The pre-season 2026 thread

bremsstrahlung said:
I imagine Holbrook is pretty across what Sandon Smith can bring to a team. Happy to trust him to pick the best combination.

If he sees something/enough in Sharpe to go with Sharpe/Brown halves, smith at 9 - so be it.

If he thinks Smith has more to offer at 7 with Brown, than Sharpe - so be it.

At least this time around, I trust the coach has something in mind. And will be reacting appropriately. Opposed to we’ve tried A and B, B and C, hmm let’s try A and C and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Atleast the coach has players to choose from that seem competent.
 
Beatell said:
Atleast the coach has players to choose from that seem competent.
Click to expand...
The premiership winning half that that unnshackled Cleary.
4043.jpg
 
CornChippy said:
Which is funny because Sharpe was our best player this year and its not even close. He has to play in the middle of the field and he needs to be around the ball as much as possible imo.

He already is an incredibly dangerous five eighth. He will only get better as time goes on, his potential is massive.

So whats the plan? Sharpe becomes a roaming centre, Ponga also roaming from fullback plus two halves. Effectively having four halves on the field.
Sounds messy and disjointed.

1. Ponga
6. Sharpe
7. Brown
9. Smith

Crossland covers 6, 7, 9 ,13 in case of injury. In my opinion this is the best setup for utilising our roster.
If Sharpe isn't playing five eighth you have Crossland at 9 and Smith at 6/7. If one of those gets injured then everyone has to shuffle around too much. Just like the last few years imo.
Click to expand...

from my perspective, we see what happens at Brisbane when they have Mam, Hunt, Reynolds and Walsh all trying their hand at playmaking. It doesn’t work.

They played some of their best footy when 2 of those were out - it just simplifies things.

I’d love to get back to a style of footy where Smith/sharpe and Brown are getting the ball to Ponga to finish/score the try or get the assist. We say, Ponga is not to be routine first or second receiver. He’s a fullback. He’s a weapon at finishing moves not creating them.

I just miss Ponga getting good ball and getting to run at defenders, with the option of passing to centres/wingers. Watching him play as some pseudo half was painful. If we can’t get much out of him in 2026, I think we allow him to walk in 2027. If he brains it, then it’s anyone’s guess. I think he’s playing for his Newcastle future in 2026.

I’m just excited to see a fresh gameplan and how we best utilise our strengths.
 
bremsstrahlung said:
from my perspective, we see what happens at Brisbane when they have Mam, Hunt, Reynolds and Walsh all trying their hand at playmaking. It doesn’t work.

They played some of their best footy when 2 of those were out - it just simplifies things.

I’d love to get back to a style of footy where Smith/sharpe and Brown are getting the ball to Ponga to finish/score the try or get the assist. We say, Ponga is not to be routine first or second receiver. He’s a fullback. He’s a weapon at finishing moves not creating them.

I just miss Ponga getting good ball and getting to run at defenders, with the option of passing to centres/wingers. Watching him play as some pseudo half was painful. If we can’t get much out of him in 2026, I think we allow him to walk in 2027. If he brains it, then it’s anyone’s guess. I think he’s playing for his Newcastle future in 2026.

I’m just excited to see a fresh gameplan and how we best utilise our strengths.
Click to expand...
Absolutely right about Kalyn’s role, we saw it in 2023. Less is more.

I do think you’re selling Mam a bit short there though, I reckon a lot of their problems were specifically due to Reyno and Hunt as a duo not being complimentary & the “too many cooks thing” came specifically from the two old blokes as a halves duo. They won the 98 minutes Mam was on the field in the finals 30-12 (and six tries to two) and lost the other 62 minutes of those games 24-12. There isn’t a more dangerous tandem in the game than Mam and Walsh.
 
mozza said:
Reckon Joey used to give it a nudge before stats were so in depth. Tim Smith in 2005 would’ve went close too.
Click to expand...
Yeah they say Smith is the all time try assists record holder (40 in 26 games).

To know if Joey beat that you’d have to dig through the Channel 9 and Fox archives.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing how Holbrook uses KP.

A long time I've been saying KP kludges up the system with his demand for the ball, hogging time with the ball the halves should be getting and essentially getting in the way of how a footy team should operate, which also had the double whammy effect that due to that we lacked an actual fullback chiming in in support of breaks etc. Player makes a break and the footage shows KP standing still watching it unfold as he was getting ready to receive the ball in the next play.

It was clear over time AOB was not going to change what wasn't working, so I started saying get KP more ball as he is already stuffing up the team balance, may as well put him right in control!

Now, I want him getting out of there and letting the halves run the show. I'll be pissed if we spend that much on Brown and then let KP keep dominating the ball as he has been!
 
Dom Young got injuried in the game overnight
If anyone hears what the injury was if you could post in here would be great
 
Watching the replays it looked like it might have been a calf or maybe just cramp. He was limping pretty badly but still able to run. Wouldn’t have left him out for as long as they did if it was anything too serious, I don’t think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top