Gus isn't too worried. Thought that the firsr half was close and Sharks are a top 4 team,
I agree that the try saver on Averillo was good.
Not sold on Haze at fullback or Flanno at half.
The best kicker at the club is Hayward, Followed by Burto, Reed and Grub not sure about Rajab.
Karl is an unknkwn quantity, and Hayward. Is too young.
I  would probably replace Flanno with Grub, at least we would be more unpredictable.
Gus said that the side needs more time together.
We need to find our long term spine, the fullback is only coming next season but we have some good options.
It is only one gzne guys like Burto and Foxy will benefit from the run.
Grub isn't the long germ 7, neither is Flanno, but it is the coach's call.

Rajab and Hayward are not top 30, they can only play NRL after round 10.
Karl is top 30, but so far hasn't played in any trials.
All 3 likely to play reserve grade for at least the first 2-3 weeks.
BBO has a long term injury.
Flano and Grub are the only halfback options for round 1, but as the season progesses we will have more options.
Flanno is normally ok in defence, but missed a few tackles against the Sharks.
Even against Canberra, Flanno threw one good pass for a try assist, otherwise most of our plays came off Lou.

Marki, you are looking too deeply into the trials matches. They are a run to
a) blow the cobwebs out
b) get match fitness into the body
c) let Ciraldo see what he had to work with.
Admittedly we didn't fair that well but CC has a fortnight to come with some solutions.

That’s how I see it too. But it is concerning that we didn’t offer anything in attack again. Hopefully that changes in round one. 

We definitely need  TPJ firing. I know there  is a lot of doubt  about him but we need a big  metre eater in the middle with maybe Pele used when TPJ rested. Fullback needs a rethink, although  it looks like CC has Burns second in the pecking order. Halfback, I don't  see options at this stage unfortunately, we need someone to come forward and demand selection over the first half of the  season. 
I don't  know if it's the late start but our Australian  WC reps look way off the pace.

Burto and Fox will be better for the run.

Put TPJ in the side and Kicks playing more minutes, we have a lot more go forward and attack.

I don't know if Credence T is still at the club, but as far as I know know he didn't feature in trials.

Critter will walk into fullback in 2024 and long term Papalii seems to me like an elite prospect.

Fullback and halfnack CC just needs to go with the best option each week. I don't mind a player getting 1-2 chances too many, but I don't want to see players getting 4-5 chances too many. If a player who is dropped fires in reserve grade 2-3 weeks in a row they deserve another chance.

Halfback we don't have many options rounds 1-10. Might be better to give Flanno or Grub rounds 1-3 to show what they can do. Dud 3 weeks in a row, then work on the problem in reserve grade.

I think Creedence is at Manly.

I know that the score of 36-16 indicates a dominant scoreline and we really were outplayed, but the avalanche of imaginary 6 again ruck infringements, the Averillo no try, the 40/20 that was scuttled by micro millimetres may have altered the game significantly.  I really hope those latter two instances are recorded against the Sharks "get out of gaol free cards" allottment.

TPJ out till round 4

Of course… Bring on Pele!!!…

Those last two were a result of pretty specials efforts by the fullback…

Sharks have some good players.

IMO off the bench.

On reflection there were issues with our right side in attack and defence.

So I am now inclined to go.
7. Reynolds.
1. Averillo 
3. Burns ( with Skelton next shot)

14. Nu-Brown I thought that he added a lot, and it is good to have a bench utility.

Perham can practice fullback in reserve grade, Flanno can practice half back.

Davey better than Waddell, Preston best of the 3. 

No other odvious candidate for prop, so I would probably go with Topine.

I will be interesting to see what side CC names, does he back his judgement or swap the side around. I would swap, but I expect him to stick.

Perhaps we should move RFM to the middle, start Preston and have Davey on the bench?

RFM might lack a bit of speed and mobility in defense?

I think the score reflected the dominance.
Sharks simply created and executed better attacking and point scoring plays.

We got ourselves in position but lack of skill in the halves cost us the ability to put on points. 

Halves need to lift their game, especially the one earning the big bucks....

Burton did a couple of good kicks, we didn't score a try off a kick, but those 2 were close.

Flanagan didn't manage a line-break, a line-break assist, try assist this game or a good kick that I can remember.

Flanagan ran the ball too much, Burton too little.

We looked most dangerous when Reed got involved.

Dropped ball was a issue, that probably cost us more than anything lots of players were guilty of that.

Sharks also defend and attack very well.

We look better than last season, but still behind the top sides by some margin.

I am inclined to agree with Gus, the first half was the serious part of the game, we conceded 2 tries to well executed kicks. Second half the teams were tired,  a lot of the second string players came on.

However, we did score our 2 second half tries when Flanagan went off, the attack looked more organized and energetic with Reynolds at halfback.

I know they were brilliant efforts by Cronulla ,but still very fortunate to have them come off.

It looks like the sharks will be hard to best this season.

Just on the cricket and I have 3 things to say...

1) its clear as day that the Aussie batsmen were instructed by inner sanctum (coaches, captain, etc) to sweep, and they did. Why the batsmen haven't come out to defend themselves and voice it is beyond me. 

2) Australia's timid approach to enforcing follow ons has led the team to a false sense of security and allowed out of form players to stay in the team. By not killing off games early and not batting twice, AUS has forgotten how to strategise a Test match that will end before day 5. Their ability to adjust to a short Test match was on full view. They came out with a strategy, it was found out, they didn't adjust and make changes and were bundled for 115. There was no draw or weather option to save them. This is both a coaching, captain and individual problem.

3) Doctoring pitches. At what point will the ICC step in and do something about pitches that are either batter friendly or bowler friendly? Everyone wants a contest between bat and ball but it seems India has realised they have a huge edge with spin bowler friendly wickets against the Aussies and so they curate the accordingly. It seems to have less if an impact against other nations.

Yeah I expect them to do well. Blind Freddy could see that Hynes was a special player with him excelling in the few opportunities he got at Storm.

But it's the rise of other players that has also been influential. Moylan has been great and finally feels comfortable in this team. Their backs are very strong and have points in them. 

They lack abit in forwards but the rest of team makes up for it. 

wouldn’t surprise me. In fact I’d bet Gus would be secretly happy with a little reality check to focus minds that might have been a little ahead of themselves, which I think there was.

Perham just about played himself out of the team, and a lot of coaches would go that way. But I doubt that CC having made the decision a long time ago to give him the shot is gonna knee jerk this early.

Alomati is progressing, that was a plus.

But we played bad. But don’t wet yourself, because we know they can play better, much better, and they already did.

In fact, like Gus, I think it was a good thing. Everyone needed a reality check. We know how good they can be, now they know how bad they can be.

Yes a timely reality check.
What we've seen in the build up to the season is mostly razzmatazz, The first two episodes of the kennel being a prime example. Now to the football.

What the trials indicated to me is that the new recruits will not automatically thrust us into a top 8 position. I think that the players we have are capable but they will have to work hard (and on a regular basis) if they want to participate beyond round 26 (or however many regular season games we are having this year).

Still I don't think that there is any reason to panic.

On fitness we looked fairly fit in both trials. Canberra didn't throw much at us trial 1 but we handled it in a canter.
Against the Sharks, the ball got slippery we dropped a lot of ball, Sharks had a good run of possession. RFM and our middle fowards had a solid work out. Overall- fitter than previous seasons.

Defence - again IMO better than previous seasons. The issues we had were Perham cleaning up kicks and the right edge of Flanno, RFM and Averillo. RFM was too slow to cover from the inside, Flanno hang back and Averillo went up.
CC says that everyone has  a job to do in defence, someone, perhaps more than 1 wasn't on the right page.
Otherwise we defended fairly well especially in the middle.

Attack - Marhoney, Kicks, Nu-Brown, Grub, Alamotti and Skelton add something,  Averillo looks fast and sharp. Generally our ball movement is more fluid and we have more variety.
When the ball got slippery Flanno was standing too far from Lou, asking the dummy-half to throw the ball a long way.
Perham is also very clunky in attack. Still overall the team is better than previous seasons.

We don't want to be in the business of replacing the coach every season, CC deserves a fair shot and rebuilding might take more than 1 season.

Is Kiraz as slow as Stonestreet, I think it was, made him look?
I wonder is Stonestreet related to the Newtown hooker?

Unfortunately I don't think they do (know how bad they can be).

They actually tried.....well most of them did. Some too much (Reed, Flanno). Others didn't (WC returning players). 

Not end of the world but it was just another game that had stakes attached to it and couldn't rise for the occasion. It's easy to dismiss it as just another trial but it was also the opportunity for the club to win something for the long suffering fans.

I know the end goal is to try and win a premiership but let's face it.... we are a good 3-5 years from that and this was a chance to win something.

EPL teams still want the League Cup and Carabao cup in their cupboards. 

Let's hope the ones that underperformed step up when it counts..I dony want to hear "they are underdone" as an excuse

At this stage I'm not too worried, I would need to watch it again.
Kiraz was fast enough last season. (I say fast, rather than agile, quick off the mark, and able to turn on a dime).
I think Kiraz came off soon after, he was probably gassed.
A lot was going wrong with the defence in inside him.
Averilo is on the right page IMO becuase jambing in and hitting suits Kiraz.
I doubt that backing off and sliding suits Kiraz, if we are going to use that style put Averillo on the wing.

Sorting out this kind of issue is what CC is apparently good at.

In the first half Averillo defended really well, was a bit physical and made good decisions.
I see him as similar to Ben Barba and I would never have Barba defending in the centres, but Averillo is big enough to adapt.
Defending in the centres or jambing in from the wing suits Kiraz.

I think people wanting to see Kiraz at fullback, might end the first time he plays fullback. Test this out with some drills at training, have him turn and case some grubber kicks into the in goal, pick them up and get back into the field of play. Have Averillo stand 5 metres in front of him and chase, vary where the grubbers are going.

There was NOTHING attached to it. Neither team we’re trying to win the “cup” simply because to win it you had to play in a manner that was outside of the game you’re trying to perfect. For either Sharks or us to win it would’ve required doing offloads we weren’t in a position to do, the sort of thing you try and cut out of your game.

Note Sharks didn’t try to win it when they had everything else but the offloads. They just wanted to perfect their game.

Sure $100k’s nice but it was always the sort of “comp” that falls in the lap of the winner. It’s not won, it’s just something that happens if you win your games and things go your way.

Do you really want us or any other team to target that thing next year? Practise for it? Design a game plan for it?

My first impression when I saw the rules is that it might lure teams into bad habits.

Often sides that win both trails handsomely get flogged round 1. Or side that loses both trails wins round 1.

Rating our opponents- Sharks are the real deal, I expect them to win round 1. Canberra are very likely to repeat their trial form round 1, but could supprise, and it would not be the first time.

For us Manly looked very good, but defence was their weak link in 2022, in the game I saw it wasn't really tested. Good thing for us is they will start short priced favorites for round 1. Gus is probably even happier about that than he is about our squad getting a reality check.

The hole we are apparently in is nowhere near as deep as the hole Canberra is in, if they can surprise, so can we.

I don't think anyone was trying to win the "nothing cup". You just have to look at them teams selected. They were just trials. 100K prize money.. about 1% of the salary cap or 25% of a mid range player's contract.