We will never win a comp with Jake Friend at hooker !!!

[Cockadoodledoo]

He'll be the next regular Queensland Origin hooker in my opinion. By the time Smith retires, Ballin will be too old, and who else is there? Srama hasn't got back to where he was playing last season, Kingston is older than Ballin and Smith, McCullough doesn't have the toughness for Origin, and there isn't anyone else.

Players as poor as Friend do not become origin players. Just as someone like dce has come along to ensure an average half like Pearce won't become Australian half, someone will emerge to become Smith's successor. Unless Friend lifts his game, his first grade career will be limited. He lacks the skillset required of a modern hooker.

[Guest]

i agree that friend isnt in top form at the moment but i think this is all a bit over the top although i have come to expect nothing less from this place. i find it particularly amusing that the ones on here that sing bonetti's praises are equally the ones who criticise friend on a regular basis. not only do the 2 play an uncanny similar game, but id go so far as to say that friend is already on par with bonetti when he retired and friend is only 22. whether or not you agree with that i still find that very ironic. i agree that he is not playing well but that the reason why he doesnt seem to be making the right decisions is much like why pearce's form is so up and down - we dont have an attacking structure so its ad-lib footy. if he was playing in a structure with men short and out the back both sides of the ruck every play he would be killing it

[Guest]

Friend should be playing park footy now.

[stsae]

Players as poor as Friend do not become origin players. Just as someone like dce has come along to ensure an average half like Pearce won't become Australian half, someone will emerge to become Smith's successor. Unless Friend lifts his game, his first grade career will be limited. He lacks the skillset required of a modern hooker.

That's what Friendly reminds me of, Royce Simmons. Would've been good in the 80s under the 5 mtrs rule when hookers weren't extra 1/2s.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Roz, slow, fat and unfit hookers do not kill it in any situation. Added to this, his service is the slowest in the NRL.

[stsae]

Roz, slow, fat and unfit hookers do not kill it in any situation. Added to this, his service is the slowest in the NRL.

Yes they do mate, they kill it, momentum that is what they kill.

Friendly is the master of it sadly.

[Spanner in the works]

i agree that friend isnt in top form at the moment but i think this is all a bit over the top although i have come to expect nothing less from this place. i find it particularly amusing that the ones on here that sing bonetti's praises are equally the ones who criticise friend on a regular basis. not only do the 2 play an uncanny similar game, but id go so far as to say that friend is already on par with bonetti when he retired and friend is only 22. whether or not you agree with that i still find that very ironic. i agree that he is not playing well but that the reason why he doesnt seem to be making the right decisions is much like why pearce's form is so up and down - we dont have an attacking structure so its ad-lib footy. if he was playing in a structure with men short and out the back both sides of the ruck every play he would be killing it

This. Blame the coach, blame the gameplan, but don't blame Friend. Last year he was our best player. Praised every single week by pretty much everyone. The year before we were talking a future rep player, Kangaroos train-on squad and a future Queensland player. This year he is a Grade F player who has no future in first grade after what? Seven games? What crap. Some people need to have a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down.

[elo]

I'm no Brian Smith fan but how can he be blamed for the slow, garbage service? Some of his passes to Pearce were Finchesk last night, at the head, miles out in front of him, you can't coach this, it's just poor dummy half service.

You can however blame Brian Smith for dropping Mitchell, this was a baffling decision.

[Guest]

I think meninga has got him into that emerging camp solely so he can make sandwiches.

Now that's funny.

[stsae]

I'm no Brian Smith fan but how can he be blamed for the slow, garbage service? Some of his passes to Pearce were Finchesk last night, at the head, miles out in front of him, you can't coach this, it's just poor dummy half service.

You can however blame Brian Smith for dropping Mitchell, this was a baffling decision.

Great post mate.

IMO I'd have had Mitchell and Mortein on the bench. We were never gonna steam roll them, or stop them steam rolling us, but we may have got them up the middle when they got tired later in the 1/2s. That said we'd have had to have held the ball and not given away those piggy back penalties in the 1st 25 mins.

IMO Smiff farked up with his selections this week. His strategy of Pearce kicking dead, slowing play down etc may have worked if we held the ball and showed discipline.

IMO Friendly on his love of the hold down and hand on the ball alone deserves a few weeks at Pootown. His discipline is following his form out the door.

[Guest]

I'm no Brian Smith fan but how can he be blamed for the slow, garbage service? Some of his passes to Pearce were Finchesk last night, at the head, miles out in front of him, you can't coach this, it's just poor dummy half service.

You can however blame Brian Smith for dropping Mitchell, this was a baffling decision.

Yes you can. Individual focus on passing off the ground can easily be coached. It would be rare for a player to volunteer a problem and work on it himself, it should be the coaches responsibility to instruct a player to work on specific parts of his game.

I think Friend can get better, but he needs to learn to trust his first instinct for the sake of his abonimable decision making, and to pass off the ground.

[Red.]

Yes you can. Individual focus on passing off the ground can easily be coached. It would be rare for a player to volunteer a problem and work on it himself, it should be the coaches responsibility to instruct a player to work on specific parts of his game.

I think Friend can get better, but he needs to learn to trust his first instinct for the sake of his abonimable decision making, and to pass off the ground.

I recall a story about Simon Bonetti spending hours and hours practising passing off the ground. It can be perfected with practise.

[Spanner in the works]

I'm no Brian Smith fan but how can he be blamed for the slow, garbage service? Some of his passes to Pearce were Finchesk last night, at the head, miles out in front of him, you can't coach this, it's just poor dummy half service.

You can however blame Brian Smith for dropping Mitchell, this was a baffling decision.

So for some players it's a result of poor coaching and no gameplan, but for others it's all their fault? Weren't many complaints in 2010 and 2011 for his service...

[chook 56]

Yes you can. Individual focus on passing off the ground can easily be coached. It would be rare for a player to volunteer a problem and work on it himself, it should be the coaches responsibility to instruct a player to work on specific parts of his game.

I think Friend can get better, but he needs to learn to trust his first instinct for the sake of his abonimable decision making, and to pass off the ground.

I just don't understand how this has been allowed to continue for so long

[Guest]

FACT !!!

This wins the Bunnings award for the dumbest thread ever started!!!!