: Sun May 17, 2009 8:49 pm  

Rob Wire wrote: Read what it says about Ali Lauititi on wikipedia "Ali joined the Rhinos in May 2004 from NRL side the New Zealand Warriors on a two and a half year contract. When he was released from his contract with the Warriors it sparked a world wide chase for his signature. However, the Rhinos beat competition from 14 other clubs in Australia and England to secure the second rower." Thats what i call an in demand player. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Lauitiiti Wikipedia! Chased or otherwise, he played less than half the games in season 2003 and the same at the start of 2004, leaving after round ten. Great player, but his star was definitely on the wane at the time of leaving the Warriors.

Rob Wire wrote: Read what it says about Ali Lauititi on wikipedia "Ali joined the Rhinos in May 2004 from NRL side the New Zealand Warriors on a two and a half year contract. When he was released from his contract with the Warriors it sparked a world wide chase for his signature. However, the Rhinos beat competition from 14 other clubs in Australia and England to secure the second rower." Thats what i call an in demand player. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Lauitiiti Wikipedia! Chased or otherwise, he played less than half the games in season 2003 and the same at the start of 2004, leaving after round ten. Great player, but his star was definitely on the wane at the time of leaving the Warriors.

: Sun May 17, 2009 9:29 pm  

Here is a simple question for anyone to answer, if Chris Bridge is to become our right centre then would this be a step forward from Martin Gleeson ?

If you answer NO then we havn`t strengthened that position, if you answer YES then obviosuly you feel that Chris Bridge will offer more than Martin Gleeson did at right centre and make us stronger in that position.

I`ll start with a NO hence why i said earlier that we need to sign a right centre of equivelant standard to Martin Gleeson or ideally better to make us stronger in that position than we were previsously, having an inferior player in that position who has replaced a high class player isn`t really strengthening.

: Sun May 17, 2009 9:47 pm  

Rob Wire wrote:

Here is a simple question for anyone to answer, if Chris Bridge is to become our right centre then would this be a step forward from Martin Gleeson ?

If you answer NO then we havn`t strengthened that position, if you answer YES then obviosuly you feel that Chris Bridge will offer more than Martin Gleeson did at right centre and make us stronger in that position.

I`ll start with a NO hence why i said earlier that we need to sign a right centre of equivelant standard to Martin Gleeson or ideally better to make us stronger in that position than we were previsously, having an inferior player in that position who has replaced a high class player isn`t really strengthening.

I will finish with a YES. Martin Gleeson is past it now wheras Chris Bridge is young, talented, strong, pacey & has very good hands. The more game time Chris gets the better he will become with experience. I personally believe he will be a key member of the squad in 2-3 years.

: Sun May 17, 2009 10:11 pm  

CloughieWire wrote:

I will finish with a YES. Martin Gleeson is past it now wheras Chris Bridge is young, talented, strong, pacey & has very good hands. The more game time Chris gets the better he will become with experience. I personally believe he will be a key member of the squad in 2-3 years.

Long time to wait...

: Sun May 17, 2009 10:25 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

Wikipedia! Chased or otherwise, he played less than half the games in season 2003 and the same at the start of 2004, leaving after round ten. Great player, but his star was definitely on the wane at the time of leaving the Warriors.

You're 100% right, he was on the periphary at the Warriors. He used Leeds, and the SL as a fresh start and a chance to rebuild his reputation. I think the whole 'Michael Jordan of RL' thing as a kid in the NRL didn't help.

Re: So where do we need to strengthen for the future ? : Sun May 17, 2009 10:30 pm  

Rob Wire wrote:

As you know yourself he holds onto the ball for far too long at times, he is an individual type glory player that can be far too greedy for his own good.

The Hull 2nd try was down to Chris Bridge`s feeble attempt to tackle Danny Tickle where he just stuck an arm out as if it was tick n pass and Danny Tickle just brushed him off, that was on the back of a poor attempt by Briers as well.

At the end of the 1st half, he put himself in a position where he could easily be tackled over the touchline and was by Kirk Yeaman, he was never going to round a quality defender like Yeaman. He should have stepped back inside to give us the chance of a high bomb on the last tackle which would have been a great time to score as it would have been right on half time.

Ive also seen him throw passes straight into touch or behind Chris Hicks, its as if passing isn`t natural to him which would explain why he hasn`t cut it at stand off and why he hangs onto the ball for too long at times.

Bit mad this Bridge stuff Rob, he was filling in on the wing, totally out of position and he did okay. If he'd had a 'mere from centre, you'd probably have half a point, but his last performance at centre he was sensational, setting up a hat-trick for Chris Hicks, and he hasn't played there since, he's been at stand off, even at Edinburgh, the best work he did, ie, make breaks was done in the 'centres channel' of attack.

As for the passes in touch, behind Hicks, I think you've just made them up ace.

The point I'm making is, he's had a mediocre first 60 mins at Hull on the wing, switched to centre, scored a try. Prior to that, he's looked a class act at centre, yet you seem to be bagging his performances at centre, but odd as the criticism you seem to have, is of his 60 minutes on the wing, unless you thought he was naff at home to Huddersfield at centre, or away at Bradford, when Hicks got another hat-trick. (Granted he was only involved in one of those tries, with great quick hands)

I'm not disputing whether we need a right centre by the way, just wondering where your criticism comes from, as if it's yesterday, I think it's a bit unfair, as he was playing in an unfamiliar position on the wing, and he did what he could, two trysavers too mind, one bad missed tackle granted.

: Sun May 17, 2009 10:53 pm  

Wire On The Telly wrote:

Long time to wait...

Not really i have been waiting a long time for sucess 2-3 years isnt that long. I could wait that long if it meant silverware. Would be dissapointed to see chris edged out of the squad next season, think he's a real talent.

Re: So where do we need to strengthen for the future ? : Sun May 17, 2009 11:01 pm  

JWP wrote:

Bit mad this Bridge stuff Rob, he was filling in on the wing, totally out of position and he did okay. If he'd had a 'mere from centre, you'd probably have half a point, but his last performance at centre he was sensational, setting up a hat-trick for Chris Hicks, and he hasn't played there since, he's been at stand off, even at Edinburgh, the best work he did, ie, make breaks was done in the 'centres channel' of attack.

As for the passes in touch, behind Hicks, I think you've just made them up ace.

The point I'm making is, he's had a mediocre first 60 mins at Hull on the wing, switched to centre, scored a try. Prior to that, he's looked a class act at centre, yet you seem to be bagging his performances at centre, but odd as the criticism you seem to have, is of his 60 minutes on the wing, unless you thought he was naff at home to Huddersfield at centre.

I knew your defence of HRH Chris Bridge would come at some point, it was just a matter of when Your love for him holds no bounds, does he get flowers on valentines day ?

No matter what anyone says about any of Chris Bridge`s past performances you will always have an answer, i remember you ridiculing some posters in the past who questioned his performances at full back when he went through that spell of dropping most kicks that were put his way along with him being poorly positioned.

What would you be saying now if that was the challenge cup quarter final against Hull KR and we were leading by lets say 18-16 and Chris Bridge did another feeble attempt at a tackle a Hull KR player which lead to a try to knock us out of the cup the same as he did on Danny Tickle ?

It doesn`t matter where on the pitch your playing, your tackling technique remains the same, that attempt to tackle Danny Tickle was simply feeble and lazy. I noticed you failed to answer that point in your above post.

It may not have been poor passes behind Chris Hicks that Bridge made as come to think of it i`m fairly sure they were to Matt King as i remember King a few times having to reach behind him, a few times he just gave up as the ball flew into touch.

: Sun May 17, 2009 11:01 pm  

Wouldn't we rather we developed our own players rather than just kept signing from outside all the time?

Stick with what we've got, bring lads through the Academy, that will allow us to steady the finances and clear the tax bill.

Re: So where do we need to strengthen for the future ? : Sun May 17, 2009 11:25 pm  

Rob Wire wrote:

No matter what anyone says about any of Chris Bridge`s past performances you will always have an answer, i remember you ridiculing some posters in the past who questioned his performances at full back when he went through that spell of dropping most kicks that were put his way along with him being poorly positioned.

Didn't that spell only last about 95 SL minutes, in which he scored two tries?

It seems to me your criticism of Bridge is based on a missed tackle on Tickle the other night.