Round 24: SHARKS vs TITANS (2023)

[The Birdman]

The Des/Foran relationship worries me a bit tbh. The guy is past it, yet I've no doubt that Des will continue to play him every week regardless of how broken he is.

I agree with this. It's obvious we need AJ, JC and probably Kini playing 80 minutes a game next season but you get the feeling Foran will somehow keep taking a spot in the team off one of these guys when he shouldn't. He's slow and broken, which makes him a liability on the defensive side of things and often results in us wasting an interchange to get him off the field when he's busted.

Tanah Boyd to a lesser extent too, who hasn't really kicked on this year as we'd hoped. He's solid but clearly a below average halfback overall.

[MaroonTitan]

JC was great. Both at the back and at 6. I would've like more impact to stop that try in the corner and if he had his time again, I'm sure he would have done that differently, but Schoupp really doesn't help things on that side. I'm sick of him. When are Brimo or Jojo back?

Lofi sh!t me too. He didn't look interested and I couldn't help but notice how slow he moves in defence for such a quick man with the ball. Foran outsprinted him to try and cover and he just jogs in the background instead of making a difference. It was poor attitude on display and I hope he cops it from Jimmy. He's got too much potential to play like that.

The Sharks are a smart team. They really punished us when 2Rs were in the tackle or on the other side of the field. They hammered Boyd and exploited our busted up players, Joe and Foz. I think Jimmy's comment about not making enough contact early in the game may have been aimed at Clark. Was that a punch? Will he get time off for that?

I think we need to bite the bullet and start Klese ahead of Stimson, at least every second week. Joe just struggles to back it up week after week. I'm not convinced by Klese yet (and want to see more of Alick - at least give him the same opportunities for failure) but Boyd has too work too hard without a proper 2R next to him. If Klese is really our best long term option there, let's get him started and hope the errors disappear by the end of the year.

In saying all that, I also think we need to cut a bit of slack given the effort last week with 12 men. How many times have you seen a team so competitive for so long with a man down? It was phenomenal! That would've really drained us and I reckon it showed last night. A few positives out of that game too with Tino and JJ coming back so strongly, JC playing so well at both 1 and 6 and Randall just being Randall. Kini got some good experience and the bench made sense given Foran carrying those injuries (but probably better to rest him in hindsight). I think our bench rotations are much better with Jimmy. He hasn't got an easy job with the players out and the walking wounded.

[Whats Doing]

With Klese, it is not so much his errors that concern me but his lack of involvement particularly in attack. He just does not seem to go looking for work. I think he has the ability and skillset but Jimmy needs to demand more involvement

[Titanic]

I’ve said enough about Haas but he does not seem to have any football smarts. Schoupp at one stage was looking completely the wrong way when the Sharks scored inside of him … never seen that before.

Agree JC’s defense when in the line is streets ahead of him at fb. Keep him there. Kini looked promising and not out of place. AJ and Foran are both injury magnets for different reasons. Des won’t pick either if they’re not fit.