Just my **** takes on how everyone went this year
Mitch Barnett: Had a decent season when playing 13, tough runs, good offloads and some big hits. Unfortunately doesn't have any ball playing ability that most teams are moving towards. I don't rate him at all playing in the second row. He runs bad lines, his timing is always off and his strong, in your face defence necessarily disappears when he plays here. I'm not sure we should be looking to resign him tbh despite him being a leader of the team and setting some aggression. He's too small to play prop, not a good second rower and doesn't fit the modern archetype of a lock. He's served the club well though and always puts in.
Bradman Best: Started the season absolutely on fire. Then got injured again and again and when finally came back his form turned to ****. A lot was said about how we were playing and that we were getting him the ball in bad positions, which I agree with. However, he had lots of dropped ball, missed passes, ran bad lines and took on the outside of defenders when he should have cut in. I'm happy to put it down to second year syndrome and move on. Still have a sky high ceiling and look forward to watching him improve next year.
Jayden Brailey: Solid and reliable, without setting the world on fire. Not much needs to be said tbh, he played a 7/10 almost every game of the year. Brailey really needs to work on getting away a tackle 4 kick and some running/playing out of half when markers aren't set properly. If he can add this to his game he'll be one of the premier 9's in the comp, he already has one of the highest tackle efficiencies and best service going around.
Jake Clifford: When he came down he really surprised me with what he brought to our team. Added some calm and structure to our halves, and having a good second option for kicks really improved the efficacy of our kicking game. I hope O'brien was managing him and working on his confidence by simplifying his role, because there is no other good reason as to why he stopped doing his spiral bombs in the last 5 rounds. We saw cleary and moses use them to great affect and we had arguably the best torpedo kicker in the comp and didnt let him use it?? was utterly baffling. Defensively he really impressed me. I thought he almost always made the right decision when he chose to shoot out and shut down a play.
Phoenix Crossland: When I watch phoenix I see a young halfback who has the ability to be a no frills role player and organiser. He has a good kicking game, can run and take on the and hold his own in defence with his large frame (I kind of see him has a poor mans cherry-evans). With the signing of adam clune i'm not sure what the plan is for crossland, I assumed he would be the NSW cup half and step up to first grade in times of injury. I don't see the point of having them both in that same role, with both in the squad there's going to be limited game time in nsw cup for our developing 19-20 year old half back.
Lachlan Fitzgibbon: I think fitzy actually has a high ceiling if he could just get rid of the silly stuff from his game. He's prone to an error with ball in hand, jumps out of the defensive line too often and over uses his inside-out line in the attacking third. He had an injury plagued year and got a contract downgrade which I believe is a smart move from the club, I think he represents good value on a small contract.
Tyson Frizell: We finally got a hard hitting big and atletic backrower who can bend the line back. Unfortunately the modern game is more suited to a back-rower who knows when to pass and play the ball and can change his line to get a quick play the ball not just pick up post contact meters. He was still a massive improvement over what we had beforehand and he put in the work week in week out. I just worry how much we paid for him and how much value he represents for his representative pay check.
Bailey Hodgson: Very much a project player. Only played limited games in NSW coming off his surgery. Not much to say but he seemed very busy around the ruck and high effort in support play which are both good signs. Looks forward to seeing him put on some muscle and replacing Tex Hoy in the squad.
Tex Hoy: Was a flat track bully in juniors and seems the same now. Doesn't do enough work around the ruck, doesn't run it back hard (even though he has a big frame), just tries to dance around and look good. I don't have many good things to say about him happy to wave him out the door.
Hymel Hunt: Solid winger in almost every respect. has the odd bad game but Hunt is one of my favourite players in the squad. Was the only player all year who took an effective hard run out of our red zone. It's obvious watching our games that kickers target ponga and tuala.
Brodie Jones: Made a spectacular debut and had a few admirable performances where he played out of position. In the game against the broncos I thought he was really poor, missed timing, ran really bad lines. I'm willing to give him benefit of the doubt though. My major concern is seemingly his inability to bend the line back on a tough carry.
Josh King: It's been said here many times but he rose to a new level this year right as we lost him to Melbourne. Would love to retain him but I understand that when we probably told him he could look elsewhere he looked easily replaceable with a young guy with more upside.
David Klemmer: My nickname for dave is dave2d he has not dimensionality to his play. No footwork, no offload, no passing just runs hard and straight. That's fine for a player making 400k but with the coin he's on he's seriously underperforming (I know it's not his fault we paid overs to get him here and the game has changed around him). We should be looking to offload him to a struggling club imo. In saying that he made fantastic meters and made tackles at a high efficiency, which is what we needed at many times this year with Dsaf and Jsaf were out.
Edrick Lee: Poor Edrick, I just hope we see him play again some day. If he's fully recovred and gets a full offseason in I'd be happy to have him run around for 200k. If we had a fully fit and firing edrick this year we'd have looked a whole lot better. Adds a kicking attacking option, is great in defense and can make meters coming out of our end. Unfortunately his bones are made of chalk.
Kurt Mann: I have a glass half empty view on kurt. People often recall his good defensive game against kikau as a redeeming quality, but if you go watch that game back kikau got knocked the fu*k unconscious at teh beginning of that game and didn't know where he was the next 70 minutes. I said before that he's not skilful enough to play in the spine and too small to play in the outside backs. I honestly can't believe he resigned him even for minimum wage.
Jirah Momoisea: He looks like an athlete albeit a very raw and inexperieced one. I think he has a very high ceiling and look forward to seeing him progress.
Brayden Musgrove: I think he probably was never going to make it in first grade, he'd already had a number of opportunities and at different clubs to prove himself. That being said he was done no favours by being asked to play wing when he's a bonefide center. He just looks like such a good athlete who has so much potential but cant seem to put it together.
Mitchell Pearce: There's so much to say and so much that's been said on mitchell. I'll keep it short and say he had a **** year cursed by injury. If we hadn't have downgraded his contract i'd be calling for his head, but I think we have him at the right price for next year. We don't have anywhere enough experience in the halves to let him go early.
Kalyn Ponga: An elite 5/8 trapped at fullback. He is the worst defender at fullback in the comp and one of the worst at supporting around the ruck. Luckily he's an absolutely elite ball player. Everyone talks how cody walker's passing and pass selection running left side plays is the best in the comp but Ponga does that same role just as well only from fullback. For me he has to move there, he's just so poor in so many other fullback roles. Negativity aside he's by far our best player and we're a bottom 8 side without him.
Daniel Saifiti: One of the premier props in the competition, if he didnt get injuried he was a lock for Austrlaian prop. Leads with his actions. He has great late footwork for a big man, finding quick play the balls, but also doing all the dirty work a good prop should. Would love to see him develop a consistent offload.
Jacob Saifiti: Closed the gap a considerable amount on his brother this year. He got rid of the shocker performance he was prone to. Same feedback as Dsaf, would love to see an offload and just keep making small improvements to his already great all round game. If he can achieve that he could play origin next year.
Simi Sasagi: I could just copy and paste what I wrote about Momoisea here, a big athletic back who is extremely green. Looks like he could be anything with some more experience. No idea what his best position will be but looks a talent.
Pasami Saulo: in his brief appearances when he came back from injury at the end of the year he looked quite solid. He's hasnt set the world on fire for me so far. I think he deserves another year to prove himself before i'd consider letting him move on.
Gehamat Shibasaki: good luck and good bye
Sauaso Sue: Did exactly what we expected of him and at the right price. Was a solid rotation prop.
Starford To’a: Star looks like a great athlete, fast, strong. He comes up with a few too many errors and lapses especially in his defensive positoning. I had high hopes for him this year but he's at major risk of losing his spot to dom young next year.
Enari Tuala: I commented early in this thread that tuala is just a bog average winger. He's good with the ball in hand but doesnt offer any target for a high ball, but due to his small size is poor in goal line defence and gets pushed back carrying out of the red zone and on kick returns. He keeps his spot on the left wing but I cant see him keeping it long term if dom young or toa steps up.
Connor Watson: He had good patches and bad patches this year. At times he lit the field up with his agile runs through the middle third and filled in admirably if someone went down. I really see connor as a slightly better version of kurt mann though. Not quite good enough to lock in a spine position and too small to play lock or center. I think letting him go was ultimately the right decision. We should be aiming to sign a genuine ball playing lock and have kurt mann on minimum wage or a young upcoming player like sasagi in the 14.
Dominic Young: Huge frame, athletic and great top speed. There's a lot to like about young dom. He got a lot asked of him this year filling in at wing when he's only ever played center before. I think the extended pre season he's had will be of great benefit to him, a bit of size and strength will help with his carries and his agility to turn around and chase a grubber behind him. I can see him replacing bradman when he's injuried for half the year or tuala on the wing.
