Your team for 2019

The more i think about it the more i feel Barnett will be the one who misses out. Its between him, and Jacob Saifiti imo. Sione is almost a guaranteed pick,

1 watson
2 Lee
3 Moga
4 Ramien
5 SKD
6 Ponga
7 Pearce
8 Klemmer
9 Levi
10 Glasby
11 Fitzy
12 Guerra
13 Ese Ese
14 Buhrer/Lino/Woolford/sign another utility
15 Dan Saifiti
16 Gavet
17 Sione
18 Jacob
19 Barnett
 
Last edited:
Why would I be on suicide watch, when Brown reinvented the team for the 20th time for Golden boy by moving Sione in more and letting someone half his size defend in his spot I was the first to acknowledge that he was doing a job out there?

I've had a good chuckle at people saying Sione isn't a shrimp, has anyone seen the size of backrowers these days?

I just hope for Sione's sake he has learnt how to tackle more than 4-5 times a match without getting tired and knocking himself out each match.

For a little fella you'd assume he'd have a huge motor, 2 years after losing the weight, then rapidly putting back on well improve his fatigue resilence right?

I won't even go into the fact he can't/won't pass.

But he does run a good line and Wayne Bennett said his the future of our club.
 
Good read about Sione;s defence on NRL.com his defensive stats are better than I thought . Can I copy and paste from there to here legally .
 
josh2010 said:
The more i think about it the more i feel Barnett will be the one who misses out. Its between him, and Jacob Saifiti imo. Sione is almost a guaranteed pick,

1 watson
2 Lee
3 Moga
4 Ramien
5 SKD
6 Ponga
7 Pearce
8 Klemmer
9 Levi
10 Glasby
11 Fitzy
12 Guerra
13 Ese Ese
14 Buhrer/Lino/Woolford/sign another utility
15 Dan Saifiti
16 Gavet
17 Jacob/Barnett
Click to expand...

Am I missing something? You say he is almost guaranteed a spot but then don’t name him?
 
Lord of the Skraelings said:
Why would I be on suicide watch, when Brown reinvented the team for the 20th time for Golden boy by moving Sione in more and letting someone half his size defend in his spot I was the first to acknowledge that he was doing a job out there?

I've had a good chuckle at people saying Sione isn't a shrimp, has anyone seen the size of backrowers these days?

I just hope for Sione's sake he has learnt how to tackle more than 4-5 times a match without getting tired and knocking himself out each match.

For a little fella you'd assume he'd have a huge motor, 2 years after losing the weight, then rapidly putting back on well improve his fatigue resilence right?

I won't even go into the fact he can't/won't pass.

But he does run a good line and Wayne Bennett said his the future of our club.
Click to expand...
He averaged 20 tackles a game this year.
So he can make more than 4 or 5 game.
 
The defence the article refers to should prob be put down to Guerra really and as Billy said Sione struggles laterally so it made sense to put Connor there outside him...who we could argue about whether he's a real 5/8 or not anyway.
 
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/11/22/dominant-sione-matautias-underrated-defensive-achievements/

Oft-maligned Knights centre Sione Mata'utia proved to be one of the most damaging edge defenders in the NRL in 2018, featuring near the top of the list for dominant tackles and effective edge tackles.

While Mata'utia's Knights had their defensive woes, leaking 607 points (more than any team except Manly), Mata'utia and regular right-edge defensive partner Aidan Guerra proved to be a poor avenue for opponents to run at more often than not.

According to NRL.com stats, analysing Newcastle's try causes (the missed tackle or misread that allowed an opposition to score a try) by area of the field, the centre-right channel marshalled by Mata'utia and Guerra was easily the tightest.

Just 11% of the team's try causes came in that channel compared to 26% on the left-centre channel, 21% and 22% on the left and right flanks respectively, and 21% through the middle.

Sione Mata'utia tackles - 2018 season

Mata'utia also racked up 26 'dominant' tackles through the season – the third most of any player and easily the most of any back, trailing only hard-hitting middle forwards Sam Burgess and Matt Prior (both 31).

His right-side partner Guerra was next on the list in fourth with 25, with plenty of those tackles coming in unison as the pair lifted and drove rivals back regularly from kick-offs and set restarts.

A dominant tackle can be awarded for a big hit but it is also awarded when the defender dominates the ball carrier in a tackle by driving him significantly backwards and/or dominates him in the ruck by rolling him over on his back and slowing down the play the ball significantly.

Mata'utia also finished fourth across the entire NRL for one-on-one edge tackles effected with 36; the two leaders are back-rowers renowned for defence in Tariq Sims (44) and Josh Jackson (39) while another maligned centre in Michael Jennings was third with 37.

Mata'utia's overall effective tackle percentage of 84.1 in 2018 was among the better centres

The eventual return of Tautau Moga from an ACL reconstruction plus the recruitment of centres Jesse Ramien and Hymel Hunt mean a likely return to the back row for Mata'utia in 2019 but the numbers show he is more than up to the task defensively.
 
Personally u think our squad looks better without Sione tho. Not saying he is a bad player just that he doesnt fit into our squad in the forwards with who we have. But Brown will def pick him. Gives us solid depth
 
josh2010 said:
Personally u think our squad looks better without Sione tho. Not saying he is a bad player just that he doesnt fit into our squad in the forwards with who we have. But Brown will def pick him. Gives us solid depth
Click to expand...

Definitely weakening the top 17 if he is named. He is taking up a bench spot in my opinion. Might as well load up with 3 middle forwards and a hooker/utility on the bench as Fitz and Guerra are 80 minute players.
 
Still can’t wrap my head around why Brown is going to swap them around. Keep Ponga hidden away at the back.

Even he don’t sound to keen on playing in the halves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top