Finals week 1 vs Sharks
yanjarra wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 1:12 pmIt must have been blowy there yesterday, that first attacking sharks bomb that went up that wasn't taken and almost led to a try looked like it did a dog leg at its apex and blew back towards cronulla a good 20 metres at least, cant really blame the lads for not taking that one but was close to a disaster. still just a slight zephyr compared to the trade winds we are copping up northblazza18 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:56 am Wind would've played a factor in the balls being allowed to bounce.
Key for Paps in the offseason will be trying to get some pace back. It's quite notable how often he's getting caught for fewer metres than what he was. His support play has still been fine but he hasn't had too many explosive runs.
I was high up at the Northen end (opposite end to the kick you refer) and couldn't understand why they didn't catch it. (I realised though) It honestly felt like it was blowing from behind me and I thought all our first half kicks were short BECAUSE of the wind.
Must get swirly in there
Position - Left right out or hung out to dry
Paps is doing just fine. Not the flashy and lightening quick player he once was but that can only get you so far as a FB.
He remains probably the smartest player in the club, and reads the game just as good as anyone in the comp.
By the time he retires, I’ll bet there will be egg on a few faces from those who have doubted him and the clubs decision to keep him as a long term FB.
He remains probably the smartest player in the club, and reads the game just as good as anyone in the comp.
By the time he retires, I’ll bet there will be egg on a few faces from those who have doubted him and the clubs decision to keep him as a long term FB.
Can I give a shout-out to Nick Meaney - he copped SO MUCH CRAP in the beginning of the year but he has helped Warbrick become an elite player. His defence as a centre has grown in the past few months and is more than capable of breaking the line.
Re Paps - ignore the face that his speed has come off a bit - he is VERY vocal at the back and his positional play is WAY, WAY better than Sua - he needs to be our fullback for 2025. Teams see him as a threat and keep an eye on him all the time. He used to follow the Big Nasty and get offloads, but teams have wised up to that. Expect some amazing stuff as we progress this year.
One more hurdle to go.
Re Paps - ignore the face that his speed has come off a bit - he is VERY vocal at the back and his positional play is WAY, WAY better than Sua - he needs to be our fullback for 2025. Teams see him as a threat and keep an eye on him all the time. He used to follow the Big Nasty and get offloads, but teams have wised up to that. Expect some amazing stuff as we progress this year.
One more hurdle to go.
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Meaney’s defence has improved out of sight. He made more tackles than any other Storm back yesterday with 23 and only missed one.sheet_ed wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 4:15 pm Can I give a shout-out to Nick Meaney - he copped SO MUCH CRAP in the beginning of the year but he has helped Warbrick become an elite player. His defence as a centre has grown in the past few months and is more than capable of breaking the line.
Re Paps - ignore the face that his speed has come off a bit - he is VERY vocal at the back and his positional play is WAY, WAY better than Sua - he needs to be our fullback for 2025. Teams see him as a threat and keep an eye on him all the time. He used to follow the Big Nasty and get offloads, but teams have wised up to that. Expect some amazing stuff as we progress this year.
One more hurdle to go.
Despite his size he’s also making them stick too.
Yep! The only real howler I can recall was a Howarth knock on early in the second half. In fact there was a period it felt like the ball hadn’t gone out of play for 15 minutes. Incredible finals footy.
i remember you commenting during the game we'd have the wind behind us second half and i was thinking that doesn't compute with the way that sharks bomb blew back towards them. pretty notorious for being a swirling wind down there i believe though hey, though iv'e only been fortunate enough to get to AAMI maybe 4 times..Bullucked wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 2:05 pmyanjarra wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 1:12 pmIt must have been blowy there yesterday, that first attacking sharks bomb that went up that wasn't taken and almost led to a try looked like it did a dog leg at its apex and blew back towards cronulla a good 20 metres at least, cant really blame the lads for not taking that one but was close to a disaster. still just a slight zephyr compared to the trade winds we are copping up northblazza18 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:56 am Wind would've played a factor in the balls being allowed to bounce.
Key for Paps in the offseason will be trying to get some pace back. It's quite notable how often he's getting caught for fewer metres than what he was. His support play has still been fine but he hasn't had too many explosive runs.
I was high up at the Northen end (opposite end to the kick you refer) and couldn't understand why they didn't catch it. (I realised though) It honestly felt like it was blowing from behind me and I thought all our first half kicks were short BECAUSE of the wind.
Must get swirly in there
have they made that decision? 25 might be his lastmoffla wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 3:46 pm Paps is doing just fine. Not the flashy and lightening quick player he once was but that can only get you so far as a FB.
He remains probably the smartest player in the club, and reads the game just as good as anyone in the comp.
By the time he retires, I’ll bet there will be egg on a few faces from those who have doubted him and the clubs decision to keep him as a long term FB.
Just to be clear (as i know i've been one banging on a bit about Papenhuyzen), and before he jags a couple of tries and his supporters come out of the woodwork saying" told you so!"..... I think he's still a first grade standard fb. I acknowledge his experience, leadership, character around the club and his organisational skills of defence and attacking structure are still highly valuable. If somehow we jag it this year and he plays a part it will be one of the great stories, to come back from where he's been is one of the great sporting examples of determination. He's one of my favorite players. If we do get the job done this year though, I doubt its going to be on the back of pap, he'll play his role though, lets remember that's still a pretty big if. If we had a 2020 Pap right now I'd be so confident. If he gets back to the form he was in back then consistently I'll egg my own face, no probs.
There is no way he is amongst the elite fullbacks in the competition anymore (Edwards, Walsh, Tedesco, Turbo, Mitchell, Ponga, Drinkwater, Kini, Hammer. ) In my opinion he is in the next tier down with the likes of Tracey, Gutho, Kennedy, Bulla, CNK, and probably only clearly ahead of the likes of Weeks and Sloan on the back of his positive attributes (these guys have him covered for attacking threat also). There's definitely an argument he is the least threatening ball runner of that entire list. I would liken him closest to where Gutho is at with his age and body at the moment. Paps was amongst that elite list at his prime and challenging for no.1 fb in the game. I think defensive lines on kick chases now are thinking 'let's get stuck into him early and he'll fade out of the game' more so then 'sh%t we better have a well connected line or we are going to be back under our posts watching a conversion'. It has been a fall from grace not of his own doing. Your not watching if you can't see the speed, evasiveness and high involvement with fearlessness has gone from his game - all his greatest on field assets. He's had enough recovery/rehab and game time now to show signs of those still being there. I think it's very wishful thinking to think these are going to improve/return. Has he not done enough rehab and prepping to return at 100% over the last 2-3 years? Another off season isn't going to produce a miracle where all this returns. He is now at the limit of what his body will allow him. The frightening thing is he's only one good knock on that knee away from it going in the other direction. Has he not been taking multiple pain killing injections in his foot/ankle (complications from NAS injury) most of the year just to play? For me, he is now worth $700k tops, with a max 2 year contract to our club. I think the best thing for all involved would be for him to go on a slightly bigger deal then he'll likely get at storm to a lower tier club like Parra and set himself up financially if the worst happens and he has to retire early. He would likely be able to get 900+ at one of these clubs, and Parra would be perfect with Rylesy at the helm and them needing a culture reset. It would take the pressure off him from being at a club that expects to challenge for a premiership each year and focus on a rebuild ; which is where his value would truly be at the moment. Lets also not forget we have bloody Sua sitting there!
Any NRL quality fb is a tremendous athlete and can do things I could only dream about. To be a first choice fb in the NRL you are a bloody good NRL player, there's only 17, and in that position you typically find the best players in the game - along with halves. I just think if you look at premiership winning teams going back a long way now they have had an Elite top tier highly threatening fb as its such a key position in big games and if we get it done this year we will be bucking a big trend. I don't think paps is going to come out and have a churchill game to win it for us, but hope i'm wrong, or that we are just simply that good in other areas we get it done irrespective. No way does pap strike the fear of Edwards on gf day. Just my opinion. I'll try to limit the pap negativity from here on out. I wish only the best for him and would love nothing more then to see him back where he was.
There is no way he is amongst the elite fullbacks in the competition anymore (Edwards, Walsh, Tedesco, Turbo, Mitchell, Ponga, Drinkwater, Kini, Hammer. ) In my opinion he is in the next tier down with the likes of Tracey, Gutho, Kennedy, Bulla, CNK, and probably only clearly ahead of the likes of Weeks and Sloan on the back of his positive attributes (these guys have him covered for attacking threat also). There's definitely an argument he is the least threatening ball runner of that entire list. I would liken him closest to where Gutho is at with his age and body at the moment. Paps was amongst that elite list at his prime and challenging for no.1 fb in the game. I think defensive lines on kick chases now are thinking 'let's get stuck into him early and he'll fade out of the game' more so then 'sh%t we better have a well connected line or we are going to be back under our posts watching a conversion'. It has been a fall from grace not of his own doing. Your not watching if you can't see the speed, evasiveness and high involvement with fearlessness has gone from his game - all his greatest on field assets. He's had enough recovery/rehab and game time now to show signs of those still being there. I think it's very wishful thinking to think these are going to improve/return. Has he not done enough rehab and prepping to return at 100% over the last 2-3 years? Another off season isn't going to produce a miracle where all this returns. He is now at the limit of what his body will allow him. The frightening thing is he's only one good knock on that knee away from it going in the other direction. Has he not been taking multiple pain killing injections in his foot/ankle (complications from NAS injury) most of the year just to play? For me, he is now worth $700k tops, with a max 2 year contract to our club. I think the best thing for all involved would be for him to go on a slightly bigger deal then he'll likely get at storm to a lower tier club like Parra and set himself up financially if the worst happens and he has to retire early. He would likely be able to get 900+ at one of these clubs, and Parra would be perfect with Rylesy at the helm and them needing a culture reset. It would take the pressure off him from being at a club that expects to challenge for a premiership each year and focus on a rebuild ; which is where his value would truly be at the moment. Lets also not forget we have bloody Sua sitting there!
Any NRL quality fb is a tremendous athlete and can do things I could only dream about. To be a first choice fb in the NRL you are a bloody good NRL player, there's only 17, and in that position you typically find the best players in the game - along with halves. I just think if you look at premiership winning teams going back a long way now they have had an Elite top tier highly threatening fb as its such a key position in big games and if we get it done this year we will be bucking a big trend. I don't think paps is going to come out and have a churchill game to win it for us, but hope i'm wrong, or that we are just simply that good in other areas we get it done irrespective. No way does pap strike the fear of Edwards on gf day. Just my opinion. I'll try to limit the pap negativity from here on out. I wish only the best for him and would love nothing more then to see him back where he was.
Pretty fair summation of where Paps is at mate. I don’t think you would find a single Storm fan that doesn’t admire the hell out of Paps and value what he has and continues to bring to the team. But we also need to acknowledge the reality of a bloke that hasn’t been able to catch a break injury wise in many years and his body appears to be struggling.
Some notes after a second watch of the game:
- Why do opposition teams continue to kick anywhere near Katoa? He was gobbling up short kickoffs/drop outs and taking bombs to set up tries all night. Not sure why he didn’t pass to Warbrick in the 59th minute though. Looked like a bombed try.
- The Warbrick / Coates combo coming out of our end is so effective. Warbrick was a man possessed.
- Referring was ok. Can’t complain too much, however a few decisions were head scratchers…
1. Sharks first try. What was the 6 again for? Howarth with a strong tackle on Talakai, Talakai rolls over and 6 again is called?
2. 20th min. Hynes clearly ran Coates off on a kick chase. No call.
3. Why did Royce Hunt get to push Harry in the face, knocking him over, and get to play the ball again rather than a penalty to us? Odd.
- Why do opposition teams continue to kick anywhere near Katoa? He was gobbling up short kickoffs/drop outs and taking bombs to set up tries all night. Not sure why he didn’t pass to Warbrick in the 59th minute though. Looked like a bombed try.
- The Warbrick / Coates combo coming out of our end is so effective. Warbrick was a man possessed.
- Referring was ok. Can’t complain too much, however a few decisions were head scratchers…
1. Sharks first try. What was the 6 again for? Howarth with a strong tackle on Talakai, Talakai rolls over and 6 again is called?
2. 20th min. Hynes clearly ran Coates off on a kick chase. No call.
3. Why did Royce Hunt get to push Harry in the face, knocking him over, and get to play the ball again rather than a penalty to us? Odd.
- The Paps kick was horrible. Even if it cleared the centre, the fullback was there to gobble it up.
- Munster grubbered on the third for nobody. It was a shocker. Nothing happening there.
- Meaney’s first contact was much better in this game. Putting some oomph into tackles and making his one on ones.
- Munster poked his nose through on almost every single run. He was even taking hit ups one off the ruck. Loved his desire to get involved and promising for the rest of the season.
- Munster grubbered on the third for nobody. It was a shocker. Nothing happening there.
- Meaney’s first contact was much better in this game. Putting some oomph into tackles and making his one on ones.
- Munster poked his nose through on almost every single run. He was even taking hit ups one off the ruck. Loved his desire to get involved and promising for the rest of the season.