The Greenhouse

He’s 2nd Row bound if he’s moving from wing

Roger Kenworthy wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 10:29 am

greeneyed wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 10:28 am

Roger Kenworthy wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 10:25 am

greeneyed wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 8:48 am I was once a proponent of Cotric playing at fullback. That time has passed. His body shape these days doesn’t suit, he’s no longer speedy enough.

He never suited it - you could just admit you were wrong GE

If we go back to playing something resembling Rugby League I'd have Cnk back there as his positioning is just brilliant. Speed speed speed is the order of the day in Rugbah League though.

I think it was a fair assessment at the time. I'd seen him carving it up at fullback in junior grades for some time.

Fair enough - always had it in my head he played centre in the juniors.

He probably played in all back five spots, but I saw him play a lot of fullback.

gangrenous wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 10:40 am He’s 2nd Row bound if he’s moving from wing

More than likley
But i dont think it was that outrageous to suggest him at fullback at the times people did
We didnt have one, he was a budding superstar who had excelled at that position at a junior level.

I think it'd have been worth a shot, even though now i concede the requirement for ball playing and speed at that position would have rendered it a failure.

I’ll make an outrageous prediction and say that Rapa and Cotric won’t be our wingers by season end.

Billy Walker wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 11:36 pm I’ll make an outrageous prediction and say that Rapa and Cotric won’t be our wingers by season end.

That is outrageous.

Finchy wrote: ↑January 10, 2022, 6:47 am

Billy Walker wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 11:36 pm I’ll make an outrageous prediction and say that Rapa and Cotric won’t be our wingers by season end.

That is outrageous.

Guess we will have to wait and see.

Rapana i could see
Frankly the club has been going in the last few seasons with the idea that hopefully by seasons end on of the kids has taken that spot from him, but a combination of them not stepping up and him finding another wind has caused that to fail

At some point though, Rapana will fall away... at 32 y/o, it could easily be this year.
Cotric? That would surprise me greatly. And would be sub optimal if he's on the money he's likely on and not a starter

If Rapana falls off a cliff form/fitness wise then Cotric is our new yards tackle busting winger, with years ahead of him. Decent a swap as you'll get.

I think Cotric will do well. Worth noting that "bad" year he had last season was an awful lot more productive than the best year Simo or Semi ever had. And his good years are rep level. I think he'll enjoy the new halves and centre pairings.

I don't see Cotric leaving/under performing badly. And my only doubt on Rapana is (as the Bot says) age- but if he plays like last year again he can sign his own contracts.

Is it possible Rapa can't quite back up and gets squeezed out by a red hot Savage? Yeah maybe. He'd be a red hot #14 in that case perhaps. But the whole comp is going to be figuring out how to best use the bench this year- 2nd hooker? Backline utility? Bits n pieces forward/back utility? Move away from 80 min 2nd rowers?

Billy Walker wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 11:36 pm I’ll make an outrageous prediction and say that Rapa and Cotric won’t be our wingers by season end.

Why?

Who would be?

Billy Walker wrote: ↑January 10, 2022, 6:50 am

Finchy wrote: ↑January 10, 2022, 6:47 am

Billy Walker wrote: ↑January 9, 2022, 11:36 pm I’ll make an outrageous prediction and say that Rapa and Cotric won’t be our wingers by season end.

That is outrageous.

Guess we will have to wait and see.

I just don’t see the logic behind it. You may as well say you don’t see Wighton as our five-eighth or Ricky as our coach at seasons end. Could it happen? Sure. Is it likely? Hell no. I’m guessing the fact you even said it’s outrageous shows how unlikely a scenario it is, so why make the prediction at all?

A few people have said they think Rapa is cooked and will get replaced. Based on what? Yes he’s older and a bit slower than he was, but he was far and away our best player last year, for tries scored, tries saved, and overall effort. He’s a match winner. He’s literally an energiser bunny and the kind of bloke you’d want next to you in the trenches. Barring any major injury or horrendously bad run of form, I just can’t see him not being in the side by the end of the year.

And Cotric? He’s a rep quality winger who has just come back on a 3 year deal. Again, barring any major injury or a change of position, I can’t see how he isn’t in the team come seasons end either.

Barring injury, I can't see Cotric not being one of the two starting wingers for the majority of the season unless he has a positional change and I don't think that's likely. I think Ricky Stuart sees him as a winger. Rapana's spot is the one you would have your eyes on as a young winger but he keeps showing the type of form that makes it impossible not to select him. Croker's spot is the least secure imo.

If I'm coaching this team, Cotric and Rapana are the first two backs I'm picking in my 17 and on the wings. They have both played on the wing at the top level and you know that they can do the job. Then I'm finding a way to fit both Savage and Nicoll-Klokstad into the team. Not sure if we can afford a back on the bench with Starling in 14, so I'd have to have Savage at fullback and Charnze in the centres.

Its probably also worth considering that COVID will likely impact our ability to field players for a given match - above and beyond Rep duty or injury. So depth will be tested a lot more - so more peeps would get game time than normal.
I think its actually likely Cotric will have a boom year. He'd be keen to impress and get back to origin - and no better way of doing that then playing out of his skin and showing that last year was the anomaly, not the year he played origin.

I hope Cotric regains the form others are suggesting he will. I have a feeling he will struggle and I think he is too bulky for his frame and a high injury risk.

As for Raps - he was on the decline until he dug deep and found something special last year for a Morris style cameo. He can’t keep going to that well forever. I think Savage, HSS and Semi will be on the rise and I’d hope to see Hopoate and others step up.

It’s a prediction - every chance I’m wrong, but it’s not a bad thing if we unearth a couple of stars that are good enough to keep Raps and Cotric out.

CNK has done really well for us in the time he's been here but this is a position we need to strengthen to become a top side again. Full-back is (or should be) up for grabs. Cotric should be considered, particularly early in the year, while the young bloke (Savage) can come into the frame if he puts games together and form on the board. Looks a bit fragile to me to be playing that position from the get-go but prove me (and others) wrong by starting the year strongly in some other role. I'm not advocating removing CNK from first grade. I'd start him on a wing and he provides coverage at FB and centre if needed. I like the two young blokes, HSS and Timoko, as our starting centres. Rapa on the other wing. Semi's in the frame for a wing spot also.

It's a 2 horse race. CNK or Savage. Savage got a lot of us excited with that 1 breakout game he had at fullback but it was only 1 game and it's yet to be seen if he's really 'got it' or he just had a great day that day. Even Curtis Scott ran 100m to score once when everyone fell over in front of him. Sometimes things just go your way.

I don't think Cotric gets a look in for fb and I think it's even less likely that Semi gets a look in for a wing spot. He's our last resort winger and if he's playing then our season is already over because it would mean we've lost half a dozen outside backs to injury already.

Andymachine wrote: ↑January 14, 2022, 9:08 am It's a 2 horse race. CNK or Savage. Savage got a lot of us excited with that 1 breakout game he had at fullback but it was only 1 game and it's yet to be seen if he's really 'got it' or he just had a great day that day. Even Curtis Scott ran 100m to score once when everyone fell over in front of him. Sometimes things just go your way.

I don't think Cotric gets a look in for fb and I think it's even less likely that Semi gets a look in for a wing spot. He's our last resort winger and if he's playing then our season is already over because it would mean we've lost half a dozen outside backs to injury already.

Yeah Semi needs some mongrel, it looks like he’s always running around smiling at everyone. That and he’s not very good.

Bigcheese wrote: ↑January 14, 2022, 5:00 pm

Andymachine wrote: ↑January 14, 2022, 9:08 am It's a 2 horse race. CNK or Savage. Savage got a lot of us excited with that 1 breakout game he had at fullback but it was only 1 game and it's yet to be seen if he's really 'got it' or he just had a great day that day. Even Curtis Scott ran 100m to score once when everyone fell over in front of him. Sometimes things just go your way.

I don't think Cotric gets a look in for fb and I think it's even less likely that Semi gets a look in for a wing spot. He's our last resort winger and if he's playing then our season is already over because it would mean we've lost half a dozen outside backs to injury already.

Yeah Semi needs some mongrel, it looks like he’s always running around smiling at everyone. That and he’s not very good.

Semi will be invaluable if covid sweeps through the squad. He won’t be impacted as he’s demonstrated he can’t catch anything!

Cotric shouldn't and wont be a consideration at fullback other than an in-game injury option, but is probably comfortably behind Rapana on that front too.
Semi is a capable depth player, hard to imagine he'll end up much more than that at this stage imo

Cotric isn’t even on the depth chart for fullback or centre for mine. It’s pretty clearly been demonstrated in firsts that he’s not suited to either these days. He’s a good to great winger.

greeneyed wrote: ↑January 14, 2022, 8:01 pm Cotric isn’t even on the depth chart for fullback or centre for mine. It’s pretty clearly been demonstrated in firsts that he’s not suited to either these days. He’s a good to great winger.

Yep - that’s a fair assessment. In a way this is a big year for him. Hopefully he can get back to good form.

Anyone else getting suspucious that B-Dub is a GE alt? They're agreeing way too much these days.

Cotric has tried and failed at centre and fullback. Natural progesssion is start him at 5/8 in Round 1 since clearly people think he's even less suited to the wing than those other 2 positions.

Poll declared for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Savage, CNK, Cotric, Rapa and Timoko need to be the back 5.
I'd go:
1. Savage
2. Cotric
3. CNK
4. Timoko
5. Rapa

However,
I can live with Savage or CNK at FB.
I can live with Savage or CNK, or Cotric at Wing.
I can live with CNK or Cotric at centre.
Just make it that 5.