Official THE RUMOUR MILL - Player Signings/Transfers ONLY!!!!

[MrDravid]

The coach needs to improve this side and maybe try a few things. With us having Hunt, Uele, Hazleton, Toby - I think we’re good with the size of our pack so having 3 smaller middles shouldn’t be an issue.

Williams is another small middle... would you want a bench of McInnes, Berrell, Williams and Tommy?

 

[The Punisher]

Williams is another small middle... would you want a bench of McInnes, Berrell, Williams and Tommy?

Rather a bench of Williams, Hunt, Talakai & Hazelton

Starting pack of Uele, Brailey, Finucane, Wilton, Nikora & McInnes

 

[Sharkfox]

Williams is another small middle... would you want a bench of McInnes, Berrell, Williams and Tommy?

Bench: Berrell, Hazelton, Williams, Finucane/Hunt

Berrell can also move to lock during game. As long as they can do the work and lock up the middle, dont need a big bench. Williams is strong, Hazelton is our big bopper on the bench, Finucane can be our vet workhorse, or go with another big bopper with Hunt for impact.

Rudolf, Uele and Mcinnes starters.

 

[Gumby]

Williams is another small middle... would you want a bench of McInnes, Berrell, Williams and Tommy?

McInness is starting every week for me in the 13.

 

[Wiz]

McInness is starting every week for me in the 13.

What’s the bet Finucane is starting 13 next year

I reckon it’d be criminal but won’t put it past Fitz because he’s a genius

 

[Capital_Shark]

What’s the bet Finucane is starting 13 next year

I reckon it’d be criminal but won’t put it past Fitz because he’s a genius

Only 5.5mths till we find out. Worth holding your breath over for sure.

 

[Deleted member 3365]

What’s the bet Finucane is starting 13 next year

I reckon it’d be criminal but won’t put it past Fitz because he’s a genius

Oh yeah with Wade gone, he's gonna rely heavily on Finucane to be that senior figure. Definitely will be seeing Finucane starting and most likely captain considering he was at times this year.

 

[Sharkfox]

Hopefully after the season Cam has had and making PM squad, he's ahead of Dale now

 

[MrDravid]

McInness is starting every week for me in the 13.

Not disagreeing that should be the case... I think Williams has done enough this year to warrant a bench spot. I just don't think we can run Brailey, Berrell, Williams and McInnes in the same 17.

 

[BurgoShark]

The Finucane v McInnes discussion is just a question of jersey# and who plays the first 20. They are each going to play ~30 minutes with the other bloke on the field and ~25 minutes without him.

If they swap jerseys it will be because Fitz wants to run his rotation differently, and not because McInnes "has played his way ahead of Finucane". Fitz knew before starting the job that those guys were two of his best players and I'm sure both players were on board with the plan to have one starting and one on the bench.

 

[The Punisher]

Simple solution-
Start Fincane at Prop
Keep McInnes at lock

 

[BurgoShark]

Simple solution-
Start Fincane at Prop
Keep McInnes at lock

This is about the 400th time someone has said this. It's not happening unless Fitz has a major change of heart as to how he wants to play. He wants two big guys playing the first 20.

Only games in the last 2 years he started without two big blokes were...
* Round 9, 2022 (BHU and Hunt out, Fifita returning from injury)
* Round 10, 2022 (BHU and Fifita out. Hunt first game back from injury)
* Round 11 v Manly this year (Rudolf, BHU and Kaufusi all out)

Kaufusi, Hunt and Fifita have all started games when other guys were out, even though they don't play many minutes overall (e.g. Hunt in the last game).

 

[Proud Shark]

Yeah I think what people want when they say Dale to prop/bench is Cam playing more minutes, rather than their roles changing. Cam was playing 50 odd minutes at lock, the same way even when Dale was fit.

I see Cam's step up at the back end of the year being more due to him filling a leadership/effort void left by Dale rather than him being used differently.

 

[BurgoShark]

Yeah I think what people want when they say Dale to prop/bench is Cam playing more minutes, rather than their roles changing. Cam was playing 50 odd minutes at lock, the same way even when Dale was fit.

I see Cam's step up at the back end of the year being more due to him filling a leadership/effort void left by Dale rather than him being used differently.

Yeah - we've been around in circles with this so many times though. While Cam's effort will not drop when he plays longer, his involvement often will - and there are several Sharks forwards who we know can be really good in a short stint. There isn't really a good argument for leaving McInnes on the field for 65+ minutes rather than having him play a 55-60 and giving 20-25 to someone like Hunt or Hazelton.

 

[Sharkfox]

Give 60 to Cam, 20 to Dale, he can go all out in 20 mins

 

[BurgoShark]

Yeah I think what people want when they say Dale to prop/bench is Cam playing more minutes, rather than their roles changing. Cam was playing 50 odd minutes at lock, the same way even when Dale was fit.

I see Cam's step up at the back end of the year being more due to him filling a leadership/effort void left by Dale rather than him being used differently.

Personally I didn't think Cam "stepped up" at all. I think he's been consistently that good over the last two seasons. Round 1 this year he was a beast.

 

[Proud Shark]

Personally I didn't think Cam "stepped up" at all. I think he's been consistently that good over the last two seasons. Round 1 this year he was a beast.

That's fair.

A few things I'd highlight would be his efforts in games where he was required to play longer minutes for the side.

I also think post the Moylan dropping when he called himself out for not doing enough in the ruck he seemed to be making an increased effort to lead the way in those 1 percenters in the ruck.

That could be a result of the whole pack getting troops back/improving though.

To me, we needed a leader in the pack and he definitely provided that. Whether or not that would have happened anyway with Dale there is hard to know.

 

[Western Sharkie]

This is about the 400th time someone has said this. It's not happening unless Fitz has a major change of heart as to how he wants to play. He wants two big guys playing the first 20.

Only games in the last 2 years he started without two big blokes were...
* Round 9, 2022 (BHU and Hunt out, Fifita returning from injury)
* Round 10, 2022 (BHU and Fifita out. Hunt first game back from injury)
* Round 11 v Manly this year (Rudolf, BHU and Kaufusi all out)

Kaufusi, Hunt and Fifita have all started games when other guys were out, even though they don't play many minutes overall (e.g. Hunt in the last game).

And the thing is, there is a common denominator in all of that…..

BHU out!

 

[Gumby]

That's fair.

A few things I'd highlight would be his efforts in games where he was required to play longer minutes for the side.

I also think post the Moylan dropping when he called himself out for not doing enough in the ruck he seemed to be making an increased effort to lead the way in those 1 percenters in the ruck.

That could be a result of the whole pack getting troops back/improving though.

To me, we needed a leader in the pack and he definitely provided that. Whether or not that would have happened anyway with Dale there is hard to know.

Well said

 

[CHOGM]

Personally I didn't think Cam "stepped up" at all. I think he's been consistently that good over the last two seasons. Round 1 this year he was a beast.

I think he may have appeared “better” because good things happened around him later in the year because of the form of Williams. Those two played together really well later in the year.