that crap until it happens . Xerri a case in point , who knew , but yes extremely disappointing .
I think Dykes with all things being even could well be entrenched somewhere in the spine by the end of next season .

I think Healey has it, would like to see him promoted, and get a shot off the bench sometime next year if Berrell is gone

 

[Milkshark]

Love this

The eye test for some people is unmatched if they are good with it and for others who don’t have it and can’t see it it’s all about stats and numbers

For example : Chad Townsend

How many im this forum pass the eye test

 

[Milkshark]

Has there ever been a team that’s won the comp with a no d*ckhead policy ?

Very strange concept from a rookie coach

Gallen
Fifita
Ennis
Bird
Barba
Maloney

all wouldn’t be part of the clubs history if Fitz had it his way

Zzzzz

Agree.

The team reflects the coach.

That’s why the 2016 team did so well. They had a healthy amount of ego and grubbiness that fitted in just perfectly with Flanno. Ego promotes a can do / winning attitude and culture.

Look at Penrith.

Do you think they care that supporters don’t like them? They’re winners, that’s all that matters.

 

[Wiz]

Agree.

The team reflects the coach.

That’s why the 2016 team did so well. They had a healthy amount of ego and grubbiness that fitted in just perfectly with Flanno. Ego promotes a can do / winning attitude and culture.

Look at Penrith.

Do you think they care that supporters don’t like them? They’re winners, that’s all that matters.

Yep,

Character over blandness all day

 

[mr.sharkiee]

Simple:

- Over relied on Hynes, didn't have anything else to offer.
- Forwards didn't lift.
- Team doesn't have enough size, got munched to easily.

 

[Wiz]

Simple:

- Over relied on Hynes, didn't have anything else to offer.
- Forwards didn't lift.
- Team doesn't have enough size, got munched too easily.

Over reliance on Hynes has been one of Fitz biggest mistakes I reckon, kind of silly to openly give him the keys so early on

I doubt many people on here after watching 2 years of Hynes at halfback still think he’s effective there running the show for us.

I don’t think he will ever get that erraticness out of his game if he’s at halfback always on the ball, it never works out

 

[jocktheshark]

I think Healey has it, would like to see him promoted, and get a shot off the bench sometime next year if Berrell is gone

Have to say the little bit I've seen he's a live wire alright , might have to bulk up a little before being exposed to first grade , but definitely agree , one for the future .

 

[BurgoShark]

How many im this forum pass the eye test

More than can pass the no ********s policy

Growing culture is not just for yoghurt connoisseurs and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Kumbucha pussy-wash guy. It’s actually important. NRL players are humans. They don’t play well together if they don’t go well together.

The Panthers have a winning culture because even though their guys looks like tools on the telly they pull their heads in and work their freckles off for the mates both on and off it.

 

[bort]

Simple:

- Over relied on Hynes, didn't have anything else to offer.
- Forwards didn't lift.
- Team doesn't have enough size, got munched to easily.

Specific to the final we lost by 1 point

1) Hynes 48 games, Trindall 27 games, Tracey 6 games, Brailey 96 games - very inexperienced spine on field starting in their positions.

By contrast Tedesco 255 including Origins, world cups & NRL grand finals. Keary 198. Cheese 60 (including internationals). Even Walker 52.

So yeah, we relied quite heavily on our star player as we gave up a huge experience deficit.

Tedesco played four seasons at the tigers before his first origin game. He was 5 season down at tigers and on to the roosters before he first played for Australia. He’s a gun now but he earned that through a lot of experience.

Doesn’t mean our less experienced team couldn’t beat them. But they were betting favourites for a reason. And we relied on Hynes for a similar reason.

(All these are just starts in either half, hooker of fullback, whichever is relevant to player. Cheese especially would have played a lot of hooker off bench too)

2 & 3) I thought our forwards were decent. Doesn’t help we were missing arguably 2 or our top 3 middles. One of whom is 115kg although that’s same as JWH they had out. Didn’t help one of our other biggest guys, a good runner, went off injured (and they scored while he was out of line from memory?).
While it would have been nice if they stepped up it’s easier said than done to just noticeably outplay another top 8 NRL forward pack.

For me biggest gap between us and roosters was experience. Especially in big games.
Hoping that loss was the one to draw the line in the sand.

 

[Gards]

Our forward pack objectively has size - BHU, Hunt, Hazelton, Kaufusi are all units.
Rudolf (despite being on light side or at least used to be) gets great go forward when is in form pumping those legs attached to that big arse

Then you have the like of Sifa (centre I know) and Williams that are strong and nuggety

I read that we lack size in the forwards all the time but I think what fans mean to say is we lack aggression or impact, some mungrel ect because you can't really argue that their aint no meat on our cattle.

The problem is that we were 2 thirds the way into the season before Fitz told the forwards to fire up a bit and our hooker pulled his finger out and started getting them on the front foot from the ruck.

This also coincided around the time Fitz finally did something about our awful defense and attitude.

Fitz rotations, selections and use of his bench was also questionable.

Regardless most our our forwards best form came in the second half of the year.

Having said that I think there was a bit of a trend of our forwards playing strong in their first stint (Hunt, BHU ect.) but not being as effective in their second stint - despite having a breather, game opening a bit , opposition fatigue ect. The game being quicker and more loose didn't seem to suit them as well.

Sometimes this was simply because we had gone full Cronulla in the 2nd half and didn't have much ball and got tired just making tackles so I get that.

Coming into the back end of the season as a team we were better but not better enough and ultimately it was too late as we just scraped into the 8 and hadn't found a high level consistently enough to beat the Top 8 teams on more than the odd occasion.

Outside of the injured Kennedy the performance of our spine was iffy and inconsistent. They were all guilty of bad and mediocre games to go with their good ones (usually against crap teams)

Forwards weren't the big problem this season IMO as I recall them copping alot of flack for our 2 finals loses last season.

Our defense (especially left edge) wasn't good enough to keep us in games over 80 mins (think Knights loss a few weeks ago) and our attack wasn't good enough to execute against good opposition and was at times found lacking creatively and variety wise.

We have quality across the park in our squad including some players in the best form of their career and some that haven't even peaked yet.

I think the main changes at this point have to come and be driven from the coaching side of things and Fitz is still working out how to bring all those pieces together and get them working as one to their max potential. He has his own learnings to reflect on as well e.g. bench use, gameplans, structure, people management, culture ect.

On an individual player basis he needs to hold blokes accountable (which he has started to)

 

[Yes]

Forwards
Please forgive the numbers and just going on who I’d play there


8 Toby
This guy is all effort all the time gives everything he has when he is there attack is hard and defense is solid
I feel he would benefit from some mates to fire up and assist more
Needs to be fitted
9 Blake
This kid is quality and when he get it all sorted will be amazing at the moment goes to hynes to much and in good ball just plays short to often
Defence is good just needs a rest more should not play 80 ever but always play 60 min
10 Uele
Has moments when he smashes teams in attack and defence but to far in between needs to be the realise that he is big and scary and act like it
Goes missing in every game needs more

11 Wilton
This kids is raw as anything and great at hitting a hole he needs to develop more aggression in defence and do more dog runs

12 Briton
Amazing at everything just seems to be at his best when he is pissed off he runs and definitely plays better angry
Great season
13 cam
Works till he can’t move and everything he does is effort needs to make his forward go with him more than go alone
Effort mistakes at bad times needs to play 80 every week

14 dale
Committed and solid in everything he does injuries killed his year and has lost a step as a starter but is the perfect bench for frontrow now

15 Williams
Explosive power forward off the bench to change a game has all the ability
Great season with all areas needs more minutes but when tired get him off ( drops the ball when tired )
16 hunt
I’m not happy here he is huge and has patches that are good but more that are bad
Needs to be big mean and be the alpha when on the field to often gets gassed after 10 min
17 hazelton
Massive year and will get better great near the line and solid in D just needs to get more games in love his size and shape
18 jesse c
Very raw and talented I’d say just needs extra time to develop he has so much to give
Others
Kafusi
Just not enough in any way he displays no effort in anything I think he should be terminated asap
Wado
Start of the season I was wondering if he went to long but his last 10 games was quality and made our team better with talk and hard work great last year massive lose

Ok my assessment of the forwards over all
I feel like we never replaced what we lost with Fifita
We lacked controlled agression in every way not once did we bash a team or destroy them at best we held our own only and that’s why we struggled in big games

Who in our pack intimidated and worried opponents……..none
We have a good mix of consistent players but no big dogs to own a match and I can’t enforce this enough you need different body shapes in your pack 6foot 100kg is not enough anymore

Tommy and Jack is a massive step in the right direction and developing nicely just need an alpha male to own the team ( Hargreaves,Hass,Nelson,JFH,AFB)

In attack
We are predictable and add not much with Brailey often laying up when in good ball
( with time he will stop this and create more). And we are lazy coming off our red zone
In Defence
Good at normal times but can’t hold intensive pressure we can’t pin and drive when needed we always give the penalty when we try to build

Rotation needs to be looked at massively and as the right interchange can change the game

Eg build pressure for 25 min and putting on dale does Nufin
But doing the same and putting Jack could blow the game open

Aggression
When we won we had a pack people hated to play ( GAL/ANDREW/ENNIS/ LEWIS) to name a few at the moment we lack a guy to set the tone in the guts .

Skills
All not to bad for what they are just some one on one stuff would help like


This being said I feel like we are one or 2 players off building a amazing squad


Sorry if I missed anything

 

[Sparkles]

I’m starting to think snowman might actually be the more knowledgeable one.

When I had listened to the podcast, Dan would frequently admit he hadn't watched something or be getting players minutes, stats or even if they played wrong. He seems like a nice enough bloke but it made the whole thing a bit pointless tbh

 

[Sharkfox]

Is Luke Lewis still involved with the club as specialist coach. Get him and Gallen to work with our forward pack. Bring Maloney in as halves specialist coach

 

[Proud Shark]

Is Luke Lewis still involved with the club as specialist coach. Get him and Gallen to work with our forward pack. Bring Maloney in as halves specialist coach

Felt like most clubs couldn't wait to see the back of Jimmy. Can't imagine him being a good coach.

 

[Sharkfox]

Felt like most clubs couldn't wait to see the back of Jimmy. Can't imagine him being a good coach.

Skills coach with footy i.q, dont need anything else from him haha

 

[Proud Shark]

Skills coach with footy i.q, dont need anything else from him haha

Haha I still think you'd want your players to like him, but I get your point.

 

[bort]

Haha I still think you'd want your players to like him, but I get your point.

Need to like him, he is disruptive around the locker room being a pest. You can tolerate that a lot more when he’s winning you games and clubs still moved him on.

Plus him having coaching ability seems like it’d be valuable.