Mo just got cleared to play, thank god
Unfortunately it will be a long year (or maybe two) until massive roster changes can be made so we will have to work with what we have. Holbrook to his credit made a heap of changes and we are heading in the right direction with the lineup but there's still parts that need fixing desparately.
-Copley and Kelly must be our centres with Pearson and Don/Young Tonumaipea on the other with Sami at the back.
-Peachey is a 14 who needs to come on and play in the middle (that worked perfectly against Canberra).
-Boyd (preferably) or Wallace need to go. With these new 6 more rules you need fit and mobile big men in the middle, not two slow plodders that get caught out. You need a backrower on the bench.
-Fogarty has to get the ball more. He was meant to be the communicator who ran the side yet it seemed like nothing had changed as Ash kept getting it on last tackle.
Therefore our best side with the new rules and based off the opening few rounds performances:
1. Sami
2. Don/Young
3. Kelly
4. Copley
5. Pearson
6. Ash (only gets the ball when he needs to)
7. Fogarty
8. MoFo
9. Peats
10. Lisone
11. Proctor
12. Hipgrave
13. Arrow
14. Peachey
15. Wallace
16. Whitbread
17. Farmer/Fermor/Stone/anyone with a bit of mobility
Lisone to the bench. Jolliffe to start. Peachey, Clarke or rein and stone. Don’t think Farmer is close to getting a call up and Fermor is still injured. Problem might be Cartwright getting a call up. But in say all this. Replacing trash with recyclables.
Only other adjustments would be find a FB that wants to play 1st grade for a couple of months then be forgotten till AJ fails or is injured again.
For this week I would have
1 Sami To me is our best option at fb but needs team to go forwards first
2 YT see how he goes
3 Kelly Would sooner on the wing
4 Copley Well someone had to go right centre
5 Pearson Did ok outside peachey
6 Fogarty back to his left side
7 T Boyd I think will star out there
8 Mofo
9 Rein good for 25 at most then bring on Clark
10 Wallace ( only cuz I run out of Forward)
11 Proctor ( back to left side)
12 Cartwright ( only to give us Hipgrave of the bench as a impact player)
13 Arrow
14 Clark
15 Hipgrave
16 Lisone Has more to offer of the bench more impact
17 Jolliffe Can come on early for Wallace and play long mins and very solid
Fogarty plays right side for Burleigh doesn't he?
Yeah I sorry had Fogarty mixed up with else but he does play on the right My mistake I was thinking he was a left foot kicker
ok lets have a crack at 2021.
1. AJ Brimson
2. GL / Spry
3. Kelly
4. Young T
5. Sami
6. Peachey
7. Fogarty
8. Ese Ese
9. who the eff knows
10. Tino F
11. Proctor
12. FIFITA BABY
13. Mofo
14. Tanah B
15. Lisone
16. Joliffe
17. Furmor / Hipgrave
lots of close ones and you have Pearson, Copley, Rein, Peats, Wallace all hanging around so i wont be 100%, but its the direction id go pending further signings
1. Thompson
2. AJ Brimson
3. Kelly
4. Young T
5. Pearson
6. Atay
7. Fogarty
8. Mo
9. Mitch Rein
10. Tino
11. Proctor
12. Big Davey Fifita
13. Ese'ese
14. Tanah B
15. Lisone
16. Joliffe
17. Fermor/ Hipgrave/ Peachey/ Wallace
Think we need better kick returns and think AJ is too good to be on the bench and can swap around with Thompson at fullback, at least we know they are both committed in defence and give 100%. Happy to drop Sami and send him a warning shot and put Pearson in the back because we need a big body winger to get us out of redzone. Happy to have Don, Copley and Sami challenging positions and for depth.
Mitch Rein at hooker I'm hoping the big forward pack will give him some breathing room, but he needs to improve his service out of hooker.
I would keep Proctor in the starting squad just so we have some experience in our forwards.
Lots of different bench set ups we can do depending on our gameplan.
As of right now:
1. AJ Brimson
2. Phillip Sami
3. Brian Kelly
4. Young Tonumaipea
5. Corey Thompson
6. Ashley Taylor
7. Jamal Fogarty
8. Moeaki Fotuaika
9. ???
10. ???
11. Tino Faasuamaleaui
12. David Fifita
13. Herman Ese'ese
14. Tanah Boyd
15. Sam Lisone
16. Beau Fermor
17. Jaiman Joliffe
w/ Depth of:
Hipgrave, Peachey, Wallace, Whitbread, Farmer
Don, Spry, Pearson, Leleisiuao
Clark, Rein, Sexton
Finally a forward pack that can really get up the field. I do think that long-term our middles are Mo, Tino and Fifita however.
Leaving 9 open for any capable hooker that we pick up and 10 ideally for someone that has experience (or just bring Proctor back and shift Tino there). Id also be keeping my eye out for Chris McQueen-type veterans to bring back cheap and round out the rest of the squad.
I haven't watched enough storm games - is Tino a second rower or prop? coming off the bench makes it hard to know exactly where he is playing sometimes for me.
I thought he was a second rower, but lately im seeing prop more? he will dominate either way, just wondering what the what is