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Round 4: SHARKS vs TITANS

As James' critic I point out that he turns like the Titanic and he's got the discipline of a manic Greg Bird but that doesn't mean I don't like or don't want him in the team … I do but not on that edge.

I forgot to mention, I like the way Simpkins, Bird and Taylor just bobbed-up either side.
 
I like Ryan James , but he needs to pull his head in just run straight and hard thats what he is there for. Remember a couple of years ago how well he played , i want to see him play like that again
 
It was a win that we needed , but very ugly, a win none the less. I thought Elgey was dominated by the larger personalities in the team and needed to come out of his shell abit , but a good game for game one. I liked the impact our bench guys in Petty and Passi gave us , these two guys played pretty well and IMO thought that Petty was our best forward while out there. Without stating the obvious Hoff needed to our full time FB. SSezer tried to do too much and needs to let LG get more ball. Crampton should come into our centres for the Broncos game.
 
Highlights

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Great to get the win. Especially considering the shocking calls that went against us (and have been going against us the last three rounds), and the 'banter' our guys were copping from the fans, and ground announcer. Was a good night.

Some thoughts,

Realistically, we stilled look like a bottom 4 side. The effort is so obviously there, and penalties, errors and reffs calls (we can't seem to buy a 50/50 call atm) aren't helping, but putting these issues to the side, we just aren't clicking on either side of the ball. That said, I like some of the small steps the team appears to be taking and so far as a rebuilding season goes, I'm excited as to what 2016/17/18 may hold.

Myles was our best by far. Inspirational (origin like) desperation and effort from him. Where's it been?

Simpkins has impressed me a hell of a lot in his three games for us thus far. I thought he would turn out to be the worst of our off-season signings, but I was wrong. Decent motor, rarely misses tackles, low error rate, leg speed and footwork are deceptively good, an he has a nice short pass at the line. It's not that he's a worldbeater, just that he's defied my expectations. As our 2016 team begins to take shape, i can see him being a good depth player for us.

Paasi: I'm starting to love this bloke. Bit of a cult hero in the making I think. Much like Moseley and LG, the more games we get into him this season the better. Can't wait until he starts to feel like he belongs, because once he does (and once the team as a whole starts playing with some fluency and confidence) I can see Paasi potentially terrorising oppositions.

Douglas put in a typical 'unsung hero' performance. He was getting the ball and taking those horrible hit-ups that nobody else wanted and driving it right into the teeth of the sharkies often early in sets when the sharkies were getting great line-speed and giving it to us. Unlike a few - Dougie constantly looked hungry for every single inch on offer. Did nothing special, but I really noticed his effort this game.

Bird and James both had some really excellent touches, but the penalties were just so frustrating. That said, we loose that game by 12+ without them IMO. Our backline being as small and disjointed as it is, gets bullied when momentum turns against us, and these two just provide that bit of grunt that we need. Both of them NEED to get the penalties out of their game URGENTLY though, because for all the good the do, their penalties are killing us.

I actually think Zillman had a better game than many on here do. Especially early (from centre lol) his defense was ... great (i think the fabric of time and space just warped as i typed that!!). His two knock-ons, and especially that last one on our line, were brutal, but all things being equal, one of his better games ... for what that's worth. Don't get me wrong, I still think this team is screaming for a real fullback and left centre.

More alarmingly, does anyone honestly think Hoffman is living up to the fanfare yet? Yes it's early and his opportunities have been limited to non-existent, but Don, Roberts and Mead have all outplayed him while still being relatively quiet. In the few minutes Hoffman has had at the back, I haven't seen anything from him to get excited about. TBH, I still don't think he's the next best fullback in the team. I wish Henry would give Mead or Roberts a game there.

I have officially accepted that Beau Falloon > Matt Srama. I have backed Srama to the hilt, but he has just lost something from his game, that he still hasn't gotten back. Falloon will be scrubbed out for a few weeks after that tackle, and realistically when everyone is fit, Moseley should be given the keys to the team, with mortimer coming off the bench... but in this continuing paradigm of scared coaching, I'll take Falloon's defense over Sramas.

Sezer showed that despite his status in our team, he hasn't developed enough to be a dominant half in this competition week in week out. He will make a great foil to a more mature and dominant half and will no doubt have a really good career that should only get better and better as he progresses. While he will probably end up in Sydney, and my preference is 100% LG & DCE for 2016, if for some reason we end up with Sezer & DCE, we could do much worse.

Elgey is the future and we'd be crazy to let him go. Was stoked to be there for his debut and sat right near his family (and Beau Henry) ... It was mixed night for the kid, but he showed enough IMO.

Bring on the Donkeys :thumbsup:

Forgot to mention Pettybourne, who again, showed the way forward for us against the Sharks. Well and truly our buy of the season so far (although Moseley should have that title by seasons end). I'm not sure if it's a coaching issue, but I can't understand why we don't have our quick guys running in support behind Petty (and Myles, and Taylor) who seem able to get an arm free regularly. LG has great support play and hope we see this facet of his game next week.
 
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Falloon always been better than Srama
Pettybourne lost alot of speed since coming back to the nrl but gained some brains it seems.
Paasi is my boi, he'll be around for yrs
Things happen around Roberts, he struggles defensively, always has had errors in his game but scores tries. You will never see him at fb cause he'd be blowing after 10mins. Terrible cardio.
LG, Manly will get him taking on the line alot more in the future.
An entertaining game and the sharks blew my chance at making money with dumb plays
 
Thanks for the at the ground report K2G. I think Hoff is as frustrated as us supporters. Gets named as FB then after 15 minutes he gets moved because the golden child is a poor centre.
 
teke said:
LG, Manly will get him taking on the line alot more in the future.
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I agree ... Manly's flaccid, non-threatening forward pack will entice LG to take them on, for many years to come as a titan.

:thumbsup:

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Mexican titan said:
Thanks for the at the ground report K2G. I think Hoff is as frustrated as us supporters. Gets named as FB then after 15 minutes he gets moved because the golden child is a poor centre.
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Zillman's 15 mins at centre against the sharks was better than any 15 mins of the game that Hoffman spent there. Sad to say.
 
Mexican titan said:
Thanks for the at the ground report K2G. I think Hoff is as frustrated as us supporters. Gets named as FB then after 15 minutes he gets moved because the golden child is a poor centre.
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Agreed. Hoff just has to deal with the situation best he can.
 
Yeah, I was just reading earlier that he has retired to the Coast, and has been known to turn up 'n support the Titans at times, though much to a lesser extent than Manly (fair call). :)

Take a leaf outta Ken's book, teke. :p
 
Does anybody agree that our away jersey was ridiculously close to the Sharks … WTF, our home jersey would have been perfect.
 
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