First pre-season trial - Dragons Vs Knights - 7:30pm Saturday 7th February - Netstrata Jubliee Stadium Sydney

Lets agree to not play Hunt at FB anymore please. at least in attack.

Best thing out of tonight is the forward stocks look stronger. Mooney, Saulo, Elijah, Crouch all played well, Crouch plays like that again and he may be on Round one bench., definitely have more faith in the front row depth. Would have loved to have seen Hopwood, but looks like a minor injury, as I can't imagine them resting him for any other reason.

New strength and Conditioning Coach done good work in off season, forwards look strong, like of Cant and McCarthy not getting folded is pleasing to see.

Arthur balled out and good on him, he fed off the room Fletch was giving him. graham was also strong as starting 9, so either of them at 14 I'd be happy.

Hunt is a winger or center, I think Schiller just played himself into Reserves, even with a classic Rocks and Diamonds, the diamonds were of low quality.

Sandon and Sharpe did some nice stuff, but ultimately I think Sharpe can do what he did on the wing. Selection between Dom and Marz is the tricky bit.
 
I just hope we dont ruin Sharpes development by putting him into multiple positions throughout the season. Centre one week, then wing, the fullback then five eighth etc.

I hope we keep him as cover at 1/6 and put him on the bench or let him develop in NSW cup. We know that he will be our fullback when Ponga inevitably goes down this season.

Smith will probably be the 7 with Gamble as backup.
 
slotmachine said:
Well showdown between sharpe and smith only confirmed what I though going in.

Sharpe is a player who does lots of exciting things but never really looks like a half or does the things a half should do.
Smith good not great at 7.

Not really sure where that leaves sharpe though.
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Put him on the wing. We need him playing 80 minutes every week.
 
BTP said:
Lets agree to not play Hunt at FB anymore please. at least in attack.

Best thing out of tonight is the forward stocks look stronger. Mooney, Saulo, Elijah, Crouch all played well, Crouch plays like that again and he may be on Round one bench., definitely have more faith in the front row depth. Would have loved to have seen Hopwood, but looks like a minor injury, as I can't imagine them resting him for any other reason.

New strength and Conditioning Coach done good work in off season, forwards look strong, like of Cant and McCarthy not getting folded is pleasing to see.

Arthur balled out and good on him, he fed off the room Fletch was giving him. graham was also strong as starting 9, so either of them at 14 I'd be happy.

Hunt is a winger or center, I think Schiller just played himself into Reserves, even with a classic Rocks and Diamonds, the diamonds were of low quality.

Sandon and Sharpe did some nice stuff, but ultimately I think Sharpe can do what he did on the wing. Selection between Dom and Marz is the tricky bit.
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Dom every day of week over Marz. Sharpe wing or centre, not bench, would have either Harrison or Authur
 
Sandon and Brown should work well together. He wants his hands on the ball, plays both sides of the ruck. I’m not expecting him to be the best 7 but he’s the best we have and will do a decent job for the likes of our backs to shine. Remember he’s not even 50 first games in yet. He will get better.
 
My thoughts on the first pre season game.

Sandon Smith:
Had a decent game, set up a really good try and should have had another that was called forward (it wasn’t) unfortunately he did drop the ball after a 80 metre run. He was clearly rusty and still getting used to the players but for me that pass he made for Schiller I just don’t see Sharpe doing it, he is the 7 for me.

Fletcher Sharpe:
As good as always he played well but again all he really did was run a lot, he did get a try assist all be it, it would have been harder to not get it than to get it. I didn’t see anything that screams he should he the 7 with Brown, he is a great player but I don’t see him in the halves and should be pushed to either wing or centre.

Matt Arthur:
Had to make this season his and in that one game he played very very well, if he can keep it up we can see him on the bench in round one.

Trey Mooney:
Played solid did his best work in the opposition 20, made a few halfbreaks and split a few, I know he didn’t make the 300+ that some have him unreasonably earmarked for him but I am happy with his first hit out.

Lachlan Crouch:
Showed what many have season for a while, he is a super solid hard working prop and if his second game is as good as that he would be on the bench for round 1.

Thomas Cant:
Best game in first grade me for, ran hard, defended hard, he did drop a sitter but again it’s rust, he might overtake McEwen for that right sided second row if he keeps this up.

This will be my last one as I don’t want to go through all of them.

Fletcher Hunt:
Very meh sorta game, he had his moments but I still struggle to see a first grader yet, at least not as a fullback, a centre or wing I can deal with but I am not impressed all that much, though I will say he is better for the run last year.
 
Jon Snow said:
My observations:

Sandon Smith - looks good, natural playmaker, wants hands on the ball. Clearing kick looks a worry, might have to be ponga doing these.

Sharpe - what a player, how do u leave him out? He’ll get plenty of games 5/8-fullback, and maybe needs to be a permanent on the bench.

Saulo/Mooney - Look the goods. Strong, big, aggressive, AOB’s blood will be boiling watching them offload.

Cant, ESL, McCarthy - all looked fit and improved, hopefully pushing for first grade all year.

Marzew -still looks a concern in the air, be interesting to see what Holbrook does here. We all know his carries are great.

Saifiti/Frizell - maybe being harsh for a trial. But Jacob looks like he’s up for another year of going through the motions. Friz, maybe a year too long.

The rest - toilers, with a special shout out to Lachlan “The Toiler” Crouch.
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I thought frizz was pretty good tonight created some offloads which is what we need
 
Ranking the starting halves from both sides tonight, Smith wasn't in the top 3! He was okay, but I wouldn't be counting on him to make us a top tier team.

Big point from tonight, we may have a little more depth at 9 than some feared, same for our front row stocks.
 
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Newygirl said:
Well very unimpressive given the Knights had a stronger team on paper and the amount of errors the Dragons made early.

Smith didn’t cover himself in glory, in fact I’d say he was clearly outplayed by his opposing 7.

Unfortunately, while Sharpe is better player than Smith he isn’t a better halfback. I simply cant see him ever throwing that ball Smith did. Having said that, he’s far too good to be wasted on the bench for 40mins. He absolutely needs to be on the field for the whole game. Whether that’s wing or centre, I don’t care, but he can’t be wasted as the 14

Matt Arthur looked pretty good during his stint. His first kick from dummy half resulting in a try. How long since that’s happened at the knights?

Manuleleua, Jones, Cant, Crouch and DeCourcey all looked pretty good
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Mostly my takeaways from tonight as well. I'd add:

- Sharpe is definitely good enough that he will be playing 80 minutes somewhere, but he was most impactful offering support to offloads, from dummyhalf after a quick play the ball, and down a left shortside - it's fullback areas. Not sure there's a good solution for Holbrook balancing both Sharpe and KP. Glad its him that has to solve it not me.

- Someone else mentioned it earlier, but ESL was the most positive surprise for me. Just physically looked like a plus athlete. We really need another middle to appear from somewhere, and if he could be that it would solve a lot of problems with the roster.

- Cant played a good game. I've been historically pretty pessimistic about his first grade prospects, so maybe I'm being too negative... But he's exactly the type of guy I would expect to look good in a game like this. Very hard worker that just doesn't have the body/athleticism to play first grade. They look great playing a level below, and that's what the Dragons team was tonight. Hope to be wrong on that, and he just developed physically slower than some others.
 
I get he’s the new toy but people talking up Mooney and criticising J Saf and Friz is weird as. All 3 were solid. They controlled the first 15-20 minutes and the other guys made errors after they got us in good field position.

I’m quite pleased with the output we got from them. Especially since they were just going through the motions. They all stay fit and we win more games than we lose.
 
I only got to watch the first half and even then I was constantly distracted from the game so got that first half in bits.

From what I saw it was good to see a trial where we didn't look like complete rabble who skipped all of pre season training. Someone will have to correct me if we looked horrible in the second half.

Otherwise just a trial and move on hopefully with no injuries. Someone told me Friz got injured in the first half but I think that might have just been a HIA as he was back on later in the 1st.
 
Lost a bit of interest as the game went on.

Smith had a few moments that had “7” stamped all over it, like that pass over the top for Schiller. Executed very well. But I was kind of hoping to see a bit more. But nothing to cross his name off the 7.

Sharpe very dynamic, great to watch. Just need him on the field. He loves to run. As somebody said during the game, I can’t see him floating the pass over the top like Smith did. Noticed it a bit last year, but he either passes early, or engages the line and runs into a dead end, or breaks through. Haven’t really seen him engage the line, then ball play or put somebody else into space. I guess it just depends on the way we want to play. Obviously great at FB, but could be good at centre/wing getting the ball in space with 2 players in front of him. Just needs to be in the team, he will make something happen wherever he is. Can see Holbrook channeling Turbo in Origin vibes and allowing him to float a bit.

Mooney, I thought he looked good for his first hit out. I think he has potential to be our Alpha - just needs a little more aggression in his hit ups. He’s a big unit, but he looked fit. Idk if that was just because he knew he had 25-30 minutes of running and he was done, but he was an option most plays, looking to receive, getting involved in tackles, capable of throwing a pass as well. If that’s his base, it’s a promising start.

Cant - Agree with most that that was one of his best performances for us. Maybe a point to prove and a spot on the line there.

Hunt - seems destined to be our 19th man all season. You know he gives his all. Can’t fault him for that. Looked better for his runs last year. Just feels a bit raw for want of a better word. Wasn’t getting dominated in contact, but again wasn’t really up against too much quality.

McCarthy - idk what it is. Just doesn’t excite me yet. Hopefully he benefits from a new voice, I feel like he’s been tipped to kick on for a while now.

Obviously Hunt and McCarthy are still pretty young, and hopefully both benefit from a change in coach, a new set of ideas, new set of feedback and areas to improve on and hopefully go up a level this season.


Always reminded how hard it is to take anything away from trials. A lot of the errors are around players that probably won’t be in the team. So when you add Brown, Best, Young, Lucas etc it makes a big difference to the quality of runs made and handling.

The performance itself wasn’t really anything to get excited about. That Dragons team looked pretty poor. Their young half Kade Green will have a few clubs writing him on their whiteboard after that. Looked to be the dominant half out there.

Good to have some footy back.
 
updated stats have ESL running for 110 metres - only behind Cant in the forwards (115).
Croker made 32 tackles.
McCarthy did the most runs - 17 runs for 195 metres.
 
MontyBrogan said:
Mostly my takeaways from tonight as well. I'd add:

- Sharpe is definitely good enough that he will be playing 80 minutes somewhere, but he was most impactful offering support to offloads, from dummyhalf after a quick play the ball, and down a left shortside - it's fullback areas. Not sure there's a good solution for Holbrook balancing both Sharpe and KP. Glad its him that has to solve it not me.

- Someone else mentioned it earlier, but ESL was the most positive surprise for me. Just physically looked like a plus athlete. We really need another middle to appear from somewhere, and if he could be that it would solve a lot of problems with the roster.

- Cant played a good game. I've been historically pretty pessimistic about his first grade prospects, so maybe I'm being too negative... But he's exactly the type of guy I would expect to look good in a game like this. Very hard worker that just doesn't have the body/athleticism to play first grade. They look great playing a level below, and that's what the Dragons team was tonight. Hope to be wrong on that, and he just developed physically slower than some others.
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^^^ nailed it

Kind of landed exactly on why I’m team “just play Sharpe on the wing”, too. Yes he’s too good to play there, I just think there isn’t a way to crowbar him in otherwise. I don’t like him at 14 because, first of all, I think it’s more of a waste (I want him out there for 80 minutes, not 40) and, secondly, I think if you’re putting him on as an extra playmaker I don’t think he compliments Brown & Ponga, I think he wants to do too much of the same stuff.

I’m on board with him as the first drop back up in the halves because that’s the point at which I’m prepared to say that the gap between him and someone like Gamble as a footy player right now is so big that you’re better off just playing Fletch there even though he’s not really a half. But I do not think you can say the same about Sandon, our most natural 7 and Brown, a natural 6 who so far in his career is regarded as a disappointment on his potential because he hasn’t gone on to be the clearly best at that position in the game.

And yeah he’s overqualified for the wing but that also means he could very well be our best winger.
 
slotmachine said:
Well showdown between sharpe and smith only confirmed what I though going in.

Sharpe is a player who does lots of exciting things but never really looks like a half or does the things a half should do.
Smith good not great at 7.

Not really sure where that leaves sharpe though.
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Yep and I’ll take it.

When you pay your halfback $500K and you get “good” out of that money, that’s an unambiguous win. Every “great” halfback in the game should be making $1 million+.

The onus should be on Ponga and Brown to be great. If Sandon is simply good enough to facilitate that greatness, he’s earning every penny and more.

In an ideal world your highest paid player would be an elite 7 but it’s like quarterbacks in the NFL, there just aren’t that many guys good enough at it to be worth that. If you can’t get your hands on one of those guys then you just have to figure something else out. Make do with a capable guy and win the game elsewhere.
 
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