Finals Wk 3: Melbourne Storm Vs Dragons

[Hoggy]

Exactly right. I can't believe we have been playing him so often. We are basically helping the Titans develop him by pumping so many games into him. I'd rather play Blair/J.Smith.

Of course we wouldn't want to play our best 17 players in a preliminary final would we?

[Michael :P]

Exactly right. I can't believe we have been playing him so often. We are basically helping the Titans develop him by pumping so many games into him. I'd rather play Blair/J.Smith.

Of course we wouldn't want to play our best 17 players in a preliminary final would we?

We do.

Which is why one of Jeremy Smith/Adam Blair/Jake Webster should be on the bench instead. With Friend we're essentially playing the first 60 minutes a man short as Nathan takes no part until then and he's not providing much when he comes on. Defence yes, but have you seen Jeremy Smith's D this year or Adam Blair's. And Jake could easily play fill in at lock and give us some great offensive spark.

[Hoggy]

Exactly right. I can't believe we have been playing him so often. We are basically helping the Titans develop him by pumping so many games into him. I'd rather play Blair/J.Smith.

Of course we wouldn't want to play our best 17 players in a preliminary final would we?

We do.

Which is why one of Jeremy Smith/Adam Blair/Jake Webster should be on the bench instead. With Friend we're essentially playing the first 60 minutes a man short as Nathan takes no part until then and he's not providing much when he comes on. Defence yes, but have you seen Jeremy Smith's D this year or Adam Blair's. And Jake could easily play fill in at lock and give us some great offensive spark.

Friend is probably our best defender although Johnson and C.Smith might have something to say about that.

He's CLEARLY best 17, he adds flexibility to the squad, when he comes on it allows us to play three halves almost with Hill playing as a 2nd 5/8 / lock.

[Mike_The_Undertaker]

There is a simple solution




Give Friendy more game time

[Tigger]

There is a simple solution




Give Friendy more game time

At whose expense tho?

[Silkin]

Having Friend in the last 20 when the others are getting tired is a bonus.

Did anyone actually see how many tackles he was involved in last game? When I  was watching him he kept doing in 3 tackles in a row.
We need that lift at that point in a game and he dose a great job of it.

[Michael :P]

I'll say it one last time but wtf do we want to move the worlds best hooker from his position when it hasnt been working for the last month.

If we want to give him a rest fine, throw Booffa in there for 10 min, but the fact is Jeremy Smith or Adam Blair give us more BOTH sides of the ball.

Nathan has great technique but he's a legs tackler so we need multiple tacklers almost everytime he makes a tackle which makes our line vulnerable to off-loads or at the very least a quick play-the-ball.

At least Smith or Blair have the strength to wrap the ball-carrier up themselves and still provide us with some punch in attack.

[KimmorleyKiller]

Friends gun! i haven't seen anyone in the NRL with a tackling style as effective as his

[Buzz]

He will be one of our biggest losses in 2007. We have an absolute amazing bench, and to be able to have Cronk, Hill, Cam and Friend all on the field at the same time to break open games... I worry about who is going to replace Nathan next year.

[bula]

Jeremy Smith should be there, probably at the expense of Blair or maybe Cross.
He's awesome at D and in attack very under rated, he can bust through tackles and always runs in between players rather than at em.

[bula]

Anyway Inglis not looking good for the game!
He's recovering slower than expected, getting pains in other parts of the body, someone find the link to storm.com
Sounds like what happened to his back! Hope he's ok, i wouldnt like our chance without him.

[TC]

Exactly right. I can't believe we have been playing him so often. We are basically helping the Titans develop him by pumping so many games into him. I'd rather play Blair/J.Smith.

Of course we wouldn't want to play our best 17 players in a preliminary final would we?

We do.

Which is why one of Jeremy Smith/Adam Blair/Jake Webster should be on the bench instead. With Friend we're essentially playing the first 60 minutes a man short as Nathan takes no part until then and he's not providing much when he comes on. Defense yes, but have you seen Jeremy Smith's D this year or Adam Blair's. And Jake could easily play fill in at lock and give us some great offensive spark.

Friend HAS to be there.He can cover hooker and outside backs and halves if we are desperate. He can defend at lock and gives us another ball playing option.
Our probable future opponents are Lizards and Pups. Big boppers (when I hear that term I always think of the MFP pursuit of the Knight Rider in Mad Max) who run hard and will be out to break our attacking weapons - Cam, Coops, Billy and Joe. Touchwood (which TV wizard had a familiar named "Touchwood"?) it won't happen, but be assured that Mason and Bailey, Ryles and Ryan, Sonny Bill and Trent will be trying to injure and not just hurt our playmakers - not suggesting it will be unfair play, but it will certainly push the boundaries. If we lose a playmaker we need Friend. Geyer can fill all the roles that he can, but he can also fill fullback and provides invaluable experience in the back 5. We can't afford to have MG as our only playmaking backup.

[grey sub]

Well That looks like we are playing the Drag queens next week in Sydney as Orford did his old favourite of going missing in the second week of the finals, no loss, lets bring it on Lizards. 

[grey sub]

Score is 22 -0 in the way of St George Lizards

[Dani_]

So i can blame him for the past 3 years!