Overrated Pack.

[Vasco]

Good post Big Mike.

Without a genuine playmaker Maubs is effectively null and void.

Good player that he is, I believe his position in the starting side should come under question.

[Vasco]

As for our next captain, it has to be Pearce.

[Guest]

As for our next captain, it has to be Pearce.

Give Mini the C and Pearce the responsibilty in 2013 and he'll be ready to take the reigns in 2014. And he'll have had a year with Maloney and be more confident and hopfeully have a better relationship with the refs than our current C.

Chook.

[Guest]

Mini for Captain followed by Maloney followed by Maubs.

I think giving the Captaincy to Pearce will only weigh down on his natural talent

[Cockadoodledoo]

Give Mini the C and Pearce the responsibilty in 2013 and he'll be ready to take the reigns in 2014. And he'll have had a year with Maloney and be more confident and hopfeully have a better relationship with the refs than our current C.

Chook.

I agree Chook... By the time Mini is gone, Pearce will have the maturity to lead the side. It will also be a carrot to extend his contract with the Roosters from 2014 onwards..

[Guest]

The problem is there are no workers in the pack and our agility in the middle is sub standard, teams that play the rooster through the middle with an up tempo game usually beat us. The top packs in the comp are Manly, Brisbane Souths and Cronulla with Melbourne the best coached pack. Watch these teams play their game through the middle, they dominate the ruck first then go wide. The Roosters go wide, from side to side before going forward, it's back to front and while on our day this can be effective, more often then not its the reason for our dismal form.

Good post - that's exactly how i see it.

[Guest]

Good post Big Mike.

Without a genuine playmaker Maubs is effectively null and void.

Good player that he is, I believe his position in the starting side should come under question.

That's a good point. Maubs has good footwork but lacks the pace to capitalise on it. Apart from Pearce putting him through holes (yes i realise that Maubs still runs the line), how many individual line breaks does Maubs make ?

Guerra is capable of creating a linebreak on his own, as he has displayed numerous times.

I just think we have better options in attack on the fringes. Someone who can create and attract defenders. Bj would be good out there.

Maubs needs to play tighter to the ruck. Great defence. Very good motor which doesn't get utilised on the fringes. Great hands and a fantastic football brain. Plus he would be one of the more faster locks.

PS, i love Maubs. I think Smith described him perfectly as Anzac - he is the one player that i want with me in the trenches - will never let you down.

[Guest]

Kennedy Friend Guerra & to a less degree Maubs are all just solid players, if each of them were playing in a good forward pack you could get away with them but all 4 of them in the same team is just not good enough.

JWH
Mitchell
Tasi
Symonds
Maubs
FPN

Mose
Takairangi
Bosden
Cordner

And I would introduce that they all have to offload to another forward when taking it up the middle.

[Guest]

I understand what you are getting at but I think you are overreacting a bit. Moving JWH back to the bench would be a step backwards imo. He is a great leader and his hit on King at the start of the game exemplifies why we need him out there starting. I agree on MK but he is coming back from a career threatening injury and though I would not be adverse to seeing him on the bench for a bit until he gets back to full tilt, in the interests of balance he should remain in the starting team.

Friend is the much maligned player atm. While the criticisms are understandable, he is young and going through a bit of a rough patch. He is 21 and will come good. Has a lot to offer.

I agree with your points on maubs and guerra. maubs is definitely not getting involved enough but imo its not a result of a lack of willingness to get involved necessarily but maybe more the game plan. That said, he does tend to go quiet at times. Maybe the captaincy is something that will take him to the next level but Guerra and maubs should definitely be our long-term backrow combination.

Cordner is excellent. Yes he is still growing but starting him was a good move imo as that starting pack from sunday is exactly what I envisage being our long-term starting pack. I would be more than happy to see it unchanged for the rest of the season. Well balanced and plenty of aggression, toughness, skill and size.

As for the bench, I have been saying for weeks that taka in particular is too lazy and a wasted spot on the bench atm for the minutes he is playing. Masoe has lost the plot in recent weeks imo. Looks uninterested and doesnt have that something about him off the bench. Tasi should be retained on the bench all year to continue his development but I agree he is an absolute gem.

Id like to see mitchell come back on the bench for a bit of spark. We are carrying a big bench which while im not adverse too, it means that everyone is playing less minutes imo. 3 forwards on the bench is ample. the fact that a few forwards are playing less than 30mins because of the 4 man bench exemplifies the problems with this. It also means none of them really have the opportunity to have a real impact.

Our pack for this weekend or at least until FPN comes back should be:
8. JWH
9. Friend
10. Kennedy
11. Guerra
12. Maubs
13. Cordner

14. Arona
15. Tasi
16. Bosden
17. Mitchell

Bosden deserves more of a crack imo. He was good from the couple of opportunities he has been given so far and playing on a 3 man forward rotation should also give him more minutes to prove himself and show what hes got. Arona has been a real revelation. Im a big fan but with his utility value being able to play prop and lock means he is of more value on the bench if we are only going to carry the 1 genuine prop in tasi despite the fact that bosden plays a gallen-like role from lock.

[Guest]

In some ways having so many forwards in the squad plus the interchange is ruining some of our players performance.

I just wish there was only 16 players instead of 17 & only 4 interchanges.
The forwards spend that much time & effort in to trying to hold the opposition players down so the defencive line can be set because the game is being played so fast. Reduce the players & reduce the interchange & let players play for at least 60 minutes.

[SConcierge]

What a great pack of forwards we have with all the suggested line ups anyway you put them together. For me the issue is the way we play them. Last game our backs took more hit ups then the forwards on the other hand Manlys forwards did the opposite and they killed us. Look at the dogs tonight, forward to forward short passes with thier pigs running onto the ball....they had some 80m sets!

You cant have the backline hitting up the ball 1-2 &3, I see what Smith is trying to do and it doesnt work all game, perhaps in the back end of the half but not the whole game.

[Guest]

Hey roz, great post.

Don't you think though that based on current form, Tasi will offer just as much as JWH and then some?

[Guest]

What a great pack of forwards we have with all the suggested line ups anyway you put them together. For me the issue is the way we play them. Last game our backs took more hit ups then the forwards on the other hand Manlys forwards did the opposite and they killed us. Look at the dogs tonight, forward to forward short passes with thier pigs running onto the ball....they had some 80m sets!

You cant have the backline hitting up the ball 1-2 &3, I see what Smith is trying to do and it doesnt work all game, perhaps in the back end of the half but not the whole game.

It's easy to see that other teams have figured us out and just compress their defence, getting numbers in the tackles and dominating the smaller backs. That leads to a slow play the ball and putting us on the back foot.

[Guest]

Seems the main offenders in over-rating our pack are some of our fans. Potential seems to be banked like hard currency and it just don't work that way kids.

[ROC181]

They are the youngest pack in the league in terms of games and age. They are punching way above their weight currently and they were definitely not the reason we lost yesterday.

+1

Had it not been for that video ref, again, that dropped ball by Mini in front of the line, then we would have won. It seems to me that we are losing because of the lack of experience. They just can't maintain concentration for 80 mins. It happens in younger grades and we have players just lacking that experience.