Sharks v Manly - First Trial Game 2018 Saturday Feb 17 Shark Park 7.30pm

[Gards]

Yea I recall our season in 2015 going nowhere until Bird came on at 5/8 against the Roosters and took a nice pass from Lewis and ran to the try line with it
He scored another try in second half from a dummy and solo effort

So yea I guess Bird came into a winning team in the sense we started winning that very week thanks to a good game from Jack himself

 

[sharkyboy]

didnt know where to put this, swear we had a 2018 squad thread, but this is nice off the back of the trial and talking about billy ****house, katoa and klye flanno, and the futures of gal and lewy



https://www.sportsnews.com.au/nrl/sharks-ready-to-blood-gen-next-in-nrl/418874

The bolded part intrigues me about bird



really flanno? we were 0 from 5 and coming off a wooden spoon campaign

refreshing to hear the katoa hype is gaining momentum, just gotta hope its not another "val will play"and then mitch brown is selected

The main thing I take away from that is the blayke chat. Seems like all these wraps on him being better than Jayden could honestly be true.

And if he is, how the **** do we keep both of them st the club and find positions for them. Couldn’t one of them have become a half ffs.

Blayke was really classy I thought btw. Great off the deck passing and a really lovely tackling technique. See the tackle he put on some **** that led to the Cruz try on full time? In the ribs under the ball and just popped it out

 

[andrew's_sharks]

The main thing I take away from that is the blayke chat. Seems like all these wraps on him being better than Jayden could honestly be true.

And if he is, how the **** do we keep both of them st the club and find positions for them. Couldn’t one of them have become a half ffs.

Blayke was really classy I thought btw. Great off the deck passing and a really lovely tackling technique. See the tackle he put on some **** that led to the Cruz try on full time? In the ribs under the ball and just popped it out

My only ideas are. One plays half. Or one plays lock (think the raiders bringing on Kurt Baptise and Hodgson then playing lock) It seems like Jayden will turn into an 80 minute player which is good, but potentially creates a problem too.

 

[Deleted member 2543]

The main thing I take away from that is the blayke chat. Seems like all these wraps on him being better than Jayden could honestly be true.

And if he is, how the **** do we keep both of them st the club and find positions for them. Couldn’t one of them have become a half ffs.

Blayke was really classy I thought btw. Great off the deck passing and a really lovely tackling technique. See the tackle he put on some **** that led to the Cruz try on full time? In the ribs under the ball and just popped it out

My only ideas are. One plays half. Or one plays lock (think the raiders bringing on Kurt Baptise and Hodgson then playing lock) It seems like Jayden will turn into an 80 minute player which is good, but potentially creates a problem too.

Or they could play like PNG in the world cup and have 4 hookers in the starting 13

I reckon Blayke will be groomed as a bit of a utility role now that Jayden is the starter. It might be good for Blayke to start in Newtown to learn that role rather than being the U20 hooker.

 

[Capital_Shark]

And if he is, how the **** do we keep both of them st the club and find positions for them.

If we have two quality 80min hookers the simple answer is we don't. No matter how much we want to. They'd have to sacrifice half their worth to stay. Top shelf 9's are rare, they could be getting $1M a season within a few years depending how good they turn out and how desperate clubs are.

 

[andrew's_sharks]

If we have two quality 80min hookers the simple answer is we don't. No matter how much we want to. They'd have to sacrifice half their worth to stay. Top shelf 9's are rare and hard to find, they could be getting $1M a season within a few years depending how good they turn out and how desperate clubs are.

I know what you are saying. Cam smith however is a pretty good half when they are down on troops. Maybe one of the boys can transition on a more permanent basis. I just never like us losing top level quality players (and juniors)

 

[Capital_Shark]

For sure if one can be a star in another position that'd be fantastic. But if they're not the best half/lock whatever that we can get we pick the best hooker and wish the other all the best when he's not playing against us.

 

[Proud Shark]

Apparently blayke is still pretty far off size wise. I guess some blokes do punch well above their weight though. Having two genuine stars in the same position is fantastic so long as we keep the right one.

 

[Thresher]

If their parents were true Sharks fans they would have had them 10 years apart.

 

[Deleted member T1]

Mini Flanno looks the goods. The season he had in the NYC must of been a good confidence booster. Add to that he is the son of the coach, that’s bound to have him thinking he’s cut out for the job.

I remember hearing a few people mention that the parents of the younger blokes thought he was only there because of favouritism, but the support he has gotten from the club I reckon will pay dividends.

People talk about having a runner and an organiser in your halves to “compliment” each other, but I think Hodko and Kyle would make an awesome pair. I don’t think we will see they combo in the year anymore than twice, but it’s good to have those sort of players waiting for their chance.

 

[Deleted member 2543]

Mini Flanno looks the goods. The season he had in the NYC must of been a good confidence booster. Add to that he is the son of the coach, that’s bound to have him thinking he’s cut out for the job.

I remember hearing a few people mention that the parents of the younger blokes thought he was only there because of favouritism, but the support he has gotten from the club I reckon will pay dividends.

People talk about having a runner and an organiser in your halves to “compliment” each other, but I think Hodko and Kyle would make an awesome pair. I don’t think we will see they combo in the year anymore than twice, but it’s good to have those sort of players waiting for their chance.

I reckon you’ll see them every week in Newtown.

As for Blayke being small, he looks to have put on a bit of muscle this off season. He is already a bit bigger than he was last year.

 

[sharkyboy]

If we have two quality 80min hookers the simple answer is we don't. No matter how much we want to. They'd have to sacrifice half their worth to stay. Top shelf 9's are rare, they could be getting $1M a season within a few years depending how good they turn out and how desperate clubs are.

If we have them both signed up for a few years give them both a red hot crack, and pick the best one.

I just have this feeling blayke is gonna be better, but at the same time I feel loyal to Jayden and we know he’s already a first grader.

Apparently blayke is still pretty far off size wise. I guess some blokes do punch well above their weight though. Having two genuine stars in the same position is fantastic so long as we keep the right one.

He already looks bigger than last year. He’s still only 18/19 as well so plenty of time to grow.

In saying that in his 15 minute stint he handled the manly boys really effectively. I know they weren’t first grade standard but they were still big units and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how big you are when you have an effective tackling technique, which he has in spades.

 

[BlackWhiteBlue]

I dunno what the concern is about them. If they are both at a high level and we can only keep 1 so be it. Thats not losing out. If they both fulfill promise, they will be wanted by other clubs, neither will stay as a back up or bench option IMO

 

[Mr Wright]

I dunno what the concern is about them. If they are both at a high level and we can only keep 1 so be it. Thats not losing out. If they both fulfill promise, they will be wanted by other clubs, neither will stay as a back up or bench option IMO

Guess the concern is that we may let the wrong one go. **** happens though and sometimes you can't control that

 

[BlackWhiteBlue]

Guess the concern is that we may let the wrong one go. **** happens though and sometimes you can't control that

Well depends what you call let though doesnt it

 

[HaroldBishop]

Guess the concern is that we may let the wrong one go. **** happens though and sometimes you can't control that

Yeah. There's possibly a bias towards Jayden purely because he's older and has NRL experience, doesn't mean he's better though.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[sharkyboy]

Yeah. There's possibly a bias towards Jayden purely because he's older and has NRL experience, doesn't mean he's better though.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Either way we are gonna end up with one hell of a hooker for 10+ years and that’s exciting

 

[Born&bred]

I can't get the posts suggesting lock for Blayke - wtf?

 

[HaroldBishop]

Either way we are gonna end up with one hell of a hooker for 10+ years and that’s exciting

Does Val have a rose in his ear in that photo?

 

[Capital_Shark]

Does Val have a rose in his ear in that photo?

Yes