The hard question

[LeonardCohen]

Up until round nine I was aligned with your thoughts above, the last few games though Talau has noticeably progressed his game.

No doubt Garrick has superior speed and got Talau covered there, I thought Talau was a band aid solution on the wing, the more I watch Talau if it wasn’t for Garrick’s goal kicking I would have keep Talau there.

The biggest surprise has been Talau’s work under the high ball. For a guy that was never a winger, he has been really safe.

 

[mickqld]

I'd drop Saab. Got run down twice today , doesn't get the hitup metres we need , doesn't tackle break and his catching isn't up to standard.

 

[Eagle 1]

I don't know how we can leave Hoppa out. His performances at fullback, particularly in defense are the best we have seen since 2021.

Defence ok, but he's an out and out attaking fullback, and this is what we want him for.

 

[Waz13]

Bit left field but how bout nobody. Tom to centre. Garrick to wing and Talau to the bench as outside back cover. Lawton 14 and two middles make up the bench. I think a few sides have played around with back cover in the bench.

 

[Sheikheagle]

Bit left field but how bout nobody. Tom to centre. Garrick to wing and Talau to the bench as outside back cover. Lawton 14 and two middles make up the bench. I think a few sides have played around with back cover in the bench.

I reckon we could carry hoppa or Talau on the bench. Benefit of hoppa is he can play every position in the back line.

 

[stoodamire]

It will be either Talau or Hopoate.

Though I have been very underwhelmed by Koula this year.

 

[Sheikheagle]

It will be either Talau or Hopoate.

Though I have been very underwhelmed by Koula this year.

Agree but it’s not from lack of effort. He will have a breakout game shortly. You watch.

 

[CRPSI eagle]

My gut feeling is it'll be Talau. I think Seibold is seeing that both Turbo and Hoppa's contracts expire in 2026. I think he might do a straight swap in contracts when that day comes, and wouldn't want Hopoate walking out the door sooner.

Talau has been fantastic, but if it's a question between keeping Talau on the wing or Hopoate at fullback, I'd be picking Hopoate.

Garrick will move to the wing, though. Given Koula wasn't the whipping boy last year playing at right centre I imagine he'd be moving back there. Tom's best shifts are right to left, and so he'd likely be left/roaming centre.

Bloody good question to have to ask!!!!

Talau has been our best back in the last month scoring a heap of tries while Garrick has been letting them in! how on earth would anyone keep deadwood Garrick over Talau?
I would be shopping Garrick around.

 

[TokyoEagle]

Option 1: Lehi to 14
Option 2: Turbo to the centres with Garrick moving to the wing.
Now that we have Simpkins, with Lawton's versatility, it definitely makes 1 an option IMHO.

The kid is made for FG, and we are a better side with him in the team.

 

[JakeyB789]

Surprised some are saying Talau, he’s been our best and most consistent back all season and for mine would be the first picked of all the names mentioned here.

For better or worse I think Hopoate drops out once Tom is back, but it will be very very interesting given Lehi’s last 3 weeks have been better than anything Tom delivered earlier this season. The tide was starting to turn against Tom prior to his injury and now with the emergence of Lehi, if we don’t decent results with Tom at the backend of the year things could start turning ugly.

To answer the poll question - see ya Garrick. Such a frustrating player to watch this year with the terrible defence, poor goalkicking, ball hogging and milking for penalties. I know he’d be much better on the wing, but I think a couple of weeks in Blacktown could do him even better.

 

[TokyoEagle]

Agree but it’s not from lack of effort. He will have a breakout game shortly. You watch.

I thought Koula went great today. While we are all waiting for him to streak away in attack, his defense is underrated for mine.

 

[TokyoEagle]

Surprised some are saying Talau, he’s been our best and most consistent back all season and for mine would be the first picked of all the names mentioned here.

For better or worse I think Hopoate drops out once Tom is back, but it will be very very interesting given Lehi’s last 3 weeks have been better than anything Tom delivered earlier this season. The tide was starting to turn against Tom prior to his injury and now with the emergence of Lehi, if we don’t decent results with Tom at the backend of the year things could start turning ugly.

To answer the poll question - see ya Garrick. Such a frustrating player to watch this year with the terrible defence, poor goalkicking, ball hogging and milking for penalties. I know he’d be much better on the wing, but I think a couple of weeks in Blacktown could do him even better.

Garrick starts in one position or the other. DCE's goalkicking from the sideline today was proof enough Reuben needs to be on the run on team.

 

[Sheikheagle]

I reckon no way they drop Garrick so forget that.

 

[Scorpio]

A left field option would be to play Tom at #14. It would never happen if he was fully fit, but ignoring his salary for a moment, the reality is that he's played something like half the total games for the past 5-6 years, and lately when he is playing he has been managing an issue which has had an impact on his form (as good as he still is).

A bench role would make injury management (both for him and the rest of the team) easier, and he has the ability to play a roaming role if/when needed.

In either case we now have 6 back line players who are all first graders and 1 is going to miss out. I think it's unlikely we'll keep all of them for next year (if all fit).

 

[Carl]

I'd drop Saab. Got run down twice today , doesn't get the hitup metres we need , doesn't tackle break and his catching isn't up to standard.

I didn't think he was at his best but run down seems tough. Didn't he have someone in front of him still to negotiate?

 

[Carl]

It sounds like we are going to have a lot of guys on our four man bench. Might get a bit crowded.

At full strength, i think croker/simpkin get one spot, waddell/layman get one and then two middles.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

It will be Lehi, week to week footy takes its toll on rookies, especially at his young age. His time will come again when someone goes down injured which will inevitably happen, a week or 2 off here and there won’t be a bad thing for him

No knock on him at all, but he did look a bit gassed at times yesterday in the second half when getting back to balls and bringing them back

I wouldn’t call Saab run down today either, in all instances the cover defence had the angle on him and he was never in the clear

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

It will be Lehi, week to week footy takes its toll on rookies, especially at his young age. His time will come again when someone goes down injured which will inevitably happen, a week or 2 off here and there won’t be a bad thing for him

Agree. Garrick's spot may look shakiest just now but he is an established leader at the club and a record breaking goal-kicker, can't see him being dropped from the side at least for this year. And certainly can't drop Talau on form, he keeps improving.

 

[Rocky]

What would Bellamy do? Probably put one of these guys on the bench.

Isn't that how Papenhuyzen and Hynes were played at the start of their careers? Hoppa Jnr could do the same.

 

[MW66]

It will be Lehi, week to week footy takes its toll on rookies, especially at his young age. His time will come again when someone goes down injured which will inevitably happen, a week or 2 off here and there won’t be a bad thing for him

No knock on him at all, but he did look a bit gassed at times yesterday in the second half when getting back to balls and bringing them back

I wouldn’t call Saab run down today either, in all instances the cover defence had the angle on him and he was never in the clear

Agree with this and I am sure in a presser after Hopoate's debut game that Siebold said something along the lines of this "when Tom comes back". On form it should be Garrick (or move Garrick back to the wing).

Talau may also come into consideration however I think that would be unfair. He has been great and even yesterday against the Dragons he managed to mark up well against Lomax. Didn't outplay him but nullified his game to some extent including the aerial threat.