Official Jesse Colquhoun

I would start JC even if Cam is available. Sifa is great but would only start if in the centres.

Off the bench after 20 minutes gives us good impact.

Same for Tommy, I’d have Toby start instead. Or Kaufusi, depends on who we’re playing. OK does things sometimes we don’t notice.

My pack and bench would be:

AFB
Brailey
Toby
Nikora
Wilton
Colquhoun

Talakai
Hazleton
Burns
BHU
 
Sir Chadley said:
I would start JC even if Cam is available. Sifa is great but would only start if in the centres.

Off the bench after 20 minutes gives us good impact.

Same for Tommy, I’d have Toby start instead. Or Kaufusi, depends on who we’re playing. OK does things sometimes we don’t notice.

My pack and bench would be:

AFB
Brailey
Toby
Nikora
Wilton
Colquhoun

Talakai
Hazleton
Burns
BHU
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Sifa's days in the centres are over I think.

I agree that's he's good for impact but I feel when he comes off from the bench we just dont get enough minutes out of him.
 
apezza said:
Sifa's days in the centres are over I think.

I agree that's he's good for impact but I feel when he comes off from the bench we just dont get enough minutes out of him.
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Mid game if there isn’t a better option, happy to move Sifa to centre. Wouldnt be wanting to start him there at any stage
 
Blix said:
Surely Cam doesn’t get that spot back.

literally after the very first game Cam got injuried (and also Nikora) the whole team dynamic changed and the forward pack went into aggro mode.

They were literally backing themselves to roll over Melbourne in the 2nd half of that finals match.

They did not have that confidence (or belief) before with Cam and Nikora
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I can't take that ride with you mate.

The timing of his injury was at the start of a pretty critical period for us.
Cam being unavailable meant an audition at 13 for the likes of Talakai (who doesn't seem to need much encouragement, to be fair to him, and he's clearly going to be an elite 13 given the chance...) and JC. I'm not surprised they played out of their skins.
Wasn't Nikora out around then as well? So then you had Billy Burns, who was clearly given a flick in the stalls before he jumped each game, who was also looking to take advantage of an opportunity.
Then you had a rampaging Rudolf and BHU trying to remind everyone they could be worth a decent contract.

A lot happened that didn't have much to do with Cam's influence on the field (though he might have influenced all those guys off it).
 
Sparkles said:
I can't take that ride with you mate.

The timing of his injury was at the start of a pretty critical period for us.
Cam being unavailable meant an audition at 13 for the likes of Talakai (who doesn't seem to need much encouragement, to be fair to him, and he's clearly going to be an elite 13 given the chance...) and JC. I'm not surprised they played out of their skins.
Wasn't Nikora out around then as well? So then you had Billy Burns, who was clearly given a flick in the stalls before he jumped each game, who was also looking to take advantage of an opportunity.
Then you had a rampaging Rudolf and BHU trying to remind everyone they could be worth a decent contract.

A lot happened that didn't have much to do with Cam's influence on the field (though he might have influenced all those guys off it).
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Yes Cam coincided with Nikora.

And there is no way of ever knowing exactly what caused the change in the sharks momentum.

However when Cam and Nikora, two significantly small players for their positions were out and 2 larger quality players replaced them, the sharks forward pack started rolling through and smashing teams.

in regards to Nikora, the only thing you ever hear about him is his line running which he might score every few matches. Burns was hugely more influential than Nikora has been in years. Call it luck or whatever, but when a player plays out of their skin for a number of matches it would be nice to see them hold their position if their form deserves it
 
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Blix said:
Yes Cam coincided with Nikora.

And there is no way of ever knowing exactly what caused the change in the sharks momentum.

However when Cam and Nikora, two significantly small players for their positions were out and 2 larger quality players replaced them, the sharks forward pack started rolling through and smashing teams.

in regards to Nikora, the only thing you ever hear about him is his line running which he might score every few matches. Burns was hugely more influential than Nikora has been in years. Call it luck or whatever, but when a player plays out of theirs skin for a number of matches it would be nice to see them hold their position if their form deserves it
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I loved what Burns brought to the team. And he might be able to play like that for a full season, who knows. But Nikora is playing almost as well as he ever has, even with an injury interrupted season. We probably should be hearing more about it. Sure, he's not getting so many of the flashy cut back inside tries as he did a couple of years ago, but he's incredibly consistent at a high level, especially defensively.
 
Sparkles said:
I loved what Burns brought to the team. And he might be able to play like that for a full season, who knows. But Nikora is playing almost as well as he ever has, even with an injury interrupted season. We probably should be hearing more about it. Sure, he's not getting so many of the flashy cut back inside tries as he did a couple of years ago, but he's incredibly consistent at a high level, especially defensively.
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You’d also have to watch closely how many tries is he helping create space for. His line can contribute to other peoples attacking stats a lot more than is obvious too
 
bort said:
You’d also have to watch closely how many tries is he helping create space for. His line can contribute to other peoples attacking stats a lot more than is obvious too
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I see NRL.com has decoy runs as a stat now. Nikora isn't in the top 50 (however they measure it) but interestingly, cam is 8th. Was in track to be no.1... if only he'd played the full season.
 
Sparkles said:
I see NRL.com has decoy runs as a stat now. Nikora isn't in the top 50 (however they measure it) but interestingly, cam is 8th. Was in track to be no.1... if only he'd played the full season.
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You’d need the exact interpretations of how they are recording different types of (non) run I guess.

My thoughts would be…

Decoy runs may be part of a play or may be just a pure effort but are done by a runner to try and influence or throw off defenders and not someone overly expecting the ball.

I wouldn’t say Nikora running his line in shape is a decoy. It forces defences to tighten up regardless of whether he gets the ball or not, but most of the time he’s a genuine receiving option not just a ‘decoy’.

Support run is kind of more of an extra effort to be an option when you don’t need to be. For example pushing up with a forward in case of an offload. You’re not part of the play, just supporting it.

Nikora’s runs in shape aren’t really that either as he is expected to perform them as part of the overall play.
 
Not surprising imo.
Cam is a middle and actually makes the effort to run towards the line almost every time we have the ball.
Briton is an edge player.
Number wise, it probably adds up. I don't think the stats are about the relative quality/effectiveness of each decoy/support run.
 
Vichyssoise said:
Not surprising imo.
Cam is a middle and actually makes the effort to run towards the line almost every time we have the ball.
Briton is an edge player.
Number wise, it probably adds up. I don't think the stats are about the relative quality/effectiveness of each decoy/support run.
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Fitz has always been big on push supports from his middles. I wouldn't be surprised to see most of our guys high in this stat when compared to others with similar minutes.
 
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