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Having O'Sullivan on the bench probably is not a bad move. I think Cirro is planning to move him into the halves sometime during the game . Maybe move burto back in the centres or somewhere during the game.
 
Zoz2025 said:
Having O'Sullivan on the bench probably is not a bad move. I think Cirro is planning to move him into the halves sometime during the game . Maybe move burto back in the centres or somewhere during the game.
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Might be used as a lock/hooker others can cover when defending in the moddle.

He might also play left sided half.

If the coaches think he is the best option, it is worth a try.
 
Todd has an issue with concussion, at least this should gjve him sometime to get the rest of his body right.

Woods keeps re-injuring his hamstring.

It would be foolish to rush either of these players, most likely along with Dykes and perhaps a few others, they could add some quality to our squad towards the backend of the season.

After round 11, we will be able to use all of our depth.

The way the season is progressing, I can't see us having too many players involved in SOO.

For the game on the 22 of May v the Storm, that is 5 days before SOO1. The Storm should have more players in SOO than we do.

The best strategy is to empty the tank against the Phins, we have an 8 day turn around and we can bring in some new players for the Sharks game.

The Phins have us covered with class, but we can drag them into a contest with effort. High completions, repeat sets, low penalties and low 6-agains should be the aim. Play hard and physical in the forwards, we may have a pack that can shade their pack.
 
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The game against the Storm seems like a less intense game where we could give a few young guys a run, and it is a home game.

The names i have in mind are Spinks, Dykes/Cocherane, Gordon CKT, Underhill/Baker if they haven't played before that. Not all of them, 1 or 2.

Winning the 3 games leading into the next bye would be great, we also need to beat the Phins and/or Sharks.
 
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The next 2 games against the Sea Eagles and Titans are also opportunities, we need to make our move during the SOO period.

After SOO it is a long hard grind to the finish line, we need to use our depth squad rotation and hopefully add some quaility late building for the semis.

Of course the plan could go off the rails, but knowing what we need to do is handy.
 
In relation to improving the side, Gus has already said that will happen via promoting young talent.

Some of this talent is already in our top 30, more will be added each year and some older players will transition out.

A few years ago we needed to pay overs for all players and we couldn't sign a decent prop for any money.

Some of our older players are probably on wages that are more than fair, but these guys have put in a shift over the last few years and worked hard for the team.

This will sort itself out, but young players can only come into the side if older players move on, and it is a gradual process.

Getting a young guy ready and working out when he is ready is a gradual process. I do expect to see more young guys playing higher grades as the season progresses.
 
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Good effort in the first half, a few errors in attack cost us.

IMO the Phins found upit hard to handle Hughes and Thompson, we need to get them back on at the right time, after Presto is back.
 
Dogs had a lot of chance to score a few tries hopefully they can put that sin bin behind them and come out firing now
 
Team is trying hard, this halves combination looks better.

Our starting props and our start is good.

Sua, Xerri and Tracey missed too many tackles.
 
We are still in 2026, but only barely.

Tracey at fullback is becoming a real liability.

Galvin and Hayward are young, but they need to get their error rate down.

There is a issue with our edge defence, we are outnumbered, our winger is caught in field and we don't have the speed scramble, especially with our fullback missing tackles.
 
O'Sullivian defended better than I expected, but his edge leaked a lot of points and I didn't sight him in scramble.

We need him in attack, i would try a different centre and winger.

Might just be a bad year, i agree with Cirro the refs are pounding us, but that doesn't excuse the poor misses on the edge when the middle is doing it's job.
 
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IMO Readon and Tuala are good defenders at right centre, we could switch Critter to left centre.

Burto also isn't a great defender, but he is better than Xerri.

We have to try Dykes at fullback, a few more losses and we are walking the tightrope.

Rinakama for Sua and we need to find a right winger.
 
I don't think our team is that bad, but the weak links in our side are being exposed.

We probably made more errors at times last season and tonights play by the halves and props was way better than last season, epecially the props

We didn't need to defend wingers in open space last season, and Tracey made some good tackles.

Opponents are getting quicker play the balls and we are missing important tackles.

Scramble defence was better last year, but some of our scamble in the first half was great.
 
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Last night turned out to be exactly what was expected. Yeah we started well but we are too slow in our ball distribution. The bottom line is we played poorly with too many errors, missed takes and bad reads, and to the phins, give them credit they played a good game and they were allowed that freedom through a mountain of possession, the skinniest 10 metres I have seen for a while and piss poor officiating. We severely lack speed on the wings and our spine is non existant. The Tracey re-signing aged like milk in the sun, nice bloke but not what we need. We have no ½, and we need a hooker that can distribute the ball with a bit more venom. Having said that about the teams, the biggest blight on the game was Atkins, if this is what a First Grade referee looks like then the game is lost. Some of his decicions were pathetic at best and it is a shame that the NRL administration is too gutless to hold them accountable for their game performance.
 
Walter Payton set an NFL rushing record while playing with a very bad dose of the flu, snd received a congratulary phone call from President Regan.

Really great players find a way to get it done, regardless of injury / illness.

Any player that takes the field owns the consequences.

My assumption was Cirro was fairly confident before the game becuase most of the team were fit and healthy.

So players like Xerri and Tracey need to be dropped, as per Montoya they are racking up bad performances culminating in a very bad performance.

Sua is a very talented player but his defence needs some work, Rimakama is a better option.

Players can find some form and confidence in reserve grade and earn their spot back.

I noticed Hayward scrambling to try to stop trys in the left corner, and I wondered where O'Sullivian was.

While O'Sullivian added a lot to the attack, his edge conceded some very soft trys and some long range trys.
 
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Beretta said:
You cant be serious, right?

we have gone backwards since the arrival of Galvin.

top 8 is gone this year.
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Galvin and Hayward are young, but the potential is there, most games they are net contributors.

Galvin had a below par game, but he has been our best player many games this year.

I back Cirro and Gus's judgement that we were not going to win a comp with Sexton.

I don't think Galvin is a long term 7, Woods or Conti are more likely, Teaupa should be the long term 6. Galvin will eventally be the best lock in the game, this is simply part of the development process, and we don't currently have a better option.
 
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