Trial Match: Cronulla Sharks vs Manly Sea Eagles @ Jubilee Stadium 1st March 6pm

bort

Jaws
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
29,385
Reaction score
5,513
Location
IN A BAR
If thats the case then I'd certainly be happy just to develop him for one more season at least, still a very young age & plenty of time.

Yeah I think with the current roster he probably misses out this year but need a dev contract if he doesn’t have one or we will lose him.

Push Fifita to England next season and bring Pele in. Fif didn’t look any better this season than last and we have him on the roster until 2022. Ditching Fifita gives us money to keep some of these young guys and he’s probably still good enough to make an impact in ESL
 

Gards

Jaws
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
18,215
Reaction score
1,715
Location
At the Tucky
I’m gonna head down and take a gander at the trial.

I’ll do my best to give update scores and let you know who’s playing well and who’s not.

My only problem is falling asleep. Just had my son’s 10th birthday party last night and it was a sleepover for six kids.

Finally got them off to bed by midnight, I stayed up a bit until 1am and then they were up at 5.30am.

whiskey and milk - you can have some too if you like

All I care about is we come through with no injuries. Trial matches are pointless and just an injury risk.

they serve a purpose. a regular season game against Manly is what I call pointless

Nice start. Manly kick the ball dead and we make minis two metres from the kick.
Our kicking in gen play has not been very good.

sounds like we have been practicing...

View attachment 25833

We score. They get the points. Is gonna be a rough season for us.

Ah they finally changed it.

old man Hartley up in the box

BHU is a ****ing truck. Looks to be in real good shape
he was a weapon last year and he hadn't even reached peak fitness. the ceiling for this guy is very high

We’ve done pretty bloody well with this breeze against us.
coach had us in a wind tunnel last week. explains some of the hair

If Dugan was playing he would have drank all of the breezes by now
hahaha

Attack a bit clunky with Chad far too involved for my liking.

he's our halfback though :D

How the **** do you post before me when you’re on the other side of he bloody country.
Chad be like buffering watching live at the game

Rudolph, Hunt, Pele, Trindall impressed
credit where it's due, our young rookies consistently come up into firsts and perform

Bloody agree. The young big blokes should have Woods and Fifita on notice. Perform or be replaced. Tridnall was super too.

I get the impression that the older rusted on starters feel their position is 100% safe, they show alot more complacency. some carry over from the Flanno era of coaching stubbornness perhaps. young blokes by nature are probs gunna have more energy but they havn't yet experienced a decade of bumps, bruises, injury and general slowing down that comes with age. That said that urgency, desire, execution and focus really should be coming out from the experienced players leading by example and trickling down, not the other way around.

coach Morris seems great at motivating and developing the younger crew but less so the older blokes. you can't win this comp on youth and energy alone, we need some of these older ****s to start earning their pay again

Trindalls negative (everyone has one) though was his last tackle grubbers close to the line. Otherwise he did impress me.
A quick session with Master Robson will sort that

If this Manly ****er in front of me doesn’t sit down I’m gonna punch him.

they hate our club even more than us, passionate unbearable ****s that they are

Come back when you’re chocolate egg
Easter just around the corner
 

sharkboy18

Great White
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
4,955
Reaction score
167
Location
Alstonville
Yeah I think with the current roster he probably misses out this year but need a dev contract if he doesn’t have one or we will lose him.

Push Fifita to England next season and bring Pele in. Fif didn’t look any better this season than last and we have him on the roster until 2022. Ditching Fifita gives us money to keep some of these young guys and he’s probably still good enough to make an impact in ESL
Yeah Fifita is certainly not getting any younger, in the NRL he's probably got 2/3 years max in him. These young props for us (Uele still included) gives me lots of hope for our front frow future.
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
18,221
Reaction score
1,922
Location
The Ridge!
Really enjoyed tonight’s trial. Thought it was a good game of footy.

Tight game to begin with but we did score some good tries.

Even though Manly scored three tries I thought our defence was quite good. There was one from dummy half, another from a poor read and the other after they had about 4 repeat sets on our line.

I’m not adverse to having Kennedy there at FB in Round 1. Katoa made a silly error early on but after that was strong and he impressed me. If Xerri is not right Round 1 then Jmo slots in.

Very impressed with Connor Tracy. Looks the goods. Scored two tries and looked dangerous.

I did love the young guns, Rudolf, BHU, Hunt, Pele, Talakai and there was one other guy who’s name I don’t know.

Yes they ran strong and hard putting pressure on Fifs and Woods but they didn’t face Manly’s starting pack with Tapau etc so I’d like to reserve judgement until I see them against the better players. Rudolf got bashed up a bit early on but he then was a beast. Should be on the bench Round 1.

These young guys have all come through with Coach Morris so they’ll be out to play well for him.

Not sure what our team come Round 1 will look like but if Moylan, Dugan and Xerri aren’t there I think we’ll still have a strong side.
 

bort

Jaws
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
29,385
Reaction score
5,513
Location
IN A BAR
Yeah Fifita is certainly not getting any younger, in the NRL he's probably got 2/3 years max in him. These young props for us (Uele still included) gives me lots of hope for our front frow future.

He was Priors **** season away from being our 4th best prop last year. At this stage that is an achievable position for him this season.
 

bort

Jaws
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
29,385
Reaction score
5,513
Location
IN A BAR
I think we ran all our scrums from the edges and I noticed we had Morris feed one. Looks like Bomber has a different approach to that new rule than everyone who like staring centre field.

Welch even kindly explained (not that it wasn’t obvious) how Storm wanted to approach it. Hide Munster behind scrum so you don’t know which side they will run at. That’s the most obvious way to approach the new rule but I doubt Bellamy wanted him to spell it out to the commentators.
 

sharkboy18

Great White
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
4,955
Reaction score
167
Location
Alstonville
Fifita. Only reason he wasn’t our 4th best prop last year was because of how low impact Prior was. At least Fifita had a few good games, Prior had like... one?

Too true there actually tbf, Fifita is certainly losing his momentum unfortunately, I've liked Prior for a few years but it certainly was time for him to move on. Depending on what Rudolf shows compared to Fifita in consistency I certainly wouldn't be down to see Fifita leave end of this year if he breaks his contract.
 

Gards

Jaws
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
18,215
Reaction score
1,715
Location
At the Tucky
I think we ran all our scrums from the edges and I noticed we had Morris feed one. Looks like Bomber has a different approach to that new rule than everyone who like staring centre field.

Welch even kindly explained (not that it wasn’t obvious) how Storm wanted to approach it. Hide Munster behind scrum so you don’t know which side they will run at. That’s the most obvious way to approach the new rule but I doubt Bellamy wanted him to spell it out to the commentators.

wouldn't surprise me if our club wasn't even told about the new rule LOL

Fifita. Only reason he wasn’t our 4th best prop last year was because of how low impact Prior was. At least Fifita had a few good games, Prior had like... one?

2019 Middle forwards

1. Uele (by length of Roosters cap)







2. Woods



3. Fifita
4.Cameo/Fill in players





5 prior
 

sharkboy18

Great White
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
4,955
Reaction score
167
Location
Alstonville
Interesting, I didn't take much notice on playtime for the players but just read that both Fifita & Woods only got the 1st 20 minutes & neither returned, maybe thats showing Bomber is showing faith in our younger forwards now.
 

Gards

Jaws
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
18,215
Reaction score
1,715
Location
At the Tucky
our main 13 rarely get much game time in a trial. pretty much same deal with every club

it's a trial for young rookies and a hit out for the older blokes
 

bort

Jaws
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
29,385
Reaction score
5,513
Location
IN A BAR
Interesting, I didn't take much notice on playtime for the players but just read that both Fifita & Woods only got the 1st 20 minutes & neither returned, maybe thats showing Bomber is showing faith in our younger forwards now.
And Fifita spent half of that time standing up after his runs.
 

egg

Jaws
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
12,777
Reaction score
976
Interesting, I didn't take much notice on playtime for the players but just read that both Fifita & Woods only got the 1st 20 minutes & neither returned, maybe thats showing Bomber is showing faith in our younger forwards now.

FFS
Couldn't help myself.
Over and Out
 

Jimako

Hammerhead
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
333
Reaction score
15
Of those who went to the game what are your thoughts on the ground?

Viewing is much further back from the ET stand & I felt the lighting was poor when it got darker, any one else noticed it was quite dark on the field to other grounds?
 
Top