Kalyn Ponga

If we are judging him on playing 5/8, but not doing any playmaking or using any skills that remotely resemble 5/8 skills - he is killing it.
Watson was brought here as a running 5/8 that's all , not for his kicking game or being a general on the field that's what we had Pearce and Lamb for .
Pearce was doing it well and so far Lamb isn't ..Should'nt really judge Watson for not doing something he wasn't brought here to do in the first place ...
 
Watson was brought here as a running 5/8 that's all , not for his kicking game or being a general on the field that's what we had Pearce and Lamb for .
Pearce was doing it well and so far Lamb isn't ..Should'nt really judge Watson for not doing something he wasn't brought here to do in the first place ...
We shouldn't blame one of our halves for not being up to the job.
But we should blame the younger and less experienced one.
The one getting 4 times the pay of the other one is blameless, because we all know he isn't up to the job, and we knew that when we bought him.
It all makes perfect sense to me now.
 
About time it made perfect sense to you mate ...Seriously though Watson is up to the job that he was brought here to do and is doing it ...Its Lamb that's not up to the job he is supposed to do and i don't give flying one what amount they are on they are here to do there job and Watson is doing it ...
 
Why not Watson 1, Burher 6, Yates bench?
Is Buhrer at 6 a better option than Meaney (for example) at 1, already a bit short of experience at 6 & 7 so don't like to change it. Buhrer on bench to cover if not going well.
I don't think we will need to change, Ponga unlikely to play SOO but if does then can back up injury aside.
 
Honestly don’t see them putting him to fullback this late. Munster to fullback and Morgan to halves. Ponga would be wasted on the bench imo.
Heard Laurie Daley this morning and his take made sense on Ponga....it would not be practical for Ponga to slot straight into fullback for 2 reasons that aren't about skill or ability but about experience;

1) fullback has a large responsibility for setting up and organising the defensive structure - with no knowledge of the systems or demands that Queensland would want (because he hasn't trained with them or played with the squad before) it wouldn't be practical for the team to have somebody unfamiliar with their defensive structures being responsible for that in the pressure cooker environment of the game, and

2) for similar reasons, he wouldn't know the attacking plays/calls to know his position or timing to play his part in those patterns.

Laurie suggested that if he'd trained there all week, he would be OK to slot in but he will only get one training session to get any sort of sense or understanding of all of these aspects and his thoughts were that it would make more sense for somebody like Munster to slot in at fullback, bring Morgan into the halves and Ponga to be used as a bench cover/utility.

It sounded really sensible and I would think Qld would more want to ensure they minimise the disruption to their defensive and attacking structure than necessarily 'protect' Ponga from being involved in the game...as Laurie said, if h had been with the squad from the start, he could see him being picked to start at No. 1 but it wouldn't be a smart coaching move in game 1 because of his limited opportunity to prepare with the squad, not because he couldn't handle it.
 
They aren't going to play him and never were. If Gagai is ruled out he may get some time from the bench but otherwise, he gets to spend some time in camp, gain that experience and bring that back to us for the roosters game.

I'm sure even if he plays, being a young'n he will be fine to back up.
 
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