Is Lachlan Lam up to it?

[Thirteen]

His old man would have been on the blower last night quizzing him about not passing.

He was found wanting a couple of times in defence.

It was a big game to make your staring debut. He'll need to improve next time he is given an opportunity. As mentioned above, the club won't wait around for him to come good.

Why not? The club waited for ten years for Mitchell Pearce to come good.

[Thirteen]

With Friend out for a lengthy period & Keary returning, i reckon Lam would slot into the hooker position nicely with Sam Verrills coming off the bench.
Such a move also gives us flexibility if our halves are injured.

Can’t handle the defence.

[Louis N]

Nah I was happy with his performance, some real powerful runs close to the line. Much more effective defence and no errors (can't blame him for that Lam hospital pass). It's a good place to start to build off now, really hoping we can start to see a bit of ball playing from him but much better today.

Gus has been consistently good throughout the year and played ugly tough in the middle. No use expecting instant miracles while he is still finding his feet although that would be nice. But the same thing happened with Cronk and Tedesco. The difference was that they 'were playing below form'. For mine Chrichton has been impressive in every game apart from some handling errors in the Manly trial. He just looked a bit more prominent Anzac Day as the ball play was to his side.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Why not? The club waited for ten years for Mitchell Pearce to come good.

They won't make that same mistake again.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Clunky is fine though, like you say he's still learning new combos and we've got to remember he was out for most of the pre-season.

I've said it a lot now but sometimes I think his workrate hurts him, he's got some real quality in his play, he doesn't need to be making 35 tackles a game.

This is absolutely correct. He looks gassed in the second half as all that defensive work catches up on him. Credit for his effort but he probably needs to be used slightly differently. His success at Souths was when he was running wide and into gaps. He is playing more a workhorse role like Cords, which I don't think he is completely suited to.

[Cockadoodledoo]

With Friend out for a lengthy period & Keary returning, i reckon Lam would slot into the hooker position nicely with Sam Verrills coming off the bench.
Such a move also gives us flexibility if our halves are injured.

No, keep Radley at hooker. He had one shocker against the Shark but apart from that was doing well imho. Remember how patient we were with Friendy when he was going through a tough patch, otherwise I see Radley only getting better with time. What I like about Radley is that he certainly has vision in attack and generally makes the right decisions about which way to go in attack.

I also think we can cover him in the back row, given our huge depth there. Friend is a loss, without any doubt but remember our record this season without him. Maybe Verrills will get some gamete off the bench, but I can also see Maubs slotting in there for 10 or 15 minutes a game to give Victor a breather.

[Lydon]

No, keep Radley at hooker. He had one shocker against the Shark but apart from that was doing well imho. Remember how patient we were with Friendy when he was going through a tough patch, otherwise I see Radley only getting better with time. What I like about Radley is that he certainly has vision in attack and generally makes the right decisions about which way to go in attack.

I also think we can cover him in the back row, given our huge depth there. Friend is a loss, without any doubt but remember our record this season without him. Maybe Verrills will get some gamete off the bench, but I can also see Maubs slotting in there for 10 or 15 minutes a game to give Victor a breather.

I agree with this,Radley is best option while Jake is out..

[theGman]

No, keep Radley at hooker. He had one shocker against the Shark but apart from that was doing well imho. Remember how patient we were with Friendy when he was going through a tough patch, otherwise I see Radley only getting better with time. What I like about Radley is that he certainly has vision in attack and generally makes the right decisions about which way to go in attack.

I also think we can cover him in the back row, given our huge depth there. Friend is a loss, without any doubt but remember our record this season without him. Maybe Verrills will get some gamete off the bench, but I can also see Maubs slotting in there for 10 or 15 minutes a game to give Victor a breather.

Yep, consensus amongst us fans is Radley at hooker which i'm okay with however, IMO Victor is a far more effective at lock/2nd row where he can play a little unstructured..
What i like about Lammy is his speed, nimbleness and his defensive capabilities.

Generally speaking, come SOO time with Jake out and a handful of others selected to play, we're going to be testing our depth.

[Easts75]

Radley is the man for the job. Like others said he generally takes the right option in attack. His fitness at 9 will grow each week and this will help with his service also

[Cockadoodledoo]

Yep, consensus amongst us fans is Radley at hooker which i'm okay with however, IMO Victor is a far more effective at lock/2nd row where he can play a little unstructured..
What i like about Lammy is his speed, nimbleness and his defensive capabilities.

Generally speaking, come SOO time with Jake out and a handful of others selected to play, we're going to be testing our depth.

Testing our depth is great because it is giving them valuable experience which will come in handy, should they be called upon in the finals. We are in a much better position depth wise, maybe front row being the exception, this year compared to last.

[theGman]

Can’t handle the defence.

Disagree 13. He's a ball of muscle and we've witnessed him pulled off some solid one on one tackles.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Disagree 13. He's a ball of muscle and we've witnessed him pulled off some solid one on one tackles.

Pulling off a few solid tackles off the bench and away from the ruck is a lot different to making 40-50 tackles in the middle of the field.

[theGman]

Testing our depth is great because it is giving them valuable experience which will come in handy, should they be called upon in the finals. We are in a much better position depth wise, maybe front row being the exception, this year compared to last.

TRobbo has done a splendid job blooding Butcher, Poassa, Sitili & Curran in preparation for SOO time.
Next cab off the rank will be Nat's brother Egan. Heard good things about him & really looking forward to seeing him step up.

[theGman]

Pulling off a few solid tackles off the bench and away from the ruck is a lot different to making 40-50 tackles in the middle of the field.

Fair enough, we'll see.
I could name a stack of quality halves who've transitioned to the hooking role and succeeded. I can't see Lam being any different if given the proper opportunity.

[Darkone]

Why not? The club waited for ten years for Mitchell Pearce to come good.

every time he fluffs it @ knights I utter a prayer of thanks he's gone