The pre-season 2026 thread

Its not a coincidence that we were held scoreless with Brown as the leading playmaker and halfback.

It's not a strength of his. Never has been. Not even for a single game of his career has he done a job in that role.

And if Brown is ineffective at steering the ship you'll seriously disappointed by what Sharpe has to offer in that capacity.

Those two cannot be paired together in this team. It doesnt work.
 
Les Misérables said:
Its not a coincidence that we were held scoreless with Brown as the leading playmaker and halfback.

It's not a strength of his. Never has been. Not even for a single game of his career has he done a job in that role.

And if Brown is ineffective at steering the ship you'll seriously disappointed by what Sharpe has to offer in that capacity.

Those two cannot be paired together in this team. It doesnt work.
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I agree with you but don’t bother, most here just want to shove the fast guy close and hope he can handle an extremely advanced position in time to compete against the powerhouses of the league.

The extremely obvious choice to literally anyone is brown and smith but for many they don’t care they just want more Sharpe.
 
frankLauda said:
Can someone enlighten me. So when Ezra Mamm came back. I can’t remember what round? He played off the bench. It was Hunt and Reynolds in the halves? And then when Ezra came on he went to 6 and Hunt hooker. Right?

I actually think this could be an option for us. Brown, Smith and Crossland start. Sharpe bench. Then after 20, Sharpe comes on, Smith moves to hooker, Crossland lock, Sharpe in the halves. And they do the same for the second half.

Is this a real option? Gagai will be in the centres. I really think we need Marzhew on the wing. I don’t know just trying to think, this is possibly what the coach could be thinking.

Thoughts?
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The round was the preliminary final and the reason they did it is because Mam was being rushed back early from long term injury without a ramp up fitness wise, so they didn’t think he could play 80.

But Mam & Walsh are the most lethal 6 and 1 tandem in the game. You’d rather 50 minutes of a gimped Mam over 80 minutes of Hunt at 6. They did it because it was the only way they they could get him in the team and have him not be a liability.

At the end of the day they won the comp on the back of Madge getting the squad super fit & cherry ripe for finals even with really bad injury luck, and Walsh & Haas probably being the two best players in the game.
 
Les Misérables said:
Its not a coincidence that we were held scoreless with Brown as the leading playmaker and halfback.

It's not a strength of his. Never has been. Not even for a single game of his career has he done a job in that role.

And if Brown is ineffective at steering the ship you'll seriously disappointed by what Sharpe has to offer in that capacity.

Those two cannot be paired together in this team. It doesnt work.
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Bulldogs - 1790m gained. Knights - 1372m gained.
Joey Johns would have lost that match if he was halfback.
 
CornChippy said:
Bulldogs - 1790m gained. Knights - 1372m gained.
Joey Johns would have lost that match if he was halfback.
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Im not bothered by the loss. Scorelessness the remarkable feature of that loss.

Im certain that if Smith were 7 and Brown were 6 in their traditional roles we arent held scoreless. Im certain of it. To not score a single try in 80 mins means that your playmakers arent just missing all of the half chances, they're missing all of the decent chances. Its very telling.
 
We get criticised and were criticising AOB for chopping and changing our halves every couple of weeks and now we are suggesting to do it in games as a designed game plan. Im sorry but I don’t like that idea at all

What makes this harder to comprehend is we are moving the game managing half back to play hooker and then back to half back later in the game. That’s too much movement of your key spine players and is guaranteed to destabilise the side.

That would mean on 3 different occasions we would have a different game manager, Smith, Brown and Smith again. Our attack is already struggling

We need to keep the player positional movements to an absolute minimum and Sharpe needs to be in the starting side, playing 80 min each week. The simplest solution is to play Sharpe on the wing and give him a licence to roam around the field, so he can pop up anywhere in attack, supporting the play, like a fullback should do

Also when the Broncos did it, it was with their 5/8, which is a big deference in this scenario, so Reynolds was still there organising the side. That’s why it worked for them and also their side is a better side structurally
 
Les Misérables said:
Im not bothered by the loss. Scorelessness the remarkable feature of that loss.

Im certain that if Smith were 7 and Brown were 6 in their traditional roles we arent held scoreless. Im certain of it. To not score a single try in 80 mins means that your playmakers arent just missing all of the half chances, they're missing all of the decent chances. Its very telling.
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To be devils advocate, Doms try to start the game should have been a try and if McEwen dives over the line in the last 5 minutes, instead of being bolt upright and getting held up over the line, we score 2 tries.

I don’t think things are as bad as people are making out. Sure we are not good enough yet, but it was against the Dogs, who will probably end the season with a top 3 defence
 
Yep, all fair points @Wicket, and I agree with you regarding halves. But to put Sharpe on the wing, I'm not 100%. We need Greg's carry's. But maybe Sharpe can make meters with his elusiveness and speed. Either way, not if but when there is an injury in the backline or a halve Sharpe moves, Greg comes in. I'm firmly of the belief that Smith and Brown are the halves.
 
KPGreatness said:
I agree with you but don’t bother, most here just want to shove the fast guy close and hope he can handle an extremely advanced position in time to compete against the powerhouses of the league.

The extremely obvious choice to literally anyone is brown and smith but for many they don’t care they just want more Sharpe.
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Pouting over people on a fan forum having different opinions. Guessing I’m one of the ones upsetting you so I’ll clarify - I said months ago that Smith at half and Sharpe on the wing should get first crack, and that’s what I assumed we would see until the coach shut it down. Still would guess Smith at half is what we’ll see in round one and I have no problem with that.

What I’ve pushed back on is the obnoxious way you and a few others have tried to frame the very concept of anyone possibly believing Sharpe can be a viable option in the halves as a ridiculous one. It’s no more ridiculous than believing Smith is suddenly going to be the organising halfback we need despite never being that at the Roosters and not even really having the skillset most would want from that type of player.

If we had a proven, quality halfback available then I don't think anybody would be trying to fit Sharpe in there. We don't. We have a guy whose best games have been as running half or bench hooker vs a fullback with an elite running/support game who at the very minimum has shown he can defend in the front line. It's ok to want to get the much, much more talented player in there even if you don't personally want that.
 
frankLauda said:
Yep, all fair points @Wicket, and I agree with you regarding halves. But to put Sharpe on the wing, I'm not 100%. We need Greg's carry's. But maybe Sharpe can make meters with his elusiveness and speed. Either way, not if but when there is an injury in the backline or a halve Sharpe moves, Greg comes in. I'm firmly of the belief that Smith and Brown are the halves.
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I agree putting Sharpe on the wing isn’t the ideal solution, but to me it gives our side the best balance.

Unfortunately there is a high likelihood of us getting an injury in the backline and Sharpe is most likely the one who is first choice for coverage of all positions. That’s why I think he is best on the wing currently. It’s less destabilising replacing a winger

That said, you are right about us needing Marzhew’s carries given our current forwards. So it’s not a simple solution.

On a side note, we are assuming it’s Marzhew, not Young who would be dropped. I don’t think it is that straightforward a decision. Both are average under the high ball, both are suspect in defence, especially Young when he flies in all the time. Marzhew is better at yardage and Young is better finishing off breaks and scoring tries.

We have most the ingredients to be a good side, it’s just fitting all the pieces into the right spots
 
Mclovin said:
What is fun is that we didnt come last in the pre season challenge 😀 thank goodness for for and against 😅
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I hadn’t seen that, thought it would be a given with two losses and one of them a pretty heavy one. Should have known the Storm and Panthers would be even worse. 😳

With the halves and spine situation, I honestly don’t care what Holbrook goes with … I think there’s a lot of talented players there, and they are capable of growing into new roles. Whatever we go with, we’ll be putting a quality, important player in a position that they’re not accustomed to.

But I just wish we would make a decision, train for a few months with that in mind, and stick with it - give whatever we choose time to develop and bed in!

Not seeing it atm.
 
jamesgould said:
I hadn’t seen that, thought it would be a given with two losses and one of them a pretty heavy one. Should have known the Storm and Panthers would be even worse. 😳

With the halves and spine situation, I honestly don’t care what Holbrook goes with … I think there’s a lot of talented players there, and they are capable of growing into new roles. Whatever we go with, we’ll be putting a quality, important player in a position that they’re not accustomed to.

But I just wish we would make a decision, train for a few months with that in mind, and stick with it - give whatever we choose time to develop and bed in!

Not seeing it atm.
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Well if that’s the case we know fairly well Brown and Smith have been training there most of the preseason. So I would be shocked if it’s Sharpe and Brown.
 
mullenmagic said:
Pouting over people on a fan forum having different opinions. Guessing I’m one of the ones upsetting you so I’ll clarify - I said months ago that Smith at half and Sharpe on the wing should get first crack, and that’s what I assumed we would see until the coach shut it down. Still would guess Smith at half is what we’ll see in round one and I have no problem with that.

What I’ve pushed back on is the obnoxious way you and a few others have tried to frame the very concept of anyone possibly believing Sharpe can be a viable option in the halves as a ridiculous one. It’s no more ridiculous than believing Smith is suddenly going to be the organising halfback we need despite never being that at the Roosters and not even really having the skillset most would want from that type of player.

If we had a proven, quality halfback available then I don't think anybody would be trying to fit Sharpe in there. We don't. We have a guy whose best games have been as running half or bench hooker vs a fullback with an elite running/support game who at the very minimum has shown he can defend in the front line. It's ok to want to get the much, much more talented player in there even if you don't personally want that.
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I cannot like this post enough. I've been vocal in my support for Sharpe as a half and believe he will make a great fist of it whenever he gets a chance. If it is Brown and Smith next week however, I hope they absolutely brain it and don't give Holbrook any reason to change. It won't change my opinion on Sharpe though.
 
frankLauda said:
Yep, all fair points @Wicket, and I agree with you regarding halves. But to put Sharpe on the wing, I'm not 100%. We need Greg's carry's. But maybe Sharpe can make meters with his elusiveness and speed. Either way, not if but when there is an injury in the backline or a halve Sharpe moves, Greg comes in. I'm firmly of the belief that Smith and Brown are the halves.
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I think Greg will get absolutely peppered with kicks like teams we’re doing last season. And the decision will be very easy - Greg out, Sharpe in.
 
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