McHunt
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He hasn't been to date, but he's a better 9 than he was this time last year.
Mr Fourex
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Why is that ...do you think?
McHunt
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Hold the line, sir. I'm putting you through to Cory Paix now.
Big Del
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He is the best tackler out of the bunch .
And has the highest involvement in defence . Of the 3 hookers who were ready to play .
Smoothy doesn`t chase down guys around the ruck like Bill does and Paix is a catcher tackler . Not as effective at stifling the opposition .
Or nepotism !!!!
mrtij
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He hasn’t been to date, because he’s never had to play off the bench to date.
Yeah he isn’t the silkiest of halves but do you need a 14 to be that? He’s a 9 first, a half second which is fine from a 14 imo.
McHunt
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My dream 14 would be more like Berrigan or Marshall. I was pretty happy with Segeyaro at 14.
ozzball
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OK ... just gonna throw this out there ... I've seen quite an improvement in Tanah Boyd's game recently, seems to be running at the line more, not bad off the boot and his goal-kicking is getting better ... off contract end of 2025 ... is he an option?
Jock Madden's ok but (and this is just me) his game reminds me too much of Brodie Croft's style of play ... nervous??
Jock Madden's ok but (and this is just me) his game reminds me too much of Brodie Croft's style of play ... nervous??
Xzei
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think he would be no better tbh just a stop gap till one of the younger guys comes on
kman
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Young Mr Black looks like a kid with tremendous potential, I would definitely keep him close and have Reynolds show him a thing or 2.
Mustafur
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I was too drunk when I made this and didn't think of all the options lmao, but I still think Lam is the best choice from what we know of right now.
I don't think Madden will be good enough from what I've seen, he lacks instincts you want to be seeing in a 7 and he can't be a 6, Mam also is not a 7 from what I have seen, his kicking game and kicking decisions are mud he should stay as a 6 where he is proper good and is natural for the role.
I don't think Madden will be good enough from what I've seen, he lacks instincts you want to be seeing in a 7 and he can't be a 6, Mam also is not a 7 from what I have seen, his kicking game and kicking decisions are mud he should stay as a 6 where he is proper good and is natural for the role.
Mustafur
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Billy isn't a half(we have seen plenty of it already, he is too run happy, which would be fine if we was Mam but he isn't anywhere near as athletic and struggles with pressured kicks)his best kicks are from dummy half, there is quite a bit more pressure when your kicking from first receiver rather than from dummy half where they don't expect it, I wouldn't want to remove him from that role he should stay there on rotation with Mozer IMO.
Mustafur
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Gamble could work for a season while we try find a long term option(since he is pretty good playing on the right), but ideally for a top team he would be a backup option that can fill in as a lock on the bench or something, he is definitely better than Madden though.
his kicking game is pretty average but he does make good decisions with that average ability atleast.
The funny thing is taking Reynolds out of this team and even looking at the options, Walsh looks to be the best general kicker but I don't think it's a good idea to have him use that role as a fullback because it would take him away from the sweeping edge plays that no one can can defend atm.
Maybe have some placeholder 7 like Shane Perry used to do in 2006, and have Walsh playing some hybrid fullback/halfback role, idk.
mrtij
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What makes you think Lam is the best option?
Mustafur
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Has very good game awareness, kicking game is meh, but while he runs alot he is always looking at his supporting options too, I think he would work well with Mam and Walsh in that regard as they are very good at the support plays and where we generally do our damage and why we scored from midfield alot during the year.
it might sound simple, but alot of running halves get too selfish when push comes to shove and forget about the supporting options, given the damaging options we have in this team that's alot of threat minimised if not used.
The biggest issue I can see if we got him would be he is a left sided player mostly which is where Mam plays, I am basically assuming that can be resolved though, it's not always a fail.
mrtij
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To be fair I really haven’t seen much of Lam since he was at the roosters years ago.
But I was under the impression that as you said he is mainly a running half and I think that wouldn’t bode well with Mam. The experiment of Nikorima and Milford personally taught me that it is important to have halves that balance each other out, and a good kicking game/“game manager” is the number one attribute I would be looking at for someone to partner up with Ezra.
While I don’t see Jock as the long term solution, I think he would “know his place” and or know what role he would have to provide for the team. Not try and be the flashy one, just get the team around the park and leave that shit up to Mam, Walsh etc in the team. I’d have doubts that Lam could play that role but yes I literally haven’t seen him play since 2021 aha.
Mustafur
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I think Lam was just unfortunate with his injury at the time which allowed Walker to come in, he was a more complete player at the time but Walker didn't do anything wrong and cemented his position.
Most halves at this age in the game right now don't have a kicking game so I'm looking at what else they have and that is where Lam is ahead of the others that I see, he has a more heads up game style then the likes of Madden and Walker from what I have seen, and in the big games he has had in the Super League he has gone another level which is a good sign in a player.
Sure the quality is lower over there but he has shown plenty in the internationals for PNG as well, he just looks like a player crying for a chance in first grade to show what he can do.
Out of all players in the game I've seen Lam is a very similar player to Nicho Hynes, they both lack an elite kicking game but are very aware of their surroundings and looking for holes.
We could manage this if we give a little more responsibility to Walsh on kicks without taking too much on his runs I think, Walsh is a stupidly gifted player that is probably the best kicker in the game younger than Cleary at the moment combined with his ability in support and running.
at current there isn't many halfbacks coming through and honestly younger than Cleary I think Walsh would be the best 7 if you put him there but he is a fullback, it will be a problem in a few years for the game as a whole imo.
mrtij
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Yeah good point here.
I don’t hate the idea to be honest. At least we still have a couple of years with Reyno and in the mean time we can evaluate how madden/black progresses. Being optimistic I’m hoping that Madden improves (obviously aha) and after spending 3 or so years around the boys by the time Reyno is gone he’ll be able to slot in with the most amount of comfort you could probably give a halfback in that situation replacing a guy like Reyno.
But yeah if over the next year or 2 Madden just doesn’t seem to be “that guy” it certainly wouldn’t hurt bringing in someone like Lam in 2026. Ofcourse at the right price.
Mustafur
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if Walsh got an injury and lost his speed it would make it easy as he can clearly be a 7, but it would require a weird injury for that to happen, so you basically have to look at what else is out there, I think in the future the kicking game is going to go to shit with a huge lack of options in that area though.
it's because of half orientated players being pushed out of the game in their early years imo.
Not to sound Racist but this is the reality and everyone has to face it, islanders dominate youth rugby league and they are significantly bigger at younger ages which makes parents remove kids out of the game out of fear of injury, NRL needs to make a proper Touch/Oz tag system to get players into the game at least in that crucial pre growth spurt period, and they can rejoin once they get a mans body, usually around the ages of 14 to 16.
if this isn't addressed NRL will have a massive halves issue in the future, I mean it's an issue now.
