Avo did play fullback in the lower grades.

With Duffty if he is going to play fullback, we need to improve his defence.

A lot of the problem is lsck or vision and game instincts, or lack of effort.

Ben Barba showed that when a guy makes an effort it counts.

St Merge tried hard to fix his game, in the end they were happy to let him go.

When a poor attacking team plays a poor defensive team, most of the time the poor attacking team wins, unless they constantly drop the ball.

Poor Old Stokes...thought he had Warner...better get a bit more block out on Ben...you will be there a long time. BTW...that wasn't even close...don't the umpires check for no balls anymore..it was a good 2' overstep perhaps about 5 cm if anyone is so inclined.

You are not wrong, but we are not at the same level of St George.
Saints felt they had a team that could challenge for a top 8 spot and to be fair, if it weren't for the BBQ, they may have snuck in.
On that note, they could identify deficiencies in certain key positions and make recruitment or retention decisions accordingly.

We on the other hand are starting from the bottom and may have to be more tolerant with Dufty as he offers something we didnt have before, and that is more potent attack.

We cant just throw in a guy at fullback because is safer than Dufty. We can only do that if our attack is otherwise firing. But with no decent hooker in 2022 and no real halfback and Burton still new, i feel alot of our attack will in fact rely on Dufty injecting himself when nothing is happening from the halves.

Fixing Dufty's defence may have to be a work in progress. What 2022 will teach us is how important it is to this team that our fullback is prominent in attack.

It seems it took us 9 years since Barba left in 2013 to figure this out.

Dufty's defensive efforts have been laughable at times. He needs to be prepared to put his body on the line and take the man with the ball if he is going to keep his spot in 1st grade. It can be done because he has the speed and the talent. I'm sure he can improve in that area with the right coaching and once he is confident he will improve in leaps and bounds, just like Barba did in 2012.

Huh? We’ve been a poor attacking team for years… as Gus said, we’ve won 5 games out of 30+ games 

Have you been on the wacky tabacky today?

I judging by the line up for next years.

TPJ, Burton, the Fox, Duffty all great attackers...

And my supplier Mr D is raising prices, he said something about a Mr Murphy.

Last time we were a poor attacking team with good defence was in the #DesBall era.

Towards the end of that the defence started to drop off.

All the top sides can attack, but they can also defend.

And Bellamy, Robinson, Ryan, and Bennett are coaches who put a lot of empasis on defence.

Glossip and  Sheens are  2 coaches with a primary focus on attack.

What I am saying is if Duffty is a complete turnstile, he will concede more tries thsn he sets up.

Avo is far from a passenger at fullback, it might be his best position.

Duffty ticks all the boxes in attack, in defence I want to at least see effort and some clue about positioning.

Barba showed how to do it, just lock up the ball in the tackle and hang on.

So far Man of the Match for Australia is a tie Cummins and Head with Joe Burns a close third.

I still am not 100% convinced that there is not a thought of an alternate plan with Dufty...several times last year he went right in close on the final play, drew the defence and threw a wonderful pass to the winger who scored...classic half back play. Think Gould may have even said so in commentary. You never know, he may be the buy of the year.

I'm very happy with the West Ham manager.

Dead rubber we don't need a win, A few injuries to key players.
I was hoping to see a few young players make their debut.
5 talented young players in the side, 4 making debuts, 4 more young / fringe players on the bench.
The U23s are top of the table and win most games in style. 

I'll get Moyes to ring Baz with a few tips.

This is where our opinions on how to resurrect a team differs...
To me, rugby league is an attacking game. Especially modern day rugby league. It is also a game of managing player form, combinations, and getting players "up" for gameday.
The psychological aspects of player form, combos, personalities etc is up to the head coach and his coaching staff.

The technical side comes from the type of gamestyle you play and the players you have or recruit.

If you are a mid or bottom table team, it is much easier to move up the table by playing an attacking brand. 
If you are top 8 or top 4 team, you need a balance between attack and defence, but most of all, you need versatility.

Our team for 2022 and even 2023 seems to get the balance back between attack and defence - at least on paper.
What is unknown is the versatility of the team to play under varying conditions or ref interpretations and whether the coaching staff can handle the psychological aspects of the group.

On paper, you would think we are a good chance of top 8. But we can easily be a bottom 4 team again.

With Barrett as head coach, our focus will at least be on better attack and i think your best form of defence in the modern game is to attack.

The time to focus of defence is if you are inside the top 4 and making a realistic go at winning the premiership

I am expecting our attack in 2022 to be very good..

I agree that it needed improvement, but our defence in 2021 wasn't flash either.

I have got confidence in Baz as an attacking coach.

I have got confidence in Bellamy and Robinson as defensive coaches.

I am a bjg fan of the Fox, but he isn't known for defence.

Last season most games our only real attacking threat was Averillo, we had undersized or unfit forwards, poor hooker options and some slow backs.

Meaney showed in the last gsme what I always suspected, he should have been fullback for the last 3 seasons.

I am optimistic Cook will make a difference in defence. Katoa was a turnstile who took a lot of dumb options in attack.I'm overjoyed to see the end of Napa and Katoa.

The folly of the suggestion that Australia declare at 250 is laid bare for all to see.

Beat me to it by 10 minutes!!!...

The pitch has flattened.

I am worried that the Goat has lost his mojo.

Our fielding looked a bit rushy, lots of dives near the ball, not a lot of great stops.

Green did look better, he needs a breakthrough game where he does something with bat and ball.

Good effort from the poms to bounce back, danger game for us, we need to bat well 2nd innings regardless of what we are chasing.

All 3 results are possible.

I'm happy with Cummo's captaincy so far.

You are coming hard at the Mock...

We need to improve ridiculously well in both attack and defence. The experience of both TPJ and Fox should help a lot. Defence is all about combinations and good talk. Helps having a fullback who never shuts up behind the line. 

At least it worked.

Must just be the bits I'm watching, he looked ordinary in them.

At least we have a few options for the spine positions.

The Fox has played in the halves, that is why I think he may be able to play fullback.

Duffty doesn't inspire much confidence in defence, but a change of clubs might help.

I also think Wakeham and BBO are options in the halves or for 14.

When it comes down to it, Baz, Gus, Furner and  co know more about footy than I do, so mostly i'm trusting that the paid fulltime professionals can do the job. 

I've go a niggling doubt stemming from our 2021 defence, but I hope that was just a side down on confidence.

Is Santa holding you all hostage at the north pole?

How come I'm not on the very naughty list?

Prob best I don't discuss this as I am a Santa denier...

You should have pretended, then you parents would have given you presents.... all kids do it.

What!
You cant say that!
Zef will probably hope you die for being a denier....

Rubbish!
Next you'll tell me the tooth fairy is fake too....

That dude is loaded, but never seems to have notes, we should have been able to set a reserve price for our teeth, or have an auction.

Was it Marki who predicted a long career for Cotric at the Dogs, was it me, or both of us?

Released from his contract.

Decent coin freed up to front load a couple of stars... Or perhaps a few deck chairs to shuffle across clubs that will see a hooker get here early...

Hodgson to Parra and Mahoney to us. Would be happy with that. 

Id be surprised if it were me.
I think of players as just tools to get the job done.
Sometimes they are just tools.