Phoenix Crossland discussion

ApperceptionJosh said:
If we go deep into finals and phoenix continues this form next year, that jurno calling him an origin smokey in the after game press conference will get the last laugh
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The Knights have history when it comes to converting a half to an outstanding 9 . Now we name a medal on his honor.
 
Being born in NZ to Kiwi parents = tenuous apparently. Biologically he's as Kiwi as they come even if he grew up over here. Not exactly a Nathan Fien situation.
 
mullenmagic said:
Being born in NZ to Kiwi parents = tenuous apparently. Biologically he's as Kiwi as they come even if he grew up over here. Not exactly a Nathan Fien situation.
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He fits the legal requirements.
I doubt he thinks of Wellington as home.
 
Well Phoenix certainly seems to think of himself as a Kiwi, anyway (as well as Australian). He mentions here he's keen to make the Kiwi squad.

 
jamesgould said:
Well Phoenix certainly seems to think of himself as a Kiwi, anyway (as well as Australian). He mentions here he's keen to make the Kiwi squad.

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Very interesting, wouldn't be surprised if he has to make a decision this year given the Kiwis need someone to split minutes with Brandon Smith as Marshall-King is injured (though I suppose they could go with a halves utility like Hughes/Brown depending on who gets picked in their halves).

At the very least he'd be a shoe-in for the NZ 'A' team to play against Tonga 'A', so I guess we'll find out in the not too distant future.
 
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How good is Crossland going, I love this kid. He cleans up a lot of stuff around the ruck because our marker defence can still be pretty ordinary at times and he often leads our line speed in D.

Last night was an impressive night for him, had to play the whole 90 minutes and make 60 tackles, the guy must be one of the fittest blokes in the NRL.
 
I'm a convert. I praised him so many times last night. I loved his potential try saver, it was a forward pass, but if not it was one if his best.

I'd be happy for a good 3 more years with him to develop.
 
I liked how the commentators on 9 were wanting Mann in a dummy half and crossland to halves after hastings went down
But we kept crossland at 9
Mann at dummy half would have been disjointed

Also why didn't crossland go to best when timoko was struggling at the end
Johns kept asking for Best to call for the ball

Maybe Ponga overrule him
 
Cooper Johns said:
I liked how the commentators on 9 were wanting Mann in a dummy half and crossland to halves after hastings went down
But we kept crossland at 9
Mann at dummy half would have been disjointed

Also why didn't crossland go to best when timoko was struggling at the end
Johns kept asking for Best to call for the ball

Maybe Ponga overrule him
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Your uncle has some weird takes in commentary at times. He was calling for Best to get on the ball on the last when Ponga was setting up for a field goal from in front 🤔
 
I said a while back that we should get rid of Brailey and most of you jumped down my throat , but now i read that he may be going, man i hope so (not that I don't like the guy or think he's a good player ) but Crossland has outplayed him and is more skillful a quarter the price and he is always on the field ...
Someone said you cant just get rid of a player well imo someone like Brailey who is super competitive all you would have to do is tell him the starting spot is Crosslands next season and Brails would start looking somewhere else straight away especially when said player is out playing him.
$600,000 would be nice to have back in the bank although we may have to chip in a bit to get rid of him.
 
Ethan said:
I said a while back that we should get rid of Brailey and most of you jumped down my throat , but now i read that he may be going, man i hope so (not that I don't like the guy or think he's a good player ) but Crossland has outplayed him and is more skillful a quarter the price and he is always on the field ...
Someone said you cant just get rid of a player well imo someone like Brailey who is super competitive all you would have to do is tell him the starting spot is Crosslands next season and Brails would start looking somewhere else straight away especially when said player is out playing him.
$600,000 would be nice to have back in the bank although we may have to chip in a bit to get rid of him.
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AOB said in the Toohey’s News podcast that Brailey isn’t going anywhere.
 
Ethan said:
I said a while back that we should get rid of Brailey and most of you jumped down my throat , but now i read that he may be going, man i hope so (not that I don't like the guy or think he's a good player ) but Crossland has outplayed him and is more skillful a quarter the price and he is always on the field ...
Someone said you cant just get rid of a player well imo someone like Brailey who is super competitive all you would have to do is tell him the starting spot is Crosslands next season and Brails would start looking somewhere else straight away especially when said player is out playing him.
$600,000 would be nice to have back in the bank although we may have to chip in a bit to get rid of him.
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I don't think Crossy is anywhere near as skilful as Brailey. He has a monster heart and great defensively, but his on the ball and heads up play isn't where Brails is at, we just haven't seen Brails enough to showcase that. But when he had one full season, our attack was pretty great that year, can only be better with the system Green got Hastings/Gamble/Ponga playing this yr

Agreed we could do with the cash, but With Brails locked in until 25 at the latest I'd imagine we'd like to keep 2 quality 9's together, teach Crossy some more, and let young Brown progress more, so that when 25 season come along, the time might be right to move brails and lock Crossy and Brown as the 1-2 punch.

Crossy can play 13/9 off the bench or when Brails comes on if AOB decides to start Crossy
 
Crossland 2024 version should be an upgraded version of Kurt Mann.
All the game time he had in 2023 won't have only improved him as a hooker - he is also much fitter and much more experienced in all the skills that will make him better at 7, 6, 13 or pretty much wherever we need him.
I'd have confidence that he'd do a decent job in any position except fullback or prop if an injury happened in minute 1 and he needed to do 79 minutes there.
And if no injury happened, he'd add a lot to the side by coming on fresh at 9 or 13 and adding some spark to the attack.
He'll play every game in 2024. It will depend on who gets injured as to where he plays.
 
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