2020 NRL Season

Discussion in 'The Cesspit: Rugby League Discussion' started by Maroon_Faithful, Oct 7, 2019.

  1. Alec AD Funkotron

    I dunno if I'd have Dearden in the 2nd tier. He's got potential, but also a loooong way to go. He'd still be somewhere towards the bottom for now IMO.
     
    Hurricane likes this.
  2. jazman84 JM Eightyfour

    While he appears to have some potential, I'm not totally sold on him. I don't think I've seen a bloke get caught while attempting to kick the ball as much as Tommy does. More often than not our forwards were getting pounded so it's not entirely his fault, but still unacceptable because an NRL level player should have the nous to make those adjustments. It's a shame there was no QCup this year, because that would have been huge for him, but now he'll be 1st pick number 7 next year, and will likely be below average and go into RL limbo for a few years before turning up at Roosters or Parra.
     
  3. Magic AJ Parker

    I feel like exposing young halves as starting halfbacks is always a recipe for disaster.

    There may be one or two prodigious talents who prove me wrong but its such a position of experience and knowledge I don't feel like any kid could actually be mentally equipped to deal with the position in the top grade. Certainly not for any sustained period of time anyway.

    5/8 with a dominant half and/or hooker sure we've seen kids come in and do well there but never at halfback.
     
  4. Hurricane JD Hurricane

    why is that magic?
    Why can young bucks do well at 5 8 but not at halfback ?
    (I want to learn as I am new to league)
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2020
  5. Alec AD Funkotron

    His kicking is definitely kinda shit. He actually reminds me of Ben Hunt when he used to play here - running seems to be his strength, ball playing seems to be just OK for now and kicking needs a lot of work. He seems to play with the same energy too. He's only 19 though, so I don't think we'll really know if he'll make it for a few more years yet.

    Roosters are about to expose Sam Walker (who is actually my boss's grandnephew incidentally) at an early age next year. He definitely seems like a "prodigy" from what I've seen of him though.
     
  6. Magic AJ Parker

    Without getting too deep into it I think typically a 5/8 is your creative player who plays off instinct, physicality or flair, that’s something you can be born with or something you can develop at any level of the game. Once you reach the top grade it’s more about refining your game, limiting your mistakes and learning the value of timing.

    A halfback is typically your decision maker, he decides where the ball is going, who’s getting the ball, what speed you want to play at, what’s the structure of the set, where & how you’re going to turn the ball over on last etc. that’s something that can only come with experience and an education you just can’t get at the junior level of the game. You hope around that decision making you’ve got a player who’s technically gifted in some other aspect of their game like Nathan Cleary is with his kicking game or Mitchell Pearce is with his passing otherwise you just end up with Jeff Robson but ultimately a good decision maker is the core attribute of a good halfback and that only comes with time.

    I don’t actually think there’s any real thought process behind recruiting kids who are going to be good organising halfbacks I think they’re just recruited and thought of as a halfback because they’re typically an on the ball player who likes to progress the ball around the field through kicking and passing more than any other player. Because of this a lot of the time we just end up with a player like Ben Hunt who has a bunch of really handy skills but just really struggles with the pressures of having to organise a side around the park. I think DCE also falls into this category although to a much lesser extent.

    Not only do I think you’re not going to get what you need as a side out of a young halfback but forcing them to learn on the run in the elite grade with the type of attention & criticism the number 7 receives surely is detrimental to their development.

    I think it’s really interesting to see 5/8’s like Darren Lockyer, Trent Barrett, Jonathan Thurston, James Maloney & Blake Green really start to develop into organising halves in the back end of their careers. Its just something you learn purely through time and experience, I think if clubs just looked at their halves as a senior and a junior they would be so much better off than trying to recruit a teenage halfbacks and thinking they’re going to be ready in 3-5 years time.
     
    Hurricane likes this.
  7. Magic AJ Parker

    Yeh I worry about it, not like Robinson hasn’t had his fair share of failings in trying to develop a half. Jackson Hastings, Jayden Nikorima & Kyle Flanagan all young kids who didn’t last very long.

    I expect Keary will be the dominant half next year, not that he wasn’t this year but I expect it to be more pronounced maybe even take the 7 jersey..

    He really seems to like Walker though, from day 1 he took him over to Barcelona on the pre-season tour of Europe in a 23 man squad even though he was 17 at the time and they’re never far from each other in photos so I do worry he’s thinking this is the one.
     
  8. jazman84 JM Eightyfour

    Naden tested positive to cocaine in a test on GF day. Surely if he was racking up the night before it would be a low yield, so he is unlikely to have a long stint from WADA. Panthers may not be as forgiving however.
     
  9. Magic AJ Parker

    A lot of things made a lot more sense after hearing that news.

    Not sure discipline will really help the situation though, I imagine theres something a little deeper there and has been taking it to deal with the pressures of game day. Probably plenty more out there doing similar.
     
  10. Hurricane JD Hurricane

    Very sad news as I liked him a lot.
    He was also victimised racially this year by Warriors fans and on top of that his coach, if i recall correctly, fucked him around a bit by tittooing with the back line unnecessarily towards the business end of the season.

    Tittoo is a strange Maori word that very few Pakeha use in New Zealand. It means to needlessly play around with something.

    There is no direct english translation.
     
  11. jazman84 JM Eightyfour

    If I was nervous, coke would be the last thing I'd be taking.
     
  12. Sultan Pepper HG Emm

    Was it a pre game/immediate post game thing or did he get pinged through the night some how?
     
  13. Boobidy BJ Gemmell

    I've read he got tested night of the GF. Maybe he smashed a line as soon as he got back in the sheds.
     

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