The pre-season 2026 thread

EASBay17 said:
why single out dylan brown, any player playing internationals is in the same boat. Is he the only international changing clubs ?
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We want Dylan Brown here for as long as possible if we are going to build our team around him for next year, but the early training is usually just about fitness.
 
He’s always going to be one of the first picked for the Kiwis, and I can guarantee they won’t be playing him at hooker or centre. He’ll partner Hughes in the halves.

I think it’ll be really good for him after what has clearly been a very difficult season at the Eels.
 
jamesgould said:
He’s always going to be one of the first picked for the Kiwis, and I can guarantee they won’t be playing him at hooker or centre. He’ll partner Hughes in the halves.

I think it’ll be really good for him after what has clearly been a very difficult season at the Eels.
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Also if Hughes' shoulder is too bung to risk in Internationals, I'd say there's a pretty good chance they'll end up having to pick Brown at 7 with Chanel or Nikorima at 6. Which also tbh would be handy for us.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Also if Hughes' shoulder is too bung to risk in Internationals, I'd say there's a pretty good chance they'll end up having to pick Brown at 7 with Chanel or Nikorima at 6. Which also tbh would be handy for us.
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That's true, Hughes is probably long odds to get permission from the Storm to play with his injury concerns.
 
So,
Anything could happen this pre-season.
Literally anything.
We don't even know who the trainers will be, and I don't think the coaching structure has been settled on yet.

POS will bring in a heap of train and trial guys, and I suspect the new coaches will have some "project players" they bring in as well.

I'm going to say we will start with our largest ever pre christmas squad - maybe as many as 60 in training.

Then again, Holbrook might go the other way and just concentrate on the top 30 and development players from day 1.

The only player I know had end of season surgery was Brodie Jones, and he had it pretty early so he should be right for training.

At this stage, I don't think anyone could predict what our pre-season will look like.
 
Saulo also had end of season surgery (torn pec).

The only thing Holbrook has explicitly said is that he's going to work out what his spine is as one of his first pre-season priorities. We are not going to get to trials with him saying "that's what trials are for" when asked who's starting where. We'll probably find out what he's planning before Christmas.

The only potential spine player on the roster where there's any real mystery about what they are or might be as a first grader is Fletcher Sharpe. Kalyn, Dylan and Phoenix are 100+ gamers, there's a lot of tape on them, Gamble is Gamble, Matt Arthur and Harrison Graham are specialist hookers who don't have another position, and Holbrook has worked with Sandon Smith for two years.

So my take is he's kind of already decided what he wants to do, and is maybe going to give it a week or two to see if he sees something to change his mind.
 
Owey said:
I'm interested to see what happens with the Hoad brothers. Biggest assets with both seemed to be footy smarts and motors. I hope they stick around.
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I’d say one of them will end up in the top 30 if Kyle McCarthy goes to Melbourne
 
Settled positions:
Fullback - Ponga
Wing - Young
Centre (left) - Best
6 or 7 - Brown
Edge back row - Dylan Lucas
Starting middle - J Saifiti, Trey Mooney

Also unbackable odds to be in the 13/17 - Gagai, Sharpe, Frizell, Smith, Saulo, Crossland.

Four spots genuinely up for grabs IMO.

Besides the spine, IMO the biggest question mark is whether Lucas starts on the left or right, and if Frizell stays in the middle or plays on an edge. As much as Kai's contract was ridiculous, him moving on does leave a bit of a void. Friz is our next best edge forward after Lucas, but also, Friz's best footy now comes as a 40 minute bench middle, in my opinion.

The more I think about it, I lean towards starting McEwen on the left edge and playing him for 50 minutes, with Manulelua relieving him and playing 30, so we're bring a fresh Frizell on, and have good go forward middles - Mooney & Saf starting, Friz bench - for the full 80. But I don't think the roster presents one easy and obvious answer, so that's something for the pre-season. Maybe some of the young blokes make every post a winner, and then having Friz play on an edge seems the smart move?

Compared to working out how the pack should be selected, "where to play Fletcher Sharpe" is actually an easy one to answer IMO, even if it's the main thing fans are stressing about.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Settled positions:
Fullback - Ponga
Wing - Young
Centre (left) - Best
6 or 7 - Brown
Edge back row - Dylan Lucas
Starting middle - J Saifiti, Trey Mooney

Also unbackable odds to be in the 13/17 - Gagai, Sharpe, Frizell, Smith, Saulo, Crossland.

Four spots genuinely up for grabs IMO.

Besides the spine, IMO the biggest question mark is whether Lucas starts on the left or right, and if Frizell stays in the middle or plays on an edge. As much as Kai's contract was ridiculous, him moving on does leave a bit of a void. Friz is our next best edge forward after Lucas, but also, Friz's best footy now comes as a 40 minute bench middle, in my opinion.

The more I think about it, I lean towards starting McEwen on the left edge and playing him for 50 minutes, with Manulelua relieving him and playing 30, so we're bring a fresh Frizell on, and have good go forward middles - Mooney & Saf starting, Friz bench - for the full 80. But I don't think the roster presents one easy and obvious answer, so that's something for the pre-season. Maybe some of the young blokes make every post a winner, and then having Friz play on an edge seems the smart move?

Compared to working out how the pack should be selected, "where to play Fletcher Sharpe" is actually an easy one to answer IMO, even if it's the main thing fans are stressing about.
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This is still my major worry, our forward pack looks very weak to me. We’ve almost swapped our major crisis area, this year it was prop with the second row having no depth, next year the prop is a worry but second row looks like a potential crisis.
 
jamesgould said:
This is still my major worry, our forward pack looks very weak to me. We’ve almost swapped our major crisis area, this year it was prop with the second row having no depth, next year the prop is a worry but second row looks like a potential crisis.
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Yep. The optimistic way to look at it is: If you're Lachlan Crouch or someone like that, you'd know that a HUGE pre-season gets you a good stint in first grade every week next year. Genuine cherry like that, you'd hope someone responds.

Otherwise yes we're relying on Brodie Jones and Mat Croker a lot, again. And likely having to ask a lot out of J Saf & Mooney to get those rotations to work well (eg every other week one of them honestly may play the full first half).

Same thing if you're Jermaine McEwen, with the added benefit of him getting a taste and getting an idea of what it takes. I have a strong suspicion Holbrook is at least starting Friz on an edge if he's not 100% happy with the young blokes, so here's his chance to say - no, we're good mate, trust me. It's extremely hard for a 20 year old to be a week to week 80 minute edge forward though.
 
From the starting 17 2025 in the forwards we have lost:
Leo
KPP
Elliot
Herthington
D-saf (2024)

Guaranteed Replacing them in the top 17 2026
Trey Mooney
Saulo
McEwen

It does feel like we are light on, particularly if we have injuries. We need a couple of the fringe up and coming forwards to put there hand up.

I’m not across all the young guys. From cup, and this preseason who are the most likely young forwards to push for the starting 17?
 
What we need is an experienced side with our younger players such as McEwen and ESL etc playing Cup or bench with the likes of fringe players with experience such as Croker, Jones, Frizell starting in top 17.
They in turn get told to play strong and hard to keep the young ones out and they in turn are told to play strong and hard to replace them.
A starting pack such as JSaf, Crossland, Mooney, Lucas, Jones, Croker with bench of Arthur, Saulo, Frizell and rotation of the likes of McEwen, ESL, Manulelao, Hopwood would be strong and developing
 
Frank McWilliams said:
What we need is an experienced side with our younger players such as McEwen and ESL etc playing Cup or bench with the likes of fringe players with experience such as Croker, Jones, Frizell starting in top 17.
They in turn get told to play strong and hard to keep the young ones out and they in turn are told to play strong and hard to replace them.
A starting pack such as JSaf, Crossland, Mooney, Lucas, Jones, Croker with bench of Arthur, Saulo, Frizell and rotation of the likes of McEwen, ESL, Manulelao, Hopwood would be strong and developing
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We kind of need one of the young guys not just developing but ready to go!
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Settled positions:
Fullback - Ponga
Wing - Young
Centre (left) - Best
6 or 7 - Brown
Edge back row - Dylan Lucas
Starting middle - J Saifiti, Trey Mooney

Also unbackable odds to be in the 13/17 - Gagai, Sharpe, Frizell, Smith, Saulo, Crossland.

Four spots genuinely up for grabs IMO.

Besides the spine, IMO the biggest question mark is whether Lucas starts on the left or right, and if Frizell stays in the middle or plays on an edge. As much as Kai's contract was ridiculous, him moving on does leave a bit of a void. Friz is our next best edge forward after Lucas, but also, Friz's best footy now comes as a 40 minute bench middle, in my opinion.

The more I think about it, I lean towards starting McEwen on the left edge and playing him for 50 minutes, with Manulelua relieving him and playing 30, so we're bring a fresh Frizell on, and have good go forward middles - Mooney & Saf starting, Friz bench - for the full 80. But I don't think the roster presents one easy and obvious answer, so that's something for the pre-season. Maybe some of the young blokes make every post a winner, and then having Friz play on an edge seems the smart move?

Compared to working out how the pack should be selected, "where to play Fletcher Sharpe" is actually an easy one to answer IMO, even if it's the main thing fans are stressing about.
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Agreed on the Friz role - at most I only want him to do 25-30 on the edge to start the game with McEwen (or whoever earns it) playing out the game on the edge. Friz is a decent bench middle who can provide both quality and a buffer for our lack of middle experience - If he was coming through today I don't think he would've ever played on the edge. All the top teams have edges with the ability to run a really good line, for whatever reason Friz has never really excelled in that area.

Ideally Manuleleua kills the pre-season and demands a spot in the 17 - in which case he falls into the role Sasagi played with the Raiders this year in their 17 jersey. McEwen can start and play as long as we need him, Manuleleua gets injected on the edge as the game requires with instruction to provide maximum impact, McEwen can then re-enter the game in the middle if needed as we know he can provide contributions there.

Lucas will be interesting. I really want to pair him with Brown, as Brown plays his best footy when he has a strong connection with a hole-punching edge taking defensive pressure off him - equally, the prospect of Brown's running threat opening up space for Lucas is very enticing. On the flipside, right edge backrow is arguably the most important defensive position in the game and Lucas' ability and leadership would be extremely valuable alongside a Smith/Sharpe-Gagai-Young combination.

Given the spoon I would accept allegations that I'm huffing too much copium but it feels like there's so many genuine reasons to be excited for next seasons prospects now.
 
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