Ok. Maybe I’m seeing it wrong. To me it looks like Hutch gos hard at the line and either passes or runs. Without the head movement or staggered run. Sexy dummy’s a lot, moves his head around and runs himself after almost stopping. He telegraphs his run before engaging. 

I could be wrong…

The experience thing keeps tripping me up though when I see it… 7exy has had 20 odd more 1st grade games starting at 7 than Hutch…

I can’t see any top 7s coming on the market any time soon.. though we have a couple of lads with great potential only 12-18 months away…

Hutch and Taffe both made a few blues but Taffe dropping a couple of bombs was not great. Hutch made  a break and looked dangerous...yes he did stuff up but largely trying too much. I thought Sexton was extremely ordinary when he came on. Virtually did nothing. Salmon again impresssed and Curran will be one of the bench players. I don't think Manfred Mann was  the Mighty Quinn last night. It was only a trial and I think some are trying to have two bob each way...defence was very good. on the line.except for Hutch error with first Cronulla try...really despise Tieg Wilton...almost Rorters quantity of non love

Anyway… it doesn’t matter what we think… all we know is when the Mock makes his pick we should go the opposite… 
We’re the Hawks playing a trial last night???…

Lol. Funny you say that....
Hawks played a trial earlier in the day -against the Bulldogs I might add. They lost, but got some runs in the legs.

I'll give my verdict of the NRL game in seperate post.

Geez there must be something in the air when I agree with nearly everything Steve says!

OK....here is my take from that second trial.....

Salmon has cemented his spot in the 13 role. He is brilliant in defence and links well in attack. Along with Preston, he's probably first pick in the team. Curran also good but probably gets used off the bench in the same way the Warriors used him.

I'm not fussed with the Hutch errors. Some were more indirect errors in terms of passing to players in unfavourable positions. If they are errors in attacking halves, it's no my that big a deal. He was at least creating things. 

Taaffe was ok I'm first half but obviously had the yips early in second half. Conditions for taking bombs weren't great and this should be taken into context although he himself should attack the ball more conservatively in such circumstances. He'll learn. 

The most pleasing thing to come out of both these trials is our ability to defend errors. When you have the ability to defend errors, you're more likely to create things without much fear of failure. 

On that note, I have to turn my attention to Burton. While he played ok and kicking was good, he still didn't create much with ball in hand. Hutchison still outplayed him. We actually looked the best around 20mins into that second half when Taaffe went into 2nd receiver (inside) of Burton and virtually pushed him wide into the centres..and guess what.....we looked better (surprise surprise).

The one observation I would make though is that we are still doing one out running off Reed Mahoney......I'm concerned Reed is making wrong decisions too much. At Parra he had dominant halves that demanded the ball. Here he isn't getting anything out of Burton and so I think we definitely need Hutch demanding the ball. 

I know it's abit of an elephant in the room but I have to single out Kikau who I thought was very quiet in attack. I'm convinced it's because of poor passing from Burton but will need to watch a replay to determine if it's solely poor inside passing or he himself is a shadow of his Penrith days. He was good in defence but we didn't pay over 800k for a defensive back rowers. We have Preston who is outshining him all of last year and already in this trial. And Preston has done it on both sides of the field. 

In any case, im pleased with the way we've played in these trials. I kinda wish we had a 3rd one just to allow Hutch and Taaffe to redeem themselves but I guess we'll have to wait for the Eels game.

Steve’s entitled to get it wrong every now and then…

My other criticism of our roster is that while we have versatility in many positions, our players are under pressure and trying to prove themselves in these games which has resulted in uncharacteristic errors. 

They are literally watching over their shoulders and after making an error, they are trying to make amends by doing something else risky. 

I'm actually impressed that Xerri hasn't fallen into this trap. He has played his role in the centres without over playing his hand. 

Although he and Hutch shot out of the line too early for that first try which exposed the fatigued Poasa and created the yawning gap, they will learn, but so should CC who will need to get better at identifying fatigue and time his interchanges better.

Gee mate...I thought you'd say you are amazed Marki got it right!  Was it mentioned why Kiraz was not playing trials?

Apologies mate… but that couldn’t possibly be the case… 😂

I think Kiraz has a quad issue…

either theres competition for spots, which is a good thing, or not which ain’t so good… it says plenty about a player in how they respond to  that pressure… ideally they put any errors behind them and go back to the plan… 

I reckon the plan was for Hutch to come off at 45-50 mins  but CC gave him additional time after the less than ideal start…

Xerri has been excellent…

This is the issue with your criticism of Burto. Unlike Hutch he was fantastic in defence. Unlike Hurch he put in a perfect kick almost every time. Unlike Hutch he set up Fox with his great kicking game. Unlike Hutch he threatened the line every time he ran the ball. 

Make the big end of season games and there is plenty of pressure.

I think an older guy like Hutch can be more immune to pressure and a young guy like Sexton might benefit from more time.

Too many young halves are thrown to the Wolves too early. When a guy is ready pressure isn't a problem.

Conditions and the line speed of the opposition all contribute..

That is the only problem with our game based on ball movement, it is hard to do it on a wet slippery night.

To win in the wet a smaller side needs to defend well and kick well.

I agree on the coach spotting fatigued players, team mates should also work together. But the guys that rush up are fit and enthusiastic exactly what we want. The bigger guys take a few weeks to get match fit.

Confidence is a great thing it makes players patient, proactive and focused, it can't be faked and it isn't a slogan. Winning teams have confidence and that helps them win.

When a side doesn't have confidence they need to build it. Foxy, Critter, Xerri, Kicks and Presto seem confident to me and that helps others become more confident.

In saying that I’m annoyed as much as anybody that Burto isn’t setting up his outside men and demanding the ball enough. But he will learn more this year and by years end will have more line break and/or try assists than any other player in the comp. 

I would not single out any player as having a poor game in the trial.

The closest was when Taafffe dropped a very hard catch, then dropped a very easy catch then seemed to misjudged a ball near the sideline.

I am expecting an unchanged spine for round 1. The forwards and backs were generally good. 

What we need to improve is lots of little things, mostly crisper ball movement, fewer long passes, catching kicks.

Hutch and Sexton need to work on their kicking game, Burto's kicks were excellent.

Defence good and Hutch did a lot of good work in defence.

I hope the coach points out the positives and negatives, a few negatives, but more positives and if we have get a chance to sign a big front rower we should take it.

If you compare the 2, Burton had an overall better game in this one.

But it was based on one of his better kicking games, and relied on Hutch having a poor game. 

Hutch outplayed him in passing, running and general direction around the middle of the park.

Burton plays well 1 in every 6 games. When I say well, I mean a game we expect him to have or exceed our expectations. For the other 5 he is well below his pay packet and often outshined by less recognised players.

Those figures are badly distorted.
Burton looks like having high try assists coz he has been the main focal point of our attack. Don't be surprised if his figures drop this year as we have other players who can create things. 

Compare it to Eels or Panthers etc who share their try assists between Moses, Brown, Gutho or Cleary, Luai, Edwards etc. 

Having Flanno and Perham last year meant all our creative plays were mainly involving Burton.

There’s no figures there…

Maybe his stats go up this year cos we have players who can finish things instead of balls it up…

Id reckon Burtos job was likely more difficult last year as the D only had one bloke on which to focus… He also played behind a badly beaten pack each week unlike the players you mention…

Could go either way.
The main goal would be to increase our try assists collectively (which would mean more points  scored and ultimately more wins), rather than have 1 guy at the top of the NRL stat tree but playing in a bottom 4 ladder club.....

We don't really care about stat's as long as the team is winning / improving.

The coach picks want he thinks is the best 17 each week..

So far IMO CC mostly gets it right.

From what I have seen Hutch and Burto both deserve their positions.

Sexton can take Hutch's position if he does the following. 

1. Improve his defence.
2. Cut down the unforced errors.
3. Just dial his game back a bit  but remain heavily involved. 

I have little doubt that Sexton is more talented and that he is young enough to learn. Mostly what he needs is more patience and composure.  Pull out the big play when we need it.

Taaffe probably just needs more time playing fullback at NRL level and more confidence. Like Sexton I think the talent and raw ingredients are there and he is doing a lot right.

When players make fewer mistakes, we will start noticing what they do right.

Ultimately CC and I both reserve the right to change our opinion and we might see the spine differently by round 10.

Passing the ball with no result is useless. Hutch certainly did a lot of that. Made a couple of breaks and passed it to nobody. Kicking game was non existent. Passing game was useless. So no he did not outplay Burton in passin, running or general direction. 

Again the bias. And again the stupidity. 

Maybe even look at the Warriors try assists for more confirmation that one player can be the soul point of attack. 

Plenty of other teams have a focal point of attack. Clearly Burto having 16 try assists and being the 13th best overall in Try Assists point to the fact in a bad year he still is our most important player. And should be the main point of attack 

Yeah it could go either way…
Stats are not the goal… yeah sure there’d be some ‘I want to average 120m a game’ there’s even one players that play and keep an eye on SuperCoach etc…
But stats are not the ultimate goal… they are however the outcome… which u choose to call distorted for some but a fair indicator for others….

Your Burto derangement syndrome is there for all to see…

Round 10 too late for me this year.. even I am growing impatient… 

Steve… suggesting it’s unlikely Mick is the Mock… unless it’s one of those TK people with 12 accounts…

Micko, those stats are horribly distorted… 😂

I love the Mock… I love my missus… I’m just not sure who is never wrong less…

Hopefully he gets a little more space this year behind a better pack and with some class outside him more regularly, and a right right side that will hopefully draw a little more attention…