I will be interested to see if we play the Fox at fullback and how he goes.

People are discounting the fact that he played in the halves as a junior, so he can probably pass, might have vision and even a kick.

Even on the wing defence isn't the Fox's main strength, at fullback who knows?
I would run the experiment.

Duffy's passing at fullback is very good.

The defensive side might need work, but the key requirements for a fullback IMO are getting to kicks catching kicks and attack. In defence I mostly want positioning and effort.

Meaney is also a good fullback.

I have never understood why we play Hoppa and DWZ at fullback, especially when attacking the opposition tryline.

Passing and vision for a fullback are not optional extras, speed is essential, speed creates the opportunity for the pass. A fullback with no speed and no pass is close to zero threat.

The best positional fullback I have seen is Billy Slater who was miles ahead of others, even Tommy Turbo.

Tedesco is pretty good also but Slater not only positioned himself, he could do it soon after making a 5th tackle, get his teammates into marker, bark instructions to number up and yet still cover a grubber kick to the other side of field. His positional awareness was on another level and probably the model for all fullbacks.

With our team in development stage, we have to accept errors along with some new and unorthodox (for us) plays. This is why we need to replace our current crop of players with x-factor types. We are simply too predictable. Particularly our forwards.

What we need is 2 or 3 Kasiano types. Guys that can create from nothing but will also make mistakes. 

Once you become a regular top 8 team, your aim changes to efficiency rather than ability.

Tonight is going to be a good dress rehearsal on how Burton will play in the halves with a team that is lacking the talent.

If anything I would say the depleted Panthers are still stronger than our team but it will give him an understanding of how much involvement he will need for next year. 

Actually just looking at the Panthers lineup and they are definitely better than us.

It's their bench that is impacted by the 6 origin outs, so I expect them to still be formidable.

Only positive about this sh*t weekend of football is we won't get beaten. Having bagged the football I'll be off to see the Falcons v the Dolphins & the Storm v the titans.

I don’t claim to be no guru, much brighter League minds than me spotted it and commented on it, but once identified it’s very obvious.

Shows itself in the amount of times players seem to run around him. In hindsight, classic example was when Reimis Smith run around him twice a couple of seasons back if you remember. At the time I was thinking how quick is Reimis Smith? And the answer is not quick enough to burn Matt Dufty. He run around him like so many others have because Matt Duffy at FB just can’t seem to sense where the breaks will be, whether it’s because he doesn’t follow the ball or gets lazy or loses focus who knows.

He’s also maybe the worst FB in the game defending grubbers on his line, he’s the bloke you always see jumping over the bloke who’s just dived on the grubber to score, again a positional thing.

But, there’s just no denying his talent with the ball in hand, he can do it all.

That’s why I reckon #6 will be his best position, a rare commodity - a running AND passing 5/8. Defensively it’s more technique than reading in that position, generally the runner will be straight in front of you, not always but mostly. Skill to make good centre too, but as that’s maybe the hardest defensive positionally spot on the field you couldn’t play him there.

I think he needs to defend not in the middle and not on the edge, somewhere in between marking the 2nd man wide where he only has to think about technique and putting him on his arse.

He’s gonna score you a zillion points, just have to find a way to limiting how many he costs you, which could be a zillion and one if not done right.

You're doing a good job trying to bring his price down..... maybe the dogs should get you in the negotiation room while Duftys manager tries to sell us the dream....

In fairness, I think he is MUCH better than how you paint him.

By killing it in attack, commentators immediately compare him to Tedesco, Turbo etc. But if you think a little bit more  he's no worse than Latrell Mitchell in positional play.

At the moment, what he lacks in positional play, he makes it up in attack - in spades.

He is someone we need and I'd like us to get him.

Our fans can do with some excitement at fullback. Him and JAC on the wing can give us fans a level of confidence we are a capable team.

The level  of acting in the  NRL is embarrassing. Dane Laurie, ham acting but effective 

Waiting for it...

Somewhere  in your team you need players that can bring points. We don't  have them, if we did we we'd  be more successful. Penrith are competitive tonight  but are missing those players.  That's  what Dufty brings. You need balance in a team.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!
sorry Dad...

Yes.
If Dufty can act and can hold the back of his head after every tackle before he plays the ball, we need to sign him asap.

Forget speed. We just need actors

I think sportsbet had some good odds for a Laurie-Burton try double....
I should have got on

This is it.

Burton is a bit rusty...

Not as clinical as Nathan Cleary but he tries on every play and is a thinker.

He reminds me of Brett Finch. Always rated Finch even in his Raiders days. Always had an error or 2 in him, but had footy brains. 

He alone won't save us. Barrett will need to put players around him. He can kick us out of trouble though....

He will get better playing in the halves each week.

But... the luckiest dud coach in the world said staying at Penrith would be good for his development....
Also...
Well done to Villi for not posting Burto is a terrible signing tonight....

I watched the game purely with the intention of seeing how Burton directs traffic with no "stars" and a lot less assistance around him. He's not going to perform miracles week in week out, but if the boys give enough room he might get a few wins for us next year.

He'll be fine, especially if paired with an organising half.

I’m predicting another spoon next year. Then Barrett being punted early. After that a new board and more of the same. If Dibb didn’t listen to the stupid fans snd just kept Hasler we would be premiership contenders. Fuck footy. 

Mick, we would have won sh!t with Hasler. He may have been a good coach, but his heart wasn't at Belmore.

Plus if he was still with us, we may have been reasonably competetive but also up to our eyeballs in salary cap hock until 2027 due to dumb backended deals.

The main problem with Hasler was salary cap management, player development, scouting juniors etc.

At Manly he has more talent, including some exceptional players, they have a better pipeline of talent in the lower grades and they are making better recruitment and retention decisions.

I know Des was making a lot of the calls, but the problems were bigger than him.

If he stayed my hunch is that things would have been worse for longer.

Why he worked out at Manly and was a disaster at the dogs is hard to fathom.

I think Des was trying, but was perhaps under pressure and trying too hard from day one. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

At the Dogs, players listened to him -too much.
At Manly, they dont. Des inherited the Turbo bros. You can credit him for DCE and Foran. 
He doesn't really have an eye for talent. It falls into his lap. His idea of the correct playing style is outdated for the modern game. He's a good conditioner and good defensive coach but you HAVE to have a team with talent in the first place even if it is raw. 

Only spine players that know when to listen to him and when to ignore him, do well. If spine players listen to him too much, the ship is going down.

We will improve next year but I'm not holding my breath playing finals. 

I watch other games and every time, I realise just how far off the pace we are. We are by far the worst team. Daylight to second last even though the ladder might have us 1 or 2 wins away.

I really hope Barrett has the balls to put the broom through this team. 

Lethargy personified.

And I really hope Barretts philosophy is to create point scoring chances and focus on attack rather than defence. 

If he focusses on defence straight off the bat, we are doomed. You cant just magically inject point scoring talent.

You have to start with it, and then focus on improving defence.

Most of all, you need players with brains. Burton has footy brains, as does Avo and Meaney. Hoppa has brains but wont be here as he's past it. JaC is an opportunist. 

We need more players with brains especially edge forwards

Just about every premiership winner and contender in history including the three teams you admire most from modern times, Easts, Melbourne and Penrith have that the other way around. You do have to have both, but they will tell you, as they repeatedly have, everything they do in attack is built off their defence.

Do it the other way around and you become The Tigers.

What is the point of the bye. It's obviously not because teams lose players to SOO. It's obviously no to give players a rest.  SOO players still play the same number of games.

Re acting. A player who stays down and can't play the ball immediately is demonstrating the indicators requiring a HIA. HIA should be mandatory in these circumstances.