HD,

While that squad list doesnt instill any fear and has lots of forgotten names in there, the first grade team was full of names that every bulldog fan will remember fondly.
Patten, Utai, Vagana, El Masri, Anasta, Sherwin, Mason, Omeley, Asotasi, etc

There was a significant jump in talent between our first grade team and the squad players.
Nowdays, the first grade team is not much (if any) improvement on the reserve graders who are in the top 30.

The other key thing is that the above team had brains and were leaders. There were probably 5 captains in the above lists of payers. They all knew their abilities and they knew their fellow players' abilities.
Our current crop seem to not have anywhere near the brains of the above team. They cannot dictate games. They cannot swing games.

My concern with the current team is that there is no one (other than Hoppa) that is old and wise to know what is going on. Unfortunately Hoppa is not vocal enough to influence or inspire his fellow teamates. Jackson is inspirational but im afraid doesnt have the footy nous to take us to the next level.

I hope we find a future captain in the halves again. Its almost a must at this stage. I would have loved to get Burton and make him captain. He has what it takes.

Marki, the only problem with a "2020" style of play is that it reminds me of "2005" the almost touch football era and that only lasted for one season. The V'RLol wants to speed the game up for the purpose of attracting fans but the teams can't sustain such a style because of the amount of injuries that will occur. We do not have that many super human, athletically superior beings playing the game. The six again to me is not an improvement to the game, it's just a quicker way to burn players out.

Tols was perhaps too old to learn new tricks, but I agree a lot of his runs were because someone passed him the ball and no one else wanted it.

I consider Jackson, Elliott and Thompson similar to Tols but offering a bit more in attack.

6 again shifts the balance between attack and defence, I prefer it to the wrestle, painfully slow play the balls and block plays.

Teams need to be fit and it favors smaller more mobile backrowers and halfs that run the ball.

The downsides are it seems arbitrary at times and some refs are over doing it.
With an offseason teams will handle it better and the refs need to tone it down a bit.

I'm noticing a lot of leg injuries with players dropping on lower legs or 3 man tackles driving players into awkward positions. I am not sure what can be done, but I would like to see less of this.

A game with the balance in favor of attack allows all body shapes to play and rewards vision and execution.
A slow game rewards big powerful runners, a good kicking game and set moves.

There is no perfect game, but attack and defence should be rewarded.

What stands out to me is the quality and depth at prop and   the halves.

O'Meley, Price, Rauhihi, Hall, (Mason), (Asotasi)
Sherwin, Anasta, Trindall, (Thurston?) - Thursty probably only played reserve grade in 2002.

A lot of our 2nd rowers were solid clubmen, but they did a lot of work in attack and defence.

Matt Utai made a lot of good carries and plenty of yards.

What we still need for 21 is a good half and hooker, the forwards and backs should be significantly stronger, but the team needs direction.

We certainly need a much better half and hooker. But we are also desperate for a prop or two that runs hard. And it would help having a super fast fullback with Hoppas brain 

That Parramatta game over the weekend was Paul Carriage all over again.

The newsreader has the speed and is also excellent under a high ball but needs someone to make him feel ten foot tall and bulletproof...I can understand his hesitancy this year...hopefully Barrett and co will instill that....the newsreader is well liked on these pages.

The newsreader lacks aggression & willingness to put his body on the line as the last line of defence..... like you’ve said, hopefully T Baz & Furner can lift his game to another level. 

ODF you will find that this season the majority of season ending injuries happened outside of tackles. Players were doing ACL, PCL, MCL with no one within koowee of them. 

I blame the grounds primarily and perhaps the boots or the human growth protein shakes the players take these days which makes their ligaments as fragile as the filament in an old globe.....

I've never seen so many players do knee ligaments like this season. With no one near them. Just a simple step or change of direction.

A rule I would like introduced is if a player tackles a player around the legs (slow tackler) ref should call "classic tackle" and the attacker cannot play the ball until the legs tackler gets to marker.

It rewards the tackler and his teams defensive line in a similar manner to the surrender tackle does.

Think of it like this......winger makes a break down the sideline.... fullback tackles the winger seound the legs and brings him down. Ref calls "classic tackle" allowing both the fullback to get to marker as well as the defensive line to reset.

Thoughts?

I think he is worth persisting - at fullback. 
He needs to make the position his own and learn to chime in to sweep moves and throw that last pass to winger

I think a tackle should be just that - a tackle. The ref to call held as soon as PROGRESS is stopped. Dominance will bring it's own rewards.  Get rid of subjective judgements.  Voluntary tackles to be immediately penalised.

This has merit, has to be one on one and try saving.

The genie is out of the bottle once coaches discovered the value of wining the ruck, it is a constant battle between coaches and the rules committee.

Give the newsreader first shot.

Jai field is leaving Parra might be an option for us in the halves or at fullback. 

But it is hard for smaller fullbacks these days.

After I put the mock on Sailor players are paying me not to mention them, but Field is a cheapskate.

I agree Mdog. Sometimes the ref lets players wrestle and tussle while standing without calling held resulting in either an unfair offload (too long after the attackers momentum has been halted) or an attacker actually being forced back and with the momentum putting him in an unnecessary position for an injury. I am also against a player being gang tackled and then lifted to be driven over the sideline or back over the tryline. If it can be done in one motion while a tackle being made that's ok but to hold a player upright until the "cavalry" arrives, no go.

The problem is that any tackle differentiation leads to consequences both intended and unintended.  Take the scenario of a player making a classic leg tackle getting to marker before the ball is played.  Brilliant attacking play.  Player brought down by leg tackle.  Defence in disarray.  Attack ready to go.  Tackler gets up slowly, dawdles to marker giving defence time to reset. What's fair.  Just call it a tackle.

Surprised you would suggest something to reward your whipping boy Aiden Tolman...that may have been a classic tackle in the day but would be tenuous at best in successfully implementing it. 

Here’s a story someone posted on the Kennel months ago about a couple of Dogs young guns at Westfields Sports High. 

Now that hes gone, I might even support the 4th and 5th tackle settler run inside the opposition 10m line......

Kyle Flanagan to the Dogs???
Roosters scapegoat.
On Foxsports

I think with TB being an ex half, it may appeal to him to be part of a team that is looking to change this up with less pressure. 

After covid break Flanagan looked to be a key player for Roosters with Keary concussed half the time. He is now the victim of their end of year failures.

Since our halves havent made the positions their own, we need to go after Flano. Unless of course we are making behind the scenes work on Burton who I like even more

Burton Flanno  halves with the Armadillo at FB and an experienced 9... 

You can credit Flannos development at the Rorters when he does something good..

Been a while since I’ve seen one of these on here... mainly cos they’re crap, but here goes...
1 Armadillo
2 Ox
3 Hoppa
4 Cotric
5 DWZ
6 Burton
7 Flanno
8 Thommo
9 Grant
10 Hetho
11 RFM
12 Jacki
13 Sweet Carol
Reno, Napa, JMK, A big bopper

See, crap...

Wheres Lindsay Collins?

Prob Rorters feeder team cos $BW has his spot...

What happened to Jacko, Hopo and younoo?

Lichaa is experienced 😁

Oh you mean playing footy ... 😉