Surely he is injured or something?
I cant imagine Bennett outbid us for Averillo only to not play him in the top 17....

He played some bloke called Bostock ahead of him FFS. I would think either Avo is injured or has illness or on personal leave or came back to training well unfit.

I find it hard to believe he was dropped in favour of this Bostock bloke

Ate you sure?
Bennett would come in and likely drop Burton from round 1. 

We cant have that now can we? 

Its simple..
We made way too many mistakes and gave way too many penalties and 6 agains, against a top 4 team that had a point to prove after last year and with a dangerous spine.

Im sure we can cut out the mistakes and ill discipline.
But im concerned our attack and our inability to score points will cost us too many games. We need to routinely score 4-5 tries per game. 

Other than from mistakes or piggy back penalties, we dont seem to be able to advance the ball into attacking territory. 

Gus was happy with the defence but said that we didn't get much opportunity to show what we can do in attack.

Discounting that last Parra try it was only 3 try's to 2.

It wasn't just a lack off ball, also field position energy and confidence. 

Gus said that we tried to play more conservatively and that resulted in more errors.

That is why Gus and CC are praising the defensive effort, they are happy with it, but also want to boost confidence.

Gus thought that the reserve grade game was rubbish, we are not going to get many team changes. 

If the reserve graders want to play NRL they need to improve the defence, guys that are doing the job, need to get others on board.

Yeah well Townsend will start next season at 34 and Bennett at 75 so it’s good to see you’re taking a long term view, not just knee-jerking like the kids over at The Kennel…
….
…. Anyway, there’s a chance O’Neil will play some NRL this year, a good chance too, he’s 20 so why not if he goes good in Reggies. Woods will probably play some NRL next year. Long term… thinking like you… both would be pencilled in to play full time NRL by ‘26 at the latest, maybe sooner if they live to the potential most judges have of them, including both John’s brothers and Cooper Cronk and some other know nothing ex footballers.

By ‘26 Townsend will be 35 and Bennett 76 - the future of our club…

Micko the SC shark has flown out of the gates and is leading our league… well done mate…

IMO Hutch was good and wasn't really the problem.  Played the leading role in the 2 tries that we scored.  One mix up where he threw a pass into Salmon and is kicking game has always been average at  best. A good partner for Sexton or O’Neil in the halves and adaptable to playing other positions.

The dropped ball in the tackle from Taaffee at the start cost us a lot, normally a side doesn't pay that big a price for a single error and normally the opposition doesn't complete at 100% deep into the game. 

When Parra finally made a couple of errors, we scored a couple of try's but by that time we're out of time and energy.

I would not move Salmon to the  centres again next time try Mann. 

This side deserves to be judged by what they achieve, not by previous seasons. 

There is a lot that we can improve and some players need to improve to keep their current role, but it wasn't a total train wreck. 

The guy who has surprised me the most so far is Mann. Dman is right he is a far better player than I thought he would be.

Hutch also exceeding my expectations a fair bit.

Also Faamausili though I expect that it will be a long grind to get his minutes up.

Curran and Critter pretty much what I expected, though we need to get Critter into the game.

Xerri kind of around what I expected. Salmon about what I expected. 

I had high hopes for Taaffe the raw ingredients still seem to be there.

I hope to be proven wrong on Tetevano and young Suluka-Fifita.

Hughes, Patolo, Faamausili and Suluka-Fifita are young and at least 2-3  seasons away from peak form. 

So I hope that the club keeps proving me wrong. Overall very good recruitment, much better depth. 

Skelton, Perham and Hopoi need to improve their defence in reserve grade.

Lots of points leaked down that edge.

I thought centre would suit Perham.

IMO Xerri to  replace Fox, Skeleton needs to improve his defence.

But I think Hopoi might be a young middle playing on an edge, and he can only improve.

Beginners luck mate. See how I go in round two. Thanks for having me. 

I was talking about getting both this year. Townsend for two years and LoLo for his contract. Bennett can coach till he is a hundred and will most likely do better than our current coach. I still am playing the long game because both O’Neill and Woods have plenty of time. They would learn much more off Townsend and Bennett than Hutchinson and Ciraldo. In saying that I’m happy with Bennett as coaching director. It’s more important to get Townsend. 

Bennett will he coaching us from a nursing home.

Not even a 0.00001% chance of getting Townsend for this season.

No real evidence that halfback and coach where the issue against the Eels.

Not many of the dropped balls and penalties were by Hutch. 

We are not coached to drop the ball and concede penalties, our defence mostly handled thier attack very well.

One try off a good kick, one poor defensive decisions after they had a lot of ball. Off a skilful play by a bigger forward pack.  One off an error late in the game with tired players playing out of position. 

We took our limited opportunities well, a bit unlucky that Willo didn't stick a difficult intercept or get more on a kick. Also lucky that a try for them after a strip was pulled back.

When I first started following the Dogs we were not a fancied side and needed to graft for wins. But we built from there.

What turned the club into a mess was inpatient fans, board members and management chasing quick fixes that simply created bigger problems. 

Should we sack the coach after every loss?

Should Des and Bennett be sacked after their round 1 losses?

Oh I’m sorry, I thought you were talking about NRL.

I don’t dabble in the SuperCoach comps myself.

Our forwards really set the schedule, currently 14th or below.
By the end of the season, perhaps 9th-12th, we might jag 8th this season, but we can only overachieve if others underachieve.
Optimistically 7th-10th next season.
4th - 6th in 2026, I would not play O’Neill week in week out until around the middle of 2025.

Our premiership window possibly starts in 2027 with O'Neil at halfback and we probably need to play semis twice in the prior 3 seasons to be a shot.

There is no possible short cut that does it faster IMO. 

If we overachieve before that or the timeline shifts forward that is good luck or a lot of hard work by the coaches and players 
.
With the current side, I can’t get a read on thrm, a wide range of results are possible. but going deep into the semis in 2024 would be very surprising and unexpected.

If we make the finals this year Ciro is a magician 

Probably for the best… it’s a gateway comp…

I am not expecting it, but stranger things have happened. 

Around 2-3 teams need to underperform or some of our players need to out perform 
.

The intensity, energy and commitment was there in our game from both sides for the full 80. Parra played very well especially for the first 60 mins. For us the fitness and effort was the best part of the game.

Hutch goes right a bit too often, he needs to move the ball to both sides. 

Teams are going to number up on where Hutch is,  we also need plays that don't involve him. .Mann looked good and looks like a guy who can throw a good pass.

I don't know if our defence was good or the Parra attack was ordinary. Getting off the bottom of the table starts with defence.

Wayne Bennett started in SC age 17, look what happened to him.

Forget Townsend.
I just wanna know when will Burton move into the centres outside Kikau so both players can improve.

Everyone can see the issue.

Mase was calling for Burton to run the ball more and that is spot on.

Just give him early ball off dummy-half or a link, he either runs or passes to Kicks that is all he needs to do.

I now think that the issue with Burto is confidence, the stint at 7 last season has backfired. Coaches just need to simplify his game,  get involved and run the ball.

With more confidence his kicking will also improve.

Hutch and hopefully Taaffe can pass both sides of the ruck. We need one of them swinging late to the left, and Burto needs to be able to play out the back to that guy.

Keep in mind Kicks barely played last season, it is a while since Burto has played with Critter, Hutch and Taaffe are new.

The  key to sorting out our attack is unscrambling Burto, just tell him that he is a running 5/8.

According to Mase Tetevano did a PCL in reserve grade. The club had high hopes for him and were going to put him in the NRL after a run or 2.

Parra had all the ball, but Reg played for 30 mins, and Farmer only managed 15. The  experienced props are not only better they can play longer minutes.  2-3 seasons for a young guy to learn, but Hughes seems like a quick learner and Patolo has a bit more stamina.

faamausili and Suluka-Fifita seem more like long term projects to me they may be great in 2-3 years time.

If all of this is true I am hoping that we can get Tetevano back. Sutton doesn’t have the size  but can play longer minutes, was obviously carrying injuries last season.

We found the Parra forwards in particular Reg and Junior hard to handle, if they keep up that form, they will be a handful for most teams. fittest I remember seeing both of them.

Gus is confident that we have some good young forwards in the system. Hard to identify a quick fix for this season assuming Tetevano is out for a while. Knight is disappointing the last thing our NRL side needs is another guy that loses the ball and gives away penalties. I hope he is finding his mojo in reserves.

Foxy 2-4 weeks.

I honestly think that pitting him in the centres will unlock him. He feels an inability to run the ball in the halves. I dont know if its the fact he is closer to the middle or his peripheral vision kicks in but he seems more likely to run the ball when he is playing very wide.

Put him the centres and solve the teama problems. If he whinges and wants out, negotiate a deal for him. 

The experiment is over

If he stays at 5/8, Taaffe at fullback is crucial.
Taaffe can ball play on both edges.
Currently we need Burto in the side for his kicking game, no other NRL ready half at the club has it.
I am not sure that he will whinge about moving to centre and he can still kick from there.
I don't expect major changes this week, we need to give this spine a few weeks.

Team named Tracey replacing Fox.
Tetevano named in reserve grade, Mase must have a good source of "inspiration" or Tetevano has made a miracle recovery 😀 

Burton played in the halves his entire junior career. He only move to the centres in first grade because he was too good to leave out of the Panthers side. 

With a smaller pack of forwards have 2 bigger halves helps. Hutch takes some yardage hitups like a backrower. Burto is also a big body fast with good footwork. Hutch is currently taking more runs than Burto, it should be the other way around.

Hutch must be being paid a bonus for being in the frame, or his mum must have complained that she never sees him on TV, The guy is everywhere, catching kicks,making tackles, taking runs, passing the ball, he is an energiser bunny.

If I was to nominate the guy in our side putting in the most effort in attack and defence Hutch is the guy.
.
Hutch lacks a bit of class kicking the ball, but at his best Burto is a good kicker far better than anyone at the club who can play regular NRL this season. 

The best part about Taaffe throwing the pass to the injured Fox is that he was in position to throw it, he pops up outside off a bit of footwork and speed that Hutch lacks and some passing ability that Burton lacks.

It is an unusual  mix but IMO it might work. Critter or Tracey at fullback, Sexton at half , Tracey or BBO at 5/8 might also work.

A higher priority is beefing up our pack, while our forwards are small, I wonder about having small halves a small side needs size where ever it can get it. 

Even if we decide to replace Taaffe, someone like Tracey or Wilson might be a better option, because they need to play a similar role.

At least this season I can see how the spine might work and how we eventually might have enough size in the forwards.

For Burto playing 5/8 with Hutch and Taaffe is probably close to the best chance he has of nailing that position. Playing with Townsend and Tedesco would be easier, but then he would wake up.

Will see how things pan out this week… but I’m still for Curran lock Manncrush 14… The Fish out…
Burto is 6 or out… so 6…  7exy is a must… 
TTAAFFEE is the 1… Critter is a centre…
Hopefully some offloads this week if we are not on the back foot all game…
Hutch is a grid player, and can’t kick… will not relieve any pressure for Burto if at 7 or 7exy if at 6…
Lou needs to pass from the ground more… but needs quick PTBs…
Forward minutes will be interesting this week… The Farmer needs more time… If not Shies has to start…

Bennet just as likely comes in says something like “did I fire 5 shots or six” and drives Burto to the Clive Churchill…
#Burtonderangementsyndrome….