2024 Season General Discussion Thread

[Detwelve12]

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2024/...r-akp-in-2024/

Lofi reckons he’s put on nearly 10kg from last season but hasn’t lost any pace

I’m calling cap on that much weight gain but I hope he is heavier and has a heavier carry to contribute more on exit sets

Putting on 10kg in that little time is not appropriate for NRL. Does not give appropriate time for Tendons and Ligaments to strengthen, likely to end up with an injury.

[NZFan]

NRL.com predicted 2024 lineup:

1. Campbell
2. AKP
3. AJ
4. Kelly
5. Sami
6. Foran
7. Boyd
8. Mo
9. Verrills
10. Tino
11. Fermor
12. Fafita
13. Liu
14. Clark
15. Jolliffe
16. Palasia
17. Haas

Pretty strong on paper. I think Randall will (and should) be ahead of Clark. He has more versatility and better defensively. The 17 spot is also intriguing. Personally I had Stimson but he’s been training in the middle more so perhaps Haas is the more balanced option.

Getting excited now. Hopefully no cruel injuries before the season starts. We’ve had a lot of disruption in the last couple seasons through injury.

Looking forward to watching the Weaver/Boyd positional battle throughout the year. Suspect we’ll see Palasia move to the starting side as the season progresses too. While I quite enjoyed Holbrooks expansive attacking style, I really hope we see some continuity in positions this year. I’m expecting Des will walk the walk when it comes to playing a defensive game. Holbrooks biggest downfall was talking a defensive game then picking attack minded players.

Not long now..

[Titanic]

I think the backs pick themselves barring injury but I would be staggered if Haas and Clark both appeared and we are still fielding that pop-gun bench.

[MaroonTitan]

Just for fun, here's my predicted fwd pack and bench (backs the same as you NZF):

8 Mo
9 Randall
10 Tino
11 DF
12 BF
13 Liu

14 Verrils
15 Palasia
16 JJ
17 Stimson

Young Iszac could be a dark horse on the bench if he's training the house down. If Des thinks Pahulu is ready for Round 1, I think I'll be so excited I'll be doing laps around the house.

[Titanic]

I'm 100% on board with that MT ... I was going to predict Pahulu too but I'm afraid I will jinx him.

[Cowabunga]

I got the same as NZFan besides Randall for Clark and and no fourth forward, I don't see the need for the fourth forward with Keenan, Randall and Tino able to cover anywhere and everyone in the middle can play big minutes.

Foz is the big concern who needs cover imo in the 17 going off his history and last year, JC was needed pretty often due to injury last year and sounds like he should've been playing more often but Foz is to tough. Hopefully AJs body holds up better at centre but he's still iffy so I reckon that last bench spot might be based around whoever is the best line up if either of those two go down.

[MaroonTitan]

I got the same as NZFan besides Randall for Clark and and no fourth forward, I don't see the need for the fourth forward with Keenan, Randall and Tino able to cover anywhere and everyone in the middle can play big minutes.

Foz is the big concern who needs cover imo in the 17 going off his history and last year, JC was needed pretty often due to injury last year and sounds like he should've been playing more often but Foz is to tough. Hopefully AJs body holds up better at centre but he's still iffy so I reckon that last bench spot might be based around whoever is the best line up if either of those two go down.

So Kini in the 17 for you then Cow?

[Cowabunga]

I think so MT but I'd be happy with anyone mentioned + Jojo or Alick.

I think our best option if Foz goes down is switching JC to 6 and bring on Kini at fullback which I think that's the plan going forward as well once Foz is done so we may as well get it started imo, I wouldn't be against AJ moving back there as well and Jojo coming on but if AJ kills it at centre I'd rather keep him out there which has been our worst position.

It'd be a lot easier if JC was training.

[MaroonTitan]

So Alick as a makeshift centre, or for Dave or Beau to slot in there if needed?

Kini covering for Foran or one of the other backs going down makes sense but just a worry about the size of the bench if we've got Randall and Kini there.

[Cowabunga]

Alick or Fermor into the centres, We saw how it ended with Fifita last time.

I don't think size is a problem with Randall He's one of our best defenders imo and with all our middles being big minute players instead of impact, I just don't see minutes for another middle to take away from those guys. Randall is always going to have big guys around him as well, I think he's going to breakout even more this year potentially.

[willhelm]

Des likes size, so I think we end up with a bench of Randall, Jolliffe, Palasia, Stimson

[Cowabunga]

I thought that as well but went back and checked his benches in 2022 where pretty much only ever 2 props with Dylan Walker, He'd usually have a back to cover Tommy till he got injured or Karl Lawton.

[Hail Sezer]

For anyone interested - NRL has set up a pathways youtube channel where they've uploaded heaps of NSW schools & Langer Cup games from this year, as well as some old NYC matches from 2017 and 2016. Somehow we produced 3x Origin players from what was a pretty average 20's side with Mo, AJ and Sami all in that 2017 side.

https://www.youtube.com/@nrlpathways/videos

It's a fun watch but in hindsight the standard of football in that NYC comp is actually worse than our current Titans U19's fixtures IMO. The quality of the SG and MM comps has surpassed it, as it was intended to.

[Hail Sezer]

Anyone who has any form of social media would've seen this but it's a fun watch nonetheless:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2217078061832561

Small clip of AJ scoring a training try from right centre

[Titanic]

And on the flip side, that left edge defensive combination probably not going so well ... lol