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We beat Parra in both lower grades.

Flegg won, With Woods scoring 2 trys and probably being the class player on the field.

Reserve grade O'Neill ruled out HIA after 1 minute. Hutch and Tia stared in the halves. Tia probably best for us.

Logan Spinks from Tamworth scored a try in Tamworth and the crowd loved it. My guess is that we had majority crowd support.

Underhill only played 14 minutes. My hunch is that the Salmon injury may have been a factor.

Candidates to replace Salmon for the Chooks, Underhill, Smith, Turpin, Taffee, Wilson, Hutch, Tia.

The order that I listed them is my preference. The Rabbits/Broncos game is an indicator of likely ground conditions. I'm not expecting a fast dry track.

Young second rowers Readon and Spinks seemed to handle reserve grade well. Not expecting them in the NRL this season. I can see them being development squad next season.
 
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I really hope they move Woods into Cup soon. I understand that they want to bring him through slowly for his own development. But the kid is simply too good not to be playing open age footy.
 
Micko said:
I really hope they move Woods into Cup soon. I understand that they want to bring him through slowly for his own development. But the kid is simply too good not to be playing open age footy.
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O'Neill's HIA seems bad enough to miss at least 1 week.
Hutch, Taaffe and Turpin played reserve grade.
We had a centre as 18th man, Tia probably started in the centres.

The same set up could accommodate Woods, Smith starting in the centres and moving to second row or lock. Woods playing halfback but starting on the bench.

Woods partnering Hutch, Taaffe and Turpin in the spine with Tia at centre is a pretty soft entry into reserve grade. Can be for limited minutes, perhaps the last 20 first game.

I hope Underhill isn't injured and we were simply putting him on ice because he might be needed for NRL. Given the conditions I expect, and multiple games with short turnarounds, I think that Underhill could be very useful in the Roosters game.

If Underhill plays well and we are winning we can cut down the minutes for some of the other middles. Also give Hopoi more minutes.

The safest option against the Roosters is Turpin, not a star but neither was Salmon. I would like to see Underhill.
 
Hayes starting second row, Smith on the bench.
Smith will come on for DSF with Hayes moving to the middle.
Underhill in the squad him replacing Smith wouldn't be a surprise.
Smith is more of a specialist right edge second rower / centre and a good mobile defender.
Underhill has more size and work rate in the middle, Hayes can do a job in the second row.
I expect either Smith or Underhill to do a good job and foe fans to be happy.
I'm happy to see young pups with more long term potential get a shot. Turpin can do a job, but we have seen what he can do.
I think Turpin, Hutch and Taaffe are doing a underrated job in reserve grade helping the young pups develop into NRL players.
Watch for young Reado to be a future NRL player, his dad was one of my all time favourites.
With the young emerging talent we have something has to give somewhere. We can't keep them all even if a few established members of the side move on.
Gus and Cirro have done a good job building the club into something similar to the Panthers.
I haven't been at all happy with Montoya the last few games, a wet slippery track might keep him in the side. Anyone could score trys on the wing playing outside of Kiks, you just need to catch the ball.
 
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My funky theory for this week is Underhill might play with Kurt Mann getting a rest, Morrin starting at lock.

Mann was great earlier in the season, but the last 3 games he has played limited minutes and had little influence on the result.

With Smith/Underhill in for Salmon/Mann we don't miss much, we would if Mann was playing like he did earlier in the season and Hayward wasn't going so well.

I don’t think it will affect his QLD SOO chances, there will be a medical and if he passes, he is at least in the squad. A lighter week at training might help his chances of passing.

Some talk about a player swap to get the gun young prop from the Dragons here early. The only middles I would swap are fringe NSW cup players.

Tuala or Wilson are the other players I would consider. Wilson might have more chance of playing fullback at the Dragons. If Wilson doesn't replace Montoya this week he may only get limited opportunities.

Sua and Rinakama are very close to being ready for NRL.

I rate Wilson and he will carve up at fullback, perhaps carve us up. We are not playing him at fullback in reserve grade often. Taffee seems to be the short term replacement, and Cochrane is perhaps the long term fullback.
 
The media going on about how Galvin has already signed with the Bulldogs do we really want him . Seems all BS. Sexton is still young and still has time to develop . Galvin would not be loyal and probably do a SBW down the track .
 
IMO the Galvin stuff is probably BS, we may want him to play lock, but that wouldn't be what Gus is working on at present.

I do think that Gus might be trying to arrange a player swap to get Latu from the Dragons here early.

My hunch is Gus and Cirro think that we have a possible premiership window this year and Latu might make a difference.

IMO Latu would be in the mix for the final 2 bench spots with, Hayes, Hopoi, Mann, Morrin, Toups, Underhill and Latu contesting 2 spots.

If you are wondering about Todd, he is starting at lock in my team.

So with 2-3 good middles out we might still have a strong 17.

I would be happy to swap Tuala, Wilson, DSF or Zyron for Latu.

I am happier with a prop for prop swap and slightly reluctant to let Wilson go.

I see DSF and Zyon as similar, improving slowly, but I wouldn't want them in the top 17 in the semis this year if I could avoid it.

Latu may end up being as good as Thompson, perhaps even better, I also rate Hughes very highly. King and Curran are good. All of the guys i listed above can do a job.

I also don't buy the media's "small ball" hype, if we had quality large middles available, we would play them.
 
IMO if we don't resign Sexton we are happy with Hayward, O'Neill, Tia and Woods.

For the right price we will resign Sexton 60/40 IMO with 60% chance that he stays for 1 more year to try to win a comp.

Good chance that a club like Perth will bid big for Sexton.

O'Neill's or Tia can do a similar job to Sexton, Hayward may be more valuable in other positions.

Woods is still expected to be the long term answer.

If O'Neill signs elsewhere we might need to retain or replace Sexton.

Those NRL 360 dudes love conspiracy theories and don't know what is really happening.
 
Hounddog said:
IMO if we don't resign Sexton we are happy with Hayward, O'Neill, Tia and Woods.

For the right price we will resign Sexton 60/40 IMO with 60% chance that he stays for 1 more year to try to win a comp.

Good chance that a club like Perth will bid big for Sexton.

O'Neill's or Tia can do a similar job to Sexton, Hayward may be more valuable in other positions.

Woods is still expected to be the long term answer.

If O'Neill signs elsewhere we might need to retain or replace Sexton.

Those NRL 360 dudes love conspiracy theories and don't know what is really happening.
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Still would have Galvin. He can come over and play Baileys role next year. Bailey can replace Sexy next year. Woods will obviously take over from Bailey not long after. Then when Burto moves on it retires Galvin can play six.
 
No idea where Galvin is going or if we are interested.

His defence would need to improve a lot to play lock.

He isn't a half and Burto is the established 5/8 in our side.

IMO Tia is similar to Galvin both can be brilliant and both can make dumb mistakes.

While Strange at the Raiders is overrated, his defence is better than Galvin.

Buying Galvin is mostly about potential and it is hard to judge him in the Tigers side.

In a stronger side with better coaching he would stick to his role.

My hunch Parra 45%, Dogs 30%, somewhere else 15%, deciding in November 10%. He will play out 2025 with the Tigers.
 
Chooks worry me, particularly Teddy. I am not expecting any easy game. Happy with any kind of win.

Some showers around, Chooks are a young side and are just as likely to make handling errors.
 
Underhill not playing, some rumours of rib cartridge issues.

I can understand why we might be trying to get Latu here early.

I still expect Underhill, Rinakama, O'Neill and Tia to debut this season.

Also more from Sua and Smith.

SOO selections should mean Smith keeps his place, Sua, Rinakama, Tia and Underhill should be a chance.

Smith, Tia, Sua and Kiraz can all play centre, Tuala isn't far away.

O'Neill probably recovering from concussion might might be a chance in a few weeks.
 
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Hounddog said:
Chooks worry me, particularly Teddy. I am not expecting any easy game. Happy with any kind of win.

Some showers around, Chooks are a young side and are just as likely to make handling errors.
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Goosters tend to bring their A game always against us over the years. They had the edge but I think this year it's a different story just need to keep to our game plan and not fall into any niggling which the gooses tend to do . I'm hopeful that we can shut down Teddy. We need to shut down the halves as well.
 
We are not good in the wet, being smaller is a disadvantage.

Our kicking game needs to be a lot better.

Woods has a great short kicking game, a game like this shows how important that is,

Short turnaround didn't help.

Not having the white flag yet, but we need to score the first second half try.
 
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