I wouldnt overstate it. He's a forward.
If he plays with an up tempo attitude and it's in his nature to push up in support and run decoys, he will be a positive influence. If he is just a follower, he will become a clone of what we already have and expect to be dissapointed. 

We need players who have been playing the game correctly all their lives and cant degenerate into the one out crap we've dished out last few years. 

Being from St Helens, suggests he plays the game correctly and should be good. I just hope all our players and coach have woken up and realised where we have been faltering. 

We should now be able to offload the Tolmans of the side at years end.

I must say young Coates from the Broncs is a great talent, but I noticed one problem.

He got through the whole game without making a single tough run that I noticed the other winger  Herbie Farnworth took lots of tough runs...

The Broncs do have an abundance of attack talent, do they have enough players who will stand up and do the hard work?

This season will answer that question..

I have to say Milford started the game with real intent in defence, I still think he is a great fullback.. but catching the high ball is an issue.
Matty Bowen did have a great career but there are a lot of athletic tall players around these days. life isn't easy for a short fullback.

This is big I can't overstate how much of a difference I think he will make... and it will help our recruitment or 2021,

We also finally get to see if Pay can coach, because our squad shoudl be competitive.

Well player Dogs management, I must have missed the tip from the hot dog seller on this one.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/06/11/belmore-boost-st-helens-reluctantly-ready-to-release-test-star-to-dogs/

Possibly a mock.

Getting off to a good start is essential this year.

7 to 1 on...Rorters first try Toupou jumps above pack to take ball and score....actually odds could even be tad shorter

You had me at "drop Tolman".....
But the you fekked it by adding "to the bench"....

No way I could take us at $1.90  -17.5...
Rorters $1.09 Dogs $7.50 the win on TAB...

#gambleresponsibly...

Villi probably needs another week to save for the next lot..

I'm happy that Harper will probably get a shot, I hope he does..

IIMO he is a good defender, and Averillo did some good stuff in defence last game

Looking at the big picture I hope we promote Sue to the starting line up and drop Tolman back to the bench..

I hope we promote Ogden and Wakeham for Crichton and Britt.

Best chance of a miracle upset win is to run plenty of traffic at Keary, he is their most potent attacking weapon, we want to tire him out, apart from that, defend well, high completions drag them into a grind... It is going to take a lot to stop them scoring too many points..

Regardless it is a good opportunity to practise competing against quality opposition, maintaining and lifting our standards... even on 3 legs...

I’m alive...
It just happens I now celebrate every win like a GF win...
Thanks for stumping up for bail Villi...

It's a 2 horse race

.... their horse has 24 legs and a jet engine,

....ours has 3... and Crusher Cleal in the saddle..

First half or the whole game?

Holy Ryan Tandy...we get 17.5 start vs Rorters this week.

I suggested this the other day. It would simplify the process.  Everything else is being changed.

The issue there ODF is that it is quite hard to pass a ball backward running at full speed.

If you consider say Tommy Turbo making a break and passing whilst running at 14.4km/hr (4 metres per second) and he then fires a long pass to a Rueben Garrick who is 10m away and the pass takes 1 second to get to him, the pass (assuming it was thrown dead flat) would travel 4m forward from the point where Turbo initially released it.

All this needs is the same technology as used in the cricket with the LBW ball tracker, which extends the line of the ball and takes into account its speed and direction.
You then just need to freeze the point where the catcher receives it and compare the two.

HD is right in that it can be affected by players who may be in front of the camera that is best fit to monitor the ball carrier as this is not something can be added to all cameras I would think. I still think its possible with maybe just the 2 side cameras and would definitely be better than human judgement that we have now.

If the camera is blocked, the on-field decision stays. Same as any other try. 

Or maybe they can just call any pass that is caught in front of the position from it was passed as forward. This would eliminate flat passes, make the attack stand deeper therefore ensuring passes are definitely backward. 

The problem is with bias comes inconsistency

It is possible, but needs to consider the speed and direction in which the player was travelling at the point at which they released the ball and the effect of that on the balls trajectory... or perhaps the speed and direction of the ball immediately after release....  the problem is having sufficient cameras or people blocking a camera's view..

It is possible but it may may be expensive, we also want the game flowing.. training the touch judges or just living with it is easier and cheaper... IMO call most of them forward, especially the shorter passes...

This is true.
I do however think that there is sufficient technology in a Hawkeye type system that can adjudicate far more accurately.

All it has to do is show a continuation of the passing player's forward momentum (as a superimposed line) and then freeze it at the point it is caught by the receiver. If the ball is in front, its forward. If it behind, it's ok and if its line ball, it can be on-field ref call.

Nothing to it.

No one argues with the ball tracker at the cricket. 
Same here. It will finally end the debate over "float forward" passes. It will have nothing to do with direction of hands. 

It all started when the proved a ball passed backwards can travel forwards due to the momentum (Speed) of the player who passed it.

I don't think they ever formally changed the rule, but they did change the interpretation, some of the time.. 

Forward passes, play the balls and stripping are the hardest areas for consistent decision making... it will never be perfect.

Why I like the game flowing under the current rules, and higher scoring games generally is individual refs calls don't change a result, very often.
Have a game that finishes 8-6, one ref call can change the result.
Have a game that finishes 28-16, the ref can make 2-3 unchallenged  howlers and not change the result. 

A secondary benefit is a game with more points scored is more entertaining to watch and only very good defensive teams can keep the other side to a low score.
So IMO it is sensible to bias the game slightly in favour of the attack, and that helps cover up a lot of problems...

The point is "out of the hands" is irrelevant.  A player could have his shoulders facing tryline to tryline, pass the ball backwards out of the hands and it go forward relative to the player.  This could be a player running across field or twisted in a tackle.

It's like if a player drops a catch in front of them...
If the ball trajectory is backwards from the hand contact, but ball lands in front of their feet, is it a knock-on or knock-back?

Is the position of the player deemed where his feet are planted on the ground or where the ball last makes contact?

Your either easy to please or you know how soft JWH is, I hope he lasts long enough for Elliott to belt him more than once.

I don't know why all the commentators say "backwards out of the hands" when talking about a forward pass.  I thought the rule says relative to the passer and doesn't mention the hands.

The Tigers were 2mins away from winning the game.... seems harsh to drop Marshall after one average game, when previously he was their best in the opening rounds. 

This is bizarre:- https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/wests-tigers-bombshell-maguire-drops-marshall-after-titans-shocker-20200609-p550vh.html

Benji has been pretty good most times I've seen him play in recent years..

Grub will  provide more energy, but if you want consistency, I don't think Grub is the man..

It will be a very inexperienced centre pairing but im glad Harper will get a chance

Hopefully we give ourselves a chance to rattle the roosters