Dale Finucane

The line speed wasn’t good enough all day on the weekend and you do kind of expect the middle forwards to set that speed. I think it’s fair enough to question Dan & Klem on this. Particularly Dan since he’s one of the captains now.

Re: Star, I’ll always back talent until it’s clear it’ll never be fulfilled. I think positional awareness is a much bigger issue with him than his effort from what I’ve seen. And I won’t question the attitude of a kid who’ll play on one arm four weeks in a row. I think the club has a lot of belief in his potential.
 
Hope so. He was a gun fullback as a junior and I think he's better suited there, though that's obviously not going to happen here.
 
He’s been talked about as a possible centre too, having played fullback you’d expect him to have good enough ball skills.
 
mullenmagic said:
Hope so. He was a gun fullback as a junior and I think he's better suited there, though that's obviously not going to happen here.
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So what makes you think he won’t be a gun full back, if Ponga does go to 5/8 who is to say that Hodgson will make it, we haven’t seen him play and Toa has at least played 1sts as well as Hoy. At this stage, Ponga to 5/8 next season or two the rating of replacement is 1 Hoy, 2 Toa, 3 Hodgson, 4 Any reserve grader who puts his hand up, 5 Young
think Ponga is best we have and unless 1-5 step up big time he is f/b for a while, easier to find a centre/winger than a f/b of note
 
I have a feeling Hoy will make a better five-eighth in the long run than fullback, I know he’s inexperienced but his positional instincts at 1 are not amazing, and he looks to have more upper body strength than KP (who’s mostly strong through his core and hips) so I’m confident he can handle defending in the line. Got a big boot on him and he looks more dangerous to me playing fast & flat at the line with bodies in motion around him than he does coming around our the back of shape with time & space.

Not sure Dom has ever played fullback. But yeah if Ponga eventually ends up in the halves it’s not inconceivable that To’a ends up at 1.

I honestly don’t think Adzy has a predetermined idea of our spine in a few years, outside of that Brailey & KP will definitely be in it if they’re still at the club, and Clifford is the style of halfback he wants. I guess that’s why you load up on talent though, you don’t need to really pay Hodgson, Hoy etc big money till one of them really demands their spot.
 
To'a has never had a sniff of playing fullback in first grade, even when injuries have opened up the opportunity. I think he's very much seen as a winger at this stage.

On Hodgson, Knights were one of multiple teams chasing him hard, including the club where his uncle plays, and signed him long-term. I still haven't seen a second of him on the field but it seems likely they have plans for him.
 
mullenmagic said:
To'a has never had a sniff of playing fullback in first grade, even when injuries have opened up the opportunity. I think he's very much seen as a winger at this stage.

On Hodgson, Knights were one of multiple teams chasing him hard, including the club where his uncle plays, and signed him long-term. I still haven't seen a second of him on the field but it seems likely they have plans for him.
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Hodgson is a special talent. I know everyone seems to be blowing smoke up Dom's arse which I'm still struggling to understand right now but this is the Kid the whole of the ESL wanted to keep, with the big boys offering him serious cash to stay in England. Correct, Raiders offered him a deal too but from what I've read we beat every offer on the table and the kid wanted to pave his own way. Kids got a step to rival KP, can you imagine a spine with those 2 in it !!
 
I wish people would stop talking about Ponga to 5/8 it didn't work and may never work . He is the type of player that needs room to move and pick when and where to run .
F/B is his spot leave him there he is up there as one of the best F/B in the world and i would not weaken our team by a lot by putting him at 5/8 and someone else not as good as him to F/B ..
I hope this never happens or at least not till he is getting older and slower and if you want my reasoning for this all you have to do is look back at his game the other night .
 
Yeah Hodgson would need to be an absolute freak for it to be considered. Even then, I’d only move him for a *better* fullback personally, even if Hodgson was great and it meant losing him. You can’t keep them all, look at Penrith with Burton, Laurie etc. Just make sure you keep the ones which are best for you.
 
Everyone has seen what’s happened to Milford right? Giving Ponga more responsibilities and bulking him up more to handle the defensive workload of a 5/8th could easily turn into a disaster much like Milford has been.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Yeah Hodgson would need to be an absolute freak for it to be considered. Even then, I’d only move him for a *better* fullback personally, even if Hodgson was great and it meant losing him. You can’t keep them all, look at Penrith with Burton, Laurie etc. Just make sure you keep the ones which are best for you.
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Hodgson is just insurance for if/when Ponga leaves for All Blacks.
 
cowboyman said:
Everyone has seen what’s happened to Milford right? Giving Ponga more responsibilities and bulking him up more to handle the defensive workload of a 5/8th could easily turn into a disaster much like Milford has been.
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It would be a disaster if he was asked to steer the ship and had zero support like Milford
 
Maybe move Ponga if he loses his elusiveness and pace off the mark. Lockyer did but Slater kind of never did, even if I’m sure his top speed came down a couple of clicks as he got older. I do think Hodgson is our insurance policy.
 
Or Hodgson to 5/8 in a year or 2, could they look to switch his position? I'm excited to see him come through but am in complete agreement on watching Ponga this week, factoring in he was dying of a bug too. Just Brilliant !!
 
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