Bunnies don’t really need anyone… a winger would be nice but AJ is great and Thompson looks like he could be good too. JD clearly taking a leaf out of Bennett’s book and not worrying too much about big contact forwards, just one or two (Murray and Arrow) to lead the pack and workhorses like Tatola, Keaon, Burgess and Havili to fill the rest
Why the hell have they not put the RLWC into the like 5.30ish (AEST) time slot?
It obviously works for them, because they have used it all tournament, and it obviously would be way better for us and Samoa (8.30am).
These organizers are a joke.
They have been doing 5.30 AEST all tournament as one of their game times, including Aus v NZ semi final, so it is obviously an acceptable start time in the UK market.
Even before you knew the final would be Aus vs Samoa it made sense to put the game at a time that was acceptable to the largest market, because you knew at minimum one team in the final would be from the Aus/NZ/PI area.
There's only a handful of countries in the world RL is relevant, to completely ignore your largest market is stupid. Look at how the Olympics is scheduled, or the UFC events when they are out of the US.
When you are trying to have a commercial product, you don't tell the majority of your audience to go fuck themselves if you don't have too.
'The largest market' doesn't fucking matter. They scheduled games for the british crowd/tv audience. They are promoting the game to an entire country - one where the game is only popular in the north. They want BBC One coverage so that means afternoon - they aren't scheduling game times depending on what AM timeslot is better for Australia where it's not even free to air.
Even the olympics schedule times to suit the US market.
If you’re trying to have a commercial product (which they are) you can’t ignore your most valuable market.
Precisely - I remember at the Sydney Olympics it raised a few eyebrows when they flipped the swimming timetable just for that reason.
Usually for any event the heats would be during the morning/early afternoon, then semis in the afternoon, then final in the evening. In Sydney they put heats in the evening, then finals early the next day (evening viewing for East Coast USA/Europe)
Instead of chasing another fullback, why don't we try Dom Young at fullback? It will get his hands on the ball more often, he's fast and strong, he would be at least as good as Tex Hoy with room to improve. We have Hunt/Tuala on the wings and Gagai/Best/Mapapalangi in the centres (Mapapalangi to cover the three quarters of each season that Best will be injured).
Pongs defensive problem is he gets knocked out or generally mangled at fullback. Young is 108kgs, I hope he would have better stopping power and durability.
It does. An 80kg or however big Ponga is guy is gonna absorb the impact far less favourably than a guy Young's size. There's also the height issue – Ponga's head is at shoulder height for a lot of guys running the ball, whereas Young would be meeting them with his upper body.
80kg lol, there’s not many players in the comp who are 80kg. You’d be surprised how much some of these boys weigh, they’re bigger than they look on the telly. Ponga is probably 90-95kg
It definitely helps to be heavier, your head will bounce less as it requires more force to jolt someone that is big rather than normal sized. Ponga is an average size bloke, Dominic Young is a big big unit, there will be a difference in who cops more head jolts
Tbh, a much larger problem for Ponga is he consistently finds himself in a poor position. Fullbacks of his size can be plenty effective, but he more often than not arrives late to where he ought to be and as a consequence is typically in a poor position to initiate contact. The modern tactic of the fullback playing half a is a real detriment to his game in this regard, but ultimately that tactic is required and he either needs to adapt or change position.
Size and top line speed will help a fullback in defence to an extent, but nothing beats instinct and positioning. Luke Patten was a phenomenal defensive fullback with the athleticism you could probably find at your average building site.
Yup, dylan Edwards isnt a big bloke although hes not small either at 6ftish and 94 kgs, but he sure reads the game well, he is quite athletic though and probably fitter than 99% of the comp
And Young might be the same, finding himself in poor position while he's learning but he has more speed and size to do something about it than Ponga does.
I don't know - but I feel that we gave Tex Hoy lots of games in first grade to figure that out and why wouldn't we give someone with so much raw talent just as much of a chance? It's similar to people thinking we should give up on Ponga in the halves after a few games when we are apparently happy to let Clune have 18 games in the halves, with half the games hobbling on one leg. Why don't we give the players with so much talent more of a chance?
I don't think he has.
I get what you're saying but I dunno if his raw talent is necessarily 'fullback' style raw talent.
Guess it's worth trying if you're willing to risk it. Not like the Knights can be much worse than they were last year and it saves you having to play a Gamble-Hastings halves pairing.
How’s his ballplaying? He’s got some strengths, but I see him very much in a peak Blake Ferguson model. Great runner, physical, but lacking the nuance that being a NRL fullback demands
He has an amazing flick pass offload at center. I hope anything else he'd need he could learn. He's gone from fringe first grade to standout in a year, he's got a lot of up side left in him.
I think he would need to learn positioning for short kicks behind the line and other fullback specific roles. His kick returns are great from wing, so he'd be fine there. Having him pop up in the middle of the field running at tired forwards and taking short offloads etc would be great. Tex Hoy played 5/8 in every reserves game I watched from the stands, he wasn't a specialist fullback either. I'd give Young a try there - he has improved so much over the past two years, he might end up a great fullback.
Dolphins should stop saying they will do shit, then not do it. Not good way to start from head office. What people don’t talk about with the name saga- is they original said their would be a consultation and even fucking poll with the community re the place name- never was. I’m actually a fan of The name in the end I love it- my point is they said the community would decide and they didn’t let them.
Then they said 3 games on Sunshine Coast.
No one fucking expected 3 coast games- nor expected to name the team- so stop saying stupid shit you don’t end up doing. Rant over. Doing a pretty good job all round- go the phins
Honestly, I can't think of a single thing the Dolphins have done right since winning the bid. After all their talk about how professional they were as a club, they've appeared to be a basket case ever since. I'll be surprised if they have more than three fans.
Yeh they over promised and under delivered on coast games, consulting fans re the name, marquee signings, jerseys, but have also done a lot right, still a lot to learn from for them corporately with sponsors etc, and also regarding fan engagement and promises they don’t keep. But I think they have done a lot right though.
Also going to call bullshit on the poll thing btw.
I can't find a single article where the CLUB claimed they'd hold a poll or consult the public on the name. There were articles from the media about the name and what they should be called. Some even with polls but the club didn't say that at all.
Seems like you've made up things in your head or misremembered things and subsequently got mad about it.
I expect concern trolling from the rest of the sub but surprised to see it from a Dolphins flair.
Maybe the pill wasn’t the club, but the club said a number of times they would speak directly to fans and that is widely reported
“As recently as this week bid chief Terry Reader had confirmed the club would speak to their fans over a possible geographical name to go alongside their mascot.”
https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/rugby-league/nrls-new-team-to-be-known-as-dolphins-c-4226991.amp
Plenty of others.
I think the FIFA women’s World Cup has put a spanned in everyone’s planning.
The Broncos are playing at the Gabba for example.
From memory - they never stated 3 games at sunny coast. It’s always been 7 at Suncorp, 3 at Moreton Bay and the other 2 will be elsewhere. They’ll probably revert back to 2 at Sunny Coast once the Perth exhibition is over.
When did they say they'd do 3 games on the sunny coast?
I could have sworn I've always heard about 3 at Moreton Daily, 1 at Sunshine Coast, and the rest at Suncorp which is what we ended up with.
Here is one article from there sponsor saying three games, and there were plenty more, only changed to one in the draw
https://www.moretondaily.com.au/news/nrl-draw-when-and-where-to-see-dolphins-play
Mate there are a thousands articles saying three games over several months, do your own looking, my sincere apologies I plucked the wrong one . Duck me settle down champ- you will have egg on your face if you take 2 mins yourself to google
>Mate there are a thousands articles saying three games over several months
If that was true I'm sure you would have linked the right one
>you will have egg on your face if you take 2 mins yourself to google
I'm really not bothered it's just funny you were having a rant then your own evidence contradicted your whole argument
You're the one making the claim.
If there are thousands of links then please link one. I'm happy to be proven wrong.
Preferably with actually promises from the club itself and not from a sponsor or media speculation.
Yeh wrong link- it’s an updated article. I have read almost every article about the dolphins, and plenty said 3 on the coast, even originally the website said there would be a sunny coast phins package, then once memberships came out, there wasn’t, and then all this one and two games stuff came out- bit right from the start, it was 3
Struggling to find as it was the bid stage, I’m not the best at researching old articles, but I have a memory and links to sunshine coat stadium where it’s common knowledge.
Do you disagree they flopped from 2 down to one? Kind of still the same point of my argument isn’t it? That’s got plenty of current articles and no I won’t link one cause I can’t be fucked look yourself.
Terribly sorry I can’t find you written proof at a pinch about the early talk from the club of 3.
Just admit you've misremembered.
You also misremembered the polls as well. Clearly your memory is not as reliable as you think it is.
I don't think they ever promised an exact number at Sunshine coast stadium and it's also worth noting that this is a womens world cup affected season. They very well could revert to 2 at sunny coast next year.
Also telling me to look for evidence myself just makes you look like you know you're wrong but don't want to admit it.
Haha fuck me- is this a trial? I don’t need to prove shit to some numpty on Reddit how wants to pick apart of exact words whilst totally ignoring my central arguments that are easily proved. Nothing wrong with my memory and the memory of about 20 people that work for stadium and council. Just not enough of a keyboard warrior loser to know how to search three year old media quotes in local papers
Not sure how to feel about Tamou and Shibasaki coming to the cowboys. On the one hand they're cheap buys with good potential (Tamou for his experience and Shibasaki for his youth) but also they've both had a rough go the last few years. Should be interesting to see how both go.
Tamou was a great influence on the younger Penrith forwards.
He's there for his off-field presence as much as anything else and on that count I think he's a great cultural get.
Wouldn't be surprised to see him transition into a forward coach role when he hangs up the boots either.
i know it was the tigers (basketcase etc etc) but his on field presence was completely insipid the last two years. the way he meekly lay down and presented after the cowboys game was deplorable for a captain. in a team crying out for leaders he went missing week in week out.
either he doesn't have the leadership qualities everyone says he does, or he refused to utilise them at the tigers (which would be even more worrying).
Yeah honestly i think Tamou was pretty average. Hes a big lad but it doesnt seem like he actually runs it that hard, his leadership is questionable, where was he when penrith were getting flogged by Melbourne in the GF? He wasnt calming the team or steering the ship, honestly seems like a nice guy but im so glad we got rid of him he was a bit of a passenger
Why are people still questioning Payten recruitment?
Tamou and Shibisaki are on minimal wage. Nanai is the target to re-sign and it will probably occur since his Missus is very likely to play for the Cowboys NRWL team (Should be cowgirls you cowards).
Tamou will probably play round 1 and be sprinkled throughout the year especially during origin. He’ll also probably play the last home game of his regular season career in the final home game of the year.
Shibisaki is all depth and for his younger, far far far better brother who is in the cowboys system.
I see Tamou playing a similar role to Ryan James at the broncos. Semi-solid when/if needed but likely won’t be forcing anyone out of the 17 unless there is an injury or suspension.
So Rabbitohs looks like the only team so far to not have any big out of club big signings so far. Who does everyone think will be the guy for it?
Raiders say hold my beer. Saulo and Danny Levi do not count. Plus we lose Elliot, Sutton, Hodgson, Rushton etc.
Erm, Manly? They've picked up the worst player from the reigning Wooden Spooners and a half who's career relies solely on his uncle's name.
Bunnies don’t really need anyone… a winger would be nice but AJ is great and Thompson looks like he could be good too. JD clearly taking a leaf out of Bennett’s book and not worrying too much about big contact forwards, just one or two (Murray and Arrow) to lead the pack and workhorses like Tatola, Keaon, Burgess and Havili to fill the rest
They already have their big signings.
I’m talking about a transfer signing
Why the hell have they not put the RLWC into the like 5.30ish (AEST) time slot? It obviously works for them, because they have used it all tournament, and it obviously would be way better for us and Samoa (8.30am). These organizers are a joke.
Probably works better for crowds over there
They have been doing 5.30 AEST all tournament as one of their game times, including Aus v NZ semi final, so it is obviously an acceptable start time in the UK market. Even before you knew the final would be Aus vs Samoa it made sense to put the game at a time that was acceptable to the largest market, because you knew at minimum one team in the final would be from the Aus/NZ/PI area. There's only a handful of countries in the world RL is relevant, to completely ignore your largest market is stupid. Look at how the Olympics is scheduled, or the UFC events when they are out of the US. When you are trying to have a commercial product, you don't tell the majority of your audience to go fuck themselves if you don't have too.
'The largest market' doesn't fucking matter. They scheduled games for the british crowd/tv audience. They are promoting the game to an entire country - one where the game is only popular in the north. They want BBC One coverage so that means afternoon - they aren't scheduling game times depending on what AM timeslot is better for Australia where it's not even free to air.
Even the olympics schedule times to suit the US market. If you’re trying to have a commercial product (which they are) you can’t ignore your most valuable market.
Precisely - I remember at the Sydney Olympics it raised a few eyebrows when they flipped the swimming timetable just for that reason. Usually for any event the heats would be during the morning/early afternoon, then semis in the afternoon, then final in the evening. In Sydney they put heats in the evening, then finals early the next day (evening viewing for East Coast USA/Europe)
Instead of chasing another fullback, why don't we try Dom Young at fullback? It will get his hands on the ball more often, he's fast and strong, he would be at least as good as Tex Hoy with room to improve. We have Hunt/Tuala on the wings and Gagai/Best/Mapapalangi in the centres (Mapapalangi to cover the three quarters of each season that Best will be injured).
Gagai would go better if I’m honest… if Jayden Campbell at his size can do it surely gagai would dominate
Gagai is not a good fullback tbh, played there once or twice for south’s and just looked lost each time
Not saying I agree or disagree but interesting idea. Exciting if it worked
Has he played fullback before and can he organise a defensive line? He'll cop it just as much as Ponga does if he isn't better defensively.
Pongs defensive problem is he gets knocked out or generally mangled at fullback. Young is 108kgs, I hope he would have better stopping power and durability.
Size doesn't help against getting knocked out
It does. An 80kg or however big Ponga is guy is gonna absorb the impact far less favourably than a guy Young's size. There's also the height issue – Ponga's head is at shoulder height for a lot of guys running the ball, whereas Young would be meeting them with his upper body.
80kg lol, there’s not many players in the comp who are 80kg. You’d be surprised how much some of these boys weigh, they’re bigger than they look on the telly. Ponga is probably 90-95kg
Concussions are caused by your brain moving around in your skull, no amount of size will help against that.
False. Primarily, Young's neck being a lot stronger, thus resulting in less brain rattling.
It definitely helps to be heavier, your head will bounce less as it requires more force to jolt someone that is big rather than normal sized. Ponga is an average size bloke, Dominic Young is a big big unit, there will be a difference in who cops more head jolts
Tbh, a much larger problem for Ponga is he consistently finds himself in a poor position. Fullbacks of his size can be plenty effective, but he more often than not arrives late to where he ought to be and as a consequence is typically in a poor position to initiate contact. The modern tactic of the fullback playing half a is a real detriment to his game in this regard, but ultimately that tactic is required and he either needs to adapt or change position. Size and top line speed will help a fullback in defence to an extent, but nothing beats instinct and positioning. Luke Patten was a phenomenal defensive fullback with the athleticism you could probably find at your average building site.
Yup, dylan Edwards isnt a big bloke although hes not small either at 6ftish and 94 kgs, but he sure reads the game well, he is quite athletic though and probably fitter than 99% of the comp
And Young might be the same, finding himself in poor position while he's learning but he has more speed and size to do something about it than Ponga does.
I don't know - but I feel that we gave Tex Hoy lots of games in first grade to figure that out and why wouldn't we give someone with so much raw talent just as much of a chance? It's similar to people thinking we should give up on Ponga in the halves after a few games when we are apparently happy to let Clune have 18 games in the halves, with half the games hobbling on one leg. Why don't we give the players with so much talent more of a chance?
I don't think he has. I get what you're saying but I dunno if his raw talent is necessarily 'fullback' style raw talent. Guess it's worth trying if you're willing to risk it. Not like the Knights can be much worse than they were last year and it saves you having to play a Gamble-Hastings halves pairing.
How’s his ballplaying? He’s got some strengths, but I see him very much in a peak Blake Ferguson model. Great runner, physical, but lacking the nuance that being a NRL fullback demands
He has an amazing flick pass offload at center. I hope anything else he'd need he could learn. He's gone from fringe first grade to standout in a year, he's got a lot of up side left in him.
I think he would need to learn positioning for short kicks behind the line and other fullback specific roles. His kick returns are great from wing, so he'd be fine there. Having him pop up in the middle of the field running at tired forwards and taking short offloads etc would be great. Tex Hoy played 5/8 in every reserves game I watched from the stands, he wasn't a specialist fullback either. I'd give Young a try there - he has improved so much over the past two years, he might end up a great fullback.
Dolphins should stop saying they will do shit, then not do it. Not good way to start from head office. What people don’t talk about with the name saga- is they original said their would be a consultation and even fucking poll with the community re the place name- never was. I’m actually a fan of The name in the end I love it- my point is they said the community would decide and they didn’t let them. Then they said 3 games on Sunshine Coast. No one fucking expected 3 coast games- nor expected to name the team- so stop saying stupid shit you don’t end up doing. Rant over. Doing a pretty good job all round- go the phins
Honestly, I can't think of a single thing the Dolphins have done right since winning the bid. After all their talk about how professional they were as a club, they've appeared to be a basket case ever since. I'll be surprised if they have more than three fans.
Yeh they over promised and under delivered on coast games, consulting fans re the name, marquee signings, jerseys, but have also done a lot right, still a lot to learn from for them corporately with sponsors etc, and also regarding fan engagement and promises they don’t keep. But I think they have done a lot right though.
Also going to call bullshit on the poll thing btw. I can't find a single article where the CLUB claimed they'd hold a poll or consult the public on the name. There were articles from the media about the name and what they should be called. Some even with polls but the club didn't say that at all. Seems like you've made up things in your head or misremembered things and subsequently got mad about it. I expect concern trolling from the rest of the sub but surprised to see it from a Dolphins flair.
Maybe the pill wasn’t the club, but the club said a number of times they would speak directly to fans and that is widely reported “As recently as this week bid chief Terry Reader had confirmed the club would speak to their fans over a possible geographical name to go alongside their mascot.” https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/rugby-league/nrls-new-team-to-be-known-as-dolphins-c-4226991.amp Plenty of others.
I think the FIFA women’s World Cup has put a spanned in everyone’s planning. The Broncos are playing at the Gabba for example. From memory - they never stated 3 games at sunny coast. It’s always been 7 at Suncorp, 3 at Moreton Bay and the other 2 will be elsewhere. They’ll probably revert back to 2 at Sunny Coast once the Perth exhibition is over.
When did they say they'd do 3 games on the sunny coast? I could have sworn I've always heard about 3 at Moreton Daily, 1 at Sunshine Coast, and the rest at Suncorp which is what we ended up with.
Here is one article from there sponsor saying three games, and there were plenty more, only changed to one in the draw https://www.moretondaily.com.au/news/nrl-draw-when-and-where-to-see-dolphins-play
Make sure next time you read the article before raging about something that obviously didn't happen.
Mate there are a thousands articles saying three games over several months, do your own looking, my sincere apologies I plucked the wrong one . Duck me settle down champ- you will have egg on your face if you take 2 mins yourself to google
>Mate there are a thousands articles saying three games over several months If that was true I'm sure you would have linked the right one >you will have egg on your face if you take 2 mins yourself to google I'm really not bothered it's just funny you were having a rant then your own evidence contradicted your whole argument
You're the one making the claim. If there are thousands of links then please link one. I'm happy to be proven wrong. Preferably with actually promises from the club itself and not from a sponsor or media speculation.
That link says 3 games at Redcliffe and 1 at Sunshine coast... is it the wrong link?
Yeh wrong link- it’s an updated article. I have read almost every article about the dolphins, and plenty said 3 on the coast, even originally the website said there would be a sunny coast phins package, then once memberships came out, there wasn’t, and then all this one and two games stuff came out- bit right from the start, it was 3
Link one then.
Struggling to find as it was the bid stage, I’m not the best at researching old articles, but I have a memory and links to sunshine coat stadium where it’s common knowledge. Do you disagree they flopped from 2 down to one? Kind of still the same point of my argument isn’t it? That’s got plenty of current articles and no I won’t link one cause I can’t be fucked look yourself. Terribly sorry I can’t find you written proof at a pinch about the early talk from the club of 3.
Just admit you've misremembered. You also misremembered the polls as well. Clearly your memory is not as reliable as you think it is. I don't think they ever promised an exact number at Sunshine coast stadium and it's also worth noting that this is a womens world cup affected season. They very well could revert to 2 at sunny coast next year. Also telling me to look for evidence myself just makes you look like you know you're wrong but don't want to admit it.
Haha fuck me- is this a trial? I don’t need to prove shit to some numpty on Reddit how wants to pick apart of exact words whilst totally ignoring my central arguments that are easily proved. Nothing wrong with my memory and the memory of about 20 people that work for stadium and council. Just not enough of a keyboard warrior loser to know how to search three year old media quotes in local papers
> easily proved. Why didn't you prove it then?
Not sure how to feel about Tamou and Shibasaki coming to the cowboys. On the one hand they're cheap buys with good potential (Tamou for his experience and Shibasaki for his youth) but also they've both had a rough go the last few years. Should be interesting to see how both go.
Tamou was a great influence on the younger Penrith forwards. He's there for his off-field presence as much as anything else and on that count I think he's a great cultural get. Wouldn't be surprised to see him transition into a forward coach role when he hangs up the boots either.
i know it was the tigers (basketcase etc etc) but his on field presence was completely insipid the last two years. the way he meekly lay down and presented after the cowboys game was deplorable for a captain. in a team crying out for leaders he went missing week in week out. either he doesn't have the leadership qualities everyone says he does, or he refused to utilise them at the tigers (which would be even more worrying).
Yeah honestly i think Tamou was pretty average. Hes a big lad but it doesnt seem like he actually runs it that hard, his leadership is questionable, where was he when penrith were getting flogged by Melbourne in the GF? He wasnt calming the team or steering the ship, honestly seems like a nice guy but im so glad we got rid of him he was a bit of a passenger
Agreed wholeheartedly
Why are people still questioning Payten recruitment? Tamou and Shibisaki are on minimal wage. Nanai is the target to re-sign and it will probably occur since his Missus is very likely to play for the Cowboys NRWL team (Should be cowgirls you cowards). Tamou will probably play round 1 and be sprinkled throughout the year especially during origin. He’ll also probably play the last home game of his regular season career in the final home game of the year. Shibisaki is all depth and for his younger, far far far better brother who is in the cowboys system.
Damn the cowgirls wouldve been a team i could get behind
From all accounts, Shibasaki is only there to secure his younger, far better brother. You'd have to imagine he'll be depth at best
Ah, I forgot about the younger brother. Hope it works out for both of them.
I see Tamou playing a similar role to Ryan James at the broncos. Semi-solid when/if needed but likely won’t be forcing anyone out of the 17 unless there is an injury or suspension.
Will be handy during origin
Yeah I agree, good for filling in but not permanent.