Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 08, 2021 10:56 am  

ChrisA wrote:

Hardaker and the way he plays would be and is great, in a team that play a more off the cuff and expansive game than we do.

Hastings has no support, no dummy runners. He has no options, if he just caught and passed, he would get a used of not trying. It's the complete lack of options, and threat posed from other players that makes him easy to mark out of a game.

I honestly don't think Hastings is a 7, he's a 9 or 13.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:16 am  

post wrote:

I honestly don't think Hastings is a 7, he's a 9 or 13.

Surely that is a joke?

He won Man of Steel as a halfback, he's played his whole career as a halfback but you think he's a 9 or 13?

Which is it? 9 or 13? They are two completely different positions.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:45 am  

Hastings is a funny one, there’s no doubt there’s one hell of a player in there. I believe he tries to do too much, I don’t think any player around him has any idea of what he’s going to do. They just seem to stand and watch. He carts the ball in far too much for a half and far too often gets caught on the 4th tackle. Smith rarely gets a look in.

I lay the blame straight in the hands of lam and his lack of a structured attack, but partially (which is out of our control) the frequency of games and lack of training sessions.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:41 pm  

Trainman wrote:

Hastings is a funny one, there’s no doubt there’s one hell of a player in there. I believe he tries to do too much, I don’t think any player around him has any idea of what he’s going to do. They just seem to stand and watch. He carts the ball in far too much for a half and far too often gets caught on the 4th tackle. Smith rarely gets a look in.

I lay the blame straight in the hands of lam and his lack of a structured attack, but partially (which is out of our control) the frequency of games and lack of training sessions.

I think Hastings does try too much and Smith doesn't seem to have it in him to lay his marker down with Hastings therefore, he just lives of the scraps and generally "makes do".

I get caught with Hastings thinking that he is potentially a great player or alternatively totally one dimensional, particularly his kicking game. His kicking game is probably the worst Ive ever seen and it will be interesting to see how he goes next year in a far better competition.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:53 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Surely that is a joke?

He won Man of Steel as a halfback, he's played his whole career as a halfback but you think he's a 9 or 13?

Which is it? 9 or 13? They are two completely different positions.

He can play both, I've never seen a scrum half get tackled so mucb but not because he's taking the line on but because he's taking drives in. He was driving it out of our 10 against Cas, whats that all about?

You know Nathan, just because a player plays in a certain position doesn't mean they would not be better suited in another. Take note of this post, once Hastings goes to the NRL expect a move to 9 or 13. He could even do the 14 role for NSW I reckon.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:18 pm  

FWIW I would have given Hastings a run at 9 when Powell was out and we started using him at halfback. I'm not saying his best spot is hooker, but I think the team would have played better that way around during that period. He has played well for us there before.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:46 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

Then god knows what you were watching because on the handful of occasions he started we actually looked like a team who could play rugby, the "points for" in those games prove that

Sammut was an average player with a terrible attitude. He was a disgrace whilst at Trinity and showed nothing at Wigan, I'd love to know who you were watching.

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:22 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Surely that is a joke?

He won Man of Steel as a halfback, he's played his whole career as a halfback but you think he's a 9 or 13?

Which is it? 9 or 13? They are two completely different positions.

was he not a 9 at the start of his NRL career? I know he was used where the team was short so did play a bit of half due to Pearce's injury

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:25 pm  

vastman wrote:

Sammut was an average player with a terrible attitude. He was a disgrace whilst at Trinity and showed nothing at Wigan, I'd love to know who you were watching.

well never know as he never got a chance at Wigan, all I can say is the games he played he was far better than Smith is now and outplayed Tommy also

Re: Hardaker & Hastings : Thu Sep 23, 2021 7:28 am  

Hardaker is absolutely part of the problem for Wigan when he pays FB in my opinion, but I think Harry Smith is also an issue for you as he looks rather heavily overrated to me (albeit accepting he has played behind a back-pedalling pack all year).