Round 10: TITANS vs PARRA (2023)

[NZFan]

I really don’t like the look of this bench with Clarke and Lemming on it. Randall played a near perfect game last week for 80min, I’m not sure that we need Lemming on the bench. If Holbrook is after spark and leg speed then it should be at the expense of Clarke. I’m very concerned that we will see Randall, Clarke and Lemming on at the same time again.

I watched Burleighs QCup game and I would rather see Mikaele playing for 20min than another small forward. His defence was physical and he ran well with the ball. Sure he gets gassed but we don’t need him to play big minutes.

[The Birdman]

I really don’t like the look of this bench with Clarke and Lemming on it. Randall played a near perfect game last week for 80min, I’m not sure that we need Lemming on the bench. If Holbrook is after spark and leg speed then it should be at the expense of Clarke. I’m very concerned that we will see Randall, Clarke and Lemming on at the same time again.

I watched Burleighs QCup game and I would rather see Mikaele playing for 20min than another small forward. His defence was physical and he ran well with the ball. Sure he gets gassed but we don’t need him to play big minutes.

I tend to agree. Clarke and Leeming seem fairly redundant together and I'd rather another big body on the bench than both of those two

[MaroonTitan]

I understand what you're saying about a bigger bench NZF but you never know with injuries how many minutes we'll need. Ideally, you might start Mikaele for 10, give him five either side of halftime and another 5-10 at the end but games never play out as planned. I think last week was the first time Holbrook got the bench right in a very long time and we were lucky it was Brimo injured and not a middle forward.

Something worth considering is the way Parra play. Lateral movement will be crucial around the ruck and Mikaele hasn't shown much there just yet.

Clark isn't close to perfect but he's fitter and if Holbrook can get the bench right, he can make a bigger impact if he can play his role and not have to play the role of a big middle. I think his style suits a really big bench (or bigger than normal pack). He's still developing in the role and he may never be a Reuben Cotter but Cotter shines most when the blokes around him are big boys. He can lead line speed and make first contact, moves really well and uses both his toughness and ball skill in attack. Similar to the Cheese when he was at Melbourne playing 13.

I think he's a work in progress and this year will tell us a lot about his ceiling in that role but he also needs the chance to play it with better and more consistent bench rotations. I'm hoping that we'll see him play his best ever footy when JJ comes back.

[Cowabunga]

I reckon Clarks got 2 more weeks to keep his spot in the team for now otherwise Verrills will take it when he returns. Hopefully Haas can keep getting more minutes slowly and Stimson can move back into the middle for a stint. It looks like Liu could be spending some time at prop moving forward as well.

Randall is still going to be playing big minutes going forward with another 9, He'll take the bench 13 role on top of starting hooker imo. Like I said before, Size doesn't concern me as much as having good defenders out there. I'm not sure yet if Leeming is a better defender then rest of our forwards not playing but I'm pretty certain he's not worse.

[willhelm]

When is Verrills due back?

[Cowabunga]

Round 12 if everything is still to plan, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a run in QRL first thought so I'd expect Round 14.

[Titslover]

Round 12 if everything is still to plan, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a run in QRL first thought so I'd expect Round 14.

Why would you play a player of his quality in Qcup? He strikes me as someone who’s always fit so he doesn’t need to go there for match fitness, imagine how filthy we’d be if he gets injured in Qcup

[Cowabunga]

Just because it's the same collarbone he's done three times I think and for some confidence against less physical players, The more I think about it your right though. I remember him saying the surgery had been done wrong previously and this time it was to hopefully never have it happen again.

[NZFan]

MT, I agree with your comment that Clarke would be more effective playing alongside a big bench. Unfortunately we don’t have that and Clarkes ineffective defence cannot be covered by the other small players that we have on the bench. Holbrooks benches work well when we have the ball and we have a roll on in attack. Unfortunately, as we have found out time and time again, this is a very risky tactic and it often doesn’t pay off for us because we have no ability to stop momentum against bigger benches.

There was an interesting stat a couple weeks ago that something like when Tino is on the field we were up 40 odd points, but when he was off when we’re down 30 odd. The poor bloke is an absolute competitor but when we sub him we fall apart. Don’t get me wrong, when things are going well our bench looks good, but personally I’d rather have a bigger bench that can just keep us in the game without the potential of giving up a big lead.

If I was coach, I’d be seeing if we could somehow swap Clarke for Palasia this season.

[Titanic]

I feel Tino looks more haggard every game and that lack of shared workload is burning him.

[Titslover]

Foran pictured training which makes me think he’s playing, but then Kini is also in the blue kit which usually the players in the 17 wear. Maybe he’ll take Leeming’s spot on the bench?

Tried to link the instagram post but for some reason whenever I try post a link lately I got 403 access forbidden

[Titans83]

I feel Tino looks more haggard every game and that lack of shared workload is burning him.

Couldn’t agree more.

[Cowabunga]

Tino and Moe are playing way to big of minutes to be sustainable, Vuna has stepped up a bit imo but we need one more prop or Haas to play 50+ to get Stimson a stint in the middle. We're cooking those fellas. Liu could play some more minutes at prop to help the situation to.

I don't know when Iszac is back but no one else can really do the job till Jolliffe is back.. He's so big for us.

[Dobes]

Kini a confirmed debutant now!

[Titslover]

Can’t wait to see him play! I reckon he’ll be on the bench instead of Leeming