Official Wade Graham

[Henchmann]

Thanks, might be worth pursuing that combo then?

How good have Manly been at developing halfbacks, wonder what their secret is?

 

[deano the p]

They give them enough time to develop.

 

[Tatus]

Oh Definitely - and what about Noddys kick chases , wheres that enthusiasm these days - sadly missing

I've seen Graham put on a few big hits running out of the line.. But i agree the Enthusiasm is sadly lacking.. All it takes is that ONE PLAYER to rush out of the line and fire all the other boys up... No one wants to do that tho.. Seems after the panther wooping they decided they had enough. STEP UP CRONULLA..
IMO piss everyone off and put a whole new side on paper.. Keep Gallen, The Chad, Stapleton, and just bring in all newbies. Playing first grade is not a given.. You have to earn it buy playing good football.. something cronulla doesnt do!

 

[Ramzyv1]

Oh Definitely - and what about Noddys kick chases , wheres that enthusiasm these days - sadly missing

I have been very impressed with Wade Graham's kick chases actually. Unfortunately though he puts the ball dead half the time which is why it may seem like he doesn't chase. I have been disappointed with him in a few areas (although he has been solid) but his kick chase is not one.

 

[sharks2010]

whats the point in having a good kick chase with out a good kicking game
his kicking game has been f ing poo at best

 

[Sharks Fan 160]

As far as im concerned his kiking game is as good as cordobas.... if he moved to lok i think ull find it may improve though as there is less reliance on that part of his game and he can chime in when he sees the opportunity

 

[Beejay]

As far as im concerned his kiking game is as good as cordobas.... if he moved to lok i think ull find it may improve though as there is less reliance on that part of his game and he can chime in when he sees the opportunity

Cordoba? As in Josh Cordoba? I sure hope our halfback is at the very least as good as Cordobas!

 

[Sharks Fan 160]

hahahaha yes i no slight exaggeration but hey mayb we should have a look into cordoba's kiking game it wouldnt do us any more harm

 

[Ramzyv1]

whats the point in having a good kick chase with out a good kicking game
his kicking game has been f ing poo at best

I agree and I think shifting him to lock at some stage seems to be the option, but not this year imo. We have a backrow of Gallen, Smith, Toops and Bukuya who have all been outstanding, and you can't move Gal to front row yet because Snowy and Dougie are still there doing a great job.

So I am happy for him to have the rest of the year to work on it and then assess where he is playing next season (unless injuries hit our forwards again). He is not playing badly enough to get dropped, but I agree his kicking game has not been good enough.

 

[Blix]

I agree and I think shifting him to lock at some stage seems to be the option, but not this year imo. We have a backrow of Gallen, Smith, Toops and Bukuya who have all been outstanding, and you can't move Gal to front row yet because Snowy and Dougie are still there doing a great job.

So I am happy for him to have the rest of the year to work on it and then assess where he is playing next season (unless injuries hit our forwards again). He is not playing badly enough to get dropped, but I agree his kicking game has not been good enough.

The whole question is at what point do we want to have Townsend in our team?

So far our lack of kicking game has been killing us. I would be happy for Townsend to play a few more matches, his' kikcing game should be clearly dominant than Grahams or Kellys, and will only improve as well.

So until Kelly gets back I think he should definately be an autopick, and if Kelly if ready to come back next weak, I dont know?, I would probably run Graham off the bench, than put him in the second row, or rest Gal up at lock after SOO.

 

[Ramzyv1]

The whole question is at what point do we want to have Townsend in our team?

So far our lack of kicking game has been killing us. I would be happy for Townsend to play a few more matches, his' kikcing game should be clearly dominant than Grahams or Kellys, and will only improve as well.

So until Kelly gets back I think he should definately be an autopick, and if Kelly if ready to come back next weak, I dont know?, I would probably run Graham off the bench, than put him in the second row, or rest Gal up at lock after SOO.

Kelly is scheduled to return next week but if for some reason he is not ready then I agree, Townsend is an autopick. But otherwise, for the reasons I listed earlier in reference to the quality we already have in the front row and backrow I don't think we can justify putting Graham in the backrow. He also can't really go on the bench as a utility as it wastes a spot that could be used for a specialist forward, which we need because our forward pack already gets pretty tired. Plus Morris is our utility.

If we dropped Aiton/Flanagan and just played Morris then you could do it but I don't think that is the right move either.

 

[andrew's_sharks]

Kelly is scheduled to return next week but if for some reason he is not ready then I agree, Townsend is an autopick. But otherwise, for the reasons I listed earlier in reference to the quality we already have in the front row and backrow I don't think we can justify putting Graham in the backrow. He also can't really go on the bench as a utility as it wastes a spot that could be used for a specialist forward, which we need because our forward pack already gets pretty tired. Plus Morris is our utility.

If we dropped Aiton/Flanagan and just played Morris then you could do it but I don't think that is the right move either.

We can easily justify Graham being in the backrow IMO

Props for the game. Douglas, Snowden, Cordoba (bench), J Smith(bench)

2nd row/locks. Paul Gallen, Jason Bakuya, Wade Graham, Topou (bench)
The other bench spot can be a hooker or another backrower/ prop

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Agreed Andrew.

 

[Ramzyv1]

We can easily justify Graham being in the backrow IMO

Props for the game. Douglas, Snowden, Cordoba (bench), J Smith(bench)

2nd row/locks. Paul Gallen, Jason Bakuya, Wade Graham, Topou (bench)
The other bench spot can be a hooker or another backrower/ prop

I wouldn't completely rule it out and I'd be keen to see how it went but the two concerns I have are that I don't know about Smith moving to prop and also think our backrow is our strength and we would be weakening for not a good enough reason.

Gal, Toops, Smith and Bukuya (with one on the bench) are imo the best backrow in the comp. Dougie and Snowden with Cordoba and Mannah or Vave is also very solid and imo you have to have Aiton on the bench as he injects a different type of attack when he is on.

I agree the halves are an issue but we have missed Kelly. If things do not improve when he is back and Townsend is still in form in NYC then maybe dropping Graham is the answer after all but I am personally keen to see how our team goes when they finally get all their injured players back next week. Then make changes if it doesnt work.

 

[andrew's_sharks]

I wouldn't completely rule it out and I'd be keen to see how it went but the two concerns I have are that I don't know about Smith moving to prop and also think our backrow is our strength and we would be weakening for not a good enough reason.

Gal, Toops, Smith and Bukuya (with one on the bench) are imo the best backrow in the comp. Dougie and Snowden with Cordoba and Mannah or Vave is also very solid and imo you have to have Aiton on the bench as he injects a different type of attack when he is on.

I agree the halves are an issue but we have missed Kelly. If things do not improve when he is back and Townsend is still in form in NYC then maybe dropping Graham is the answer after all but I am personally keen to see how our team goes when they finally get all their injured players back next week. Then make changes if it doesnt work.

Smith would be able to handle playing at prop for 40 minutes IMO, which is roughly all the game time he plays anyway. I also dont see why we start with both Douglas and Snowden at the same time. One should come off the bench IMO and we should always have one of them on the field unless there is an injury.

I think it strengthens the creativity of our back row and we wouldnt lose anything with graham playing there instead of smith. Instead of having another enforcer we have a hole runner who can bust tackles and kick. I think it would add points to our game.

 

[Hughesy215]

I've seen Graham put on a few big hits running out of the line.. But i agree the Enthusiasm is sadly lacking.. All it takes is that ONE PLAYER to rush out of the line and fire all the other boys up... No one wants to do that tho.. Seems after the panther wooping they decided they had enough. STEP UP CRONULLA..
IMO piss everyone off and put a whole new side on paper.. Keep Gallen, The Chad, Stapleton, and just bring in all newbies. Playing first grade is not a given.. You have to earn it buy playing good football.. something cronulla doesnt do!

What drop Douglas?


tool

 

[jasontitty]

I would be happy to have Graham at lock, he needs to pick up Gallen's weight training and boooyaaah.

 

[Ramzyv1]

Smith would be able to handle playing at prop for 40 minutes IMO, which is roughly all the game time he plays anyway. I also dont see why we start with both Douglas and Snowden at the same time. One should come off the bench IMO and we should always have one of them on the field unless there is an injury.

I think it strengthens the creativity of our back row and we wouldnt lose anything with graham playing there instead of smith. Instead of having another enforcer we have a hole runner who can bust tackles and kick. I think it would add points to our game.

Still not sure if I agree or not but like the logic and I'd be really curious to see if it would work. I still want to see how we go next week with a full team but if we lose that one I would be very keen to see how this goes.

 

[Henchmann]

Playing Wade Graham in the forwards is a waste of his talent, and I actually find all the talk disrespectful to Gallen. He is the best lock forward in the world, Sunderland Medal winner and NSW Captain, and you can tell from numerous interviews and articles he's not happy to being playing the bash and barge at Prop forward in Origin 2 - just the latest stupid ridiculous decision from the great hypocrite that is Ricky Stuart.

 

[Sharks Fan 160]

his talent points towards him playing in the bakrow cus he sure as hell cant kik or lead the team around the field