Second pre-season trial - Knights Vs Bulldogs - 6:00pm Saturday, 14th February - McDonald Jones Stadium

Grandpa Joe said:
I sincerely hope guys aren't rushed back especially for Gags with a Hammy injury, he looked half a yard off the pace last year I sincerely hope he is not a case of a year to long.
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For that reason I can’t see them moving Gags to the wing in his final year. We ran him into the ground last year by playing him at fullback at his age. I believe he played every game last year as well. The wing demands more running which suits Sharpe. Sharpe will get more ball on the wing.
 
It’s 10 times easier for Sharpe to play wing and float etc than to do the same at centre
Not even starting to explore the fact that centre is notoriously one of the harder spots to defend so would be pointless to play sharpe there when he done all offseason at half or fullback and wouldn’t have done any training at all in that role
 
What if we played sharp at lock? it lets Brown stay on the left, Sandon can have the right, obviously ponga at fullback. In defence ponga has to be fullback, but in attack I think Ponga and sharp can combine to cover both rolls as best suits there strengths. Sharpe in support and dummy half runs and ponga in shape and picking his moments.
The negative is the loss in meters having Sharpe as lock. Im not sure how much we would realistically lose, Sharpe is amazing out of dunny half and seems to have a knack for finding half a gap. Just what we need to get a roll on. And I think sharpes D is up to scratch. And maybe the halves and lock can rotate in D so Sharpe isnt making 30 tackles...
Im not saying it's necessarily what I would do, but Holbrook has stated Sharpe is a half, and wont be on the wing. He has also said it's his job to fit them all in.
Also, another point. I've been to a few training session and Sharpe actually has the biggest boot of all our kickers, but its a little erratic. He only had the one in the trial, and I instantly noticed the height and accuracy vs what im used to watching from Hastings or cogger. Be interesting to see if we are stuck real deep in our end, whether he steps up and takes the kicks...
 
Someone in the spine is going to be injured in nearly every game.
If Ponga is out - Sharpe plays fullback
If Brown is out - Sharpe plays 6
If Smith is out, Sharpe plays 7
If Crossland is out - Sharpe plays 7 and Smith plays 9

If Sharpe is fit all year he'll play every game, and it will be a great day for the Knights if we can't find a spine position for him
 
Frank McWilliams said:
We seem so caught up with trying to work out the decision Coach will make in positions 1-7 that we forget about the practical side of what is best for the team so if we break each position down to who is best and what best suits the team we should be placing the emphasis on what “all round best suits”.
1 Ponga/Sharpe, 2 Young/Gagai/Sharpe, 3 Gaga/Sharpe, 4 Best, 5 Gags/Sharpe/Marzhew, 6 Brown/Sharpe, 7 Smith/Brown/Sharpe.
Yes Sharpe is named a lot but I believe we all want him in the starting side.
My breakdown is 1 Ponga, can’t see him playing anywhere else. 2 Young, to good on r/wing to consider change.
3 most contentious selection but doubts about Gags, fitness/age and the need to fit Sharpe into starting side, too good to leave out so Sharpe to 3 with Gags moving. Hopefully it doesn’t effect Young too much missing Gags. 4 Best no selection debate. 5 Gags meaning Sharpe is 3 and Marzhew is out, we will miss his strong runs but little else. 6 Brown, he is a better 6 than Sharpe at this time. 7 Smith, best we have at 7 especially with Brown 6 and Sharpe 3
If Ponga unfit 1 Sharpe, 3 Gags, 5 Marzhew.
Can’t see the likes of Schiller, McCarthy or DeCourcey being in contention unless serious injury crisis so it’s NSW Cup for them along with Marzhew, Cups 2-5 me thinks
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If we look at it, Sharpe can play anywhere in the backline

That’s why when we look at our team, Sharpe is best on the wing at the moment, in my opinion. That’s not to say Sharpe isn’t capable of playing in the halves. It’s just I believe it’ll weaken other areas as players won’t be playing in their best positions.

When injuries occur, Sharpe is the one that will cover the halves and fullback.

It’s like we are trying to force Sharpe into the halves because we all know he is too good for the wing, but it is currently the best fit for our team. If you start him in any other position other than wing there is way too much player movement which upsets the combinations for attack and defence

Foe example;
Let’s say we play Sharpe at centre and move Gagai to wing. Sharpe is now on the right having to work on defensive combo’s with Young and Gagai moves to the left wing, having to create new combos with Best. Also given Gagai’s age, I don’t think his body would hold be up to a full season on the wing any more. This isn’t a huge concern as they are all good players and will work it out, but it will take time

If we played Sharpe at 6 then we will have to move multiple players out of their best positions, which doesn’t make any sense to me to weaken multiple areas of our team. If Sharpe is 6, then we are moving Brown, S Smith and Crossland. That is 3 quarters of our spine not playing in their best positions

Then say Ponga gets injured. Sharpe moves to 1, Brown moves to 6, Smith moves to 7, Crossland would be the 9. That’s too much movement of players and they are all spine players, who are the most important to your team. You’d then have to create new combos and rhythm in attack, basically starting from scratch. We have all seen in the past 2 years what chopping and changing your halves looks like. Granted we have much better players this year than the past 2, but the principle is still the same

So to sum up my point of view, if we start Sharpe on the wing, it is only him that moves to cover for any injuries in the halves or at fullback. Creating the least disruption possible to our attacking and defensive structures

So I would go with the following as I believe it is the best for our side right now, assuming everyone is fit of course

1 Ponga
2 Young
3 Gagai
4 Best
5 Sharpe
6 Brown
7 S Smith
9 Crossland
 
Jar head said:
What if we played sharp at lock? it lets Brown stay on the left, Sandon can have the right, obviously ponga at fullback. In defence ponga has to be fullback, but in attack I think Ponga and sharp can combine to cover both rolls as best suits there strengths. Sharpe in support and dummy half runs and ponga in shape and picking his moments.
The negative is the loss in meters having Sharpe as lock. Im not sure how much we would realistically lose, Sharpe is amazing out of dunny half and seems to have a knack for finding half a gap. Just what we need to get a roll on. And I think sharpes D is up to scratch. And maybe the halves and lock can rotate in D so Sharpe isnt making 30 tackles...
Im not saying it's necessarily what I would do, but Holbrook has stated Sharpe is a half, and wont be on the wing. He has also said it's his job to fit them all in.
Also, another point. I've been to a few training session and Sharpe actually has the biggest boot of all our kickers, but its a little erratic. He only had the one in the trial, and I instantly noticed the height and accuracy vs what im used to watching from Hastings or cogger. Be interesting to see if we are stuck real deep in our end, whether he steps up and takes the kicks...
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The idea of taking a guy who could potentially play fullback for us for ten years and play Origin a bunch of times in that position, bulking him up and sending him out there to get bashed around making 40 tackles every week, honestly turns my stomach a little.
 
Jar head said:
What if we played sharp at lock? it lets Brown stay on the left, Sandon can have the right, obviously ponga at fullback. In defence ponga has to be fullback, but in attack I think Ponga and sharp can combine to cover both rolls as best suits there strengths. Sharpe in support and dummy half runs and ponga in shape and picking his moments.
The negative is the loss in meters having Sharpe as lock. Im not sure how much we would realistically lose, Sharpe is amazing out of dunny half and seems to have a knack for finding half a gap. Just what we need to get a roll on. And I think sharpes D is up to scratch. And maybe the halves and lock can rotate in D so Sharpe isnt making 30 tackles...
Im not saying it's necessarily what I would do, but Holbrook has stated Sharpe is a half, and wont be on the wing. He has also said it's his job to fit them all in.
Also, another point. I've been to a few training session and Sharpe actually has the biggest boot of all our kickers, but it’s a little erratic. He only had the one in the trial, and I instantly noticed the height and accuracy vs what im used to watching from Hastings or cogger. Be interesting to see if we are stuck real deep in our end, whether he steps up and takes the kicks...
Click to expand...
It does make some sense as Sharpe will be around the ruck like he would ba as fullback and be able to see gaps and go for them

Defence would be my only concern and the energy he would have to use defending
 
It honestly couldn’t be any simpler, people on here seem more than happy to weaken the team just so Sharpe can get on the ball more.

Put him on wing with a roaming role, other than that is ridiculous in my opinion.

People want to shove Sharpe places with the hope he will pick up the things needed in the meantime he is a weak link trying to learn it.

Place him on the wing and deal with it, he showed a “lack of ball” didn’t hurt him, and he scored a bunch of tries and he can come in if needed.

Not a lock, not a hooker, not a halfback and not a five-eighth and to stop further questions, he is also not a prop or a second rower
 
Another 2 seasons of an injury prone Kalyn really could kill our premiership window.

I find it amusing people think Roosters would take him on, Teddy realistically could play another 2-3 seasons atleast and this year begins his premiership window.

Kalyn is 28 this year, and let's be honest physically he is cooked.
 
Having read through, the calls for Sharpe in the centres or lock won’t work and agree wing is the best position for him and the team when we are full strength. Billy is right there will be injuries in the spine and when they happen Sharpe will slot straight in with minimal disruption.
 
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Interesting that Fletcher Hunt is ahead of Kyle McCarthy in the pecking order. I thought McCarthy did alright on the weekend.
 
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