Round 25: Dragons vs Cronulla Sharks - 25 August @ 4:05PM

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Dave03

SGI Jersey Flegg
After bouncing back with a win, can the Dragons make it 2 in a row against their arch rivals & 'little' brother? or will it be business as usual with another loss after a win? Tune in on Sunday to find out!

Dragons had an impressive win against Gold Coast Titans with attacking dominance in the 1st half followed by gritty defence in the 2nd half. While the Sharks pipped the Newcastle Knights in a golden point thriller. Both teams will have plenty to play for apart from bragging rights with the Sharks striving for a top 4 finish while the Dragons desperate to remain in the top 8.

Some key matchups:
1. Back 3 battle
2. Hooker battle: Liddle v Brailey or Mciness

I don't think Flanno will make any changes apart from possibly replacing LKT with another forward to combat the Sharks physical pack. Couchies were outstanding, along with JDB & the 2rfs. I think Lawrie might be replaced by another forward too.

Dragons by 4 (hopefully)

Confirmed Team
  1. Tyrell Sloan
  2. Zac Lomax
  3. Mathew Feagai
  4. Max Feagai
  5. Christian Tuipulotu
  6. Jack Bird
  7. Ben Hunt
  8. Francis Molo
  9. Jacob Liddle
  10. Jack de Belin
  11. Luciano Leilua
  12. Jaydn Su’A
  13. Tom Eisenhuth
  14. Toby Couchman
  15. Ryan Couchman
  16. Blake Lawrie
  17. Raymond Faitala-Mariner
  18. Lyhkan King-Togia
 
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D

Dave03

SGI Jersey Flegg
I'm not sold on F. Molo & Lawrie starting together, I would swap JDB with one of them. TBH I wouldn't have either of them in our top 17 but we have no one better. RFM form has been poor too, maybe try M. Molo for Lawrie? I wouldn't play LKT off the bench if he's only going to get 10mins, better to pick another fwd imo.
 
GCRV

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
Dave03 said:
I'm not sold on F. Molo & Lawrie starting together, I would swap JDB with one of them. TBH I wouldn't have either of them in our top 17 but we have no one better. RFM form has been poor too, maybe try M. Molo for Lawrie? I wouldn't play LKT off the bench if he's only going to get 10mins, better to pick another fwd imo.
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Bring JDB on after 15min seems to be working pretty well.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

SGI NSW Cup
Battle of the forward packs, in my opinion so you surely cant give young LKT another run off the bench unfortunately. 5 Shark forwards ran for 100m plus against the Knights last week. We also managed 5 but the Sharks are entirely a different proposition and they would love to knock big brother out of the 8. We have been inconsistent all season and if you follow that formline we are in for a loss. In the backs they have speed to burn and Talakai on the edge will be tough to stop if the defensive structures allows him time to wind up, you have to be in his face when he receives the ball and he will be targeting Hunt no doubt in my mind about that. Flanagan will have a good game plan whether the lads can execute it well time will tell. Personally I feel for Liddle he has been consistent and was excellent last week, but with the signing of Cook he wont be playing hooker in 1sts next season bar injuries hopefully he's up against McInness but the way he is playing it wont matter if its Brailey. The battle of the 5/8s Bird v Atkinson will also be important.
 
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Wild383

SGI Junior League
jodragon40 said:
Battle of the forward packs, in my opinion so you surely cant give young LKT another run off the bench unfortunately. 5 Shark forwards ran for 100m plus against the Knights last week. We also managed 5 but the Sharks are entirely a different proposition and they would love to knock big brother out of the 8. We have been inconsistent all season and if you follow that formline we are in for a loss. In the backs they have speed to burn and Talakai on the edge will be tough to stop if the defensive structures allows him time to wind up, you have to be in his face when he receives the ball and he will be targeting Hunt no doubt in my mind about that. Flanagan will have a good game plan whether the lads can execute it well time will tell. Personally I feel for Liddle he has been consistent and was excellent last week, but with the signing of Cook he wont be playing hooker in 1sts next season bar injuries hopefully he's up against McInness but the way he is playing it wont matter if its Brailey. The battle of the 5/8s Bird v Atkinson will also be important.
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Agree with most things about the game and that it will certainly be a battle of the forward pack, hard to not have cover for birds though considering how injury prone he is. Completely disagree with the last part apart liddle, there is no way he will be stuck in reserves. It'll be a shared 9/14 role with an explosive punch off the bench and I have a feeling liddle will be sharing the load in the middle or doing some role shifting with him and cookie depending how he rotates them.
 
GCRV

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
jodragon40 said:
Battle of the forward packs, in my opinion so you surely cant give young LKT another run off the bench unfortunately. 5 Shark forwards ran for 100m plus against the Knights last week. We also managed 5 but the Sharks are entirely a different proposition and they would love to knock big brother out of the 8. We have been inconsistent all season and if you follow that formline we are in for a loss. In the backs they have speed to burn and Talakai on the edge will be tough to stop if the defensive structures allows him time to wind up, you have to be in his face when he receives the ball and he will be targeting Hunt no doubt in my mind about that. Flanagan will have a good game plan whether the lads can execute it well time will tell. Personally I feel for Liddle he has been consistent and was excellent last week, but with the signing of Cook he wont be playing hooker in 1sts next season bar injuries hopefully he's up against McInness but the way he is playing it wont matter if its Brailey. The battle of the 5/8s Bird v Atkinson will also be important.
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The plan is to use both Cook and Liddle in the 17 though I don't really understand it either. Both are capable of playing 80min. They are both better if they can have a rest at some point but 15~20min is ample. So which is going to playing only 20min a game?
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
jodragon40 said:
Battle of the forward packs, in my opinion so you surely cant give young LKT another run off the bench unfortunately. 5 Shark forwards ran for 100m plus against the Knights last week. We also managed 5 but the Sharks are entirely a different proposition and they would love to knock big brother out of the 8. We have been inconsistent all season and if you follow that formline we are in for a loss. In the backs they have speed to burn and Talakai on the edge will be tough to stop if the defensive structures allows him time to wind up, you have to be in his face when he receives the ball and he will be targeting Hunt no doubt in my mind about that. Flanagan will have a good game plan whether the lads can execute it well time will tell. Personally I feel for Liddle he has been consistent and was excellent last week, but with the signing of Cook he wont be playing hooker in 1sts next season bar injuries hopefully he's up against McInness but the way he is playing it wont matter if its Brailey. The battle of the 5/8s Bird v Atkinson will also be important.
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JDB and both Couchman's play a lot of minutes. Can probably afford to carry LKT on the bench. With Bird to be 5/8 and a utility in case of any injuries. I'm interested to see if he goes with Lawrie or RFM.
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI Jersey Flegg
I'm not worried about the 9/14 hooker rotation for 2025.. I think it'll be a huge win for us + Cook serves as the injury cover to the backline.

With 2024... my theory is that none of our potential 14's have provided the impact Flanno was after (Brown in particular a let down), and with our average pack, hes gone for an all or nothing approach of just running 4 forwards to match other teams quality with our quantity.. especially against the big sides like Penrith and Storm.. and Sharks are very a side that wins on the strength of their pack.

The problem is with Sele & BMM out.. to run 4 forward would be to include Lawrie+MMolo or Lawrie+RFM if hes healthy now.. they arent providing a point of difference like BMM/Sele do.. but he might do it.. but if LKT does play, I dont think you'd guarantee him minutes, he is more for injury cover or if we are chasing points and he wants fresh legs.. its hard to see a situation where we are beating the Sharks by a large enough margin that we could ever relax.
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
TheRev said:
I'm not worried about the 9/14 hooker rotation for 2025.. I think it'll be a huge win for us + Cook serves as the injury cover to the backline.

With 2024... my theory is that none of our potential 14's have provided the impact Flanno was after (Brown in particular a let down), and with our average pack, hes gone for an all or nothing approach of just running 4 forwards to match other teams quality with our quantity.. especially against the big sides like Penrith and Storm.. and Sharks are very a side that wins on the strength of their pack.

The problem is with Sele & BMM out.. to run 4 forward would be to include Lawrie+MMolo or Lawrie+RFM if hes healthy now.. they arent providing a point of difference like BMM/Sele do.. but he might do it.. but if LKT does play, I dont think you'd guarantee him minutes, he is more for injury cover or if we are chasing points and he wants fresh legs.. its hard to see a situation where we are beating the Sharks by a large enough margin that we could ever relax.
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Has Sele definitely been ruled out?
 
RedV01

RedV01

SGI NSW Cup
TheRev said:
I'm not worried about the 9/14 hooker rotation for 2025.. I think it'll be a huge win for us + Cook serves as the injury cover to the backline.

With 2024... my theory is that none of our potential 14's have provided the impact Flanno was after (Brown in particular a let down), and with our average pack, hes gone for an all or nothing approach of just running 4 forwards to match other teams quality with our quantity.. especially against the big sides like Penrith and Storm.. and Sharks are very a side that wins on the strength of their pack.

The problem is with Sele & BMM out.. to run 4 forward would be to include Lawrie+MMolo or Lawrie+RFM if hes healthy now.. they arent providing a point of difference like BMM/Sele do.. but he might do it.. but if LKT does play, I dont think you'd guarantee him minutes, he is more for injury cover or if we are chasing points and he wants fresh legs.. its hard to see a situation where we are beating the Sharks by a large enough margin that we could ever relax.
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As for a point of difference, could move Bird into the forwards in the second half and play LKT at 5/8. Not for the entire 40min. Maybe about 25min. Or JDB will do far less running and far more passing. It won't do his stats any good but will help the team.
 
D

Dave03

SGI Jersey Flegg
Who becomes the hooker if Liddle gets injured? We don't have Kyle to cover that position. I don't think LKT has ever played hooker. Possibly bird? Hunt is needed as halfback.
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
Dave03 said:
Who becomes the hooker if Liddle gets injured? We don't have Kyle to cover that position. I don't think LKT has ever played hooker. Possibly bird? Hunt is needed as halfback.
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Bird for sure. Unless LKT has been training in case that happens. Or maybe LKT half and Hunt hooker.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

SGI NSW Cup
Wild383 said:
Agree with most things about the game and that it will certainly be a battle of the forward pack, hard to not have cover for birds though considering how injury prone he is. Completely disagree with the last part apart liddle, there is no way he will be stuck in reserves. It'll be a shared 9/14 role with an explosive punch off the bench and I have a feeling liddle will be sharing the load in the middle or doing some role shifting with him and cookie depending how he rotates them.
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My blue, I meant to say starting, these mistakes occur when you are relaxed sitting on a cruise ship balcony with a beer in hand. Upon reconsidering my statement I may be off the mark and totally wrong, I hope I am. If Flanagan runs with 2 hookers then I can actually see Liddle in the run on team with Cook coming on after the heat of the forwards battle has finished and causing mayhem with his darting runs from dummy half.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

SGI NSW Cup
Chris M said:
JDB and both Couchman's play a lot of minutes. Can probably afford to carry LKT on the bench. With Bird to be 5/8 and a utility in case of any injuries. I'm interested to see if he goes with Lawrie or RFM.
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Surely RFM but the coach knows best
 
TheRev

TheRev

SGI Jersey Flegg
RFM has been injured anyway.. and if there was an injury to Leilua or Sua, hes my first man in.. but gotta say I havent loved his impact from the bench in recent games.. but its rly whatever Flanno thinks he needs etc.

Having 2 Couchmans is a bit of a cheat code imo also, cause they dont fall apart if they need to do extra minutes for whatever reason and can handle 2nd row or lock if needed.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

SGI NSW Cup
TheRev said:
Are you finding any moments of clarity on said cruise ship balcony? Any epiphanies?
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Yes but I can safely say that being so relaxed leads to errors in judgement. However as I eat my room delivered eggs bendedict a on a large piece of fresh salmon on my balcony as we dock in Dubrovnik, Croatia my predicted line up minus LKT and with RFM in brings a smile back to my face that I still can get things correct.
 
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