))Is Friend over playing his hand in attack?

[Kingbilly]

Garvey has gone.
Victor is naturally a #13 that can play at #9. The advantage he had over Garvey is that he is a team player and sticks to the structure

[The Skeez]

Think about it Jack’s, no player on the planet would come into a new side and try to oust the captain. Let alone someone as professional and intelligent as Cronk. It would be like the Vietnam war - an unwinnable proposition no matter how well credentialed you were.

Who's under more pressure, Cooper or Trent?

[NorfolkStreetKid]

No doubting Friend's effort, especially in defence, but he has been off the mark in attack the last 2 years. And he should NEVER have been made captain, He can hardly string two words together. Ofcourse he deserves a chance to show he can adjust to the way Cronk wants him to play, and see if he can create more from dummy half for Tedesco, but if we get to round 5 and thee is a problem I hope the coach has the guts to address it, by using Radley, but I strongly doubt it, I think Trent's main failure is letting his personal feelings for some players get in the way of hard decisions.

[Louis N]

Friend didn't react well to the initial pressure of captaincy. He was let down by the Pearce indiscretion and not helped by Cordner's injury and JWH missing while still getting his knee right. Plus he had a junior halves combination of one guy who thought he was a superstar and another who didn't seem to handle the pace of first grade and was suspect in defence. Then there was Mitchell, who although he played well in attack was way short on condition. He almost gave the game away during the pre-season in 2016.

So Friend was captain without half his crew and it showed. He made silly errors like running blindsides on the last and then forcing passes to guys like Latrell when they were right on the touchline. And even the passes were forward. They were stupid errors from a captain that would hardly inspire the team. But he tried his guts out in defense and was playing fatigued. Having a cool head and a planner like Cronk around will take a mile of pressure off him. We can only hope his overall attacking game returns to what we know he was capable of earlier in his career.

[RoosterFanNZ]

i do love friend, but i prefer him with in part of a rotation like back in 2013 with mortimer, it gets the quality over quantity with him

[Freddy]

Friend didn't react well to the initial pressure of captaincy. He was let down by the Pearce indiscretion and not helped by Cordner's injury and JWH missing while still getting his knee right. Plus he had a junior halves combination of one guy who thought he was a superstar and another who didn't seem to handle the pace of first grade and was suspect in defence. Then there was Mitchell, who although he played well in attack was way short on condition. He almost gave the game away during the pre-season in 2016.

So Friend was captain without half his crew and it showed. He made silly errors like running blindsides on the last and then forcing passes to guys like Latrell when they were right on the touchline. And even the passes were forward. They were stupid errors from a captain that would hardly inspire the team. But he tried his guts out in defense and was playing fatigued. Having a cool head and a planner like Cronk around will take a mile of pressure off him. We can only hope his overall attacking game returns to what we know he was capable of earlier in his career.

Good post. Think Jake tries so hard he overplays his hand and makes stupid mistakes. Radley needs at least 20mins a game

[Arties Pie]

i do love friend, but i prefer him with in part of a rotation like back in 2013 with mortimer, it gets the quality over quantity with him

Friend with the defence he does isn't a 80 minute player, but will Trent put Radley on the bench for cover ? I doubt it or he would have done it regularly last year. He will more than likely fill a benchspot with someone who will see no game time or very little of it.

[Kelby]

Radley on the bench. Covers back row, Hooker, the halves and centre.
Friend should not be a co captain, Boyd is the man.

[RoosterFanNZ]

Friend with the defence he does isn't a 80 minute player, but will Trent put Radley on the bench for cover ? I doubt it or he would have done it regularly last year. He will more than likely fill a benchspot with someone who will see no game time or very little of it.

which is quite sad/annoying, radley looks like quite a player. hoping he gets a lot more minutes.

[Louis N]

One thing is for sure with the pace of the modern game. Bench rotation must be taken full advantage of. With little between some of the top sides leaving a player sit out a game and wasting a bench spot is criminal. Having a tiring Friend - meaning a fatigued dummy half and captain - calling the shots is handing the game and the midfield to the opposition. Seventeen players get picked and it must be demoralising for one to think that they may not get a run because the coach doesn't think they can make an impact. if that's the case - why pick them. Use the full complement for mine.

[Arties Pie]

Everyone else see's it but Trent..

[The Skeez]

Everyone else see's it but Trent..

Do you reckon Trent sees it now?
Whats the chances of Trent dropping Friend to Wyong?

[Louis N]

Do you reckon Trent sees it now?
Whats the chances of Trent dropping Friend to Wyong?

I don't think that's about to happen. I watched Wyong last week and I actually think Friend would carve them up in that competition.

I think part of the problem is that we play to this safety first pattern of one out hit-ups and quick play the balls. And we don't slow the game to suit, that someone like Cam Smith is so effective at. The accent on making a speedy play, rather than a measured intelligent one, results in the deer in the headlights clangers.

Our approach is also more tiring on the pack which IMO creates fatigue. Offloads would build better teamwork and have each player paying more attention to the game. There were penty of occasions in tonights game when we had drawn the defence and an offload would have split them wide open. Agree with some other posters who note that following the offloads was Tedesco's speciality. Instead our block plays have him easily picked off.