All these fowards...who plays??

[BOZO]

My picks;

Mason - I've heard players say the forward battle is won in the first 10-15 minutes so Mason starts for mine.

Ballin

Lawrence

Symonds - an absolute must IMO. He is the closest thing we have to Glenn Stewart. He runs great lines off DCE, hits hard, can ball play (former 5/8) and has a good work rate. I think he has boundless potential.

Buhrer

Lui - one of our best last year and a revelation at lock before getting injured. He hits harder than any forward in our pack and is a real goer...our new Choc.

Bench;
Vave - we need his size and aggression

JSL - great impact player

Mateo - great impact player that can run amok against the tired forwards...too lazy in defence to start and play long minutes.

Take your pick of Starling, Hasson, Turbo and co.

Symonds is a great runner but not a great ball player like gift . ( did not play 5/8 nrl level )
JSL was a good bench player but not a great impact player for us last season IMO
The Manly culture does not reward laziness ( ask G . Rose ) and you will find a different and rejuvenated Mateo wearing our colours this year

 

[BOZO]

Mason is far to old to be starting and playing off the bench

Mason is big enough strong enough and ugly enough to mix it with any of the young ones . At the end of the day Its not how old you are but how fit and strong you are

 

[The Who]

Will also have to see how the new rule around releasing the tackled player affects the forwards. You can't really have a pile of massive but slow units tackling then taking forever to release because they will give away 20 penalties a game.

Just another thing to throw into the equation I suppose...

You make a good point. The big lumbering forwards, which saw the Dogs, Easts and Souffs dominate last year, could become a liability, and agile, fitter players like Lawrence, Buhrer and Symonds more effective.

 

[Loobs]

You make a good point. The big lumbering forwards, which saw the Dogs, Easts and Souffs dominate last year, could become a liability, and agile, fitter players like Lawrence, Buhrer and Symonds more effective.

It will go both ways too I think. You want forwards who can tackle, release quickly and get up into marker but you also want someone who can hit it up, get tackled and be getting to their feet quickly enough to exploit any slowness in the release to their advantage.

If it becomes a much faster and cleaner game around the ruck then you may see a move towards second rowers becoming props because they can handle the defensive workload for 80 minutes are also speedier moving from a tackled position.

Or I could be totally wrong and there is minimal change.

 

[EagleRock40]

I don't know why most people have Vave in their 17.
He was average at best in a poor forward pack at the Sharks, for mine he'll be in NSW Cup Round 1.
Seems we have some healthy completion for spots this year and with some big names gone there's a chance for somebody to really step up.

 

[Eagles2nv]

8. Starling
9. Ballin
10. Lawrence
11. Mateo
12. Symonds
13. Buhrer


14. Mason
15. JSL
16. Burgess
17. Hodges/Lui/J Turbo

 

[Eagles2nv]

Funny how horo hasnt really gotten a mention.

 

[Budgie]

Whoever Tooves picks is my pick.

 

[NewwyEagle]

Lawrence
Ballin
Starling
Mateo
Symmonds
Buhrer
INT
Mason
Burgess
JSL/Horo
Lui

I think Tooves will start Mason on the bench and bring him on when the pack needs a bit of firing up. I'm also thinking JSL will win out over Horo with these new ruck rules, our mobile pack will win out a lot this season over slower packs thanks to these changes.

 

[Fibro Eagle]

With all the new additions its going to be great competitions for spots and see only 2 that are guaranteed starting forwards that being Lawrence and Buhrer (oh and of course Ballin )that can only be a good thing and maybe a better year for the NSW cup team

 

[Dicko]

8. B.Lawrence
9. M.Ballin
10. W.Mason
11. J.Buhrer
12. T.Symonds
13. F.Mateo

14. L.Burgess
15. S.VaVe
16. J.Sene-Lefao
17. D.Lui

Lots of impact, definitely going to do better in 2015 than 2014 (forward wise).

 

[wedgetail eagle]

Bench & injury, I expect.

 

[Fluffy]

Mason is big enough strong enough and ugly enough to mix it with any of the young ones . At the end of the day Its not how old you are but how fit and strong you are

You cannot be serious, you want Mason to be a starting prop and a bench prop at the same time.

So at 35 Mason starts gets tired at say 20 minutes and you think Mason can then come off the bench and replace Mason then just before half time Mason will come on to give Mason a break. Having played 40 minutes Mason will start the second half only to be replaced by Mason who will play through to the end of the match.

Not too much to ask him to play 80 minutes........ good point

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

And do not forget Blake Leary, yet to play first grade at NRL level but probably the player of the year in the Qld Cup.

Great mobile forward , tackles well and can pass the ball as well.

 

[Dan]

Horro, starling and probably Lui or burgess need to be in the mix.

Hodges, I'm not really a fan of yet. Ballin at the same stage in his career had the ball on a string and you could see his quality immediately. Hodges has a long ways to go just yet.

Symonds needs to work on his lines and I hope he has been doing that. His injury last year really hurt him, he came back and he totally stifled out attack with poor lines last season.

Mason realistically will be doing 30 minutes a game and those should be off the bench.

JSL is a better bench starter too.

The real question is around props, I think starling did enough to deserve a starting spot.

I really hope Lawrence has a huge year this year like he did in 2013 but also hs learned to pass the ball when in space

 

[Shoe1]

Lawrence ballin mason horo symonds buhrer

Turbo starling burgess hodges

 

[Shoe1]

A

Lawrence ballin mason horo symonds buhrer

Turbo starling burgess hodges

actually Mateo over symonds... Or maybe Jesse over mason...

 

[Fluffy]

Horro, starling and probably Lui or burgess need to be in the mix.

Hodges, I'm not really a fan of yet. Ballin at the same stage in his career had the ball on a string and you could see his quality immediately. Hodges has a long ways to go just yet.

Symonds needs to work on his lines and I hope he has been doing that. His injury last year really hurt him, he came back and he totally stifled out attack with poor lines last season.

Mason realistically will be doing 30 minutes a game and those should be off the bench.

JSL is a better bench starter too.

The real question is around props, I think starling did enough to deserve a starting spot.

I really hope Lawrence has a huge year this year like he did in 2013 but also hs learned to pass the ball when in space

Hodges was 20 when he debuted last year, Ballin was 23 when he debuted. So at the same stage of their career is a bit misleading depending how you read it.

If you read it as age then Hodges is ahead. we all felt that Ballin was a year overdue but given Hodges made over 50 tackles in his first year (3 games) and Ballin has a small attack I think you are very harsh. Hodges has 80% of Ballins game 3 seasons earlier, ignoring his better attacking ability

 

[Dan]

Disagree watching Ballin in trials well before his debut he was a standout in the field.

I don't know where this myth comes from that ballin has no attack, he is pivitol to how we attack and go forward.

If we didn't have two gun halves and the likes of Jamie Lyon and Glenn stewart then I can see a need for someone like ballin to go forward more. The key to our attack however is quick and quality service from dummy half, teams figured this out so try and stifle him which is why he had to run more last year

 

[Chip and Chase]

I don't know what the exact split is across the 16 NRL teams, but I'm guessing there's many more teams that don't carry a hooker on the bench than do. In terms of finalists, probably only Panthers used Segerayo off the bench with any regularity. It's not a tactic du jour these days, benches get loaded up with big forwads to get through the grind. I don't think that tactic will change this season