If you think that Wakeham is our best offering at No.7 then you really didn't see todays game. Not one backline movement was initiated.... not one and that's the halfbacks job to guide the team, and he failed miserably.

We were Will Smith slapped today at that bad joke of a performance. We let our hair down after 6mins. 

Burton is doing the general play kicking.

Wakeham did what Averillo did which was feed Burton,  one attempted long pass touched by the opposition some good tackles. I didn't notice any bad passes or kicks from Wakeham.

I did notice a poor pass from Burton an ordinary kick from Burton and Naden not being in position for a pass from Duffty.

Some geat bombs from Burton as usual.

Apart from Duffty none of our ball runners broke tackles, apart from Wakeham and Duffty none of our players showed any ability to read the game or do anything different.

I  noticed several fumbles from players off offloads including a very poor drop from JMK.

Wakeham squeezed out a good pass under pressure which Jacko unfortunately dropped, good play from both just unlucky, worth forcing the play because it was on.

I didn't notice a lot of hard runs or tackle breaks from most of our forwards and backs, except Duffty who was dangerous.

It isn't the halfbacks fault evertime the team loses, especially when the half executes their plays and many other players don't.

In terms of style Wakeham is doing what Averillo did with a bit more variety, better defence and some smarter kicks.

I'll judge the half on play execution when our team creates momentum and numbers, not off a slow play the ball. Slow passing and no momentum. 

I don't even blame Burton basically the half who has nothing on passes to Burto with nothing on.
Go back and look at the side 2002-2004, the fowards laid a platform and the halves had opportunities.

Burto needs to look for more early kicks and completions close to the opponents line.
I think Burton is a half, just out of practice.

Andrew Johns could do nothing playing half in our side, but he might have patience and complete sets.
I didn't notice Wakeham forcing any plays and turning the ball over.

For the record Flanno last year was some of the worst football I have ever seen from an NRL half. Ok I think he has the raw ingredients but his running game is worse than Wakeham. Give Wakes a few weeks we can't change the half every week.

All I heard was "mock, mock, mock, mock,mock,mock, mock"... 
Our only way out is you buying a box at the GF....
Melb are on another planet on days like today... We won't be the last side to get slapped... And not the good type of slapped... Ie other people kids putting on a tangy at the shops...
As for Perth Glory, I don't even know what the fvck youre talikng about... Is this a reference to a wall their psychopathic Premier built???...

Your reference to 2002-2004 is well made. We'll  need to rort the salary cap to put a good team together

The only time I was excited to watch the Dogs over the last years was when Jim Dymock in his short time as head coach  let the team play footy. Hasler Pay and now Barrett seem to have no idea on deep running outside backs hitting a pass at full tilt like the Panthers do....

Cleary has simply copied the 90's broncos style but turned it from a deep running right spread to the left.
 Lockyer Kevvie Alf and Sailor just pushing up at speed. As a QLDER I loved watching the Broncs as it was an Origin bonus.

Tonight looked like under 8's passing to a flat footed team mate and hoping they could create  fertilizer from shit!

If Barrett can not replicate it then he has to go..... He has the cattle in the back line just needs the smarts and I reckon BBO is the missing link as Avo and Wakeham are not the answer

Most of that money was wasted.

My point was that forwards who run hard and break tackles create time and space for the halves.

And early in the set the dummy-half should put runners over the advantage line.

My conclusion - a lot of our problems start at dummy-half.

Chopping and changing the team is killing any chance of building combinations. Baz is doing worse than Pay with a better team 

This. Stop being the nice guys

Well hd, you are half right.... yes our problems do start at dummy half, but with the wrong halfback that problem also continues through the backline. I have no problems with who we have as 1 and 6 but our choices of 7 and 9 are our Achilles heel. The modern hooker is a pivitol part of the game he must be able to think on his feet and have a vision of what is happening around him. As much as I hate to say it, this is what made Cameron Smith such a great player, he possessed an understanding of the game, which unfortunately JMK doesn't. I feel so sorry for young Matt Burton. Four weeks into a new club AND a new position, he has already had two partners that have let him down severely. This is on Trent Barrett, we know that Flanagan has not shown anything remotely what we were to believe he was capable of, but he is a bona fide halfback and should have been partnering Burton from the beginning of the preseason, with the ultimatum of get it together with a fixd time or you will be shopped around. If we bring Flanagan in now we will be five months behind where we should have been. It seems that there are still some skeletons within the Board, management and/or coaching staff that don't have the clubs best interest at heart.

I think you are blaming or placing the poor team structure on the halfback. We can have Cleary in there or Andrew John's and they would still look shit, although they might do alittle better.

Wakeham plays the halfback role well enough. He varies his passes, he engages the defence, he kicks through, he is unpredictable enough and he can play eyes up footy. He is the best we have. If he is doing the above and it looks like we are still failing, the problem is elsewhere.

We simply don't have players that run onto the ball and know when to play premeditated and when to play ad-lib. That is our problem.

The first few games masked a huge problem because of the wet weather.  It forced the opposition to play safe with 1 our runs or simple passing. They ended up playing like us and we were able to defend it well enough.

But as soon as we played a top team in non-wet weather footy, they showed up our deficiencies in defence. 

What I admire about the top teams is when they have their tails up, they put you to sword. They don't take it easy like we do.

From what I have seen so far this season, I think we need Wakeham at halfback and possibly Averillo at 5/8th. Burton can't adjust to playing in the halves. Leave him at left centre. He can kick us out of trouble. 

But the key one for me is JMK to be removed from starting hooker. Maybe even play him at in the halves with Wakeham if need be. Just get him out of hooker where he just finds forwards 90% of time. Get rid of Javko while we are at it.

The team + Barrett needs a rocket up their backsides. The training needs to change and they must learn to time their runs so they are moving forward in numbers and drawing defenders in to create holes. Its basic footy and its taken 2 decades and we still can't do it right.

Very much agree with this and almost replica of my post a short time ago.

The issue is not solely the half. Our halves are OK. The issue is we have too many robot plodders who can't think, can't anticipate and simply react or take advantage of an opportunity when it arises.

We need to inject smart players. 

We could have 3 salary caps and would still pick a dumb set of 13 players to play.

It's got nothing to do with salary cap.
It's about our mindset, culture whatever you want to call it. An ingrained cancer is what I call it. 

Start playing 2020 rugby league and all will fix itself.

It's so funny that You , HD, myself and afew others on this page can identify the issue in a flash yet our esteemed coach cannot, or can't seem to get the players to play that way.

I notice our reserve grade team does it better than first grade. Same players, possibly lesser experienced, yet they do it a whole lot better.

I just can't believe how unprofessional we are.

Unfortunately the 2 players Baz needs to chop are JMK and Jacko but these guys seem to have a mortgage on their spots and so we are fekked for afew more weeks.

Flanagan can do well in an established team like Storm or Penrith where they already play well, hit the advantage line and have game breakers across the park. He can also do alright in a team like Parra or Sharks or Raiders or even Titans. 
What he can't do is run the show and dictate the play. He is well behind Wakeham, Avo, BBO in that regard and shouldn't even considered. Best he leaves or rots in reserves.

Ok so we both agree that there is a problem at hooker, but you don't think there is a problem at half. Where is the problem then?,what I can say is that I am totally disappointed with Addo-Carrs efforts.... when the ball finally does get to him in a scoring position, instead of going for gold in the corner, he's dogged it and cut back inside to be easily caught. Is he taking the piss or what.

Didn't he get punted by the Roosters. You'd have to call them an established team 

I am disappointed with JAC and Naden attack and defence.

Our hooker and pack haven't laid a platform, so the halves and outside backs have slow service and a well set numbered up defence.

All halves Flanno, Averillo and Wakeham play a similar style, without that platform their options are limited and the tempation to force low percentage plays is strong.

Wakeham is the best option for the next few weeks.

You can argue whether or not cutting back was the right decision but, "dogged it", is not in my opinion an appropriate comment. It insinuates an element of cowardice.

 Coupled with third party agreements a big factor in talent distribution.

At hooker I liked what I saw from Cook in the trails and reserve grade is going well.

Not sure how much he is contributing to that.

I am hoping for a more up tempo more direct style from dummy-half creating a roll on up the middle.

JMK would still play 14 and BBO can play in the halves in reserve grade.

While it might not work, I would try this before changing the half.

If we don't trust Baz then I hope we can trust Gus. If Baz needs some advice and a few home truths Gus can give that.

If / when Baz needs a tap on the shoulder Gus is the one to do it and one of the people making the call.

The Storm were very good in attack and defence, sure it is a reality check for us. But the first 20-30 mins was better than most of our games last season. The season isn't a train wreck, but we need to see better next game, not worse.

JAC isn't trusting his speed on half-chances. If he gets thrown into touch fans complain.

At the Storm with a big lead, he takes the chance, because the opposition are low on petrol and the game is already won.

But he needs to back himself a bit more.

Our structure is identical to the Panthers. Our attack is failing because we lack a good ball playing lock. Yeo is Penriths link man. We lack a fast hooker with good service. Fortunately we get hhat next year. We lack a hard running back rower but we get that next year. 

Good comments.

I agree that Jacko is no Yeo.

The unique part of our team is the offloads from TPJ and King.

A different hooker might change our style.

Until we have hard running backrowers with impact we need to make the most of offloads, even though there is a element of risk.

I would propably sign a half like Sezer and consider moving Burton to the centres.
Also a prop with good authority and a big winger who can make yards, defend and catch the ball.

Jacko and Tommo might be too similar and not up to ball playing.

I think that we will see more turnover in the squad, some signings including in recent seasons haven't worked out.

I relation to a ball playing lock, I'm out of ideas, we shouldn't base our attack around that type of player.
Jacko tries hard and does a reasonable job of a role that doesn't really suit him.

The other difference between us and Penrith are their energy and workrate in defence including excellent scramble and their speed and execution in attack.

To climb the ladder we need to close both of these gaps.

One defender who is lazy slow moving or doesn't scramble is enough to make a problem.

One slow or inaccurate pass is enough.

Penrith look like they have been practicing for years, becuase they have.

When the attack is off, the defence can keep them in the game.

If the defence has a few lapses, they can post the points to cancel that out.

Teams have turned around a bad start for the first 5 games, first 10 games is generally terminal.

We need to show improvement against the Panthers even if we are well beaten, the next game will be easier.
We need 5/5 after 10 rounds.

It is possible that we could be 1/9 after 10 rounds.

No easy games.

We should lose against the Panthers, which makes the Souths game a crunch game.

Mdog then I will retract that word because it was not put there for that intention as I know that Addo-carr is an accomplished player and not afraid of anything. The last few seasons he would have nailed those sorts of tries, but he decides to cut back in and is easily tackled. The other option was to go for the corner and even if he doesn't score the end result would have been the same but you wouldn't have died wondering.

hd, any mention of moving Burton near the centres, you will lose both him and his trust in our club. You never know that may be the readon why JAC is not firing.. why should he put bust his guts when the club overlooked him for the FB position. Wasn't that "one" of the reasons he signed for us?

ODF I hope that it is just a matter of Burton getting used to playing in the halves again.
But his passing needs a lot of work, he is more or less a rookie NRL half inspite of lot of NRL experience.
His kicking is excellent and should get even better

JAC wanted to play fullback, but Duffty is one of the few shining lights this season. 
JAC can start by earning his pay packet on the wing

No player should assume that they are immune to being dropped.

Naden is another, guys like Schoupp, Casey and Credence might be showing they deserve more chances.

Like Cook, Casey and Credence were impressive in the trials. Reserve grade keeps winning, from what I have seen Casey in particular continues to impress.