Hot Gossip From The Lurker

[Johnny Brass]

I think there are plenty of positives for the roosters to work on . We are really missing Toops coming out of our end unfortunately I think Robinson is struggling with the high ball and that tough carry coming off our line, the days of the small speedy winger are from a byegon era. They need to be 190 CM and 100 Kgs to cover both the high ball and get the set rolling. Fergs is doing a great job and Latrell should be getting back and making that tough run instead of Robinson.
Teddy is still finding his feet and will only get better, Keary is a gun and opens up so many opportunities with his direct running. I'm happy that Manu has worked so much on his defence it shows he wants to improve and he's committed. He isn't a natural defender but give him a couple more off-season to bulk up a bit and he will be ok. His footwork is outstanding and if we can get him early ball he will burn plenty of players with his right foot step. It's only early in the year we will improve.

[Lydon]

Do you think you are watching games objectively though? Or do you think maybe you are watching games with a preconceived notion that he is out of form and only seeing the bad things?

Most of the good stuff Friend does in a game is not glaringly obvious. The dirty work in defence in particular. It doesn’t make the highlight reels so it’s easy to miss. Doesn’t make it any less important though.

Mate he made a great one on one tackle in goal on Ponga a few weeks ago which was great,and credit was given..
Agree with you regarding the dirty work he does which can go unnoticed a lot of the time,but at the moment he is hurting the team which is a concern..
I have nothing against Jake,but like every other player if he is hurting the team it kills me as a supporter

[Arties Pie]

This place is definitely morphed into the half empty pie tin mate.

We are 3-3. We have started worse and made GFs.

Where is the backbone gone???

This joint is acting like its 2016. In fact it wasn't this bad.

I still see us in the 8 with 3/4 of the season to go.

I hope so too but unless we see marked improvements in the front row ( Metres gained )and Hooker (Better Dummy Half service ) I think top 8 is the very best we can hope for. For mine it's not so much that we are 3 and 3 but rather it's the same old mistakes over and over again. We play conservative and our completions are still crap and we don't look like we can score many points without kicks... Lets hope TRobbo can turn it around..

[Bigchook]

Maxy, no doubt friend does a lot of great work. But last week was clearly the worst game of Jake friends career. Without commenting on his place in the team and any potential players coming through, surely you can agree he had a Barry crocker last week. Worst I've seen him play in our colours. He's probably copping a lot more flak than he would otherwise. Probably because it was against the bunnies.

[stsae]

I hope so too but unless we see marked improvements in the front row ( Metres gained )and Hooker (Better Dummy Half service ) I think top 8 is the very best we can hope for. For mine it's not so much that we are 3 and 3 but rather it's the same old mistakes over and over again. We play conservative and our completions are still crap and we don't look like we can score many points without kicks... Lets hope TRobbo can turn it around..

We are playing conservative now, we tend to early on.

And yes we aren't playing with any consistency or confidence. A few players are way down on form, Friend especially.

We are clunky in attack. The change of FB and 1/2 must have some effect. Everyone in the team has known the same 1/2 since they started.

Surely that will affect cohesion and combos??? Especially with the 9 and forwards in general???

No excuses its hard to watch. But don't others see the signs that if/when we do click the potential is there for it to be beautiful.

I really believe some on this site expected us to be unbeaten at this point. And now are madly overthinking it all.

Losing to Souffs doesn't help. I hate them too but they did play quite well last week and like the Worriers loss we were very poor.

I am confident we will be thereabouts with 6 rounds to go. Then its injuries and some luck and anything can happen.

[Thirteen]

I'm betting that most on here calling for the inclusion of Baptiste have never even seen him play. There's a reason he went to Super League.

[Maxy Walker]

Maxy, no doubt friend does a lot of great work. But last week was clearly the worst game of Jake friends career. Without commenting on his place in the team and any potential players coming through, surely you can agree he had a Barry crocker last week. Worst I've seen him play in our colours. He's probably copping a lot more flak than he would otherwise. Probably because it was against the bunnies.

Nah he played ok. The only shocker he had was that kick on the blindside. Apart from that he was ok. There were bigger problems on the night. Watch the replay and you’ll see what I mean.

[Arties Pie]

I'm betting that most on here calling for the inclusion of Baptiste have never even seen him play. There's a reason he went to Super League.

I saw an interview a few weeks ago where he stated his fitness wasn't up to scratch... Personally I have no idea how he would rate incomparison to Victor or Jake as he didn't stand out too much in the one game I saw.

[Waerea-Beast!]

Did they show Cronk’s 4 missed tackles?

He missed more than Jake on the night. And Jake made twice as many as him.

Hi Jake!

[Bigchook]

Nah he played ok. The only shocker he had was that kick on the blindside. Apart from that he was ok. There were bigger problems on the night. Watch the replay and you’ll see what I mean.

Friend and napa looked busted. Both were very slow moving laterally and were just outclassed by south's. Friends direct one on one contact was good. But his movement was poor. He cost us a lot of meters up the middle. I don't think he's going as bad as most here. But he just doesn't offer anything in attack and that's not good enough in today's game.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Lurker articles are clickbait.

[Louis N]

If being the Captain makes him immune to being judged solely on his performance on the field then that needs to change. I have never rated him as a captain, based mostly on his communication skills and my perception of his leadership qualities. I hope his form improves dramatically but it is up to Friend to make that happen. Something tells me there is an underlying problem related to Mitchell Pearce's departure. I think the club actually wanted to keep Pearce and play him as hooker, and for Friend to go, and Friend has a bee in his bonnet about that. I don't know this to be a fact, it's just my opinion.

It's something I would have done. Played Pearce at hooker, but doubt Jnr would have worn that. I always thought he suited hooker more than half.

Wouldn't the simplest (but hard for Robbo) thing to do, to relieve Jake of the captaincy, Jake is a worker bee not a King bee. The captaincy bit was originally all about who got first ball from the ruck...hence Friend and Pearce.

Press conferences and the like are not Friend's go. Plus he does not exactly have a winning relationship with referees. I think he's given great service to the club and it's tragic that fans would boo him at all. He was rated our best player in 2011 and I think 2016. Once upon a time when Friend was out we were in trouble. But this season Radley has looked sharper.

[chopstiks]

By all accounts it's not possible for Politis to love anyone more than he loves Cronk!

[Bronte Chook]

Do you think you are watching games objectively though? Or do you think maybe you are watching games with a preconceived notion that he is out of form and only seeing the bad things?

Most of the good stuff Friend does in a game is not glaringly obvious. The dirty work in defence in particular. It doesn’t make the highlight reels so it’s easy to miss. Doesn’t make it any less important though.

Of course they’re important, however what about his brain explosion kicks at critical times or his poor looping service? Are they lacking importance in the context of matches over the last 3 years?

Jake is an 80’s style hooker. The game has moved on and hookers are far more skilful and quicker than Jake these days.

If if they do lack pace such as Smith, then you’d want this type of player to compensate with control and overall reading the play. I don’t reckon Jake has these attributes either.

[Johnny Brass]

Of course they’re important, however what about his brain explosion kicks at critical times or his poor looping service? Are they lacking importance in the context of matches over the last 3 years?

Jake is an 80’s style hooker. The game has moved on and hookers are far more skilful and quicker than Jake these days.

If if they do lack pace such as Smith, then you’d want this type of player to compensate with control and overall reading the play. I don’t reckon Jake has these attributes either.

Most of the hookers now played in the halves in junior footy and have that skill set which Jake doesn't have or the pace to take advantage of a one marker defence when it arises.