Toohey's News

luke46 said:
Instead of doing that why don't we throw double what he's earning at the bloke stuck behind luai at Panthers (Matt Burton?) To play 5/8 for the next 10 years and **** off sione and/or fitzy to sign Angus Crichton since he's chilling on the bench at roosters.

We already have 2 nrl level hookers in brailey and Watson and sufficient backup huth, black, etc..

We should have some spare coin since we have shibasaki in our centers for the next 3 years ..
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I always get a lot of hate when I talk about Watson, but he has played about 10 games of hooker in his life, and the "diplomatic" answer Bedsy gave when asked about him as a hooker was that he could be one if he spent about 2 years working hard on his passing game. I was just reading an article about hookers today where Cronk said the best thing about Cam Smith was that he delivered a perfect pass every time, and I'm sure Johns would have said the same about Buderus. The fact is that a Watson pass could be anywhere from the chin to the ankle if he throws it any distance. He ticks a lot of boxes at hooker, but the most important one, he doesn't tick. Luke Huth is the opposite - he has a near perfect passing game from dummy half, but there are questions over everything else.
In short, Brailey is our only genuine, proven, firstgrade standard hooker. Watson could get us out of trouble for a while with a bit of help, but Huth would be a huge gamble.
 
There seems to be a lot of people that arnt all that happy with Fitzy personally id get rid of Sione , Guerra and Barnett long before Fitzy imo he is our best backrower .
 
slotmachine said:
That would be why Barnett has taken home the Danny Buderus medal two of the last three years I guess.
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Yes I know that but that's why I said I would get rid of them just my opinion , and I did put Barnett last in that group Sione would be first then Guerra because of his age although I would start Guerra with Barnett and Fitzy lol.
 
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/...n-to-arch-rivals-for-all-stars-clash/?cs=7580
*Ponga & Watson likely to play against each other in the All Stars. If so they will both miss the nines and the Feb 22nd trial.
*Jihrar Momoisea set to sign an extension and up grade next week to 2022. Also likely to be added to the top 30 for this season.
*Barring injury Mann will start the season at 6. He is also looking likely to captain the nines team if Pearce doesn't play. He is highly regarded by Obi, and Obi says he shouldn't be judged on last year's performances.
*Fitz is in a moon boot after rolling his ankle. It's not serious and he should be back to training next week.
 
krustykraz said:
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/...n-to-arch-rivals-for-all-stars-clash/?cs=7580
*Ponga & Watson likely to play against each other in the All Stars. If so they will both miss the nines and the Feb 22nd trial.
*Jihrar Momoisea set to sign an extension and up grade next week to 2022. Also likely to be added to the top 30 for this season.
*Barring injury Mann will start the season at 6. He is also looking likely to captain the nines team if Pearce doesn't play. He is highly regarded by Obi, and Obi says he shouldn't be judged on last year's performances.
*Fitz is in a moon boot after rolling his ankle. It's not serious and he should be back to training next week.
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Re Mann, Obi knows what he is capable of pretty well from Melbourne. If he can do the job Obi wants at 5/8 it could at least solve our biggest weakness. Not sold myself because of last year but happy to have faith for the start of this year. I still have visions of Ponga screaming at him in anguish after he missed a tackle on Brooks that led to a try in the Tigers clash at home last year.

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Mann and Momoisea were both in the Melbourne system and O'Brien probably had something to do with them.
The other guy who was in the Melbourne system is Beau Fermor.
Beau had a wonderful year for us in 2018 - top try scorer in under 20s for the comp despite playing 6 games of reserve grade - player of the year etc. In 2019 he was on track to be our player of the year in reserve grade before a major injury.
A knee reconstruction is possibly the worst injury he could have because the best part of his game is his step and acceleration that led to frequent line breaks and long range tries, but if he can come back as good as he was before injury I suspect he'll be in the side as a second row or centre before the end of the year.
 
I hope he comes back strong. Whether he debuts could come down to whether Jones gets a shot or not and how he goes if he does. Jones and Fermor are those mobile sort of backrower suited to where the game seems to be going. Jirah is a big, big body on an edge bit seems to have impressed with his mobility and motor.

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I suspect Jirah is mostly being looked at for his defence.
He had very high tackle efficiency in his first year of reserve grade and seems to move well for a big guy.
Last year they were giving a few training results out, and Jirah was our strongest player in the gym. I suspect, with those long arms and legs and all that strength, not many are going to break a tackle if he gets hold of you.
In reserve grade he made 22 tackles a game at 93% tackle efficiency, while Brodie Jones made 25 tackles a game at 86% tackle efficiency in about double the minutes per game.

I've said before that Jirah has a similar build and playing style to Chris Houston. If he can get fit enough to play the long minutes that Houston played at his peak, he'd be a very useful player for us.
 
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https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/...tars-who-wont-be-risked-at-the-nines/?cs=7580

- Ponga, Watson, Pearce, Klemmer, D. Saf and Lee won't be risked for the 9's.
- Fitzy, Best, Crossland and Brailey also won't play due to injury. There are also doubts over Moga, Tuala and Lino
- Chris Randall a certain to play, Guerra likely to be captain. A possible squad is: Guerra, Kurt Mann, Tex Hoy, Starford To'a, Gehamat Shibasaki, Josh King, Sione Mata'utia, Mitch Barnett, Herman Ese'ese, Pasami Saulo, Hymel Hunt, Jacob Saifiti, Jirah Momoisea, Brodie Jones, Randall, Moga/Tuala/Lino/Tim Glasby.

- The Knights are in negotiations with 17-year-old Eels backrower Toni Mataele, who is apparently being shopped around to several NRL clubs.

- Knights boss Phil Gardner says the club isn't in a position to help fund a $100,000 statue of the league Immortal Andrew Johns outside McDonald Jones Stadium but fully supports the push to honour the club's greatest player and reckons the NSW government should be prepared to put its hand in its pocket.

- The Knights are expected to announce a new director of football by the end of this month

- Micky Paea has joined the welfare department at the Knights
 
Toohey refers to Randall as a "development player". the club hasn't announced that yet, but Toohey seems to take it as a done deal.

The possible team named by Toohey is an extremely unbalanced side for 9s, with only 1 hooker in Randall and no halfback - both crucial positions in 9s with a need for 1 or 2 backups. Mann can help out Randall a bit, but not much if he is our only playmaker as well.

For some reason Toohey doesn't mention Huth, Sasagi or Searle, who are all training with the top side and are all hookers or halfbacks, I suspect Toohey's article next week will be all about how the Knights are going to use the 9s to "blood" young guns Huth, Sasagi and Searle.
 
Toohey also said that Tuala ruptured a testicle while wrestling and waited till halfway through the night before going off to hospital to get it operated on - so that's good for a few weeks off training.
 
Billy said:
Toohey also said that Tuala ruptured a testicle while wrestling and waited till halfway through the night before going off to hospital to get it operated on - so that's good for a few weeks off training.
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Jeepers maybe i'm a sook but a ruptured testicle is the sort of thing that would have me in a hospital begging for IV pain relief.
 
Billy said:
I suspect Jirah is mostly being looked at for his defence.
He had very high tackle efficiency in his first year of reserve grade and seems to move well for a big guy.
Last year they were giving a few training results out, and Jirah was our strongest player in the gym. I suspect, with those long arms and legs and all that strength, not many are going to break a tackle if he gets hold of you.
In reserve grade he made 22 tackles a game at 93% tackle efficiency, while Brodie Jones made 25 tackles a game at 86% tackle efficiency in about double the minutes per game.

I've said before that Jirah has a similar build and playing style to Chris Houston. If he can get fit enough to play the long minutes that Houston played at his peak, he'd be a very useful player for us.
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Funny to think that Jirah and Moga are about the same size Moga 194cm and 109kg Jirah 193cm and 109kg Jirah , Moga , Hunt.
That's a side of the field you wouldn't want to be running at or trying to stop for that matter.
 
Billy said:
The possible team named by Toohey is an extremely unbalanced side for 9s, with only 1 hooker in Randall and no halfback - both crucial positions in 9s with a need for 1 or 2 backups. Mann can help out Randall a bit, but not much if he is our only playmaker as well.
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Couldn't really give a stuff about the 9s and who we send out. Don't risk our highest paid stars, and then don't risk any guys recovering from surgeries and injuries. Send the kids in with an experienced head (Guerra) and go have some fun out there.
 
R_A said:
Couldn't really give a stuff about the 9s and who we send out. Don't risk our highest paid stars, and then don't risk any guys recovering from surgeries and injuries. Send the kids in with an experienced head (Guerra) and go have some fun out there.
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They won't have much fun if Guerra is playing hooker and Sione is playing halfback by the final game. small, mobile guys rule in 9s.
 
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