The pre-season 2026 thread
- Thread starter Billy
- Start date
Grandpa Joe
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
I can totally see Gus trying to move Leo on really quickly once he realises his brought a Sims, looks tough and plays soft with no work ethic.
Will be funny watching the dogs flounder this year actually. They totally got found out after their soft early draw when they hit the good teams.
Against top 8 teams last year.
Sharks 20-6 W
Broncos 42-18 L
Raiders 32-10 W
Roosters 24-10 W
Post round 16.
Panthers 8-6 L
Warriors 32-14 W
Roosters 32-12 L
Storm 20-14 L
Panthers 28-4 W
Sharks 26-18 L
Record against top 8 teams 11 games 5 wins, back half of the season 6 games for 2 wins.
waynesworld
Andrew Tangata-Toa
My best guess would be the Knights kick off at about 1pm. The Super League will kick off first to get into the UK time slot, then I imagine Bulldogs v Dragons will be the TV fixture leading into the news. Quite poor they haven’t released the schedule though.
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
The thing which has given me most optimism is hearing that the left side is almost certainly going to be Brown, Lucas & Best (winger tbd), and then of course Kalyn sweeping around the back. I'd imagine there'd be temptation to move either Dylan to the right to shore up the defence a bit on that side. But looking at it and saying, "no, let's just put our best strike weapons together" is a good, positive move. Indicates that the mindset is more "let's see if other teams can stop us" than "how do we stop other teams?"
And you're right, the dynamic should be very different in theory, it should solve the question of how we get Kalyn good ball. It's easy for us to sit on the couch and judge KP for his inconsistency, but there is no doubt his performances have been hampered by halves who have struggled to get him effective ball, whether through bad decision-making, athletic limitations, or a bit of both. But then if Kalyn is jumping into first receiver too centrally just because it's the only way he's getting some clean ball, that's weakening a strength to try to fix that weakness, it's not what he's good at, and it's hard to get better at it when players like Hastings or Cogger or whoever else also don't have a lot of value in wide areas at 2nd/3rd receiver.
People who try to tell me that they can't see why Dylan's set of attributes should be one that answers a lot of these questions confuse the hell out of me. Yes it would be nice if he had a huge boot to go with his other traits but unfortunately you don't get players made to order from the Footy Player Store.
I do think the influence on Ponga will be massive. He will trust Dylan to be able to find him when he wants it and have a lot more patience. He won't feel if he doesn't do something, nothing will happen. You kinda had an uh oh feeling if things didn't work well for KP early in games last year. Now he is just another option. If he isn't quite working, the halves can go away from him a bit knowing they can come back to him later. Even having Dom back for a full season on the right chipping in with the odd try out of very little will take a lot of pressure off KP.
bremsstrahlung
Glenn Grief
Was especially prevalent with Hastings. But it was definitely noticeable last year too.
We’d give him so much ball in the first 20 and things didn’t pan out. (Against a fresh defensive line).
Then it was like, ok, Ponga isn’t making things happen. Guess we try something different - ignore him for 40 minutes. Then in the last 20 we go crisis mode when the game is lost trailing by 20 and give it to him every play.
If there’s one benefit to Ponga not training, it’s that he can’t be training as a first receiver/key ball player. Hopefully means he will be the one receiving the ball at the end of the play to score/assist - which is something I think he is great at.
bremsstrahlung
Glenn Grief
we know numbers don’t really matter.
But I think Brown cops a lot more criticism and attention if he wears the 7. 6 relieves a bit of the pressure and will hopefully allow him to settle and play his natural game.
Smith/Sharpe also are somewhat protected with the 7 on their back. Nobody is expecting them to perform as a million dollar player.
Also nice to hear we are training with a few different spines. Should put our minds at ease a little bit that Holbrook will go with what he thinks is best…eventually.
I still have a feeling Ponga will miss the opening rounds. In which case, I presume Smith will have first crack at 7. If he does well, he probably stays there. If not, when Ponga returns, Sharpe probably moves there with Smith to 14 before easing his way to 9 if Crossland moves to 13 if things improve or back to 7 if they don’t and Sharpe to Wing.
But I think Brown cops a lot more criticism and attention if he wears the 7. 6 relieves a bit of the pressure and will hopefully allow him to settle and play his natural game.
Smith/Sharpe also are somewhat protected with the 7 on their back. Nobody is expecting them to perform as a million dollar player.
Also nice to hear we are training with a few different spines. Should put our minds at ease a little bit that Holbrook will go with what he thinks is best…eventually.
I still have a feeling Ponga will miss the opening rounds. In which case, I presume Smith will have first crack at 7. If he does well, he probably stays there. If not, when Ponga returns, Sharpe probably moves there with Smith to 14 before easing his way to 9 if Crossland moves to 13 if things improve or back to 7 if they don’t and Sharpe to Wing.
waynesworld
Andrew Tangata-Toa
Brown is going to be in for a heap of scrutiny from anyone just because of his deal. The jersey won’t matter. If they pick him at 6 for Vegas they’ll say why did they spend 13 million on a five eighth when they need a halfback, and if they pick him at halfback they’ll say he’s not a halfback in the lead in. Each game will be a running referendum on if he’s worth the money and the chatter around Brown will drive us all nuts on here too.
Semi-related, but I see reports Koloamatangi has just signed a 5 year 5 million dollar deal with the Dragons. I think he’s a great player and a good signing for them. However, he’s not a walk up start in origin and the majority of that deal he will be in his 30s. I haven’t seen anyone question the money with the veracity that Brown was questioned? Have I just missed the criticism or does it seem a bit weird?
Semi-related, but I see reports Koloamatangi has just signed a 5 year 5 million dollar deal with the Dragons. I think he’s a great player and a good signing for them. However, he’s not a walk up start in origin and the majority of that deal he will be in his 30s. I haven’t seen anyone question the money with the veracity that Brown was questioned? Have I just missed the criticism or does it seem a bit weird?
Grandpa Joe
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Browns on $400k more a season, a million for a prop isn't unreasonable now.
On the Kolomatangi deal, your right, there hasn’t been much if anyone complaining about his 5 year $5 mil deal.
I think the reason Brown cops it from the media is because of the length of the deal, not so much the $1.3 mil per year.
Also Denan Kemp is the only one I’ve heard say Brown’s deal is 8 years plus 2.
Brown’s on $1.3 mil per year, so it’s $300 different to Kolomatangi. Still a lot, but not as big a difference.
Brown’s deal has the potential to get to $1.4 mil per year if the salary cap goes up. Which it certainly will with the next tv rights deal. The difference then will be (not actual numbers) $1.3 is say 10% of the salary cap, $1.4 would end up being around 7% of the salary cap. So it’s actually going to be a discount once the cap goes up
Les Misérables
Mark Hughes
The number on the jersey doesnt matter but the natural and historical profile of the player does.
Brown, for all of his strengths, hasn't ever demonstrated that he is equipped with the wherewithal to steer a team around the park. I don't think Ive seen even a single game where he has played that role effectively. Kinda think its unfair for people to just assume he'll be able to just become that player for us.
Its not how he plays his footy and that's fine, he is a specialist traditional 6. It's a narrow profile but a great profile to have.
I totally reject the idea that there is no specific halfback profile and that 6 and 7 are just numbers on a jersey. Sometimes they can be, sure, but its not the most effective model for a halves pairing.
frankLauda
Matthew Gidley
That’s why I prefer Sandon as the 7, as he is the most qualified player we have that will be able to manage the team and excute game plan. Hastings was that man before. Cogger yes, just wasn’t good at it.
I agree if Brown wears the 7 he will get heavily scrutinised. I think this is what people haven’t factored in to the possible selection of Smith as 7. He would cop the least scrutiny as our 7
Brown will get criticised because of his contract
Sharpe would get criticised if he has a couple poor games as he is learning the position
Holbrook will cop it and the club will cop it as well
I trust Holbrook’s will put the right guy in the 7, but it’s not a straight forward decision, in my opinion. The media are just waiting to lay the boot in if it doesn’t work straight away which ever way we go
Denis Lutge
Dan Tolar
Brown's strength is his running game and that should be his first thought. What this will do for Lucas, Best and Sharpe/Ponga is create space for them to utilise their skills on that left side. If the forwards can generate momentum in the ruck, that left side will cause headaches for so many teams.
Grandpa Joe
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Big if man, I have zero faith in any of our pigs.
Also if Holbrook follows what most people think and drops Marzhew we are going to be ending a lot of sets inside our own 40.
Also if Holbrook follows what most people think and drops Marzhew we are going to be ending a lot of sets inside our own 40.
KPGreatness
Todd Bates
Maybe but we will be harder to score against since we won’t have the biggest liability in the modern era just sitting on the wing.
He drops others need to pick up, Marzhew is not a good player simple as that, he is a liability in defence, he is slow and never tracks back during breaks, and absolutely horrible in the air for both attack and defence. You could literally see halfbacks default to Marzhew if they couldn’t break us down and it would almost always lead to a try.
again if you put metres gained over tries getting scored against us than there is a problem. Others need to pick up simple as that, accountability, many teams around the comp don’t have wingers that put up 200+ metres and it’s because they ask more from their forwards. We need a Madge type that will demand that
We have people capable of picking up the slack it’s up to Holbrook to get it out of them and see where we go
frankLauda
Matthew Gidley
Unless he’s (Holbrook) been giving Marhzew extra work on diffusing bombs and his defence, and, he’s improved drastically in that department, then Holbrook won’t be picking him.
If Sharpe is not playing on the wing, who’s the best option? Any opinions? DeCorcey a bolter?
And @KPGreatness is right. The forwards need to pull up the slack if Marz is not picked.
If Sharpe is not playing on the wing, who’s the best option? Any opinions? DeCorcey a bolter?
And @KPGreatness is right. The forwards need to pull up the slack if Marz is not picked.
Billy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Schiller seems to be getting runs on both wings at different times in the training pics.
I think he's easier to "fix" than Marzhew - Marzhew needs to grow 6 inches and change his body shape - Schiller just needs to learn to hold onto the ball.