Welcome DCE - Done deal according to Phil Rothfield.

[mightyrooster]

Fair enough.

It's taken me some time but now I realise that Sammy doesn't have the makeup to play 7. It's best for the team that he plays 6 and we have a halfback that can add structure and help us play more systematically. I think we achieved this against Manly!

I made a comment last night that we need to be careful and not allow them back into the game by raising the risk level and constantly turning the ball over. I can see it coming with Robbo coached teams. Tail goes up and it's time for razzle dazzle footy. At this point we need a 7 that can demand the team focus on the end result and play a more conservative style of footy especially in last nights conditions. Momentum is everything! The opposition can score 3 tries in 15 minutes if it's gifted to them. Hugo should improve in this department. It can be tricky as you don't to come across as a bossy boots especially if it's against your nature.

In regards to DCEs form Imo there's a number of thing's attributing to where he's at.

1. His age. SOO made this clear!
2. His coach. Seibold is an average at best. Rumour has it that he'll be sacked at seasons end and replaced by one of the Manly old boys. Imo their roster is top 6. The buck stops with the coach. They've definitely underachieved.

I agree. I don’t think Sammy is a natural organising half at this stage. He’s more the off the cuff, play what he sees type. But he could develop that skill as he plays more, a bit like Thurston did. He just needs to rein in his exuberance and learn patience. But for the time being he needs a more structured half by his side. Clearly the choices are Hugo and DCE. I’m happy for us to continue with developing Hugo given imho, DCE is past his prime.

[mightyrooster]

We had threads a week or 2 after Sam came back from a long term injury that were saying he isn't the guy long term and all this other nonsense.

I love how we spent all year hearing about how try assists is the only measurement of a half and that's why DCE is better than all of our halves combined and as soon as he comes up with NOTHING on his home patch against our team and Sammy gets 2 great assists it becomes "Oh but the kick metres!!!'

Those kick metres were because he had a massive wind behind him. Hugo on the other hand kept us in that game in the first half because of his big boot kicking INTO the same gale. Sammy’s brilliant freakish attacking ability got us the necessary points of course too.

[SamKerrSimp]

Those kick metres were because he had a massive wind behind him. Hugo on the other hand kept us in that game in the first half because of his big boot kicking INTO the same gale. Sammy’s brilliant freakish attacking ability got us the necessary points of course too.

DCE had 300m off 11 kicks to Savala's 247m off 9 kicks so both averaged 27m per kick they kicked the same anyway.

[Bates]

Thing is Sammy sucked at 6 back in 2023 but that was more attributed to the fact that Keary couldn't organise a root in a brothel. Don't get me wrong as I love Kez but now it's clear why that experiment didn't work.

At this point in time Sammy's best position is 6 and he needs a player with solid organising skills next to him. It's also a bonus if they can kick long as Sammy's specialty is his short kicking game. I guess Robbo could see this and is why he reached out to DCE before Savala stepped up to the plate.

I can see clearly now the rain has gone

[milanja]

The only worry I really have about Sam is his tackling on our goal line as he’s so small and can’t contain big players running at him full pace. Other than that I see our long term future with him and Hugo with DCE as halves coach not player or as a backup for injuries.

He put a great hit on the goal line last night and dislodged the ball, he is small, but he doesn’t shy away from the defence, bit more bulk would be handy though.

[Bates]

2025 missed tackles - Average per game.

Sammy. 3.5
Sandon. 2.81
Chad. 2.57
Hugo. 1.65

[mightyrooster]

DCE had 300m off 11 kicks to Savala's 247m off 9 kicks so both averaged 27m per kick they kicked the same anyway.

Aah, good to see the actual stats. There you go.

[caz]

in his pre-game presser robbo said no deal had been signed. if you believe that you'd figure that there is some kind of in principle agreement. if the club goes cold on him (which robbo hasn't suggested in his public comments) it wouldn't be impossible to get out of that.
as surprisingly good as hugo has been, dce would be an upgrade on him but it's not that simple. if you sign dce you don't have those funds to spend on another player. you'd rather have hugo, sammy and say marky re-committing than dce, sammy and us not being able to afford marky

[bondi.boy]

Get out the chequebook! Search the draws and cupboards at Head Office!
Go over the budget with a microscope!
Gather up as much money as possible to offer Hugo and Sandon so they'll stay!

Hugo is the big boot we've been missing!
Sandon is improving all the time.
Both are goal kickers.
We need to keep both of them if we intend being a serious contender for a premiership!

Gotta sign DCE, because a promise was made etc?
No worries, send him straight to coaching.
He still gets paid, he coaches the halves full time, teaches them how to kick 40-20s, tackle, set up plays etc.

[SamKerrSimp]

Aah, good to see the actual stats. There you go.

And even if DCE kicked way more than Savala it's not like DCE did anything with that extra advantage anyway

[John Corey]

Get out the chequebook! Search the draws and cupboards at Head Office!
Gove over the budget with a microscope!
Gather up as much money as possible to offer Hugo and Sandon so they'll stay!

Hugo is the big boot we've been missing!
Sandon is improving all the time.
Both are goal kickers.
We need to keep both of them if we intend being a serious contender for a premiership!

Gotta sign DCE, because a promise was made etc?
No worries, send him straight to coaching.
He still gets paid, he coaches the halves full time, teaches them how to kick 40-20s, tackle, set up plays etc.

DCE signing has no bearing on Sandon Smith. Even if we didn't sign DCE there is no room for SS next season.
Robson 9, Radley 13, Watson 14. Hugos big body might get him on the bench along with 2 forwards. Or Hugo plays Cup or gets loaned out.
but I think SS is gone no matter what

[gragra]

in his pre-game presser robbo said no deal had been signed. if you believe that you'd figure that there is some kind of in principle agreement. if the club goes cold on him (which robbo hasn't suggested in his public comments) it wouldn't be impossible to get out of that.
as surprisingly good as hugo has been, dce would be an upgrade on him but it's not that simple. if you sign dce you don't have those funds to spend on another player. you'd rather have hugo, sammy and say marky re-committing than dce, sammy and us not being able to afford marky

You say DCE is an upgrade on Hugo! I say not. On a really important game for Manly, DCE couldn't game manage anything constructive for Manly. If we are buying an elite game manager sadly that seems gone. If there was any game DCE should have stood up in it was an epic failure in helping Manly and impressing Robbo. I think our million dollars should not be spent on DCE. Gotta say thou he us very articulate and makes a good impression when interviewed. Just what we dont need.

[roostermcgregor]

And even if DCE kicked way more than Savala it's not like DCE did anything with that extra advantage anyway

I don’t think you should take much notice of the kicking metre stats last night. There was a howling wind at the backs of Manly in the first half.
40 minutes later the wind was completely gone, and replaced by the rain bucketing straight down.

IMO the Roosters should concentrate on keeping the 3 existing halves, as they all offer something different
Sandon - acceleration, strong running game
Hugo - Organisational skills, kicking game, defence
Sam - Unpredictability and brilliance.

I don’t really mind which 2 of the 3 go out onto the field.

[MKCS]

I love how we spent all year hearing about how try assists is the only measurement of a half and that's why DCE is better than all of our halves combined and as soon as he comes up with NOTHING on his home patch against our team and Sammy gets 2 great assists it becomes "Oh but the kick metres!!!'

As someone who has argued in favour of DCE the "Try assists are the only measurement of a great half" was actually brought up by someone who was anti DCE coming to the club, they tried to use that as an argument against him because he had no try assists in his last 2 Origin games or whatever, it was then brought up by me that DCE had more try assists than both our halves combined and the walking back began and everyone pretended that stats don't matter.

You say DCE is an upgrade on Hugo! I say not. On a really important game for Manly, DCE couldn't game manage anything constructive for Manly. If we are buying an elite game manager sadly that seems gone. If there was any game DCE should have stood up in it was an epic failure in helping Manly and impressing Robbo. I think our million dollars should not be spent on DCE. Gotta say thou he us very articulate and makes a good impression when interviewed. Just what we dont need.

Sigh...

1. Hugo has played 15 NRL games and maybe 10 as a starting half. He has only managed to beat a top 8 side twice that being the Sharks and the Broncos who I don't even think were top 8 at the time. In comparison DCE has wins over Brisbane, Canberra, Penrith and the Storm. In my opinion 3/4 of those teams will finish top 4 for this year.

2. This will upset people and people will pretend stats don't matter but for this season DCE has ran better, scored more tries, broke the line more, offered more line break assists, try assists, offloaded more and given more tackle breaks. All that Hugo has over DCE is tackles made and age, how on earth can you think DCE isn't an upgrade? Especially when Hugo is playing for a much better team...

3. DCE or his people have openly said in the media that they are not looking for a million a season. I would estimate that DCE will be looking to come for 700-750k a season but as we saw with Ben Hunt that could be less.

[BTRD]

Robbo was able to sack Sitilli, May, Dom and the Cheese recently - so he can pick up the phone and tell DCE he is not needed.

Seriously what is he and Politis thinking.