Jake Friend

[Spanner in the works]

You must be joking.

Not at all.

[Guest]

For fuks sake people, Jake is only 20.

Stop crucifying a 20 yr old for the mess we are in. Yes he gives away stupid penalties, but he is not alone.

It is not the younger guys that are the issue here, the so-called experienced ones are not showing any leadership, drive or enthusiasm.

Give the kid time to shine.

And Dumbrell from the 20's looks a good prospect at hooker.

agreed. i think dumbrell and friend cover 2 hooker spots, we need to sign one more hooker this year for next year to replace riddell and watts. Then i would be looking for a new fullback and a forward or two. even though i believe we over performed last year, considering the age of our team and the fact that we did come so close to winning the comp, it is clear that the nucleus of the team has stacks of potential going forward so we would be silly to throw the baby out with the bath water. what we need is to freshen up the team a little so get rid of the likes of graham, ryles, piggy and potentially anasta and mini and bring in a couple of fresh faces both experienced and young to get the side back on track.

[Guest]

what has stuffed us up is watts little deicison to play home wrecker. he would have been our best signing this year and the combination he and jake would have formed rotating at hooker would have been second to none. jake is an excellent hooker but as others have said he is suffering because other sides seem to target him as a weakness and he is doing exorbatant amounts of defence. if we had a watts-esq player rotating with him i think we would have one of the most dynamic hookers in the comp but that was not to be. this is why i would like us to pick up anthony mitchell. young player but is very sharp and nippy which would be ideal to complement friend. between friend, mitchell and dumbrell we would have three excellent young hookers going foward. the only problem i have with those 3 is the fact that they are all very young. this is why i would not entirely be against someone like craig wing for a year or two if his head was in the right place, his body could handle it and he wasnt demanding too much.

on a side note, i think friend needs to work on his tackling technique. he seems to always go high on the other player which is fine when you are big but when you are small it means that other teams manage to carry him a few extra metres and get a quicker play the ball and force the penatly which imo is why he is targeted. what he should be doing is tackling around the legs and letting the big guys like JWH and Kennedy wrap up the ball because they are far stronger and more likely to dominate the opposition forwards physically up top.

[Guest]

That's an excellent point roz - friend gets carried about 5 metres with every tackle he makes.

He has got potential but we need a proper established hooker while we wait for him to develop because he's a long way behind most other hookers in this comp.

[Guest]

Sorry I have to disagree, Jake's regularly dropping opposition front rowers on their backs - nothing wrong with his technique.

[theGman]

De Guis is far superior than Jake. What are your thoughts on him?

Fred,
I remember watching De Gois play for Wests in Premier League about 6yrs ago and been a fan since. He's hard working, crafty around the ruck and has a kicking game as well. I believe Cronulla are trying hard to get him back but with "the grub" not expected to be with us in 2012, i'm hoping that we enter the market for Isaac's services. He and Friend would blend nicely imo.

Dumbrell is coming along nicely.....still only 19 he's a works in progress. Needs to bulk up a little but that will come with time.

[Gary Worthless]

Jake Friend makes a lot of tackles and cleans up a lot of mess. If only the rest of the forward pack had anything like his ticker. Jake is just like Nathan Friend into everything both in defence and attack. Would be very noticed if he was gone (how are the Titan's going?). In saying that Jake is not very dangerous or probing around the ruck like say Aiton or Isaac Luke. Neither is he a structured play-maker like say Cam Smith or Robbie Farrah. However, he is only 20 and well and truly established as a first grader. Jake was sensational last year.

[novice chook]

Fred there are another 10 players I would criticise before I had a go at Friend who at least puts in for the team.

He is young and a little raw, but hes a good team player, and we need all of them we can get.

Jake is the least of our problems in 2011.

NC

[Rooster_6]

Fred,
I remember watching De Gois play for Wests in Premier League about 6yrs ago and been a fan since. He's hard working, crafty around the ruck and has a kicking game as well. I believe Cronulla are trying hard to get him back but with "the grub" not expected to be with us in 2012, i'm hoping that we enter the market for Isaac's services. He and Friend would blend nicely imo.

Dumbrell is coming along nicely.....still only 19 he's a works in progress. Needs to bulk up a little but that will come with time.

What do you think of De Gois's defence? Or lack of it...

Being tight around the middle is essential in the modern day game. Defence is so underrated on this forum especially by the thread starter who doesn't seem to think we'd miss Myles & Friend.

[Guest]

Anyone fast can score tries, that's why wingers do it regularly.

Well, not ours.

Racking up anything over 20 tackles a game takes guts and heart.

Jake Friend did over 50, what does that tell you about him?

And people are right, there are a lot of overpaid Bludgers in this team.

And I'm not talking about the balls in Quidditch, or a pimp or a fish.

[Guest]

I was very interested when I saw this topic. I noticed yesterday the difference between Friend and Paul Aiton. When Aiton was on the field he was killing us. Going blind side, scooting out of dummy half and terrorizing our slow boppers like masoe. But as soon as he got injured and went off we started to look better. Coincidence?? Don't think so. Friend on the other hand is more of a workhorse. He must have a running game because that try he set up for carney in the tigers semi last year was brilliant. Perhaps he is being coached not to run? Sounds ridiculous but who knows. Anyway i remember starting a post about how James Aubusson stink back in 08 and was universally bagged for it. I think friend does have potential but we need some spark right now. He's not providing it. Someone has to....

[Guest]

Good post spy.

Off the top of my head and without going through the team
lists, I reckon friend is one of the worst hookers in the comp. Grossly overated by people on this site. He is young so doesn't deserve the full punt - he should be backup hooker but instead he's our main one.

[roosters1971]

Good post spy.

Off the top of my head and without going through the team
lists, I reckon friend is one of the worst hookers in the comp. Grossly overated by people on this site. He is young so doesn't deserve the full punt - he should be backup hooker but instead he's our main one.

Probably because of the game plan Smith sets out. When he runs the ball he is dangerous. Smith should let him have more freedom in attack.

[trewhella]

It is likely that De Gois will go to the sharks, however,I think that they would take Jake over Isaac.

Why?

Simple Fred,

Jake is a keeper. You are not seeing the same game as me if you cannot see that Jake did the tackling for Anasta, and a lazy front rower.

[melon....]

Good post spy.

Off the top of my head and without going through the team
lists, I reckon friend is one of the worst hookers in the comp. Grossly overated by people on this site. He is young so doesn't deserve the full punt - he should be backup hooker but instead he's our main one.

Id say he's following coaches instructions. the kid can run and pass. he is a ball player that is being used to make 60 tackles a game, because nobody else will. Id be hunting some of the other dickheads before going after Friend. Friend and Myles are the only two working hard.