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Sparkles

Sparkles

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Proud Shark said:
I don't by any means think he's the finished product, but he is so young and so far ahead in his development of other halves that I think he's going to get there.

Ages that halves locked down a spot - DCE (22), JT (22), Cronk (22), Reynolds (22), Cody Walker (26), Cleary (19), Luai (21), Moses (20), Nicho (25), Townsend (23), SJ (21), Foran (19), Keary (21), Hunt (20), Hughes (23), Munster (20).

He's also listed as 183cm and 78kg. This means he's taller than - JT, Cronk, C Walker, Reynolds, Cleary, Moses, Townsend, SJ, Foran, Keary, Hunt, and the same height as Hughes and DCE. There is no reason not to expect that he can fill out the extra 5kg or so to match many of their playing weights.

At this stage, I'd agree he came in as a bit of a one trick pony with the harbour bridge pass, and his kicking has been uninspiring. But he has been an 'average' nrl half at the time that many other good halves were playing cup or flegg. He's got 50 games under his belt, and definitely needs to work on some aspects. But I expect that he will go on to have a very good - great NRL career.

Whilst I agree with our stocks, we definitely don't need to go out and spend big on a half, especially one that isn't a finished product. If he was being shopped around and we could get him cheap, I'd be all over it. I think in 2 years he will be a star.
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Definintely needs a bit of beef on the bones. You look at the like of Cleary, Reynolds, even SJ nowdays and they're all pretty solid little units. It makes a huge difference in defence I reckon
 
HaroldBishop

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Proud Shark said:
I don't by any means think he's the finished product, but he is so young and so far ahead in his development of other halves that I think he's going to get there.

Ages that halves locked down a spot - DCE (22), JT (22), Cronk (22), Reynolds (22), Cody Walker (26), Cleary (19), Luai (21), Moses (20), Nicho (25), Townsend (23), SJ (21), Foran (19), Keary (21), Hunt (20), Hughes (23), Munster (20).

He's also listed as 183cm and 78kg. This means he's taller than - JT, Cronk, C Walker, Reynolds, Cleary, Moses, Townsend, SJ, Foran, Keary, Hunt, and the same height as Hughes and DCE. There is no reason not to expect that he can fill out the extra 5kg or so to match many of their playing weights.

At this stage, I'd agree he came in as a bit of a one trick pony with the harbour bridge pass, and his kicking has been uninspiring. But he has been an 'average' nrl half at the time that many other good halves were playing cup or flegg. He's got 50 games under his belt, and definitely needs to work on some aspects. But I expect that he will go on to have a very good - great NRL career.

Whilst I agree with our stocks, we definitely don't need to go out and spend big on a half, especially one that isn't a finished product. If he was being shopped around and we could get him cheap, I'd be all over it. I think in 2 years he will be a star.
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Can't argue with any of that but I just don't see it with him. Be interesting to see where he's at in a couple of years.
 
Jaz

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He's got great instincts - the ad lib kicks and passes inside the opposition 10 that you can't coach.
 
Proud Shark

Proud Shark

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Sparkles said:
Definintely needs a bit of beef on the bones. You look at the like of Cleary, Reynolds, even SJ nowdays and they're all pretty solid little units. It makes a huge difference in defence I reckon
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Completely agree. Given the height that he has on the other guys though I think he'll easily get an extra 5kgs on in the next year or two.
 
sharks for life

sharks for life

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Proud Shark said:
I don't by any means think he's the finished product, but he is so young and so far ahead in his development of other halves that I think he's going to get there.

Ages that halves locked down a spot - DCE (22), JT (22), Cronk (22), Reynolds (22), Cody Walker (26), Cleary (19), Luai (21), Moses (20), Nicho (25), Townsend (23), SJ (21), Foran (19), Keary (21), Hunt (20), Hughes (23), Munster (20).

He's also listed as 183cm and 78kg. This means he's taller than - JT, Cronk, C Walker, Reynolds, Cleary, Moses, Townsend, SJ, Foran, Keary, Hunt, and the same height as Hughes and DCE. There is no reason not to expect that he can fill out the extra 5kg or so to match many of their playing weights.

At this stage, I'd agree he came in as a bit of a one trick pony with the harbour bridge pass, and his kicking has been uninspiring. But he has been an 'average' nrl half at the time that many other good halves were playing cup or flegg. He's got 50 games under his belt, and definitely needs to work on some aspects. But I expect that he will go on to have a very good - great NRL career.

Whilst I agree with our stocks, we definitely don't need to go out and spend big on a half, especially one that isn't a finished product. If he was being shopped around and we could get him cheap, I'd be all over it. I think in 2 years he will be a star.
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At the moment he offers more than moylan. Ronnie could double his try telly if walker was on that side. He needs to work on his d and game management but better than our current 6.
 
Capital_Shark

Capital_Shark

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Sparkles said:
Honestly, I think I'm a bit lost now on what a forward pack should look like these days. Especially after watching the game last night, where both teams used their backs really effectively to get out of their own ends.

Weigh in folks... do you need one 'power' forward (the mythical 'mongrel'?), a ball playing lock and the rest else big but mobile? Then to compliment them, say least three 'power' backs who can make good metres?

Both Penrith and Souths kind of have this setup... Is that what a coach should aspire to with development and recruitment?
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I thought JFH's absence was noticeable last night in Penrith laying their platforms inside Souths half.
 
Sharkfox

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Breaking news, Matt Moylan, Ezra Mam swap on in Sharks Broncos trade talks
 
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TownsvilleTigerShark

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Sparkles said:
Honestly, I think I'm a bit lost now on what a forward pack should look like these days. Especially after watching the game last night, where both teams used their backs really effectively to get out of their own ends.

Weigh in folks... do you need one 'power' forward (the mythical 'mongrel'?), a ball playing lock and the rest else big but mobile? Then to compliment them, say least three 'power' backs who can make good metres?

Both Penrith and Souths kind of have this setup... Is that what a coach should aspire to with development and recruitment?
Click to expand...
The role and "style"of the front 6 will always evolve and re evolve depending on a number of factors, teams copy catting successful teams, rule changes, substitutions etc. As soon as most teams get a grip on it, the top teams have moved on to something else, and most teams are playing catch up. Whats new is old, and whats old is new. Too many factors to get it perfect and probably need the planets to align to stay ahead of the opposition for to long. Smart coaching is the key.
 
Sharkfox

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Sparkles said:
Honestly, I think I'm a bit lost now on what a forward pack should look like these days. Especially after watching the game last night, where both teams used their backs really effectively to get out of their own ends.

Weigh in folks... do you need one 'power' forward (the mythical 'mongrel'?), a ball playing lock and the rest else big but mobile? Then to compliment them, say least three 'power' backs who can make good metres?

Both Penrith and Souths kind of have this setup... Is that what a coach should aspire to with development and recruitment?
Click to expand...
Just need our current forwards to play to their potentials and be consistent. Just think if Hunt, Uele and Williams found form
 
BurgoShark

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Sparkles said:
Honestly, I think I'm a bit lost now on what a forward pack should look like these days. Especially after watching the game last night, where both teams used their backs really effectively to get out of their own ends.

Weigh in folks... do you need one 'power' forward (the mythical 'mongrel'?), a ball playing lock and the rest else big but mobile? Then to compliment them, say least three 'power' backs who can make good metres?

Both Penrith and Souths kind of have this setup... Is that what a coach should aspire to with development and recruitment?
Click to expand...

There is more to it than this… but since you asked :)

Simplest way to think of attack is to break it in to 1) yardage sets from continuous play, 2) yardage sets from a set start, and 3) good ball sets.

The most common set in a game is #1, and that is where your back 5 is key. Back rowers too, but later in the set.

#2 is less common, but also super important. A good example of this is a set after points. Play 1 is 20 out in the middle, your hooker is in play, and your middles are heavily involved.

For #3 it’s more important that your middles run the right lines and get to the right areas than make metres. Find space, get a quick ptb and run decoys.

From a RL PoV you can win with lots of combos. Given the Sharks current cattle and the injuries though, it’s hard to fault the coach. The shift to more mobile forwards later in the game is a league-wide thing. Fitz has shown since day 1 that he will go with bigger bodies early but after the 20th minute he will give the effort players the keys to the kingdom.
 
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