2019 Preseason News and trial games

[BundyTitan]

Disappointing to lose that one after such a great start but only a trial and showed plenty of good signs. The effort and enthusiasm, especially in defence, was the big positive for me. Put a lot of pressure on them in D and forced a few errors and got up in their face. Attack also looked sharp with Ash and Roberts back linking up together again. Just a few things:

-I reckon Carty has locked up that 12 jersey at least for round 1. Actually looked like he was giving it a go in defence and pulled off a few good shots. And added some second phase footy to our attack. James is better in the middle imo and we need to keep him there. Cartwright needs to keep that up for the whole season though otherwise he's goneskie.

-As sad as it is for the Don, Lee has sewn that right wing spot up as well. Scored a nice try and his hitups in our own half starts our sets off really well. Kelly was also superb so our right side combination is looking solid.

-As I said, Roberts needs to be at 6. He links up with Ash so well and they both look happier when playing alongside each other which equals better footy played by both. Also helps take the pressure off Ash as we now have another option to go to on 5th tackle (last year we missed that, Ash was our only option).

-For me Gordon, as solid as he has been for us, can't fit into our best 17. Brimson needs to be at the back and for me Rein can't miss out on a spot either as he adds a real spark off the bench. Good to have Mick for depth though.

Anyway a little over two weeks until we are in to round 1 and hopefully we can bring some of that effort that we displayed tonight.

[Mr Bods]

I’m not sure on Lee keeping Don out ... James will help, Cartwright went better and Hipgrave could sneak in.

Surely your favourite player The Pipe Cleaner cemented himself a spot on the bench..........in the Bycroft Cup.

[Mexican titan]

Hipgrave could sneak in.

Hipgrave was probably the dumbest player I saw last year. Unless he has grown some grey matter in the off season I don't want him anywhere near the team.

[BundyTitan]

Not sure we can find a place for Hipgrave. Think he will have to sneak in with injuries/bad form/etc

[rj62]

How good was mo fo

[Firetruck]

Cartwright was ok but still hasn’t earn’t a starting role yet imo.
Roberts was good but AJ is by far a better option.
Really like the look of our backline. Very slick

Geez you are a hard marker. I thought Cartwright had a very good game and he played the 80 minutes. I had a chat to Luke ODwyer at the game and he was wrapped in Cartys performance. Not only his defence but his ability to start second phase attack by getting the ball away with defenders hanging on him. He will be in the side and I will be pleased...as opposed to the last 12 months where the the thought of him being in was more repulsive than having Matthews in the side.
MoFo was great and he is going to be a real force coming off the bench. I think King will jag a bench spot also.

[RavShamrock]

Well said Firetruck

Round 1

1. Michael Gordon, 2. Brenko Lee, 3. Tyrone Peachey, 4. Brian Kelly, 5. Phillip Sami, 6. Tyrone Roberts, 7. Ash Taylor, 8. Jarrod Wallace, 9. Nathan Peats, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Kevin Proctor, 12. Bryce Cartwright, 13. Jai Arrow. Interchange: 14. Ryan James, 15. Moeaki Fotuaika, 16. Max King, 17Alexander Brimson

[JunctionBlock]

Just got home, crowd wasn't anything to crow about. A lot of Broncos as usual. The way I saw it we won the game. Our A team put 18 points to nil on their A team. AFter that we started swapping and changing and the players didn't even know where they were playing or what side of the field. Their first 6 pointer was their A team vs our subs and was off a forward pass. After that Broncos made a couple of changes and we made more. Then the flood gates opened with the Broncos A/B side vs our B/C side. We muscled up at the end with a few more A players and the Broncos sent their C team out.

Lots to be happy with there. Cartwright has turned a corner but he's still got some way to go before he's back to his best. His runs are soft and slow. Still lacking in quality depth but we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year.
Bring on Round 1.

[gotitans101_]

Surely your favourite player The Pipe Cleaner cemented himself a spot on the bench..........in the Bycroft Cup.

You sound about as cranky as I was. Giving up a 18-0 lead is not a good look, trial or not.

[Titanic]

My only real concern about the team is the sameness about the forwards (Arrow, James, Wallace, King, Boyle, Proctor, Stockwell in particular), so Cartwright should lock the left edge. Boyd and MoFo really bend the line. Peachey looked better roving around the edges. I also agree that AJ should start as FB, Roberts/Taylor as the half's and toss a coin on either Rein or Peats.

[JunctionBlock]

THe lead was given up by our B team so not a big deal. The forwards showed some excellent line speed in defence. I thought Gordon was much more vocal when he was out there organising the defensive numbers. It went quiet when AJ took over. Another thing about Cartwright is that he's still grabbing at the tackles rather than moving his feet and putting his body on the line. If he gets the gig over James in the second row then I think there will be issues.

[TITAN PETE]

The wait is almost over wooefnhoo

Their was plenty to like about the 1st 50 minutes of the match

We now have a monster that will bend or break the line every time he has the ball , hopefully his hand isn’t broken I was sitting next to our bench & it looked bad,,,but it was great to see we have a true defensive centre in the Peach , the Jerk was getting bashed by him & it was only when they threw him in the middle that the donkeys were able to break that right edge ...but the bloke who was put on notice Carty & played the full 80 I think was the best of the night some of his defence was sensational & I’ll be shocked if he’s not in the top 17

For the 1st time in our history we have depth especially in the 6 & 7 but I can’t see there being a change last nights pairing which could be one of the best in the comp but defensively the opposite, AJ is a much better defender but Roberts has to start.

Brennan’s toughest decision for week one is that Gordon or AJ starts @ 1 because Rein has to be the 14 & no team can afford to carry 2 midgets on the bench but AJ looks well short of where he needs to be & I won’t be surprised if he starts at Tweed to get some match fitness but his quality will be hard to leave out(good luck Garth)

1.Gordon
2.Don
3.Kelly
4.Peach
5.Sami
6.Roberts
7.Taylor
8.Boyd
9.Peats
10.James c
11.Proctor
12.Cartwright
13.Arrow

14.Rein
15.Wallace
16.Mo
17.King
18.Hipgrave

Welcome to 2019
Let the arguments begin

[ozynorts]

Geez you are a hard marker. I thought Cartwright had a very good game and he played the 80 minutes. I had a chat to Luke ODwyer at the game and he was wrapped in Cartys performance. Not only his defence but his ability to start second phase attack by getting the ball away with defenders hanging on him. He will be in the side and I will be pleased...as opposed to the last 12 months where the the thought of him being in was more repulsive than having Matthews in the side.
MoFo was great and he is going to be a real force coming off the bench. I think King will jag a bench spot also.

My reasoning was that he played 1 ok game (a trial) and to me that means nothing after what he served up last year. I am not convinced that he can do that week in week out. He still doesn't like putting his body in front to make a tackle.
He could prove me wrong but at this stage one ok game in a trial isn't any reason to think he is suddenly a walk up starter.

[Mr Bods]

All summer we’ve been wetting ourselves about this alleged amazing depth we have yet last night when the replacements came on we got totally towelled up

[Mexican titan]

All summer we’ve been wetting ourselves about this alleged amazing depth we have yet last night when the replacements came on we got totally towelled up

I think we are good for depth in the backs but I shudder when I see Matthews, Stockwell and Hipgrave considered worthy of bench spots as it indicates our forward depth isn't great. However, last night should be put in context as 4 or 5 second tier blokes came on together which doesn't help with cohesion. If we have to dig in to our depth throughout the season, then a bloke trains with the team all week, whereas last night they were just thrown on. It was a trial game.

I still think one of the major issues for Brennan is the Peats/Rein situation. In my opinion he needs to pick one and the one who misses out should not be on the bench. The situation like last year when both Peats and Rein were on the field together for large periods of time is untenable. It's asking for trouble to have two midget forwards on the field together. Good for depth though, to have two hookers of pretty fair quality. Same with Brimson, when he gets a starting position a decent player will be pushed out, thus adding to our depth.