Official Dale Finucane

[Proud Shark]

Iro is doing well now and our defence so much better on the left on our line

Too small a sample to say our defence has been better. I think Iro has been good without being too heavily tested. Was good against Timoko though.

 

[Flanno]

What do you do with him? He doesnt make my 17

Agree, he makes the team weaker - wait till an injury and then he can come back in

 

[Wizard]

What do you do with him? He doesnt make my 17

keep him out of the team.

Williams
Talakai
Hazelton
Uele
Iro
Tuks
Rudolph


All more important then Finucane

 

[Shortfin Mako]

keep him out of the team.

Williams
Talakai
Hazelton
Uele
Iro
Tuks
Rudolph


All more important then Finucane

Never though we’d be saying this. Shows how far we’ve come.

 

[Wizard]

Never though we’d be saying this. Shows how far we’ve come.

Some of us were saying it last year

 

[Shortfin Mako]

Some of us were saying it last year

Yeah, but I think we needed him at time, if nothing else just for the hype. I’d say it was a successful and useful transfer.

 

[Johnny B Goode]

Sad he's gone a season too long.

 

[Gards]

Keep him on Ice until the finals then ask him to play 3 reaaaalllllly good games for us and go out a Sharks premiership winner

As it stands nearly the entire Sharks forward pack has jumped him and that's nuts, but in a good way. We don't even seem to need Dale's tacklebot characteristics as much as we used to.

 

[jocktheshark]

It's almost Dale who ? I'm sure he still has a role to play for us but what that is I'm not sure .

 

[Sharkfox]

19th man

 

[Vichyssoise]

Yeah, but I think we needed him at time, if nothing else just for the hype. I’d say it was a successful and useful transfer.

I haven't got a clue obviously, but I'm convinced that his signing gave us an edge during the contract negotiations with Hynes.

 

[andrew's_sharks]

Give him in extra week to make sure he is right. Ultimately someone will get injured or put on report and miss a game and then he can be back in the side.

Otherwise he can come back in this week, head clash and then miss a few games, which seems to be his pattern at the moment.

 

[BurgoShark]

I can't see a world where Fitz leaves Dale out for Tuks or Hunt.

Could definitely see why he might give Dale an extra week of rest if yesterday's 17 are all healthy though.

 

[bort]

I can't see a world where Fitz leaves Dale out for Tuks or Hunt.

Could definitely see why he might give Dale an extra week of rest if yesterday's 17 are all healthy though.

Yeah doesn't miss for those two.

Inevitably someone will go down. Maybe we do need Dale in Cup when ready so he can come straight in with some footy under his belt.
Weirdly the best option to fall out for Dale could be Oregon who has been starting and playing pretty well. I wouldn't be doing that if Dale isn't playing Cup though.

 

[Spanner shark]

Give him in extra week to make sure he is right. Ultimately someone will get injured or put on report and miss a game and then he can be back in the side.

Otherwise he can come back in this week, head clash and then miss a few games, which seems to be his pattern at the moment.

Hasn't he been suspended or injured a few times since he landed at the sharks. Sounds like a time bomb to me let him swim away.

 

[apezza]

I can't see a world where Fitz leaves Dale out for Tuks or Hunt.

Could definitely see why he might give Dale an extra week of rest if yesterday's 17 are all healthy though.

What would you do the following week if the same 17 are fit and healthy?

Only options I can see:
1. Drop Iro, Sifa back to centre.
2. Drop Kaufusi.

Personally, I feel the top 17 (obviously Katoa comes back in) have earned the right to keep their spots and is currenty theirs to lose.

It's up to Dale and Co to win their spots back.

Historically, we can't go many weeks (if any) without one or two injuries in our forwards so opportunities will present itself sooner rather than later.

 

[BurgoShark]

What would you do the following week if the same 17 are fit and healthy?

Only options I can see:
1. Drop Iro, Sifa back to centre.
2. Drop Kaufusi.

Personally, I feel the top 17 (obviously Katoa comes back in) have earned the right to keep their spots and is currently theirs to lose.

It's up to Dale and Co to win their spots back.

Historically, we can't go many weeks (if any) without one or two injuries in our forwards so opportunities will present itself sooner rather than later.

Definitely a tough one. I think a fit Finucane definitely belongs in the Sharks 17.

I'd say send Dale to the Jets for one game and then probably Kaufusi out, but he really doesn't deserve to be dropped.

I still don't think Hazelton over Kaufusi is an obvious selection - despite Tommy's try-scoring effort yesterday. Tommy is providing a lot of impact and higher work rate but Oregon has tighter ruck defence, is much better at winning the tackle, and brings other elements like a tip-on or an offload which Tommy doesn't have in his game (yet).

One thing I would definitely keep the same is having McInnes on the field any time Hazelton is on. Tom is much more effective running wider off Cam than one off the ruck, and nobody else runs that play a swell as Cam. That might mean keeping Tommy as the starter but winding back his minutes to ~35.

 

[Sparkles]

Definitely a tough one. I think a fit Finucane definitely belongs in the Sharks 17.

I'd say send Dale to the Jets for one game and then probably Kaufusi out, but he really doesn't deserve to be dropped.

I still don't think Hazelton over Kaufusi is an obvious selection - despite Tommy's try-scoring effort yesterday. Tommy is providing a lot of impact and higher work rate but Oregon has tighter ruck defence, is much better at winning the tackle, and brings other elements like a tip-on or an offload which Tommy doesn't have in his game (yet).

One thing I would definitely keep the same is having McInnes on the field any time Hazelton is on. Tom is much more effective running wider off Cam than one off the ruck, and nobody else runs that play a swell as Cam. That might mean keeping Tommy as the starter but winding back his minutes to ~35.

When do you think we'll see ball playing lock Talakai?
Actually, what happens to Talakai when Dale returns? Back to the centres I'd presume?

 

[HaroldBishop]

No spot for him unless we get more injuries for mine.

 

[Gards]

I look at the 17 we just rolled out against the Cows and I don't see Dale as an obvious improvement on any of these players and he will be rusty as an old pitch fork when he comes back into the squad which won't help his case.

If somehow I knew Dale would come back as the Dale of 3-4 seasons ago in peak form then I would be open to it but as it stands every player is doing their job to a decent/good level and I think these players potentially provide more value to the squad.

Dale's position has become harder to justify considering how much Cam has stepped up the last 12 months and he is playing well and doing alot of the work week in week out. The Nut, Rudolf, Kafusi ect are continuing to improve, Iro and Williams cannot be dropped if coach has his head on and Sifa is a mainstay of this team.

Our defense is doing a much better job this year but even when Dale was on the pitch it wasn't enough to stop our D being diabolical during most of 2023 so even in that case there is only so much defensive fortitude a single player can bring and some games Dale wasn't even that great in D.

So someone puts a gun to my head and says I HAVE to drop someone out for Dale (sigh) well in this hypothetical it's prob Rudolf or Kafusi (too cruel to drop BHU after he just got back from bad injury) but I feel dirty even mentioning their names because they deserve a spot in this team and have been going pretty well.

Dale, outside of his initial months at the Sharks in 2022 where he was very good how much has he brought to the table for us? He has been suspended, injured or inconsistent / low impact. Why does he still deserve a place in this squad that has managed just fine without him.

I don't remember thinking this season during any of our games Man I really wish Dale was out there right now for us, we really need him, team misses him... maybe the Tigers game (If I actually watched it LOL) which we still would have lost.

Now at this point Dale feels borderline liability which is the exact opposite of why we signed him, he was supposed to be our rock, Mr reliable, Mr Leadership but beyond that just generally a good forward.

Fitz might not have been expecting Iro to go as well as he is and being presented with this head ache but he is 100% busting someones ass down to Cup to make way for Dale and it frustrates me that coaches feel obliged to make these decisions to the potential detriment of the team just because of a players name or contract.

Well I hope he shows he's still worth it