time to renew pack

[susan ridgepipe]

looking at our forwards last night it seems we desperately need some new blood quickly.kite,perry,gnulavua,rodney have been around for ages and king,cross,choc and stewart although not old have plenty of miles on the clock.george rose and ballin seems the only one with a lot of upside.dont get me wrong,almost all have been real good players and some still have a lot to offer(chock,stewart)but there is a real sameness about the side-a weary sort of look.

dont know much about the under20s forwards or qld cup and im definitely not calling for heaps of young guys to be thrown to the lions but maybe we need to direct our recruitment at some tearaway young backrowers.the backline seems to have penty of promise in the youth department.

lets face it,our pack wont be better next year as the miles on the clock build up.

i dont think we are quite gone yet this year iether.lyon and matai make a huge difference.people underestimate matais effect on our enthusiasm levels and go forward

but i think we do need to win next week as panthers will be real tough a week after and the slide will get out of hand if the bunnies beat us.

 

[Darren]

I said this at start of year and got howled down!! Got told that forwards don't peak until 29 etc but we are looking very old, slow and tired. That is why Burgess is killing it. He and Pettybourne and then Asotasi and Crocker etc. It works so well, experience and youth. We are top heavy with all older guys!! Glenn is our youngest at 26!! It is an old pack and all that experience did jack all last night. Even Choc is 27!! We need 1-2 22-23 year old forwards to bring back that freshness. Maybe a Junior Palau or Lussick. Buhrer is so small and pointless in nrl.

 

[Utility Player]

Perry looked like a tackling bag last night we really need some young rawboned kamakazi style forwards to lift our older blokes, though where they will come from I just dont know.

 

[Guest]

I would rather des gave Palu a go then Cross.  Cross is so ordinary he makes Mark Byrant look like a world beater.

 

[Darren]

wasn't Cross shocking!! Palau got a 1st grade start aginst Cronulla in trial and went really well. I remember thinking that we had another forward to come in but shuffled straight up to Sunshine. Hoping him and Lussick can kick on.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

. . .  we really need some young rawboned kamakazi style forwards to lift our older blokes, though where they will come from I just dont know.

Japan.

 

[DSM5]

I agree with every comment re the forwards, BUT, Hasler is averse to any changes.  Maybe it's time to look at his performance. 

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Like Darren i also made comment about the need for a revitalisation of the forwards. Not so much the back row but the props.

If we cant have a JWH coming through and bringing that youthful pressure on spots then we need to create some enthusiasm by slotting in someone from behind the current starters. But who & what combo ?

Perry gave up his last ghost last night on his way to mildly warm pints.

This is a case of placing faith where it aint yet seen.

Put Rose into the starting team to partner King? Sounds good but when the heats on would this do it? Im not confident.

Cross seems likely but as starting prop its doubtful so far.

There must be a science to this but stuff that and I will go with a shake up with this instead:

8. King
10. Galavao (he can handle it for the first 15-20)

14. Utility (bailey yes i know)
15. Kite
16. Rose
17. Cross

 

[eagles2win]

Would love to see either one of the Schernack (spelling) or Fifita boy's from the Tigers playing for us both sets of brothers like to throw there weight around and play with a bit of passion which our pack is lacking at the moment.

 

[Zep]

Why can't Kite start? He had a very ordinary '09 but has been our best prop this. Kite in the starting pack with King.

Just my $0.02