Phoenix Crossland discussion

jamesgould said:
RISING PHOENIX EXTENDS

The nib Newcastle Knights have extended the contract of Phoenix Crossland for an additional two years, ensuring the local junior remains a one club player until at least the end of the 2028 National Rugby League season.

Crossland, 24, made his international debut for New Zealand in the Pacific Championships last October, after another outstanding season of resilience and versatility for the Newcastle Knights.

Born in Wellington and raised on the Central Coast, Phoenix has risen through the Knights pathways systems, making his NRL debut at just 18, against the New Zealand Warriors in Round 16, 2019.

nib Newcastle Knights Head of Recruitment Peter O'Sullivan said Crossland will play a huge role for the club moving forward.
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I love this so much!
 
Rewatching our game, that weird penalty aside, thought he was actually really good.

The more he keeps things simple & leans into his physicality, the better he plays. Definitely goes better when he looks to run a bit more, not lightning fast but he's bigger and stronger than most 9's going around at the minute.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Rewatching our game, that weird penalty aside, thought he was actually really good.

The more he keeps things simple & leans into his physicality, the better he plays. Definitely goes better when he looks to run a bit more, not lightning fast but he's bigger and stronger than most 9's going around at the minute.
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Fastest 9 in the NRL according to their on-field data from this year.

Not sure if that’s top speed, I guess it must be, average wouldn’t work. So it might take him a while to wind up.
 
That mid game transition from a 9 who just focuses on quick, clean service & just sends the ball to whoever’s calling harder, to one that fiddles around behind the ruck and wants to make a lot of the decisions about who’s getting the ball, can actually be pretty tricky. Changes the timing of everything in your structures etc. Probably why some of the more successful dual hooker set ups have actually involved two 9’s who are actually pretty similar, eg Walters & Smoothy, Starling and Pattie this year…
 
sherpa said:
I personally think the team loses it's way when Brailey takes over at 9. I think he overplays his job/role whereas Crossland keeps it simple and he is also a better defender.
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I really don’t understand why we’re keeping Arthur out of first grade when Brailey is playing poorly and clearly not the player he once was. I don’t want to hear “it’s because Brailey has more experience”, that’s just crap. We need to name our best available 17 each week and for me, Arthur beats out Brailey.

He’s quicker, more deceptive out of dummy half, better at catching markers out of position and has an added kicking game to relieve pressure off the halves.
 
MattyM said:
I really don’t understand why we’re keeping Arthur out of first grade when Brailey is playing poorly and clearly not the player he once was. I don’t want to hear “it’s because Brailey has more experience”, that’s just crap. We need to name our best available 17 each week and for me, Arthur beats out Brailey.

He’s quicker, more deceptive out of dummy half, better at catching markers out of position and has an added kicking game to relieve pressure off the halves.
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I genuinely think it must come down to the coach feeling bad about us moving him on and stripping him of the captaincy. That’s a horrible way to select a team but it’s the only thing I can think of because yeah, picking him in the side at the moment doesn’t make much sense.

You’d have to wonder how the Raiders are feeling about signing him at the moment because they have much better players already fighting for that spot.
 
MattyM said:
I really don’t understand why we’re keeping Arthur out of first grade when Brailey is playing poorly and clearly not the player he once was. I don’t want to hear “it’s because Brailey has more experience”, that’s just crap. We need to name our best available 17 each week and for me, Arthur beats out Brailey.

He’s quicker, more deceptive out of dummy half, better at catching markers out of position and has an added kicking game to relieve pressure off the halves.
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I'm not sure if I agree with it, but it's probably to do with position coverage.. if we lose a half or Crossland goes down injured can Arthur play close to 80 yet?
 
MattyM said:
I really don’t understand why we’re keeping Arthur out of first grade when Brailey is playing poorly and clearly not the player he once was. I don’t want to hear “it’s because Brailey has more experience”, that’s just crap. We need to name our best available 17 each week and for me, Arthur beats out Brailey.

He’s quicker, more deceptive out of dummy half, better at catching markers out of position and has an added kicking game to relieve pressure off the halves.
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The coach doesn't want to risk his job by blooding Arthur. Which is pretty disgusting behaviour considering O'Brien is cognisant that he's unlikely to be here next year
 
There is nothing to lose giving Arthur a go as that's what he's been hired to do. Let him adjust to the top grade this year.
 
Arthur is improving every week as starting hooker in reserve grade.
At this point, I think getting 60 minutes alongside Hastings is good for his development.
 
OnTilt said:
I'm not sure if I agree with it, but it's probably to do with position coverage.. if we lose a half or Crossland goes down injured can Arthur play close to 80 yet?
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I believe he could do it easily, he did 80 in the u19s origin and that was much more intense than a regular NRL game.

Gould said it himself tbh.

If Arthur has another good game this week, he should be 14 next week.

And in reality I’d even push Brailey to 14 in Cup and promote Davis to starting 9 in cup that way you’re developing both Arthur and Davis at once
 
Don’t rush him. More time in NSW Cup, where his mistakes don’t matter and he can feel free to experiment and get a better feel for what will and work for him in games. And give him a bit more time to add muscle before he’s playing against first graders so he’s not getting pushed around so much. That’s what Melbourne would do.

In an ideal world Fletcher would also be doing his learning in NSW Cup but he kind of came along too fast as a first grader when needed last year & made himself unstoppable.

If I had my way anyone planning to be a week to week half or hooker player in the NRL would have to get through 35 games of NSW Cup before that was even considered.
 
sherpa said:
My own feeling is that there has to be a reason for the teams poor performance in the second half of their games.
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I've always been told that a team that peaks in the first half and fades is under trained, and a team the peaks in the 2nd half (and is terrible in the first half) is over trained
 
Tim said:
I've always been told that a team that peaks in the first half and fades is under trained, and a team the peaks in the 2nd half (and is terrible in the first half) is over trained
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What about a team that’s terrible in both halves?
 
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