Knight & AFB debate

[maxta]

Personally have little doubt these 2 players are in the long term plans of Manly.....but confused how Starling , Leary & Brown deserve a spot ahead of them??
My point is, are they being tucked away for 2017 - given that bit more time to mature or....should they play a part for the rest of 2016.
I think they would add some enthusiasm & starch in the middle & pretty confident opposition packs would prefer them not there also.
So what's the call - with limited numbers should they be stuck behind the current team, or 1...even both, be there against Newcastle?

 

[Digsy]

Liam knight has only played 10 mins in first grade albeit due to injury.
He has to prove himself the rest of the year in intrust to get a consistent run in first grade.

Addin Fonua seems to be unlucky. I think he offers a lot more off the bench then starling. He bends the line everytime he runs the ball and brings a bit of mongrel.

When walker and Parcell comes back in a couple weeks

I would like to see a bench of

14. Api or brown
15. Fonua Blake
16.myles
17. Vave

 

[Fluffy]

Who replaces Brown in the centres, AFB or Knight?

In all seriousness though these 2 need to replace like for like not Brown & Leary.

Brown back to utility when Walker comes back Leary is covering that position right now and will drop off.

AFB to replace Vave or Starling (with Myles on the bench i think Starling).

Knight to replace Vave/Starling or Green. Huge call replacing Green given Knight has lasted just 10 minutes and we would need 50 minutes minimum and Green is getting better and better with experience.

 

[Snake]

I think Vave still has the jump on Starling so AFB should replace Starling and Knight can replace Leary when Brown goes back to the bench upon Walker returning.

 

[The Wheel]

After the first 5 mins of the 2nd half last night I suspect AFB will get a start over Starling on Sunday

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Could be right there. Though Starling in the first half was having a big game, I thought.

 

[Fluffy]

I think Vave still has the jump on Starling so AFB should replace Starling and Knight can replace Leary when Brown goes back to the bench upon Walker returning.

Will guarantee Leary drops off the bench when Brown returns to it. No way will Barrett leave both of them there so there is no way Knight can replace Leary.

 

[Shoe1]

Next year. I reckon Trent wanted to put men against the burgesses.

 

[Shnorky]

Personally have little doubt these 2 players are in the long term plans of Manly.....but confused how Starling , Leary & Brown deserve a spot ahead of them??
My point is, are they being tucked away for 2017 - given that bit more time to mature or....should they play a part for the rest of 2016.
I think they would add some enthusiasm & starch in the middle & pretty confident opposition packs would prefer them not there also.
So what's the call - with limited numbers should they be stuck behind the current team, or 1...even both, be there against Newcastle?

I asked a mate of mine who has his ear to the ground with the club about AFB not getting game time
His comment was - it's not all about how they play that gets them selected, so assuming there are others things hampering his chances

 

[Loobs]

Knight is talented no doubt but in his 10 minutes of first grade time he gave away about 5 penalties. He needs to get that under control before he can be considered.

 

[Generational Player]

All speculation of course, but I get the feeling they think just slowly give them a taste of first grade to see what the intensity is like, giving these guys a sense of what they need to develop to consistently play in first grade then giving them plenty of game time in the lower grades to work on it (could be harder to develop those skills with limited minutes in first grade). It definitely can be frustrating at times but they did it with the Turbos and that is currently paying off handsomely so I can see why they would stick to that development plan.

 

[Andrew..]

The younger blokes seem to have great potential but I don't think we'll see much of them this year unless we are out of finals contention. We've already lost a truck load of experience with Stewart and Matai, plus Walkers brain explosion.
Who knows if we can make the finals but it's certainly going to add an element of excitement for the next few weeks.

 

[pjayz]

Knight is talented no doubt but in his 10 minutes of first grade time he gave away about 5 penalties. He needs to get that under control before he can be considered.

Yes; however, to be fair he gave away three and two of those was for not getting back the ten when he was trying to run on a fractured foot.

 

[SeaEagle21]

Might see them more possibly when the season isn't on the line or we get more injuries but TB has got the team playing well so i am going to trust his judgement.

No doubt they will both be important for us going fwd but with the season on the line he will not be changing what has been a winning formula for the last month.

 

[Nordburg]

After the first 5 mins of the 2nd half last night I suspect AFB will get a start over Starling on Sunday

After the 1st half I suspect Starling will get a start over AFB on Sunday

 

[The Who]

Did AFB play reserve grade? Did Brad Parker play Under 20s or reserve grade?
If so, how did they go? If not, why not?

 

[double hoops]

Baz is missing an opportunity if he doesn't blood someone against the knights for next year. If allowed Hopoate. A It's win win. The enthusiasm it brings to the group alone makes it worth while. alone

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Did AFB play reserve grade? Did Brad Parker play Under 20s or reserve grade?
If so, how did they go? If not, why not?

Not sure. Don't know. Hard to say. Went well. Because.

 

[Cochrane]

i concede Starling had a poor 2nd half, but he knows his job and that is to take the **** hitups, the ones where you are first/second off the bat and cruising for a smashing. i think the younger blokes are still a bit selective and don't put themselves in the position to give what Starling gives us.

he mightn't be as good etc etc...but he has the same attributes as Glenn Hall, just do his job up the middle...except for that freakin' unbelievable run in the GF that ended with the Bell try off a miracle Snake pass! Starling also has a good motor and is always chasing and has run down some fair players in his time. I am not saying we keep him, but we need to have that kind of player before we replace him.

 

[Woodsie]

And while we are bagging Starling for missing a tackle leading to a try, let's bag the living **** out of Tom Turbo for missing the one on one tackle that lead to the disallowed try .... or is that different.

Or maybe we shouldn't bag anybody ... every player to ever play the game makes mistakes every week.