IMO Okunbor has dome enough to earn a crack at starting, he has size, mobility, work-rate and impact.

We seemed to get lucky I don't think even CC knew that the experiment would work out this well.

The other forwards with enough size are Hughes, Thompson, Patolo and Pele, none of them has enough NRL minutes to be a starter at this stage.

Sutton is the other contender, but Okunbor has a lot more impact in attack. His try against the Tits was brilliant, not many middle forwards have the footwork, pace and vision to score that, not the bigger bodies anyway.

You had Presto, Kiks, TPJ, Maxy, and OK starting  and Edwards at 14 in that post..

When he comes on he plays lock.

Him starting is the alternative to OK, that will happen sooner or later.

We are just lacking some size in the starting pack at present.

I think that was why CC went with Hughes against the Tits.

In 2024 I hope we have 2 big imposing starting props, then Edwards is the ideal lock.

Overall my point was that Okunbor, Edwards and Morrin are all candidates for middle forward positions regardless of who comes back from injury.

Those returning players need to earn their spot.

Most don't rate us this season, becuase a few teams have put a score on us, we are down in stats comparisons and so far we haven't put a score on anyone.

CC is still working out our best 17, but we are now very close to a good 17 and anyone who can do better needs to earn the opportunity.

People forget the injuries, and the dud calls. With even a moderate amount of luck we would have at least one more win.

In terms of scoring more, we will keep building, mostly it is a matter of building combinations, and winning the yardage / posession battle. As we get closer to our best 17, that will get easier.

Significant stat. We have conceded 50% more penalties than received. Need to fix this quick smart. Strangely  we have received more six agains than conceded. Sin bins are another that is quite skewed  against us.

OK has been great… 
Edwards has a superior passing game from what we’ve seen… so easily my preference for 13 at this stage…

I  recon we are 60% of the problem, that is the part we can control.

Guys like Sutton, Wardell and Grub drop too many balls and concede too many penalties, that needs to improve.

Wardell is the most frustrating, he does a lot of good things, but comes up witn a dropped ball and a silly penalty most games.

Branco Lee has still got it.

Superglue the ball to his hands, he'll find a way to drop it.

Haas to the Dogs. 

Is that a rumour?

Looks to be media and manager doing their typical sh1t…

I would love to know what our stat is in regards to converting good ball into a try? Against the gold coast we did it only once (from at least 10 sets?) and that didn't really go to plan. Against the warriors it was twice. I feel like the bye couldn't come soon enough for our spine to spend more time together to get this right. Too much possession seems to die once it gets to Perham. I dont know if it is the speed of which we pass or if it's a depth thing. Opposition teams seem to know we can be locked down if they jam in quick enough on our fullback. Burton obviously loves the short ball to Preston, would love to see him kick in behind the line or throw the harbour bridge cut-out more often. Oloapu hasn't done much in terms of ball playing. I tell you, if this can be rectified we will end up with an additional 2-3 tries per game.

2 out of the the 3 tries the Tits scored against us were simply a power forward run. Lots of tries are like that.

Their 3rd try was a great pass from a backrower.

In the first half the Tits had a lot of ball down our end.

In the first half our attack was dreadful, but we chewed up all of our energy defending.

I agree Perham is very limited in attack and gets too involved, but he isn't that different to Edwards at the Panthers, Edwards is simply a more dangerous ball runner, playing in a better team.

Karl and Harrison Edwards have a great short passing game, but they need runners running the right lines. Preston will do better running off Karl.

Unless we change the fullback, the attack will probably be the last thing to come together, but there is no prize for having it right before round 26.

Lots of teams are struggling to put 80 mins of good football together on a regular basis. 

I would like to see us cut down on errors 6 agains and penalties and defend well. That will get us a greater share of posession in good areas and a chance to practice attacking.

I doubt that they will overhaul the attack during the bye, I think that the coaches may currently be focused more on completions and defence.

Haas would be an ideal signing for us, any other NRL club, or yawnion.

If it comes down to money, I am not sure we want a prop taking up a large chunk of our SC.

A smarter signing may be an NRL prop playing off the bench who is good enough to start, or a lower grader good enough for NRL.

Haas is definitely the type of player we should sign and the right guy will really improve our team. Provided he is uninjured and remains in form Haas is ideal, but the SC has to be spent wisely.

I would like to see stats on long range trys, becuase we score plenty, and we score good ones from deep inside our own half often invoving a few passes.

The trys we don't score are off forward power plays,  a big guy powering over or on the next play after a power run.
And a lot of the trys we concede are off power runs, or momentum created by power runs.

If we had Kicks on board we would be doing better both sides of the ball.

Forwards barging over are worth 4 points, just like a try off a kick is worth 4 points.

Long range trys and trys off kicks are partially due to our lack of field position and possession.

We can finish a set on our 40 and score a try off a Burton bomb, we can throw the ball wide deep inour 20 and score an entertaining length of the field try. Other teams don't need to do that and most of them can't do it.

How would we go with some quality repeat possession at the opponents end and some hard power running?

IMO we would tick the scoreboard over and the opponent can't relax when we are coming off our line or ending a set near halfway.

You are definitely correct in that we don't do enough with the ball. 

Burton can't ball play and KO is still raw. I'm just hoping that he chances his arm even if it doesn't quite come off.

One of them needs to.

The types of tries we don't score enough of are the ones created by a line break with support runners inside and outside.

Use to be a hallmark after a tackle busy or angled run.  Nowdays we just hit it up till the 5th and hope our lottery play on 5th tackle kick pays off...

What about the Burton line break off the pass by Morrin?

It isn't the type of try you describe, but it was a great pass.

And there were plenty of support runners.

I can't recall the last time I saw any team score the type of try you describe. But then again I am not sure what you are talking about. You seem to be talking about 1990s style attack.

It isn't how the Broncos, Panthers, Rabbits or Sharks are mostly playing.

The reason older styles of attack don't work is defensive middles work much harder these days, work together, and have a role in every play... Penrith are the ultimate example of that, how often does a simple angled runner beat their defence?

You must be watching another sport, you are clueless about how we play.

We throw more passes at our end of the field, with better results than most teams.

,It is becoming more important that the dummy half has a long pass, and halves are often on the same side.

The attack needs to beat the slide defence, and moving the ball fast is one way to do that.

Coming off our end in yardage sometimes we just need to hit it up and complete.

The last few weeks I don't remember having a lot of ball at the opponents end. One issue is not enough repeat sets, some of our last tackle kicks have been poor.

Today's  scrums are a limiter on attacking play and to an extent nullify  the value of good attacking backs. Instead of packing tightly and pushing in the scrum or getting destroyed  they are not really packed  at all and are in the backline stifling attacking opportunities. 

The better sides have had the same halves and fullback for a few seasons, and they work together.

The Sharks are exceptionally well drilled.

Karl is an 18 year old with a few games of NRL experience.

The better sides also have a large destructive edge backrower, we do have one, but he hasn't played for a few weeks.

Teams just need to adapt. Some tries are scored from scrums.

Modern coaches always find a way to get an edge, and the NRL are always playing catch up.

I would just like the constant criticism of our side to be more realistic. We are moving in the right direction, this season is a big improvement, and we are only a couple of jigsaw pieces away from being a real contender.

Mind you it's  all happening under the same rules, just different interpretations. I am yet to see a team totally adapt in my 81 years.

I think it’s a good chance. And if it happens Marki will be very happy. 

We will all be happy...

We can get big Haas a job at Maccas somewhere in the district. 😁

Go Cows.

Why do you think it’s a good chance???…

Id obviously love it on both the footy and Mockstradamus fronts..

They aren't going to win if the slime are allowed to score off forward passes. Both second half tries the final passes were marginally forward at best. To me that is shameful officiating.

See.. the shit thing is… CC and Co build a squad… work on a culture… work on D and A… work on specific skills and combinations…. Work on doing what’s best to assist the individual develop and grow…even play within themselves while all this is happening… build resilience during an injury affected season… start to make changes… start to release the shackles…Then when it comes together some fekking know it all will say ‘I told you we should get more line breaks, I coach kids’… 

While we’re on know it alls… I hope that $6M man is slipping the bloke in the 6 jersey $2K a week…