2024 Round 9 v Sea Eagles: Teams and Previews *Teams p1

[Raider47]

We're at that point of bad Ricky years where he starts to dig his heels in and make those mind boggling decisions. Reminds me of 2021 when the wheels starting coming around Tapine missus gate and Hodgo's captaincy resignation.

1) Hoppa at FB. I understand you have to manage the workload of an 18 year old. 100%. However the boy has had 3 games and has a bye coming up. Not to mention Rapa is likely back the weel after the bye. Plenty of time to go back to Cup/rest. This especially considering it was only one week ago, ourselves and Ricky himself, said we'd be sticking it out with him. This just smells of the coach looking to get his favourite somehow back in the team.

2) I'm fine with EW back. With Guler back. With Cotric back over Schiller.

3) How can every single fan in the nrl see Levi and Starling as the worst 9/14 duo in the comp, with the stats to back it up, yet our coach is sticking with a tried and tested failed pairing? It just boggles my mind. Woolford is average, yet he is significantly better than those two. Disgusting calls.

4) And my big point. How tf did we get to this point where we have a bog average winger as our fullback, an unproven fullback as our halfback and the worst number 9 in the comp as our hooker? What sad days

[Canberra Milk]

I've also never heard of a player "not wanting" to play fullback in the modern era. Hey maybe it is Savage's prerogative and he asked for it, if so then that's just weak I'm sorry. If it's Stuart then it's poor coaching. Either way it's a bit demoralising

Also Chevy played two games, not three

[Raider47]

I've also never heard of a player "not wanting" to play fullback in the modern era. Hey maybe it is Savage's prerogative and he asked for it, if so then that's just weak I'm sorry. If it's Stuart then it's poor coaching. Either way it's a bit demoralising

Also Chevy played two games, not three

Titans, Broncos, Sharks.

[Canberra Milk]

I've also never heard of a player "not wanting" to play fullback in the modern era. Hey maybe it is Savage's prerogative and he asked for it, if so then that's just weak I'm sorry. If it's Stuart then it's poor coaching. Either way it's a bit demoralising

Also Chevy played two games, not tuhree

Titans, Broncos, Sharks.

Oh oops. "People incorrectly correcting other people"

[jimmy82]

From what I can gather, there are a lot of complaints about the "team" that has been selected, but what it actually boils down to is

9. Levi

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9.Levi
14. Starling

It all boils down to this. Its worse than 9.Buttriss 14. Wadell

[Mr Squiggle]

From what I can gather, there are a lot of complaints about the "team" that has been selected, but what it actually boils down to is

9. Levi

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And Starling who offers nothing at 14. Our two highest paid hookers aren't hookers. They don't have the skill set or the apparent footy smarts for the role. Levi is the better of the two and may offer something off the bench, but given Ricky's use of a bench hooker, I doubt it.

[greeneyed]

LIVE BLOG: Daly Cherry-Evans seeks downgrade on dangerous throw charge: https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/04/30/liv ... judiciary/

[dubby]

From what I can gather, there are a lot of complaints about the "team" that has been selected, but what it actually boils down to is

9. Levi

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And Starling who offers nothing at 14. Our two highest paid hookers aren't hookers. They don't have the skill set or the apparent footy smarts for the role. Levi is the better of the two and may offer something off the bench, but given Ricky's use of a bench hooker, I doubt it.

I think a Starling Woolford rotation is better than a Levi Starling one.

But the bigger picture is we need a damn good 9.

None of them are convincing

[Crusader]

i thought DCE accepted the ban?

[greeneyed]

i thought DCE accepted the ban?

He pleaded guilty but wants a downgrade. So he isn’t banned.


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[Dr Zaius]

Well that's disappointing

[skeepe]

Well, there’s certainly been an overreaction in here to what is a pretty understandable team list.

Hoppa at fullback, that’s fine. Stewart needs a rest and Rapana’s still injured. They did it in the trials and he played well so it’s not completely out of left field.

He may not be exciting and speedy but Hopoate is a solid first grader. People here acting like he’s the second coming of Damon Booby.

Cotric back, also fine. He’s been playing well in NSW Cup and Schiller is leaving at the end of the year. No brainer.

Whitehead back, we all knew it would happen. And at this stage, with the lack of experience all over the park, I don’t mind it. An experienced, old head will help. With Hosking out, it’s not like our edge forwards have been playing the house down - in fact Hudson should be thanking his lucky stars he’s still in first grade, because he’s had a dreadful start to the year.

Guler back, again fine. We know he’s next man up and at least Mooney is still there, which I’m very happy with.

So that just leaves Levi and Starling. Levi had a shocker last week, no doubt about it. Got hooked and deservedly so. But - and I know this is tantamount to blasphemy around here - he hasn’t been terrible this year as a whole. Ricky almost always gives players a chance to bounce back, and I think that’s what has happened here. It’s not like Woolford is banging the door down.

Starling I don’t like it, but if we’re going bench hooker he’s probably a more dynamic choice than Woolford.

So overall I’m actually pretty happy with this team, given the circumstances.

[Bluesbrother]

Big fan of the changes, expect I'd like one more. Levi or Starling need to go. Thier performances have been pathetic.

I think we need some more senior voices out there. The last 2 weeks have been very disappointing. Hudson goes over against the Broncos and spills it over the line. Levi drops it with the line open against the Sharks. Schiller, a number of missed opportunities/uncapitalised opportunities. After these moments we completely dropped our bundle which demonstrates real inexperience.

We witnessed how dominant the Sharks back 5 were on the weekend. Hoppa gives us a lot better punch, his post contact is very good. I was calling for his inclusion last week over Schiller and think he would have helped stem the flow.

I don't expect us to beat Manly but we will be more competitive than last week.

[Ben & Sev Love Milk]

Well, there’s certainly been an overreaction in here to what is a pretty understandable team list.

Hoppa at fullback, that’s fine. Stewart needs a rest and Rapana’s still injured. They did it in the trials and he played well so it’s not completely out of left field.

He may not be exciting and speedy but Hopoate is a solid first grader. People here acting like he’s the second coming of Damon Booby.

Cotric back, also fine. He’s been playing well in NSW Cup and Schiller is leaving at the end of the year. No brainer.

Whitehead back, we all knew it would happen. And at this stage, with the lack of experience all over the park, I don’t mind it. An experienced, old head will help. With Hosking out, it’s not like our edge forwards have been playing the house down - in fact Hudson should be thanking his lucky stars he’s still in first grade, because he’s had a dreadful start to the year.

Guler back, again fine. We know he’s next man up and at least Mooney is still there, which I’m very happy with.

So that just leaves Levi and Starling. Levi had a shocker last week, no doubt about it. Got hooked and deservedly so. But - and I know this is tantamount to blasphemy around here - he hasn’t been terrible this year as a whole. Ricky almost always gives players a chance to bounce back, and I think that’s what has happened here. It’s not like Woolford is banging the door down.

Starling I don’t like it, but if we’re going bench hooker he’s probably a more dynamic choice than Woolford.

So overall I’m actually pretty happy with this team, given the circumstances.

This all makes a fair bit of sense to me , I’m not a Levi fan but it’s also very hard to change your no 9 with a 5 day turn around with a rookie halves pairing. I’d really love to see Chevy back after the bye though with Rapa on the wing for Cotric.

[Azza]

In the modern game, no position is more important than the hooker IMHO. And sadly, it's probably our weakest position on the field. We carried it for the first few rounds but it's going to be brutally exploited against the better sides, and a young spine finding their way around this is not helping matters.

[Bluesbrother]

What a lacklustre lineup. At least when we lose it’s good to see Chevy play.

Perhaps, but a 0-40 scoreline also reflected a lackluster performance from a team that the vast majority of the forum would have been itching to see play at the start of the season.

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Haha, well said. It's funny how much I've heard about some players in our team on the weekend and how good they'll be with the opportunities. Well, they have had opportunities and a 40-0 flogging at home tells me they aren't up to it right now.

Getting pummelled isn't good for anyone's development.

The changes this week are sensible and logical.

The other thing is, they are necessary due to injuries. We've got a fair chunk of our cap on the sidelines right now.

[NoMan]

What a lacklustre lineup. At least when we lose it’s good to see Chevy play.

Perhaps, but a 0-40 scoreline also reflected a lackluster performance from a team that the vast majority of the forum would have been itching to see play at the start of the season.

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Haha, well said. It's funny how much I've heard about some players in our team on the weekend and how good they'll be with the opportunities. Well, they have had opportunities and a 40-0 flogging at home tells me they aren't up to it right now.

Getting pummelled isn't good for anyone's development.

The changes this week are sensible and logical.

The other thing is, they are necessary due to injuries. We've got a fair chunk of our cap on the sidelines right now.

I don't mind the changes but the worst players were senior players. By far.

[Raoul Duke]

I am happy to see the back of Schiller. There's no point slogging through his defensive growing pains if we aren't going to have him long enough to see him become a complete player.

[zim]

How much cap do we really have on sidelines due to injury? Fogarty and Rapana are not highly paid players in either position. They're just critically important to us this season. Hosking is not on a big deal. Horsburgh is on less than Papa or Tapine, maybe even Young.

[rolhai]

#LeaveoutLevi

[Botman]

I am happy to see the back of Schiller. There's no point slogging through his defensive growing pains if we aren't going to have him long enough to see him become a complete player.

Agreed. I think on the balance of things he's still probably a better player than either Hoppa or Cotric but a big part of why i was so keen on him over them was he had potential to be much more... but it wont be for us so im fine moving on and letting his defence become the knights problem. I am hopeful at some stage this season we get a look at Asomua

[Botman]

Cherry-Evans successful in downgrade, free to play

Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans has been successful in having his charge downgrade to a grade one offence at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.

He is now free to play in Manly’s match against Canberra this Friday night and will receive a $750 fine for the grade one offence.

Read more: https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/04/30/liv ... judiciary/

DCE cleared, a week after the Sharks exposed our disastrous middle defence and relentlessly targeted the weak link, we get arguably the best middle third combination in the game... DCE and Turbo will be looking at the Sharks game and licking their chops.

[Dylan’s Raiders]

DCE free to play

[Azza]

Oooooohhhhhhh we gonna get pasted.

[Dusty]

DCE plays


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[Azza]

Just confirming guys, because it wasn't clear already... is DCE playing?

[Dr Zaius]

Just confirming guys, because it wasn't clear already... is DCE playing?

I'm hearing that he was cleared. Undisclosed source.

[greeneyed]

I just knew DCE would get off. It is classic NRL.

[Rickmando]

#LeaveoutLevi

#GiveRickTheFlick

[greeneyed]

The line has changed to 13.5 points start for Canberra. The Sea Eagles now $1.21 favourites, a Raiders win at $4.45.

[Neeeegz]

I really don't care about the changes in the backs, Chevy rested yes.
The only change for this team that will turn around our season is Woolford in for Levi.
ITS.THAT.SIMPLE.

[T_R]

The team you pick when you want to lose 20 - 0 rather than 50 - 20.

Either way.

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[Botman]

Agreed. A lot of people have said similar things... Woodgers, CM etc
But yeah this very much feels like a team picked that has no chance of winning but might lose with respect rather than a team picked to try and win and risk another very bad result

Im not convinced that bet will pay off. If Manly play anything close to their best, this could be every bit as ugly as last week or worse. Turbo hasnt had that game yet this year.

[Rickmando]

Btw what a dumb call to rest Chevy for this week, when there’s a bye coming up next week.

Show me an 18 year old that doesn’t want to play as much footy as he possibly can while he’s young and keen. He made his FG debut a few weeks ago, is probably still riding on a high.

Just pick him somewhere - he gets a good rest next week anyway.

[Regs Revolution]

Btw what a dumb call to rest Chevy for this week, when there’s a bye coming up next week.

Show me an 18 year old that doesn’t want to play as much footy as he possibly can while he’s young and keen. He made his FG debut a few weeks ago, is probably still riding on a high.

Just pick him somewhere - he gets a good rest next week anyway.

If he had been killing it, sure. Keep him there. But he hasn’t been and has got hammered. It’s the right call.