2013 Line-up
I would be surprised if MD is chosen ahead of MF.
Mahe was close to playing in a grand final.
In saying that SW will miss the first game so I guess MD will get his chance to earn one of the other two spots available behind WC and SW who will come straight back in.
Mahe was close to playing in a grand final.
In saying that SW will miss the first game so I guess MD will get his chance to earn one of the other two spots available behind WC and SW who will come straight back in.
I can't see any negative whatsoever getting Finchy back here. His experience will be invaluable especially for the young blokes, the players made no secret how much they loved him and what a great club man he is, he's a great back up in regards to depth (which you can never have too much of) especially come origin time and after where we've traditionally failed and we're more than likely only paying him minimum wage. If he's not keeping another bloke from signing which i highly doubt given his small pay packet then i cant see any issues.
I recall someone started a thread in here when we were going through our slump this season saying that they'd lost faith in Craig, look where we ended up....Point being the great man obviously has a plan for Finchy and if he has a role planned for him and thinks he can add to our squad then who are we to argue?
I recall someone started a thread in here when we were going through our slump this season saying that they'd lost faith in Craig, look where we ended up....Point being the great man obviously has a plan for Finchy and if he has a role planned for him and thinks he can add to our squad then who are we to argue?
Haha yea Ice. I see nothing wrong with getting Finchy back. But as with all Bellamy's ideas I wish I could understand it more and how he sees Finch fitting in the team through out the whole season. He'll be a fantastic piece to have through origin though.
I'm one to of questions Craig's plans through that tough period. I don't see anything wrong with that either. He even questioned himself. It was the worse patch we'd gone through in his tenure. Just happy it worked out for the best. Although I still don't understand not giving some of the youngsters a chance to do something.
B2B in 2013 would be lovely.
I'm one to of questions Craig's plans through that tough period. I don't see anything wrong with that either. He even questioned himself. It was the worse patch we'd gone through in his tenure. Just happy it worked out for the best. Although I still don't understand not giving some of the youngsters a chance to do something.
B2B in 2013 would be lovely.
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Waqa won't miss any real games due to serving the suspensions during the pre-season/trials/WCC...storm77 wrote:I would be surprised if MD is chosen ahead of MF.
Mahe was close to playing in a grand final.
In saying that SW will miss the first game so I guess MD will get his chance to earn one of the other two spots available behind WC and SW who will come straight back in.
I certainly don't think he should or will play most of the year blaza, I just think the positives of getting a bloke of his experience on minimum wage far outweigh the negatives, if there's any at all.
As for questioning Bellyache, of course everyone is entitled give their opinion on it and it's only human nature he questioned himself in that tough period. But In saying that it was no coincidence when the slump hit we just happened to be going going through the origin period at the time and on top of the we were missing Bill so we had to reshuffle the side to accommodate that.
We had no 5/8 to speak of who was up to the job at the time when Gaz went to FB so it caused a flow on effect through the team and weakened us greatly. It was also no coincidence that while we lost the first game Bill came back after so long against the Stains, we won every one of them after that when we were well past the origin period and could finally get back and train as a whole team.
IMO that had a hell of a lot more to do with our slump than what Craig ever did. I also think the reason he didn't chuck more youngsters in than just Mahe is because we needed the experienced blokes to get us out of it and Im glad he didn't because if he have played 3-4 rookies I highly doubt we'd be premiers today. Again though that's just my opinion.
As for questioning Bellyache, of course everyone is entitled give their opinion on it and it's only human nature he questioned himself in that tough period. But In saying that it was no coincidence when the slump hit we just happened to be going going through the origin period at the time and on top of the we were missing Bill so we had to reshuffle the side to accommodate that.
We had no 5/8 to speak of who was up to the job at the time when Gaz went to FB so it caused a flow on effect through the team and weakened us greatly. It was also no coincidence that while we lost the first game Bill came back after so long against the Stains, we won every one of them after that when we were well past the origin period and could finally get back and train as a whole team.
IMO that had a hell of a lot more to do with our slump than what Craig ever did. I also think the reason he didn't chuck more youngsters in than just Mahe is because we needed the experienced blokes to get us out of it and Im glad he didn't because if he have played 3-4 rookies I highly doubt we'd be premiers today. Again though that's just my opinion.
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+1...well said.Ice wrote:I certainly don't think he should or will play most of the year blaza, I just think the positives of getting a bloke of his experience on minimum wage far outweigh the negatives, if there's any at all.
As for questioning Bellyache, of course everyone is entitled give their opinion on it and it's only human nature he questioned himself in that tough period. But In saying that it was no coincidence when the slump hit we just happened to be going going through the origin period at the time and on top of the we were missing Bill so we had to reshuffle the side to accommodate that.
We had no 5/8 to speak of who was up to the job at the time when Gaz went to FB so it caused a flow on effect through the team and weakened us greatly. It was also no coincidence that while we lost the first game Bill came back after so long against the Stains, we won every one of them after that when we were well past the origin period and could finally get back and train as a whole team.
IMO that had a hell of a lot more to do with our slump than what Craig ever did. I also think the reason he didn't chuck more youngsters in than just Mahe is because we needed the experienced blokes to get us out of it and Im glad he didn't because if he have played 3-4 rookies I highly doubt we'd be premiers today. Again though that's just my opinion.
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My only criticism of Bellamy was in regards to persisting with Widdop at FB and sacrificing our creativity in the halves - it meant Cronk was practically a one-man show in that department, and our attack was a lot easier to shut down. I thought we had plenty of able backs that could've filled in at FB, leaving Widdop at 5/8, which would've meant less disruption & reshuffling.
We'll never know if this would've won us more games, or whether we would've lost the 5 in a row regardless, but I suspect we could've picked up at least one more win in that period, and that's all we needed in the end to clinch the MP.
None of us really care about any of that now though... P > MP!
We'll never know if this would've won us more games, or whether we would've lost the 5 in a row regardless, but I suspect we could've picked up at least one more win in that period, and that's all we needed in the end to clinch the MP.
None of us really care about any of that now though... P > MP!
in 2011 duffman went to fullback during origin, plays ran smoothly but duffie was half a second too slow there. so i guess this year they thought widdop would be on top of it. not all plans work and it all come good at the end
Our first loss was with Duffie at fb. He was shite!!
We had Kostjaysen, Kelly and Blair as supposed 5/8's, so he used a world class fb (Widdop) to cover for Slater and the other 3 failed to provide the goods at 5/8.
Probably the best option was Smith at 5/8 and Hinchcliffe at hooker, but Cam didn't want to play there apparently.
In hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea to try to cover the worlds best ever fullback at the expense of your halves.
I don't know what happened to Bobby Blair. If it wasn't for an injury at the beginning of last year he was to be our starting no6. He must've had some form then, but certainly didn't a few weeks ago.
Then there's the angle of whether Bellyache coached us into a finals series in which we could truly "fly under the radar" written off (even though placed in 2nd) as a shadow of our former selves.
Remember the pressure we've endured in previous seasons as the benchmark of the comp that every shit team wants to beat as their 'miniGF'
We had Kostjaysen, Kelly and Blair as supposed 5/8's, so he used a world class fb (Widdop) to cover for Slater and the other 3 failed to provide the goods at 5/8.
Probably the best option was Smith at 5/8 and Hinchcliffe at hooker, but Cam didn't want to play there apparently.
In hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea to try to cover the worlds best ever fullback at the expense of your halves.
I don't know what happened to Bobby Blair. If it wasn't for an injury at the beginning of last year he was to be our starting no6. He must've had some form then, but certainly didn't a few weeks ago.
Then there's the angle of whether Bellyache coached us into a finals series in which we could truly "fly under the radar" written off (even though placed in 2nd) as a shadow of our former selves.
Remember the pressure we've endured in previous seasons as the benchmark of the comp that every shit team wants to beat as their 'miniGF'
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Agree with this as well!Go Storm wrote:...Then there's the angle of whether Bellyache coached us into a finals series in which we could truly "fly under the radar" written off (even though placed in 2nd) as a shadow of our former selves.
Remember the pressure we've endured in previous seasons as the benchmark of the comp that every shit team wants to beat as their 'miniGF'
Do agree moving Widdop to FB was the best option but it hurt us since we had no real other 5/8th. Hampton could of been given a shot there. Hopefully this is what Finch will do for us next season. Take pressure off Coops will be a goal during origin.
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Yeah and score 2 tries at the death against the Sharks to secure 2nd spot and not worry what happens at the Tigers game. Bellyache you are a genius.Insomniac wrote:Agree with this as well!Go Storm wrote:...Then there's the angle of whether Bellyache coached us into a finals series in which we could truly "fly under the radar" written off (even though placed in 2nd) as a shadow of our former selves.
Remember the pressure we've endured in previous seasons as the benchmark of the comp that every shit team wants to beat as their 'miniGF'
I can't remember, did we trial O'Neill at the back? Surely given some time he would be successful. That saves us stuffing around with the halves combo that is obviously well defined now.
As much as I love Finchy, I don't know if disrupting Cronk/Widdop is a good idea. How many games did we lose this year when they were in the halves? One?
As much as I love Finchy, I don't know if disrupting Cronk/Widdop is a good idea. How many games did we lose this year when they were in the halves? One?
Coops can't represent Australia, Queensland and Storm all season without either missing games or training sessions.yourhero wrote:I can't remember, did we trial O'Neill at the back? Surely given some time he would be successful. That saves us stuffing around with the halves combo that is obviously well defined now.
As much as I love Finchy, I don't know if disrupting Cronk/Widdop is a good idea. How many games did we lose this year when they were in the halves? One?
Bellyaches usual system has been to play the rep stars whilst allowing them to forego training. Finch may never play a game for us, but he will fill Cronk's shoes at training. This may prevent some of the disruptive training drills we've usually had to endure.
Maybe???