Round 1 2023 Side

1. Garrick (Goalkicker)
2. French
3. Best
4. Mapa
5. Young
6. Ponga
7. Hastings?
8. Klemmer
9. Brailey
10. Jsaf
11. Frizell
12. Hetherington
13. Elliot

14. Sasagi
15. Dsaf
16. Thompson
17. Croker

Still hopeful we sign Jackson Hastings to play 7, Gamble and Clifford as depth halves, and send Clune to England...
 
1. Garrick
2. Gagai
3. Best
4. Mapapalangi
5. Young
6. Ponga
7. Brooks
8. Klemmer
9. Brailey
10. Daniel S.
11. Frizell
12. Elliot
13. Jacob S.

14. Sasagi
15. Hetherington
16. Thompson
17. Croker
 
Why does everyone think Garrick would be a better 1 than French. French left before the new rule changes which have opened up the game a bit. We've seen smaller fullbacks like Paps, Campbell/Brimson, those young sharks guys really shine since. Garrick is a poor mans' dylan edwards to my eye. Especially if we sign Gamble, between him and Ponga we are sorted for goal kicking.
 
All the praise for Dylan Edwards because he makes a lot of run metres should surely factor in that Caleb Aekins also blasted out 200 metres+ for the same team every week when he subbed in for him. In fact I think he broke the run metres record for fullbacks in one game. Is Aekins also a top tier fullback?

Edwards plays for the most dominant club side in the history of rugby league and he’s come up with 8 tries 6 try assists in 22 games this year.

You know how many gilt-edged opportunities you have to blow to come up with so few try involvements in that team? You almost would have to be doing it on purpose.

He’s a hard worker but he is just not anything special at all. No one is the “poor man’s Dylan Edwards”. You might as well call someone “the poor man’s Blake Lawrie”. What, you mean the bad version of a mediocre player?

They could put your nan there and they’d still dominate.
 
French isn’t even playing fullback in England and is still the same one-dimensional player he was when he spent his last couple of years over here in NSW Cup and couldn’t get an NRL gig elsewhere. But sure, he’s going to come back over here and suddenly be a good fullback now because he’s a similar size to Papenhuyzen. Good argument.
 
1. Ponga
2. Vea'ila
3. Best
4. Mapapalangi
5. Young
6. Clifford
7. Brooks/Jayden Sullivan (If signed)
8. Klemmer
9. Brailey
10. D Saifiti
11. Frizell
12. Kai Pearce-Paul (If released)
13. Elliott
Reserves
14. Sasagi
15. J Saifiti
16. Hetherington
17. Thompson

I'd be trying to offload Gagai, Mann and Fitzgibbon. Clear some cap space and steer into the youth movement. In my opinion without a proper 7 next year it is a year to blood some youth. We aren't competing with Gamble. Brooks is the best of a number of poor options and has the highest ceiling of the names that have been haphazardly speculated on the forum. If Ben Hunt re-signs I'd love to see us go hard for Jayden Sullivan. He's looked like one of the best young 7's coming through juniours and we could do worse than give him the keys for a year and let him develop with the young team. In an ideal world, Sullivan would establish himself and can partner him with Will Pryce in 2024.
 
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NRL
1. Kalyn Ponga (c)
2. Bevan Fench*
3. Kristian Mapapalangi
4. Dane Gagai
5. Dominic Young
6. Jake Clifford
7. Tyson Gamble*
8. David Klemmer
9. Jayden Brailey (c)
10. Daniel Saifiti
11. Tyson Frizell
12. Adam Elliott
13. Simi Sasagi or Jack Johns

14. Kurt Mann
15. Jacob Saifiti
16. Mat Croker
17. Jack Hetherington

NSW CUP
1. Bailey Hodgson
2. Enari Tuala
3. Bradman Best
4. Hymel Hunt
5.
6. Luke Brooks*
7. Adam Clune (c)
8. Leo Thompson
9. Chris Randall
10. Pasami Saulo
11. Kai Pearce-Paul*
12. Brodie Jones
13. Jack Johns or Simi Sasagi

14. Lachlan Fitzgibbon

* - Not confirmed but rumoured to sign
 
mullenmagic said:
French isn’t even playing fullback in England and is still the same one-dimensional player he was when he spent his last couple of years over here in NSW Cup and couldn’t get an NRL gig elsewhere. But sure, he’s going to come back over here and suddenly be a good fullback now because he’s a similar size to Papenhuyzen. Good argument.
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if you can think of a good wager i'll take it. He has elite speed and footwork, definitely better than garrick in my eyes
 
JuniorFromNewyy said:
NRL
1. Kalyn Ponga (c)
2. Bevan Fench*
3. Kristian Mapapalangi
4. Dane Gagai
5. Dominic Young
6. Jake Clifford
7. Tyson Gamble*
8. David Klemmer
9. Jayden Brailey (c)
10. Daniel Saifiti
11. Tyson Frizell
12. Adam Elliott
13. Simi Sasagi or Jack Johns

14. Kurt Mann
15. Jacob Saifiti
16. Mat Croker
17. Jack Hetherington

NSW CUP
1. Bailey Hodgson
2. Enari Tuala
3. Bradman Best
4. Hymel Hunt
5.
6. Luke Brooks*
7. Adam Clune (c)
8. Leo Thompson
9. Chris Randall
10. Pasami Saulo
11. Kai Pearce-Paul*
12. Brodie Jones
13. Jack Johns or Simi Sasagi

14. Lachlan Fitzgibbon

* - Not confirmed but rumoured to sign
Click to expand...
Why would we sign Brooks and play him in cup?
 
OnTilt said:
Why would we sign Brooks and play him in cup?
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Toohey said the other day that we will be signing Gamble AND Brooks if we get our way, if so them 2 will be fighting it out with Clifford and Clune for 7 and 6. I honestly think Gamble and Clifford win that battle as Gamble is a good directing half and I think that's the half that helps Cliffo to blossom and compliments him. Brooks will mainly be fighting for the 7 jersey rather than the 6 and I think Gambles competitiveness and defence will get him in the 7. Especially after the defensive year we have had this year
 
The grief Brooks has copped over his career has to be understood in the context he was one of the most hyped players of the past 20 years coming through, and he exploded out of the blocks as a player in his rookie season. And when he has one of his good games he sets up 4 tries and you think "wow, this guy should be one of the best players in the comp" vs Clifford's good games where he does a handful of eye-catching things and maybe makes 1 or 2 nice things happen in attack and you think "wow... very handy player". If playing with an organising half who compliments him well and can put him an extra pass wide of the ruck in a bit of space, Brooks is the much more dangerous attacking player, it's not even close. Brooks absolutely rockets to the top of the halves depth chart if we pick him up.
 
JuniorFromNewyy said:
Toohey said the other day that we will be signing Gamble AND Brooks if we get our way, if so them 2 will be fighting it out with Clifford and Clune for 7 and 6. I honestly think Gamble and Clifford win that battle as Gamble is a good directing half and I think that's the half that helps Cliffo to blossom and compliments him. Brooks will mainly be fighting for the 7 jersey rather than the 6 and I think Gambles competitiveness and defence will get him in the 7. Especially after the defensive year we have had this year
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If we get Brooks, probably something like $600K maybe more he won't be in reserves. It will be Brooks and one of the other three halves.
 
I wouldn’t have thought so. They’ll just pick up another depth half if they want one.

They still have Hastings, Doueihi and Nu Brown on the books besides Brooks, plus Zane Camroux and a couple of junior halves they’re excited about.

The real thing which might complicate matters is Adam Doueihi might be trying to worm his way out of there…
 
id like to see, even over signing brookes i think.

1. garrick
2. young
3 mapa
4 best
5 gagai
6 gamble
7 ponga
8. klem
9 brailey
10 dsaf
11 elliot
12 frizell
13 mann

14. jsaf
15. hethrington
16. croker/ leo
17. simi/backup hooker utility.

with this lineup your halves would play left side right side and utilise a linking lock in mann (one of the few here who doesnt mind him at lock it seems). you have either elliot or friz next to ponga and priority 1 is to protect him. Garrick has some ball playing skills also and this back 3 is an upgrade on this yrs back 3 for yardage easily. gagai (who id happliy shop) if here needs to be on the wing. the biggest question mark is right centre, best v mapa, tough position to defend but if gamble is as good a defender as they claim it should help tighten that whole edge.
 
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