Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Tue Sep 19, 2023 1:41 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

Come on guys it's a recruitment and rumours thread

fair enough.... anyway.. i heard a rumour that we are trying to recruit a new player and replace Currie.. sending him out on loan to Lei... erm Widnes.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Tue Sep 19, 2023 4:31 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

Are we really suggesting here that players are actively trying to avoid a tackle? If so, how is this not being picked up during the hours of analysis that gets done after every match? Currie has been consistently picked by Chambers, Powell, Price and Smith. He has been in representative squads lead by Wane and Bennett ranging from 2017 ish, through to this year. If there was any chance that he was actively missing tackles, or not making an attempt to tackle, how has this been missed by all of these coaches, not to mention investigated for match fixing. It’s just nonsense, complete nonsense.

On the assist rate, yes the lack of a centre may see him get more ball in those opportunities, but he has the skills to convert them. And not just ball in hand before the line, but we’ve seen offloads post contact, breaking the line and finding a pass for a try and almost added to that by what should have been a try on Friday when he chased the kick and batted back leading to the Walker chance.

When we play well, when the pack bend the line, we look at Williams, Dufty, Currie and Ashton. In that order. They are ones to get us in the backfield. There are shortcomings in this team, and lots of them, but they all stem from a gigantic pack being humbled time and again by people who want it more. We don’t have momentum starters, those who just get the nose through and win the ruck. Hill and Cooper were fantastic at that, late footwork at the line. But we cut them and replaced them with mannequins Goliath's. I’d go as far as taking a wager that Hill has made double the meters of Dudson this year.

I've been making this point since the start of last year, currie (and holmes last year) were extremely noticeable by their 'inaction' in a lot of tries we conceded last year, and you can add lack of effort to a few that currie was involved in that he 'should' have done better,

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Tue Sep 19, 2023 6:45 pm  

Back to recruitment stuff.....Fitzgibbon has had shoulder reconstruction surgery twice in his career. Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be another busted Aussie simply topping up his pension.

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Tue Sep 19, 2023 7:00 pm  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

I've been making this point since the start of last year, currie (and holmes last year) were extremely noticeable by their 'inaction' in a lot of tries we conceded last year, and you can add lack of effort to a few that currie was involved in that he 'should' have done better,

I respect everyone’s opinion, and you have yours. I just struggle to see how anyone gets picked every week if this is accurate. Under different coaches, including being picked by the infamously demanding Wane.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Tue Sep 19, 2023 7:14 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

I respect everyone’s opinion, and you have yours. I just struggle to see how anyone gets picked every week if this is accurate. Under different coaches, including being picked by the infamously demanding Wane.

And yet, Peter matautia...

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Tue Sep 19, 2023 8:21 pm  

Mr Snoodle wrote:

Back to recruitment stuff.....Fitzgibbon has had shoulder reconstruction surgery twice in his career. Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be another busted Aussie simply topping up his pension.

His shoulder might go again, but I don't think he does fall into that category. The NRL commentators seem to quite rate him as a hard working player.

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Wed Sep 20, 2023 6:46 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

And yet, Peter matautia...

With Matautia, in my opinion, is that he is playing at 7 out of 10 of his own ability. He’s just simply not a very good player. He does the basics well, defends well unless he has a decision to make, carries the ball often but without losing a threat etc. but he simply doesn’t have the skill the be any better than he currently is. He’s no worse than Ratchford, or Iain Thornley, or similar. Just an example of poor recruitment.

The thing with Currie is that we expect. If Jack Hughes did what Currie has done this season, there would be a thread saying how good Hughes is and what a genius Lam is for unlocking his unfulfilled potential. But we expect from Currie. It’s not unusual to see him make the final pass for a try, or to get through the line. He’s just held to a higher bar.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Wed Sep 20, 2023 7:07 am  

A lot of what you've said there about matautia, he didn't do last year, didn5 defend, couldn't tackle wouldn't pass and was dropping the ball at the pub.

There were calls for him to be dropped last season as all round he was worse than mamo who could create breaks for himself.

Same with Holmes, same with currie and a couple others, powellngot asked about it several times by the guardian, fans want to know why you're not dropping the worst suspects.

Go back and have a look at some of our worst defeats last year and you'll see Ben currie taking a break

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Wed Sep 20, 2023 7:31 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

A lot of what you've said there about matautia, he didn't do last year, didn5 defend, couldn't tackle wouldn't pass and was dropping the ball at the pub.

There were calls for him to be dropped last season as all round he was worse than mamo who could create breaks for himself.

Same with Holmes, same with currie and a couple others, powellngot asked about it several times by the guardian, fans want to know why you're not dropping the worst suspects.

Go back and have a look at some of our worst defeats last year and you'll see Ben currie taking a break

I’ve been one of the most vocal critics of Matautia. He’s just not a good player. When posed a problem, he invariable makes the wrong decision. See the Wigan cup game with the ball in hand, and the early season defence on his side despite in a winning team.

Looking back to last year and singling out Currie is redundant, really. I’m sure there are multiple occasions where tries were conceded on his side, but in truth the only positive to come out of 2022 was that left block of Williams Currie Wardle and Ashton which looked like it could cause problems

I’m not suggesting that Currie is the ultimate professional or has been firing on all cylinders, I just think to suggest that he is missing tackles on purpose is slightly unhinged. When used right, he’s a really talented and dangerous player. He just seems to have become the latest scapegoat, when anyone watching objectively can see that there are at least 6 starting positions that need fixing before we even look at him.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Recruitment rumours and links : Wed Sep 20, 2023 8:15 am  

Barbed Wire wrote:

I’ve been one of the most vocal critics of Matautia. He’s just not a good player. When posed a problem, he invariable makes the wrong decision. See the Wigan cup game with the ball in hand, and the early season defence on his side despite in a winning team.

Looking back to last year and singling out Currie is redundant, really. I’m sure there are multiple occasions where tries were conceded on his side, but in truth the only positive to come out of 2022 was that left block of Williams Currie Wardle and Ashton which looked like it could cause problems

I’m not suggesting that Currie is the ultimate professional or has been firing on all cylinders, I just think to suggest that he is missing tackles on purpose is slightly unhinged. When used right, he’s a really talented and dangerous player. He just seems to have become the latest scapegoat, when anyone watching objectively can see that there are at least 6 starting positions that need fixing before we even look at him.

i disagree, and i speak as someone who loved 2016 ben currie, and has defended him to the hilt as he's recovered from his 2 acl surgeries when people had their knives out for him over the 3 years after that.

Last year my opinion changed because it was visible, what he WASn'T doing, and that had nothing to do with his knee, i've even used the left side argument my self when talking about toby king in 21,

2 or 3 decent lines run a year when williams is motoring isn't a good pay off, the defences dont respect him, and he gets targeted in attack.

that try against saints where he 'lost his hips' if you go back and look you'll find lots of examples where thats happened, would you see a saints or wigan forward like that? or would you see them trying to make a last ditch tackle?