Charity Shield

[Chris M]

Barring injury it seems certain that will be #1~#7 for round 1. Probably #8~#13 as well. Sims is injured but will be available for round 1 so he or Bird will start from the bench. #14~#17 will be pretty close as well. Doubt Kerr will make the cut so swap him for Sims or Bird and then a shootout between Burgess and J. Hunt and I think that will be the team.

Blore is a Penrith junior. Depth signing for the halves. Unless Mr. Griffin has a plan to turn him into a lock.

Mbye will be in the 17 as well. So lets says Sims starting, Bird and Mbye on the bench along with both Molo's is a distinct possibility.

 

[RedV01]

Bird is on the way out. 500k isn't an "insulting" offer but he'll probably be able to get up to 650~700k elsewhere. He'll be on the bench for round 1. Big call by Hook. Bird was really good last year but I'm glad Hook has the guts to ignore media noise and make big decisions.

Bird is an outstanding utility player and good in several positions but doesn't excel in any. At least not yet. The new rules could make him a perfect lock.

Bird is gone. See on the other thread.

 

[RedV01]

Quiet around here lately. Looking forward to the game. I wonder if Bird is going to have a blinder to push his price up. I'm not going to lose sleep over winning or losing this trial but damn, I'd like to see them win! I'd like them to put a big score on Souffs to put the rest of the competition on notice that we are back!

 

[Morgan]

Quiet around here lately.

Calm before the storm? Perhaps everyone is preoccupied with insignificant things like a brewing war between Russia and USA.

Looking forward to the game. I wonder if Bird is going to have a blinder to push his price up.

He has been nothing but professional since coming home. Very much doubt he will perform any better or worse as a result of this.

I'm not going to lose sleep over winning or losing this trial but damn, I'd like to see them win! I'd like them to put a big score on Souffs to put the rest of the competition on notice that we are back!

A big score for or against us will make everyone forget all about WW3.

 

[Chris M]

Quiet around here lately. Looking forward to the game. I wonder if Bird is going to have a blinder to push his price up. I'm not going to lose sleep over winning or losing this trial but damn, I'd like to see them win! I'd like them to put a big score on Souffs to put the rest of the competition on notice that we are back!

The most important thing is not to be discouraged in the event of a loss. It's just a trial. A trail we want St George to win but still just a trial.

 

[Morgan]

Tonights game will be pretty simple. At least as far as the forwards. He will use the first choice pack and bench for the first half and a little. If he is happy, he'll leave them for a little longer. If not, there'll be mass changes for the last 30min or so.

As for the backline, due to it being pretty much locked in unless there is an injury, I guess he'll leave them out there for most of the match. Treat it like a training run. If he is happy, he'll probably give Lomax a rest. Also if he is happy, he'll give Sloan a rest and Ramsey another go at fullback. Not sure why. Ramsey has had a few chances at fullback and hasn't done anything notable. Hook must have seen some things at training the general public hasn't.

 

[RedV01]

New jersey is way better than the old Illawarra outfit.

 

[GCRV]

I'm a little concerned about the defence of Bird and McCullough. Maybe Bird is a good defender out in the centres but not sure about in the forwards. I didn't watch the last few games last season so didn't see Bird in the forwards at that time.

 

[Eric]

I'm a little concerned about the defence of Bird and McCullough. Maybe Bird is a good defender out in the centres but not sure about in the forwards. I didn't watch the last few games last season so didn't see Bird in the forwards at that time.

Definitely have to work on goal line defence. Slowing down the play the ball as much as anything. That might mean going with lighter, more mobile forwards. Not sure. Just a thought. Zac Lomax is just getting better.

 

[Morgan]

Well, the backline is penciled in and nothing change that from this game. Feanai is ready to go in the event of injury. Frankly speaking, it (the backline) looks awesome.

The forwards, who knows. I was impressed with all. Woods was excellent. Just kept rolling forward and the offload an ever present threat. Lawrie just keeps going and going. Both Molo's were good. Would have liked Hunt to be given a little more game time but I liked his aggression again. Previously jodragon40 talked about Gosiewski getting a start in the NRL this year and I thought he had lost his mind..... but no. He was outstanding in both trials. But he and Jackson Ford have the same problem. Put them in Josh Kerr's body and we are talking superstars! But as is, maybe they are a little light.

So I really don't know. Jack de Belin, Aaron Woods, Jayden Su'a, Andrew McCullough are certainties for round one. Jack Bird is a certainty to be somewhere in the 17. After that, judging from the trials, flip a coin.

 

[GCRV]

I was impressed by everyone except McGuire at dummy half. A few chances went begging in the second half. Should have won more comfortably but I noticed commentators talking about the same thing we have been talking about for a while; this year St George have unbelievable depth!

 

[Eric]

My personal feeling, which is just a personal feeling, is that when both teams were close to full strength, we were moving away from Souffs regardless of the scoreboard at that time.

 

[jodragon40]

Now that was impressive. No easy yards in the ruck tonight. Plenty of defensive line speed even in the 79th minute. Very good variety in attack. Big difference from last few seasons with our playmakers taking on the line. Amone was excellent in attack. Defensively on the line we were very good. I know that it's only a trial game but confidence is everything in football especially when you have been down for so many seasons. Liked the props rotation kept them fresh. Bird will start in the pack after that effort. We have plenty of fire-power to score points once again Lomax to Rav will bring many more tries if both can stay on the field this season. Will be in the grandstand for game 1 against the Warriors looking to continue our solid start to the season. I posted this on another link got confused

 

[Chris M]

I don't understand why Hook made McGuire dummy half for a significant part of the second half. As far as I can see, the pecking order for hooker is:

1. McCullough
2. Muhillison
3. Mbye
4. Sullivan
5. McGuire

Backline for round 1 is a done deal. Even though Feanai was very impressive in the time he waws on. I wonder of he and his brother are going to get poached. They are ready for NRL now. Rava is justifiably the first winger picked even if he did revert to bad habits with that attempted miracle pass in the second half. Suli was bulldozing the enemies outside backs. Lomax is probably the first player picked each week. Ramsey has gotten better. With more weight, he is not only finishing tries but making good metres when brining the ball back from kicks or just giving the forwards a rest.

All the forwards were good this game. Woods was a standout while he was on. Carry opposition on his back a couple of time to make extra metres and got a quick play the ball allowing McCullough to dart out of dummy half and make another 15 metres.

jodragon40 says Bird is going to start on that effort. He played well for sure but start where? In front of our Origin backrowers Sims and Su'a? There is nothing between several forwards but I'm going to go with the least surprising for round 1. A four man prop rotation of Woods, Lawrie, Molo and Burgess. Two of them on the bench joined by Bird and Mbye. Second rowers Sims and Su'a with JDB at lock.

Ben Hunt was very impressive. How clueless was Baldy McGregor to have him playing at hooker with McInnes at lock?

Amone's running game is nothing less than spectacular but I have some concerns over his playmaking. Not so much "concerns", more that I haven't seen enough of it yet.

And before I forget, Josh Kerr once again wasn't "bad" but didn't stand out in anything he did. I think he is way down the pecking order for a second rower or prop.

 

[Morgan]

I don't understand why Hook made McGuire dummy half for a significant part of the second half. As far as I can see, the pecking order for hooker is:

1. McCullough
2. Muhillison
3. Mbye
4. Sullivan
5. McGuire

Backline for round 1 is a done deal. Even though Feanai was very impressive in the time he waws on. I wonder of he and his brother are going to get poached. They are ready for NRL now. Rava is justifiably the first winger picked even if he did revert to bad habits with that attempted miracle pass in the second half. Suli was bulldozing the enemies outside backs. Lomax is probably the first player picked each week. Ramsey has gotten better. With more weight, he is not only finishing tries but making good metres when brining the ball back from kicks or just giving the forwards a rest.

All the forwards were good this game. Woods was a standout while he was on. Carry opposition on his back a couple of time to make extra metres and got a quick play the ball allowing McCullough to dart out of dummy half and make another 15 metres.

jodragon40 says Bird is going to start on that effort. He played well for sure but start where? In front of our Origin backrowers Sims and Su'a? There is nothing between several forwards but I'm going to go with the least surprising for round 1. A four man prop rotation of Woods, Lawrie, Molo and Burgess. Two of them on the bench joined by Bird and Mbye. Second rowers Sims and Su'a with JDB at lock.

Ben Hunt was very impressive. How clueless was Baldy McGregor to have him playing at hooker with McInnes at lock?

Amone's running game is nothing less than spectacular but I have some concerns over his playmaking. Not so much "concerns", more that I haven't seen enough of it yet.

And before I forget, Josh Kerr once again wasn't "bad" but didn't stand out in anything he did. I think he is way down the pecking order for a second rower or prop.

Good analysis!

 

[Chris M]

Good analysis!

I have my moments.

 

[Eric]

I don't understand why Hook made McGuire dummy half for a significant part of the second half. As far as I can see, the pecking order for hooker is:

1. McCullough
2. Muhillison
3. Mbye
4. Sullivan
5. McGuire

Backline for round 1 is a done deal. Even though Feanai was very impressive in the time he waws on. I wonder of he and his brother are going to get poached. They are ready for NRL now. Rava is justifiably the first winger picked even if he did revert to bad habits with that attempted miracle pass in the second half. Suli was bulldozing the enemies outside backs. Lomax is probably the first player picked each week. Ramsey has gotten better. With more weight, he is not only finishing tries but making good metres when brining the ball back from kicks or just giving the forwards a rest.

All the forwards were good this game. Woods was a standout while he was on. Carry opposition on his back a couple of time to make extra metres and got a quick play the ball allowing McCullough to dart out of dummy half and make another 15 metres.

jodragon40 says Bird is going to start on that effort. He played well for sure but start where? In front of our Origin backrowers Sims and Su'a? There is nothing between several forwards but I'm going to go with the least surprising for round 1. A four man prop rotation of Woods, Lawrie, Molo and Burgess. Two of them on the bench joined by Bird and Mbye. Second rowers Sims and Su'a with JDB at lock.

Ben Hunt was very impressive. How clueless was Baldy McGregor to have him playing at hooker with McInnes at lock?

Amone's running game is nothing less than spectacular but I have some concerns over his playmaking. Not so much "concerns", more that I haven't seen enough of it yet.

And before I forget, Josh Kerr once again wasn't "bad" but didn't stand out in anything he did. I think he is way down the pecking order for a second rower or prop.

Definitely lost momentum when McGuire was dummy half.

Bird was really good. 500k a year for Bird is definitely cheap. SOO quality backrowers are typically on about 700k and in some cases much more. I wouldn't go so far as to call Bird's offer insulting but I think it shows the coaching staff have decided he is superfluous to the club's needs going forward. Is it the right call? My knee-jerk reaction would be to say "no", the club should be working harder to keep him but I'm glad we now have a coaching staff not afraid to make these kind of big calls. And I can only assume the coaching staff have a concrete plan the general public isn't privy to. And I read on another thread, someone pointed out that Bird left the club to go to the Shonkies even though the club wanted to keep him.

And finally, Zac Lomax has to remember to pack his kicking boots for round 1 and beyond.

 

[RedV01]

Definitely lost momentum when McGuire was dummy half.

Bird was really good. 500k a year for Bird is definitely cheap. SOO quality backrowers are typically on about 700k and in some cases much more. I wouldn't go so far as to call Bird's offer insulting but I think it shows the coaching staff have decided he is superfluous to the club's needs going forward. Is it the right call? My knee-jerk reaction would be to say "no", the club should be working harder to keep him but I'm glad we now have a coaching staff not afraid to make these kind of big calls. And I can only assume the coaching staff have a concrete plan the general public isn't privy to. And I read on another thread, someone pointed out that Bird left the club to go to the Shonkies even though the club wanted to keep him.

And finally, Zac Lomax has to remember to pack his kicking boots for round 1 and beyond.

It was good that Zac forgot his kicking boots in a trial we still won. Hopefully he won't do that again this year.

 

[jodragon40]

I don't understand why Hook made McGuire dummy half for a significant part of the second half. As far as I can see, the pecking order for hooker is:

1. McCullough
2. Muhillison
3. Mbye
4. Sullivan
5. McGuire

Backline for round 1 is a done deal. Even though Feanai was very impressive in the time he waws on. I wonder of he and his brother are going to get poached. They are ready for NRL now. Rava is justifiably the first winger picked even if he did revert to bad habits with that attempted miracle pass in the second half. Suli was bulldozing the enemies outside backs. Lomax is probably the first player picked each week. Ramsey has gotten better. With more weight, he is not only finishing tries but making good metres when brining the ball back from kicks or just giving the forwards a rest.

All the forwards were good this game. Woods was a standout while he was on. Carry opposition on his back a couple of time to make extra metres and got a quick play the ball allowing McCullough to dart out of dummy half and make another 15 metres.

jodragon40 says Bird is going to start on that effort. He played well for sure but start where? In front of our Origin backrowers Sims and Su'a? There is nothing between several forwards but I'm going to go with the least surprising for round 1. A four man prop rotation of Woods, Lawrie, Molo and Burgess. Two of them on the bench joined by Bird and Mbye. Second rowers Sims and Su'a with JDB at lock.

Ben Hunt was very impressive. How clueless was Baldy McGregor to have him playing at hooker with McInnes at lock?

Amone's running game is nothing less than spectacular but I have some concerns over his playmaking. Not so much "concerns", more that I haven't seen enough of it yet.

And before I forget, Josh Kerr once again wasn't "bad" but didn't stand out in anything he did. I think he is way down the pecking order for a second rower or prop.

I don't believe Sims will start probably off the bench my pack to start against the Warriors would be - Lawrie McCullough, Woods, Sua, Debelin and Bird the backs pick themselves Sloan Rav, Suli, Lomax, Ramsay, Amone Hunt (cpt)

 

[Chris M]

I don't believe Sims will start probably off the bench my pack to start against the Warriors would be - Lawrie McCullough, Woods, Sua, Debelin and Bird the backs pick themselves Sloan Rav, Suli, Lomax, Ramsay, Amone Hunt (cpt)

Possibly but I think he'll go with Sims and Bird on the bench through it's certainly a contentious call.