Battle of Hastings 1066 Thread

[Bubbler]

What is there to lose?

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

What is there to lose?

Not much really , but I think Croker deserves another game first.

 

[CollaroyJo]

Not much really , but I think Croker deserves another game first.

Agree totally... went to the game.... it was not him that Ost the game(great game to be at).
DCE was legaless at the end and we had not used the bench fully.
Miss the 5/8 kick though

 

[hozza]

Croker deserves at the very least 5 games. Only a kid, thought he went ok without setting the world on fire.

Hastings on the other hand has had plenty of time to bust into the team and hasn’t. By all reports had a good game in reggies, let him build his confidence for the next month..

 

[sheridanstand78]

Hastings should replace brown on the bench .covers the halves and hooker and kicks goals!

 

[XV-1]

One thing is for sure, Hastings kicking game is very good and he is a gun goal kicker.

On the negative, his defence is poor and his football brain seems below average - takes the wrong option too many times.

The real question is - can he run a football team around the park?

 

[brad]

Not much really , but I think Croker deserves another game first.

Agree Mark , he deserves another couple of weeks before any rash decisions are made . Thing is if its not working by this time Barrett needs to change it before we slip like 16 with Walker . He hung on 6 weeks to long with that experiment and it backed us up . If it happens it wont wreck young Croker, It will make him an even better player .

 

[Michael Clare]

I'm a Hastings fan because it seems to me that he's 1) confident, 2) an excellent talker on the field and 3) an organising type of player which is what DCE needs to be at his mercurial best. Best of all he, has an excellent short kicking game and is a natural rather than "manufactured" goal kicker. He is our closest replacement to Blake Green in terms of style. This being said, Trent hasn't picked him and there must be some good reasons for his decision. He's the expert after all ... I'm just a fan typing on a keyboard! Still, I think we struggle to win close matches because our team loses momentum after missing goals which other teams kick with monotonous regularity. This is just speculation on my part, but I can't help wondering if Hastings is not being picked because he doesn't get on with some of the key players, and if so, this is a serious negative.

 

[ALinda]

I agree but would be happy if he was at least on our bench.
However, I think the poll question should be in "our" starting side, not 'the'. I don't want to lose him to another club who could quite possibly play him in their starting side.

 

[Bubbler]

Whoever plays in the 6 needs to fill the role needed for the team as a whole to perform.

Some say that Croker was not the reason we lost to the Knights. But if DCE was at his attacking best due to having a halves partner who organised the team and provided DCE the freedom to do what he does best, we may well have piled on the points. Hastings also provides a genuine last tackle option with his kicking game whereas with Croker in the 6, DCE is a heavily marked man. His ability to kick goals and field goals is not just a bonus - it is an important part of what this team needs.

In the games that Hastings played last year, I did not see his defence as weak by any measure.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

A couple more good games in reggies and Hastings will squeeze into the 17, somewhere.

Baz has made his judgment that Croker is a good player who is ready for the job, and he won't turn around on Tuesday and say he got it wrong. However, traditionally when Manly brings young players into firsts they are not only ready, they are soon pushing for rep honours.

So the pressure is on Crokes but I quite like his chances. Let's see him smash Moses a couple of times and he'll become an instant Manly favourite.

 

[Snake]

Hastings doesn't get along with a lot of the players and that's why he hasn't got a run. Croker deserves a few games to settle into the role but if we are 1 from 5 or 6, I would be giving Hastings a go. He is very confident and will not lack the mouth to tell players where to stand and what to do. He is not the fastest or most dynamic half, is kick happy and can take the wrong option, but he does play more like Green than Croker.

Time will reveal so much.

 

[tookey]

Agree totally... went to the game.... it was not him that Ost the game(great game to be at).
DCE was legaless at the end and we had not used the bench fully.
Miss the 5/8 kick though

His 5 drop balls were a big factor

 

[40 years an eagle]

By the time Croaker proves he is not up to it we will already have a real replacement.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Hastings doesn't get along with a lot of the players and that's why he hasn't got a run

Neither did DCE a couple for years ago but he still got chosen.

 

[Ralphie]

I'm a Hastings fan because it seems to me that he's 1) confident, 2) an excellent talker on the field and 3) an organising type of player which is what DCE needs to be at his mercurial best. Best of all he, has an excellent short kicking game and is a natural rather than "manufactured" goal kicker. He is our closest replacement to Blake Green in terms of style. This being said, Trent hasn't picked him and there must be some good reasons for his decision. He's the expert after all ... I'm just a fan typing on a keyboard! Still, I think we struggle to win close matches because our team loses momentum after missing goals which other teams kick with monotonous regularity. This is just speculation on my part, but I can't help wondering if Hastings is not being picked because he doesn't get on with some of the key players, and if so, this is a serious negative.

This is Barrett, the man who is now in his third season of selecting poo. Don’t undersell your opinion, you are spot on.

 

[Harvies elbow]

Croker needs a fair go.
3 or 4 games would be the limit.
I'd have Hastings on the bench instead of lewie and that way 5/8 is covered in case it stuffs up.
Whether Hastings gets on with some players ain't that big a deal if players are reminded to focus on the prize.
Plenty of successful things don't get along.
It's the coaching staff and the players professionalism's task to overcome that.

 

[Snake]

But won't Kelly be in the 6 anyway?...

Not necessarily...we are chasing him, but he isn't signed. He needs a release from Hull (they might say no) and we need clearance from the cap auditors.

 

[HoldenV8]

Not much really , but I think Croker deserves another game first.

That I will agree with. I just hope that if it still doesn't work out that it doesn't take Barrett 10 weeks to figure it out like it did in 2016.

 

[Dan]

I’m fine with giving croker another go as long as we don’t waste a whole year on giving him a go like we did with walker, let’s se a finite date on it