Round 1 2023 Side

frankLauda said:
He just seems so injury prone now. Do you think he will get injured less in the front row?
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I can’t remember how he’s been getting injuried. Often though you get injuried making a half break and getting hit from the side. Then your knees and ankles get twistered. He had that shoulder injuried operated on and that surgery is normally very successful so shouldn’t be an issue
 
Owey said:
Have a look at Crokes in the first 20 against the Broncos last year, best on ground in the first quarter, cleaned up a few dicey situations and things went belly up soon after he was rested. I don't think more mobile props will be an issue for us early.
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Yeh even leo thompson is a good balance between size and mobility. Would be completely fine
 
We had too much money tied up in our forwards (arguably still do) and a bunch of NSW Cup halves. I like Klem, but for the balance of the squad, I'm ok with the club letting Klem walk to secure Hastings.
 
Funny that Leo Thompson hasn't been in any of the training photos.
Last year he was in the middle of half of them.

Maybe they are giving him a long break - he did seem to burn out last year in his first NRL season.
 
Owey said:
Have a look at Crokes in the first 20 against the Broncos last year, best on ground in the first quarter, cleaned up a few dicey situations and things went belly up soon after he was rested. I don't think more mobile props will be an issue for us early.
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I’ll go back and watch again. If he’s roaring off the line in defence and covering a multitude of sins that does balance out his meh running game somewhat.
 
slotmachine said:
You're missing the point, it shouldn't have been either/or.

Klem is better than everyone is giving him credit for, and Hasting isn't as good as they think either.
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I give Klem plenty of credit for the quality of player he is and what he brings on the field and i have been one of his most vocal supporters...and this is only my take, but the more I thought about it through the year, the more I also believe it is likely that he has also been one of the primary causes of the toxic culture problems everybody keeps talking about at the Knights.

It is obvious that his effort, passion and aggression on the field is what we all admire in Klem as a player but there is also a clear pattern of Klem's ego thinking he is above the standards that coaches and management ask of him, in adhering to the values and team culture they are trying to build in the whole club.

I know there is justifiable scepticism of Freddy and his coaching style with the Blues but the sort of reported behaviour by Klemmer in the Blues camp that saw him dumped and marked never to return and the reported elements of Klem telling the Knights trainers to fX@K off when he refused to leave the field, etc. certainly points to a pattern of him thinking he is above the team rules because he is such an influential player.

From a team harmony and coaching/management situation though, letting that type of player get away with stuff BECAUSE they are the best player in the team, is what completely white ants any effort to build a team culture.

As much as I'll miss Klem and what he brings on the field as an individual, I think this club may be much stronger for his moving on in the long run...it's over to you O'Brien and coaching staff to bring what is clearly the true essence of what Bellyache brings to the Storm - as much as there are big personalities at the Storm, there are no egos when it comes to ANY OF THE PLAYERS thinking they are above the team
 
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Billy said:
Funny that Leo Thompson hasn't been in any of the training photos.
Last year he was in the middle of half of them.

Maybe they are giving him a long break - he did seem to burn out last year in his first NRL season.
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There aren’t any photos of the camp yet. He’s most likely there so they probably just gave him the first week off.
 
slotmachine said:
I do love that everyone is now scrambling to work out a middle forward rotation, days after the club let their best one from 2022 walk.
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A middle forward gets squeezed out of a club every few weeks during the season, not really stressed about it. If we need one, someone will show up. As always we’re just amusing ourselves based on what we know (very little), and talking in hypotheticals about a list which isn’t finalised yet.
 
I love Klem and was and still am glad we bought him but he wanted a 3 year deal and i'm not sure i would have given him 3 years at $800,000 either.
The other thing is we have 3 big men in the brothers and Klem but the game is getting away from big forwards and going for smaller hard working more mobile forwards so 2 big men is probably enough.
We all know or i think we do that the Saifiti's have the talent to worry any team in the comp but they have to be consistent.
If they do that and with the aggression of Elliot and Hetherington and Crocker looking the goods we will have a bloody good pack .
I think Friz will have a good year and i like the look of Thompson too , Jones and Fitzy will do a job for us as well. I wonder if they ever considered moving Jones to centre after the great game he played there.
 
No one knows how much Klemmer has signed on for at the Tigers. I don’t believe any figures have been released? I do doubt he would be on the same on that contract to what he is on currently.

Jones at centre would get eaten alive by every other centre in the comp. If any of the coaches have thought of that as a possibility they deserve to be fired the moment it leaves their lips in the office or on the training ground.
 
I absolutely guarantee there will be two or three games in the first 6 weeks where between lack of metres from our forwards and ordinary long kicking game from the halves has us pinned inside our own half for most of the game and there will be comments around "could have used klem today".
 
slotmachine said:
I absolutely guarantee there will be two or three games in the first 6 weeks where between lack of metres from our forwards and ordinary long kicking game from the halves has us pinned inside our own half for most of the game and there will be comments around "could have used klem today".
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I guarantee when we start scoring points people will say “it’s good having a halfback”.
 
slotmachine said:
I absolutely guarantee there will be two or three games in the first 6 weeks where between lack of metres from our forwards and ordinary long kicking game from the halves has us pinned inside our own half for most of the game and there will be comments around "could have used klem today".
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It hasn't been discussed much but it's our kicking game that concerns me the most. I haven't watched Hastings kicking game closely, but it also doesn't jump out at me as being his strength.
 
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