Trial 1: Sharks vs Knights @ Gosford, 1:45pm Saturday 17-Feb 2024

[Proud Shark]

I'll forever love this video.

"Matt. Moylan."

Just reminds me of the Team America "Matt Damon".

 

[egg]

My son and I all last year were big fans of referring to WADE graham

We know someone else

 

[Up-Up Cronulla]

I think season 24 will be pretty beige .. 25 with AFB (hopefully) will be interesting though.

 

[Sevshark]

I think season 24 will be pretty beige .. 25 with AFB (hopefully) will be interesting though.

I think this season has the potential to be very interesting, atleast on the player movement side of things.

 

[Seenoevil]

Here is my two cents , or maybe a nickel's worth.

The thing that stuck out most was , how unfit the team looked overall, in comparison to newcastle. I also watched the sg ball team get beaten up by Canberra and again the thing that stuck out was how unfit they looked. I get that it is hot , but the sun shines on both sides of the field, so both teams have to play in same conditions.

I agreed with what @egg said on here, disappointing. They looked so disjointed.

Also his comparisons to penrith , performing all the way down their teams in terms of structure and systems.

On that note, I grimaced watching the bulldogs play, the vigor and commitment, they looked so fit and raring to go, I believe they had like 4 players from their triumphant Flegg team , and boy did all of them look the " goods ". Coach and staff must be tickled pink with their future.
They have like 3 gun halfbacks coming thru. They seem to have replacated to a point, of being Penrith.
Really think I need to reevaluate my prediction of bulldogs running last.

Also watching Xerri effortlessly have 4 years off and come back and make instant impact was painful to watch, it made me wistfully think if only he came back contrite and wanted to repay us, couldn't help but think what a combo with Ramien, might've been up there with ET and Sparkles. Who knows. But yeah his nose job, if he payed for that he should sue.


I said all of that because, from my standpoint, there is nobody that we can definitely say " oh yeah he is a future hot prospect with any certainty. Really think if we want talent, we gotta go buy em.

On a more positive note, was really surprised by Kaufusi, he was an exception to what I said about the rancid nature of what appeared to be our fitness, he looks fit and very committed, gotta admit I was one on the bandwagon of him being a bad mistake to recruit, but glad to be proved wrong, could have a breakout year. Healey , could be anything, hope we can keep him.

I also was one on the bandwagon of bringing in Iro, gotta say he really disappointed me. I sure as eggs do not think Sifa is our answer at center but that is for the Coach to dissect this capitulation ( another ) , I get that it is a trial, but we only really say that when we lose, in this case bigly, the post mortem has got to include the fitness or lack of.

To me this season is more about the Coach evaluating who to discard, ie dead wood.

Sticking with my prediction of us sneaking into the 8, but more because of the draw than any confidence we can be a force without Mr. Wrecking Ball AKA AFB , please ' 25 come soon.

 

[Proud Shark]

Here is my two cents , or maybe a nickel's worth.

The thing that stuck out most was , how unfit the team looked overall, in comparison to newcastle. I also watched the sg ball team get beaten up by Canberra and again the thing that stuck out was how unfit they looked. I get that it is hot , but the sun shines on both sides of the field, so both teams have to play in same conditions.

I agreed with what @egg said on here, disappointing. They looked so disjointed.

Also his comparisons to penrith , performing all the way down their teams in terms of structure and systems.

On that note, I grimaced watching the bulldogs play, the vigor and commitment, they looked so fit and raring to go, I believe they had like 4 players from their triumphant Flegg team , and boy did all of them look the " goods ". Coach and staff must be tickled pink with their future.
They have like 3 gun halfbacks coming thru. They seem to have replacated to a point, of being Penrith.
Really think I need to reevaluate my prediction of bulldogs running last.

Also watching Xerri effortlessly have 4 years off and come back and make instant impact was painful to watch, it made me wistfully think if only he came back contrite and wanted to repay us, couldn't help but think what a combo with Ramien, might've been up there with ET and Sparkles. Who knows. But yeah his nose job, if he payed for that he should sue.


I said all of that because, from my standpoint, there is nobody that we can definitely say " oh yeah he is a future hot prospect with any certainty. Really think if we want talent, we gotta go buy em.

On a more positive note, was really surprised by Kaufusi, he was an exception to what I said about the rancid nature of what appeared to be our fitness, he looks fit and very committed, gotta admit I was one on the bandwagon of him being a bad mistake to recruit, but glad to be proved wrong, could have a breakout year. Healey , could be anything, hope we can keep him.

I also was one on the bandwagon of bringing in Iro, gotta say he really disappointed me. I sure as eggs do not think Sifa is our answer at center but that is for the Coach to dissect this capitulation ( another ) , I get that it is a trial, but we only really say that when we lose, in this case bigly, the post mortem has got to include the fitness or lack of.

To me this season is more about the Coach evaluating who to discard, ie dead wood.

Sticking with my prediction of us sneaking into the 8, but more because of the draw than any confidence we can be a force without Mr. Wrecking Ball AKA AFB , please ' 25 come soon.

Completely agree with the dogs line speed, fitness and effort. They were impressive.

Disagree with the talent coming through our system. Just because they didn't perform in one trial, doesn't mean we need to be buying elsewhere. Dykes, Iro, Stonestreet, Colquhoun etc are still as good prospects as in any other side. I think the way they have performed through cup proves that.

Don't underestimate how the strength of sides play a huge factor. Knights had about double the top 17 players in their squad than we did. Including 3/4 of their spine. The dogs practically played their first grade v the storm reserve grade. Many other examples this weekend of the same thing.

I'd be worried if we were st george and had our first grade side flogged by the opposition reserves.

 

[bort]

I think this season has the potential to be very interesting, atleast on the player movement side of things.

We have a lot of contracts up in next two seasons, listed below, some thoughts on them in brown so as to keep the main list easy for people to distinguish

Last year of contract 24
Berrell - assess where Healey is at in Cup mid season. If he is going well release Berrell
Burns - destiny is in his hands
BHU - offers are on the table but financial move is to leave
Hazelton (CO 2025) - I think instead of CO for 2025 we probably upgrade and extend
Iro - if he isn't is our 13 come mid season he'll get other offers and should take him. Not ideal for him way his trial went
Kaufusi (MO 2025) - there is often a date for these approx 1/3 way through season, so he will want to start wel.
Puru - no rush to retain, needs to start to stand up more in Cup
Taukamo - so far as done nothing, needs to have a big season, can talk to him at the end unless he fires.
Williams - easy keep

So really only 2-3 of these 9 I am pushing to keep.

Last year of contract 25
Atkinson - I like what he brings and his versatility, would be a good keep
Dykes - club clearly high on him easy keep as long as first month or so of Jets is looking like club expects
Finucane - retire
Hazelton (CO) - Ive already suggested retaining but if he goes to 25 on CO then extend now
Hunt - will depend where he is at and the likes of Tommy, Jesse, Oregon and Tuks are. Could be a financial squeeze.
Kaufusi (MO) - as above it's up to how he starts 24 where he is at. If he does get MO it could be him vs Hunt
Kennedy - if ticking along two more years
Mulitalo - two more years unless a Qld club prices us out. End 2025 Ronnie is 26, Katoa is 28, SS is 23
Stonestreet - will have a better idea where he is at by then, could take over from Ronnie if he left or Katoa after 26 (at 29 years old)
Trindall - would hope he has either locked this down and is must keep or clearly fallen behind Dykes by then
Wilton - if this isn't an easy keep by late 24 we need to start looking at market

Could be as few as 6 of these 11. So between the two options could see around 1/3 of our squad rotate.

 

[bort]

Completely agree with the dogs line speed, fitness and effort. They were impressive.

Disagree with the talent coming through our system. Just because they didn't perform in one trial, doesn't mean we need to be buying elsewhere. Dykes, Iro, Stonestreet, Colquhoun etc are still as good prospects as in any other side. I think the way they have performed through cup proves that.

Don't underestimate how the strength of sides play a huge factor. Knights had about double the top 17 players in their squad than we did. Including 3/4 of their spine. The dogs practically played their first grade v the storm reserve grade. Many other examples this weekend of the same thing.

I'd be worried if we were st george and had our first grade side flogged by the opposition reserves.

Yep we were massively outgunned in that final which never gave us much of a chance.
The fact we went 12-nil up is embarrassing to them - from there it was who cares, there was probably no stage we had more NRL experience on the field?

By the time it was mostly nuffs both sides they'd had all the running already and our guys had defended with 12 for a stint in the heat too.

 

[BurgoShark]

@bort note that Taukamo can't be signed by another team until after round 6. If the Sharks want to keep him they might decide over the next 2 months rather than at the end of the year.

If he's not re-signed by then I'd say it's a fair chance he shops himself around. Someone else will give him a shot I reckon.

 

[Proud Shark]

Yep we were massively outgunned in that final which never gave us much of a chance.
The fact we went 12-nil up is embarrassing to them - from there it was who cares, there was probably no stage we had more NRL experience on the field?

By the time it was mostly nuffs both sides they'd had all the running already and our guys had defended with 12 for a stint in the heat too.

Of their 4 first-half tries:

- First was off a bat back and favourable bounce. Sione will get outjumped by the taller wingers, and hopefully our first graders will hustle/cover a bit better, but sometimes this is just bad luck.
- Second was due to Hazleton overcommitting, potentially playing a few more minutes in the heat than he's used to. I'd like him not to make that error.
- Third was similar, Crouch pushed way too hard from marker. He had a fairly poor game and I'd hope our first team wouldn't make that error.
- Fourth was off a pin point kick. Not much Dykes could really do about it. It's possible that Hynes/Nikora/Ramien don't all push so hard and can cover it, but it was well exploited by Hastings.

Really, out of all those tries I was only really disappointed by Hazleton's error. After that, the sides mixed up a bit and we went down to 12 where they scored 3 more.

 

[Sevshark]

We have a lot of contracts up in next two seasons, listed below, some thoughts on them in brown so as to keep the main list easy for people to distinguish

Last year of contract 24
Berrell - assess where Healey is at in Cup mid season. If he is going well release Berrell
Burns - destiny is in his hands
BHU - offers are on the table but financial move is to leave
Hazelton (CO 2025) - I think instead of CO for 2025 we probably upgrade and extend
Iro - if he isn't is our 13 come mid season he'll get other offers and should take him. Not ideal for him way his trial went
Kaufusi (MO 2025) - there is often a date for these approx 1/3 way through season, so he will want to start wel.
Puru - no rush to retain, needs to start to stand up more in Cup
Taukamo - so far as done nothing, needs to have a big season, can talk to him at the end unless he fires.
Williams - easy keep

So really only 2-3 of these 9 I am pushing to keep.

Last year of contract 25
Atkinson - I like what he brings and his versatility, would be a good keep
Dykes - club clearly high on him easy keep as long as first month or so of Jets is looking like club expects
Finucane - retire
Hazelton (CO) - Ive already suggested retaining but if he goes to 25 on CO then extend now
Hunt - will depend where he is at and the likes of Tommy, Jesse, Oregon and Tuks are. Could be a financial squeeze.
Kaufusi (MO) - as above it's up to how he starts 24 where he is at. If he does get MO it could be him vs Hunt
Kennedy - if ticking along two more years
Mulitalo - two more years unless a Qld club prices us out. End 2025 Ronnie is 26, Katoa is 28, SS is 23
Stonestreet - will have a better idea where he is at by then, could take over from Ronnie if he left or Katoa after 26 (at 29 years old)
Trindall - would hope he has either locked this down and is must keep or clearly fallen behind Dykes by then
Wilton - if this isn't an easy keep by late 24 we need to start looking at market

Could be as few as 6 of these 11. So between the two options could see around 1/3 of our squad rotate.

At the moment for 24 I'm keeping;
Williams, Kaufusi, Tommy and Puru
As season progresses if others stand up and earn a new contract than good.

Bhu already has an offer from club so not including him, on the money we've reportedly offered I'd like to keep him but would be hard for him to knock back money on offer elsewhere.

 

[BurgoShark]

Of their 4 first-half tries:

- First was off a bat back and favourable bounce. Sione will get outjumped by the taller wingers, and hopefully our first graders will hustle/cover a bit better, but sometimes this is just bad luck.
- Second was due to Hazleton overcommitting, potentially playing a few more minutes in the heat than he's used to. I'd like him not to make that error.
- Third was similar, Crouch pushed way too hard from marker. He had a fairly poor game and I'd hope our first team wouldn't make that error.
- Fourth was off a pin point kick. Not much Dykes could really do about it. It's possible that Hynes/Nikora/Ramien don't all push so hard and can cover it, but it was well exploited by Hastings.

Really, out of all those tries I was only really disappointed by Hazleton's error. After that, the sides mixed up a bit and we went down to 12 where they scored 3 more.

This wasn’t just a feature of the Sharks game. A lot of markers over the weekend were “splitting” and getting caught out. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that NRL regulars are better ruck defenders than non-NRL regulars.

 

[bort]

Of their 4 first-half tries:

- First was off a bat back and favourable bounce. Sione will get outjumped by the taller wingers, and hopefully our first graders will hustle/cover a bit better, but sometimes this is just bad luck.
- Second was due to Hazleton overcommitting, potentially playing a few more minutes in the heat than he's used to. I'd like him not to make that error.
- Third was similar, Crouch pushed way too hard from marker. He had a fairly poor game and I'd hope our first team wouldn't make that error.
- Fourth was off a pin point kick. Not much Dykes could really do about it. It's possible that Hynes/Nikora/Ramien don't all push so hard and can cover it, but it was well exploited by Hastings.

Really, out of all those tries I was only really disappointed by Hazleton's error. After that, the sides mixed up a bit and we went down to 12 where they scored 3 more.

yeah even one like the third one, Crouch is miles off our first grade squad. Hasn’t even played cup. That try is pretty much irrelevant to our NRL team

 

[Seenoevil]

Completely agree with the dogs line speed, fitness and effort. They were impressive.

Disagree with the talent coming through our system. Just because they didn't perform in one trial, doesn't mean we need to be buying elsewhere. Dykes, Iro, Stonestreet, Colquhoun etc are still as good prospects as in any other side. I think the way they have performed through cup proves that.

Don't underestimate how the strength of sides play a huge factor. Knights had about double the top 17 players in their squad than we did. Including 3/4 of their spine. The dogs practically played their first grade v the storm reserve grade. Many other examples this weekend of the same thing.

I'd be worried if we were st george and had our first grade side flogged by the opposition reserves.

I did predict st.george to run second last, but yeah I hear what you say.
Didn't mean we don't have talent in our current 30, definitely Colquhoun ( i copied your spelling haha ) is a prospect and did see good things with him, mybad for not mentioning him. As for Iro and Stonestreet, am undecided , but will be happy to be proved wrong.

I meant more , that we don't seem to have the potency of prospects in sg ball coming thru
Cannot speak to the Flegg team, as to this point not seen a squad named, am waiting to see a couple of names in there, I know to smile about.

 

[BurgoShark]

I did predict st.george to run second last, but yeah I hear what you say.
Didn't mean we don't have talent in our current 30, definitely Colquhoun ( i copied your spelling haha ) is a prospect and did see good things with him, mybad for not mentioning him. As for Iro and Stonestreet, am undecided , but will be happy to be proved wrong.

I meant more , that we don't seem to have the potency of prospects in sg ball coming thru
Cannot speak to the Flegg team, as to this point not seen a squad named, am waiting to see a couple of names in there, I know to smile about.

A few in the SG Ball squad are highly rated. Just putting it together as a team at the moment though.

I think McCarthy, Catton, Williams, Challenor and Pollard have alll been part of NSW camps and/or Aus schoolboy squads.

We know quite a few Flegg names already. Plenty have been shown in training photos.

 

[Rob]

Fitness and aggression from some of the lower teams was impressive but looks like they have been trained very hard to get their coaches some early wins but premierships arnt won in April. Can see some early burn out coming for a lot of those younger rookies who probably haven’t taken a day off in months trying to push their cause.

 

[Seenoevil]

A few in the SG Ball squad are highly rated. Just putting it together as a team at the moment though.

I think McCarthy, Catton, Williams, Challenor and Pollard have alll been part of NSW camps and/or Aus schoolboy squads.

We know quite a few Flegg names already. Plenty have been shown in training photos.

Familiar with all you mentioned, and was anticipating better results given their skills and as you say experience with camps and squads, I know Williams and Pollard are highly rated, hopefully they will all kick on.

Just I couldn't help noticing the team ( against Canberra ) just seem gassed a lot.

 

[BurgoShark]

Familiar with all you mentioned, and was anticipating better results given their skills and as you say experience with camps and squads, I know Williams and Pollard are highly rated, hopefully they will all kick on.

Just I couldn't help noticing the team ( against Canberra ) just seem gassed a lot.

Yeah - was like they never got out of second gear after giving away the penalty on the first set of the game.

 

[Gards]

Oregon Kaufusi's intensity was good, might have finally got that rocket he needed cause last year he was alot more casual and lethargic compared to that performance which had more hustle and aggression. With that amazing flowing long hair he was like another somewhat more "rounded" (physically speaking lol) BHU

Hiroti is a solid player these days, I think he should stay our first drop backline depth / Mr Fix it. Some of the younger guys like IRO haven't really shown they are up to FG just yet or that they deserve the call up.

While it would have been nice and encouraging to see the young kids carve up on the day it's almost kinda a relief not having to worry about fast tracking these younger guys into firsts or stressing too much about their contracts cause on what we saw in this game most of them are some ways off FG.

Was a big gap between the quality of the young guys and the regular FG players (defense and physical impact especially) though granted alot of the FG players got lower minutes in that heat.

Can't see many of the young rookies forcing their way into our regular 17 anytime soon.

Though Berrell can't do alot more at this point and would be worth giving some time in firsts

 

[HaroldBishop]

Oregon Kaufusi's intensity was good, might have finally got that rocket he needed cause last year he was alot more casual and lethargic compared to that performance which had more hustle and aggression. With that amazing flowing long hair he was like another somewhat more "rounded" (physically speaking lol) BHU

Hiroti is a solid player these days, I think he should stay our first drop backline depth / Mr Fix it. Some of the younger guys like IRO haven't really shown they are up to FG just yet or that they deserve the call up.

While it would have been nice and encouraging to see the young kids carve up on the day it's almost kinda a relief not having to worry about fast tracking these younger guys into firsts or stressing too much about their contracts cause on what we saw in this game most of them are some ways off FG.

Was a big gap between the quality of the young guys and the regular FG players (defense and physical impact especially) though granted alot of the FG players got lower minutes in that heat.

Can't see many of the young rookies forcing their way into our regular 17 anytime soon.

Though Berrell can't do alot more at this point and would be worth giving some time in firsts

Yeah but as has been previously said, very, very different having a young guy come into the NRL with a seasoned team around him v a trial like last week with very few NRL players.