Great call David!

Woods can call on the combination advantage too – he’s now partnered with Jurbo and Turbo and has the inside mail on shutting down both DCE and Hunt.

Just pause for a moment and consider the intimidation of Jurbo and Woods starting in 8 and 10….

While the sentiment is right, the nuance is important Ben.

At the time Luai was first selected, there were no other strong candidates for the 6 jersey and Luai was playing consistently well in a good Penrith team. In the absence of a better option, the good player with an existing combination will win the selection decision in a majority of cases. Last year there were good cases but no compelling cases: Burton was learning his craft in a losing team having been Luai’s understudy and whilst Hynes was building a case it was his first season starting in the halves.

This year, we still only really have three in the discussion with Luai, Burton and Hynes.

Hey Forty – I don’t see the Tigers as a premiership squad, although they have a lot of young squad members potentially could get close. However, the roster they have shoudl put them in the conversation as a finals team. This is the part that has me interested: there performances are below that which the squad should be producing based on the value of the individual players.
Cleary Snr is a great point – we will never really know what would have happened, with the team looking to be ‘on the bus’ but the progress was lost when the bus driver was the one getting off.

Hey Panthers, I think there are a lot of terms we throw around that sound significant but are a lot less substantial. For instance, it’s impossible measure whether or not Brooks has lost the confidence of his team and, even assuming he has, that would quickly return on a couple good performances.

With professional sports teams, particularly NRL teams operating at high speed, there is little time on the field to focus on anyone’s role apart from oneself – the Tigers players don’t have time to question whether Brooks is on or not, they are flat out running their own pattern.

Part 2 should give a little more to work on Tony, where I get into a possible attacking structure.

Agreed Cam, the magic is in getting them to work. We’ve had the same deal with Newcastle and over the last few seasons, last year’s Broncos pack is the same.

We tend to put a lot of emphasis on factors like ‘belief’ Panthers but they aren’t measurable and are very much subject to personal perception: it’s the same as the ‘lost the change room’ argument that gets trotted out every time a team goes on a loosing streak.

Could be scope for a slight change to the article title:

“Foxx injury saves Fittler from explaining Origin non-selection”

All statements of the obvious QED and not useful if Jones wants a big body.

Most of his freight is being picked up by RA Bobby, the Reds aren’t paying much.

Interesting perspective James
Most of the Kiwi’s I encounter are more disappointed that the standard of Australian rugby has been so crap for so long. Apart from the odd snicker at Bledisloe time, most Kiwis seem very invested in Australian rugby: they know their teams are held back by our duds atm and they really want us to get better because competitive Oz teams help improve the NZ game.
Strange how we seem to be meeting different Kiwis mate.

Hey Pogo
I know there are a lot of wraps on Corey Toole but being a 7’s rep doesn’t ensure translation to 15 per side international star.
What you are seeing here is what you get with Eddie Jones as HC. Jones’ back himself, often on instinct, and creates opportunities for the player to prove him wrong. Like it or not, it’s what you get with Jones.
Actually the 7’s footage may be more harmful than helpful for Toole. For all the shots of sensational run away tries, there’s several of him being picked up and carried into touch by defenders.

I can understand the Vunivalu selection even if it is unwarranted.

While Australia has a number of very good outside backs there are few who are proven point of difference players at an elite level. Jones believes he sees something in Vunivalu and is trusting eye; however, it is not clear how many chances Vunivalu will get if he doesn’t reward Jones’ trust. A camp, particularly this one which has nothing riding on it, is a great chance for Jones to get a look at him outside his SRP team structure and decide if the eye was right.

Good read, thanks Jim.
I appreciate the simplification of ‘play bad = get dropped’. There is so much tribalism in Australian rugby that jersey colour and perceptions of ‘what they might be capable of if just given a chance’ seem to over rule a dispassionate assessment of actual performance and demonstrated skillset.
Re Vunivalu, I suspect you are close to the mark around game expectations. What is often over looked when discussing Vunivalu is that he came from the Melbourne Storm system where coach Craig Bellamy is excellent at simplifying the in-game role of the player. If Brad Thorn is not articulating the game plan in this manner, he will struggle to implement. If RA are committed to a ROI on Vunivalu, perhaps a shift to a different roster is the solution.

The biggest beneficiaries of the Suaali’i signing are the media, where it has filled countless paragraphs and filled the sports segment of numerous news bulletins.
As for Rugby – a few days of headlines while the real work is happening regardless of the long term investment.
As for NRL – aside from a few using it to keep themselves in the headlines, the league recruiters are looking at this and knowing that the money spent Suaali’i leaves a whole generation of young union players vulnerable to poaching since Rugby has emptied the coffers. Meanwhile, a whole heap of Rugby supporters and officials are now tuning in to the NRL for the next 2 years to see how their investment is shaping.

Just saw that bit of news Bloke. While I’m cautious to prescribe authority to Paul Kent, that pile-on may be back on the cards.

Lots of moral outrage being expressed here as well as questionable understanding of history.

Although the Wests Tigers are an easy target at the moment, before joining the pile-on ask yourself if you have the ability to tell that these weren’t Aussie servicemen?

Also, there is criticism of Wests Tigers dragging the ADF via Holdsworthy Barracks. Wests are not military experts and if they genuinely did engage and the image was endorsed by the ADF, then it is the ADF who are culpable and should be called out.

Forty take a closer look at the Penrith roster for last year’s grand final. Of the team that played, the following were not Penrith juniors:
– Edwards
– Staines
– Cleary – although we can argue technicalities on that, he moved to Penrith as a teenager for dad’s coaching stint #1
– Koroisau
– Fisher-Harris
– Kikau
– Martin
– Yeo
– Sorenson
– Salmon

That’s 10 (9 if you want to count Cleary) of the matchday squad that aren’t Penrith juniors. Looks like a pretty good system to me.

Forty I disagree on the Penrith comment – these guys are no more born winners than the juniors in any other system. What they do have is an excellent structure, with the game plan emulated throughout the grades, and a strong club culture that prepares them to migrate effectively into first grade. In the Penrith system, Cleary Snr is master of the finishing school, all the prep school work is dusted before they join the first grade squad.

It’s not worth putting too much weight on Jones’ early comments on playstyle and a power game, it could mean anything at the moment and Harry’s sentiment of just a bunch of ideas floating around rather than a structure or playstyle are on point.

Sympathy for Harry Wilson and I’d love to be the fly on the wall with Rennie and Jones both to understand what they see as his deficiency. His debut in 2020 was promising against the ABs before Rob Valetini achieved prominence and his SRP performances are very good, consistently good stats as the only heavy carrier in an otherwise weak Reds pack. Rennie indicated footwork at the contact point as one issue but there seems to be something that both coaches see that have him relegated to a box called not suitable for test rugby.

My concern with a power game concept, ignoring player abilities to actually achieve it, is that the team suffers from a skill deficiency already and encouraging power from a group who struggle with their accuracy is likely see a rainstorm of penalties and red and yellow cards. At least it will get the Hooper-haters excited.

Final note – good to see the candle Harry holds for Tom Robertson still burning bright.

Wow – it’s almost like some wacky new fashion being injured at Belmore, and people think the Storm and Dolphins have it bad.

I disagree Albo, it’s just hard to measure. If coaches were not that important, the clubs wouldn’t waste very big salaries on a figure head, we’d probably still have captain coaches (see Selwyn Cobbo podcast, maybe we still do…).

When we see weaker rosters consistently outperform and strong rosters underperform, there are more factors at play than just the players. The coach is certainly not the only consideration but he is a big part of it. The Storm team that knocked over the Rabbitohs this weekend, the Dolphins for the first four rounds and there are many more examples. The Cowboys rapid improvement last year had a lot of Todd Payten to it while their slow start this year is his problem to rectify.

Agreed re Reynolds but that goes to the shape question as I doubt he was considered as more than a depth player at the start of the year so what they are now achieving with him on the field is more likely Reynold’s influence than design. It was great watching him play both sides, it does create a different picture for the defence. Now we’ve seen what he can bring, it’s going to be great watching how Ciraldo progresses the team. Incidentally, he may have contributed to Burton’s breakout last stanza just by moving the point of focus for the defence, gifting outside room and delaying pressure.

Flanagan is a puzzle: it seemed to work with the three playmakers on last night so maybe he is part of the solution. When watching him, I don’t think it is just power and acceleration, I think he lacks visibility and instinct in his play. When he takes the ball to the line, he is doing it because it’s what he should do, not because he’s testing a seam or setting up an outside runner. That’s not something that is coachable and will only incrementally improve with time.

Albo your point is at the heart of Forty and my discussion. If they are premiership bound with or without Kevvie, how can Kevvie be considered a good coach?

Unfortunately Gould is one of many less than inspiring commentators. If you’re looking for statements of the obvious Steve Roach is a past master, including waiting until the play has moved past any residual relevance before making said observation. However, Johnathan Thursten is the lowest rung for me: clear indicator of a struggling commentator is when Joey Johns, hardly the exemplar of insightfulness, is trying to drag him into the discussion…’so, as a former halfback JT, what would you do now?’….. ‘giggle giggle, I’d kick it’. Great stuff!.
I really enjoy the ABC radio commentators – mostly because they genuinely seem to enjoy each other’s company rather than just playing an onscreen/air role.
Finally, in fairness to Gould, what he achieves off the air is excellent.