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

[BrickMan]

The plan for sifa in this game is definitely what I'm most curious about.

Im thinking he will be used as a middle for about 20 minutes then next week start and play big minutes at centre

 

[Sevshark]

Im thinking he will be used as a middle for about 20 minutes then next week start and play big minutes at centre

That's what I'm hoping, if he came on for a straight swap for Iro probably says Fitz isn't looking to experiment with him elsewhere.

 

[bort]

That's what I'm hoping, if he came on for a straight swap for Iro probably says Fitz isn't looking to experiment with him elsewhere.

If he just goes to centre why was he named behind Iro then?
Fallen behind him in centre pecking order?
Otherwise you’d think he’d start

We’ll find out tomorrow I guess!

 

[Proud Shark]

If he just goes to centre why was he named behind Iro then?
Fallen behind him in centre pecking order?
Otherwise you’d think he’d start

We’ll find out tomorrow I guess!

I don't think naming anyone ahead in trial one speaks to the pecking order. Trial 1 is usually 'see what you've got', and trial 2 shows the pecking order.

Seeing Talakai named that low made me wonder if he just wont get a run, but then i'm not sure what the point in naming him would be.

 

[bort]

I don't think naming anyone ahead in trial one speaks to the pecking order. Trial 1 is usually 'see what you've got', and trial 2 shows the pecking order.

Seeing Talakai named that low made me wonder if he just wont get a run, but then i'm not sure what the point in naming him would be.

It’s not set in stone but go through every team list I think you’ll see a strong trend towards the more experienced and preferred guys being in the starting sides

Not including takakai it looks like there’s about 4 maybe 5 guys named in extended benches likely to be in their teams best 13, and far more than that likely to be depth or not even play NRL this year.

 

[Proud Shark]

It’s not set in stone but go through every team list I think you’ll see a strong trend towards the more experienced and preferred guys being in the starting sides

Yeah fair call, the Talakai one is just such an anomaly. You can't imagine he doesn't make that starting side over any of those players.

 

[bort]

Yeah fair call, the Talakai one is just such an anomaly. You can't imagine he doesn't make that starting side over any of those players.

If he’s first choice centre it is odd but not crazy to give Iro first run. Manu in a similar boat to Talakai actually - likely centre ahead of the two guys named to start.

If he’s being explored as a forward then absolutely makes sense to name him on the bench somewhere - I’d have probably still thought in the 17 although being outside it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

As a forward he actually might not be in our best 17 though
Assume Cam is guaranteed ahead of him he’s gotta get in front of two of Williams, Kaufusi, Hunt, Hazelton, Colquhoun.
If we wanted to play him primarily as an edge he should def be named there over Colquhoun (IMO)

 

[BurgoShark]

I wouldn't read too much into seeing Talakai as a benchie, or where or how much he plays. He might be there to give one the second rowers a breather or let Colquhoun move in to the middle for a while. Burns is the only second rower on the bench.

Main thing is that they should leave Iro at left centre while the NRL-quality players are on the field. We can't learn much about his game from seeing him play a whole second half with Riolo and Rodwell.

 

[bort]

I wouldn't read too much into seeing Talakai as a benchie, or where or how much he plays. He might be there to give one the second rowers a breather or let Colquhoun move in to the middle for a while. Burns is the only second rower on the bench.

Main thing is that they should leave Iro at left centre while the NRL-quality players are on the field. We can't learn much about his game from seeing him play a whole second half with Riolo and Rodwell.

I wouldn’t use my NRL starting 13 centre as bench second row relief so the fringe guys can have a rest personally. Not unless I had some relatively serious intention of using him as a forward. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be the case.

 

[BurgoShark]

I wouldn’t use my NRL starting 13 centre as bench second row relief so the fringe guys can have a rest personally. Not unless I had some relatively serious intention of using him as a forward. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be the case.

Maybe they wanted to use someone else in that role but he has a niggle or something…or maybe Fitz is going off the board and will play him at right centre… or not at all. Maybe Sifa asked to play the game to get a bit of match fitness going earlier.

They have a million middles so I find it hard to believe they put him in there because they needed an extra one or forgot since 2 years ago that he’s pretty handy there.

Could be that he gets 10 minutes in the middle but I just wouldn’t try to read the coach’s mind. There could be a dozen other reasons he is in the team.

 

[Proud Shark]

If he’s first choice centre it is odd but not crazy to give Iro first run. Manu in a similar boat to Talakai actually - likely centre ahead of the two guys named to start.

If he’s being explored as a forward then absolutely makes sense to name him on the bench somewhere - I’d have probably still thought in the 17 although being outside it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

As a forward he actually might not be in our best 17 though
Assume Cam is guaranteed ahead of him he’s gotta get in front of two of Williams, Kaufusi, Hunt, Hazelton, Colquhoun.
If we wanted to play him primarily as an edge he should def be named there over Colquhoun (IMO)

There's no way he's not ahead of Crouch or Tuks as a forward at the very least, which would put him in the 17 for this trial if teams were picking preferred players as suggested.

 

[bort]

There's no way he's not ahead of Crouch or Tuks as a forward at the very least, which would put him in the 17 for this trial if teams were picking preferred players as suggested.

They aren't named to start though. I'm not suggesting the bench and extended are in a strict order, just there are very few (but not none) starting 13 players named outside of trial starting sides. The majority of players named who will be in NRL best 13s this season and are named in these trials, are named to start.

Maybe they wanted to use someone else in that role but he has a niggle or something…or maybe Fitz is going off the board and will play him at right centre… or not at all. Maybe Sifa asked to play the game to get a bit of match fitness going earlier.

They have a million middles so I find it hard to believe they put him in there because they needed an extra one of forgot since 2 years ago that he’s pretty handy there.

Could be that he gets 10 minutes in the middle but I just wouldn’t try to read the coach’s mind. There could be a dozen other reasons he is in the team.

If he wants to play him at right centre why doesn't he just name him there then? If it is worth trying it is worth trying ahead of Hiroti I'd have thought.
Maybe Sifa ask to play the game for some fitness but not until they start subbing plebs on, or maybe he just wanted to play as his mother in law was in town that day. Yes, there is many many maybe options.

If they were thinking about playing him in the middle this season I would say it absolutely makes sense to give him some time there in a trial, regardless of what he did two years ago. Not even sure why previous years comes into it, I doubt they forgot Katoa could play wing. You can remember someone has played a position before and still want them to play in a trial there.

Saying what I would or would not do isn't trying to read the coaches mind, but yes I have somewhat been trying to guess how we might be planning to use Talakai. It's just discussion about how one of the players might be used, I'm not going to storm Fitz's office if I'm wrong plane tickets are too expensive these days

 

[Proud Shark]

They aren't named to start though. I'm not suggesting the bench and extended are in a strict order, just there are very few (but not none) starting 13 players named outside of trial starting sides. The majority of players named who will be in NRL best 13s this season and are named in these trials, are named to start.

Fair, I didn't realise you were only applying this to the starting 13. I wouldn't have him starting over Teig or Cam, and I can understand that the coach would rather see more of Jesse on the edge than Sifa.

 

[bort]

Fair, I didn't realise you were only applying this to the starting 13. I wouldn't have him starting over Teig or Cam, and I can understand that the coach would rather see more of Jesse on the edge than Sifa.

Assuming Jesse more likely to play (right) edge than Sifa I entirely agree.

Based on this, while not impossible, I’d be surprised if Talakai was our starting right edge come round 1.

I’ll be less surprised if he is a bench forward than I would have been if he was named to start centre here and never trialled in forwards.

 

[BurgoShark]

They aren't named to start though. I'm not suggesting the bench and extended are in a strict order, just there are very few (but not none) starting 13 players named outside of trial starting sides. The majority of players named who will be in NRL best 13s this season and are named in these trials, are named to start.

If he wants to play him at right centre why doesn't he just name him there then? If it is worth trying it is worth trying ahead of Hiroti I'd have thought.
Maybe Sifa ask to play the game for some fitness but not until they start subbing plebs on, or maybe he just wanted to play as his mother in law was in town that day. Yes, there is many many maybe options.

If they were thinking about playing him in the middle this season I would say it absolutely makes sense to give him some time there in a trial, regardless of what he did two years ago. Not even sure why previous years comes into it, I doubt they forgot Katoa could play wing. You can remember someone has played a position before and still want them to play in a trial there.

Saying what I would or would not do isn't trying to read the coaches mind, but yes I have somewhat been trying to guess how we might be planning to use Talakai. It's just discussion about how one of the players might be used, I'm not going to storm Fitz's office if I'm wrong plane tickets are too expensive these days

It's definitely uncommon for an established top 13 player to be wearing a reserve jersey in trial week 1, but weird selections in trials don't have to mean anything in the greater scheme of things. Wade playing at five-eighth last year or starting Williams over McInnes didn't mean much. Coaches do weird **** in trials.

Sure - it will be interesting to see how Sifa gets used - but the mother-in-law hypothesis carries just as much weight as any other reason for mine (maybe Woodsie's kids are coming to watch).

Save your money for the GF

 

[Super Impose]

I also thought Sifa - named all the way down there was curious - but then convinced myself I was over thinking it …

 

[BurgoShark]

If you want to cram an extra bit of footy in tomorrow... SG Ball is being live streamed.

The start will likely overlap with the end of the NRL Sharks game, but the last 45-50mins should nicely fill in the gap between the end of Sharks/Knights and the start of Roosters/Manly.

NSWRL TV

 

[BrickMan]

Sifa named to be in the forward rotation is the match preview

 

[BurgoShark]

Sifa named to be in the forward rotation is the match preview

The one on the Sharks website? It doesn’t say that.

Jack Williams, Tuku Hau Tapuha, Sifa Talakai and off-season recruit Billy Burns are listed on an extended bench.

 

[Sparkles]

Doesn't it just make sense that Iro is being given time at centre? There's every chance he'll get a few games (maybe more) this year and any chance to get a run will help. Fitz should have zero concerns about Talakai stepping into centre or second row (or lock...) without much time in either position during the trials.