General A shame to see him go, but really...

[-Dr.J-_old]

... It's been good to see some consistency in performances and further concentration on set completion lately. It's been a main component to our 4 wins in a row, and in a team with the brilliant solo abilities of Toopi and Faumuina you can try but often set completion and consistency leading to pressure are rarely achieved.

So it's a different tack for the Warriors, and I believe it's a solid one.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

Maybe so, but you can't let one player have a few chances and just 'hope' he fixes himself.

 

[Jesbass_old]

Maybe so, but you can't let one player have a few chances and just 'hope' he fixes himself.

I agree. I wonder just how much help he was given, (or, at least, offered), as he has been struggling with this issue for a number of years now.

 

[fitzy_old]

I know from personal experience how tough it is to battle against alcohol. The first thing you have to do is admit you have a problem. This is not easy, no matter how much help you have been offered. If you think you don't have a problem, what do you need help for??

At the end of the day a person can only be helped if they are prepared to help themselves. How do you think the rest of the team would have felt at the Awen benefit

 

[danco_old]

its good for the team he,s going and I believe it will turn his career around.

 

[-Dr.J-_old]

Maybe so, but you can't let one player have a few chances and just 'hope' he fixes himself.

What exactly are you answering to in what you said? Or just drifting off on a tangent?

 

[warriors4life_old]

Seems like the Warriors are trying to create a new gameplan in their team, no more brain explosion players like Toopi and Faumuina anymore. These players could be the best on their day but consistency is the key in the NRL, we need to consistently perform week in and week out to win games like we have in the past 4 weeks and players like Faumuina and Toopi do not have this element to their game.

 

[Jesbass_old]

I know from personal experience how tough it is to battle against alcohol. The first thing you have to do is admit you have a problem. This is not easy, no matter how much help you have been offered. If you think you don't have a problem, what do you need help for??

At the end of the day a person can only be helped if they are prepared to help themselves. How do you think the rest of the team would have felt at the Awen benefit

That definitely seems to be the main problem, if Wayne Scurrah's sound bite is anything to go by.

 

[teariki_old]

Seems like the Warriors are trying to create a new gameplan in their team, no more brain explosion players like Toopi and Faumuina anymore. These players could be the best on their day but consistency is the key in the NRL, we need to consistently perform week in and week out to win games like we have in the past 4 weeks and players like Faumuina and Toopi do not have this element to their game.

Losing Webb, Faumuina and Toopi does mean the team has lost a huge amount of attacking ability. It could take a long while to develop that sort of strike power. Without Faumuina, the Warrior's forward pack looks rather "stodgy", very little ball-playing ability especially in the back row. Webb is another big loss; he has such great ability to support attacking moves and position his attacking lines.

 

[warriors4life_old]

Seems like the Warriors are trying to create a new gameplan in their team, no more brain explosion players like Toopi and Faumuina anymore. These players could be the best on their day but consistency is the key in the NRL, we need to consistently perform week in and week out to win games like we have in the past 4 weeks and players like Faumuina and Toopi do not have this element to their game.

Losing Webb, Faumuina and Toopi does mean the team has lost a huge amount of attacking ability. It could take a long while to develop that sort of strike power. Without Faumuina, the Warrior's forward pack looks rather "stodgy", very little ball-playing ability especially in the back row. Webb is another big loss; he has such great ability to support attacking moves and position his attacking lines.

Webb has been great this year, but I think in McKinnon we have an able replacement who statistically in most areas has outclassed Webb this year. Statistics may not always tell the true story but Wade is a good support player and will benefit of the gains made by our forwards.

Toopi has rarely been a force on attack in the past couple of seasons. He is more prone to having one good game followed by four or five average/poor games, and his try-scoring has definitely dropped off from 2004-2006.

Faumuina is a loss for our forward pack as he is a ball playing forward and has the ability and talent to make the Warriors a better team. However, there are younger players coming through like Lauaki and Fai that also have that element to their game, and will offer on attack.

 

[fitzy_old]

I think of the three, Webb is the biggest loss. He wasn't prone to the brain explosions of the other two. Toopi and Faumuina had great opinions of themselves (legends in their own minds!!), and that did sometimes lead to them probably thinking they were capable of doing whatever they wanted, even if it went against the game plan

 

[fitzy_old]

if the warrior forwards seem 'stodgy' without faumnina, they seem to have done ok for the last four weeks without him. They may not be flashy, but they play to their strengths and stick to a game plan.

One thing I would like to see though, is Evarn get more involved closer to the ruck area when he is on the field

 

[KeepingTheFaith_old]

McKinnon is close to the best if not the best support fullback in the game. The problem as I see it is that he doesn't have the same playmaking ability as Webb. Right now Ropati doesn't have to create much because of the combinations of Fien/Gatis, Rovelli and Webb. It allows Ropati to play as a running five eight which is where he's at his best. Losing Webb means there's going to be extra pressure on Rovelli and Fien/Gatis to create that bit extra which is here we could reach a hurdle.

Either Ropati steps up and creates a bit more in 2007 or we'll see Witt be given a chance to press his claims. That's where I see next year heading.

As for our forward pack, Guttenbeil is a way bigger loss than Faumuina. Not only has Awen's ball playing been exceptional but he's being doing it without taking too many risks and is largely mistake free. I'm not too worried about our pack to be honest. Tuimavavae has shown some nice off loading skills, and Price aside from doing his usual work has become quite adept at popping the ball before the line. Luck has surprised me with some of his skills as well. If Lauaki continues to improve he'll fill the void left by Faumuina.

For me though forward play is about breaking the line first and then worrying about the off load. That's where I've been impressed with Anderson over the last month. He hasn't produced the off loads but he's been very hard to stop when he's had the ball in hand. Any player is capable of an off load, but they only come after the line is bent back and momentum has been created. I'd rather see 8 players with 1 off load each a game rather than a single player with 4-5 of them and nothing from anyone else. It's a team game and I think the way league goes round in circles with its progress, the next couple of seasons at least it's going to be the best teams that get the results rather than the teams that rely on brilliant individuals.

 

[Swanley_old]

Good Post keepingthefaith.

Warriors need a back to basics approach to build confidence, then the off-loads will come. As we have seen over the last 5-6 rounds.

Next year needs to start the way we are finishing.

 

[bigstuboy_old]

Seems like the Warriors are trying to create a new gameplan in their team, no more brain explosion players like Toopi and Faumuina anymore. These players could be the best on their day but consistency is the key in the NRL, we need to consistently perform week in and week out to win games like we have in the past 4 weeks and players like Faumuina and Toopi do not have this element to their game.

Losing Webb, Faumuina and Toopi does mean the team has lost a huge amount of attacking ability. It could take a long while to develop that sort of strike power. Without Faumuina, the Warrior's forward pack looks rather "stodgy", very little ball-playing ability especially in the back row. Webb is another big loss; he has such great ability to support attacking moves and position his attacking lines.

webb is the only hard to replace and they have done well there but anyone will be better than toopi and faumuina.

 

[*~*Fa'AhVaN*~*_old]

webb was the best fullbak of all time! inglis would probably b the best fullbak to fill webbys boots, he was great wen we played storm, and iv seen a few games where hes been outstandin but hed probably b too expensiv n im sure with time and practice mckinnon will learn to play just as good as webb, mayb not better but as good.
faumuina was very skilled in attack n great in defence n its goin to b hard to find someone to replace him but players that r tryin to fill in for another player always want to prove them selves and put in 110% so whoever is goin to replace faumuina and awen will want to prove themselves and take the oppurtunity to giv it there all so hopefully the players we lost wont b too much of a loss, theyll always b true warriors in my eyes and this is where they belong but we all move on and we hav to liv with it whether we like it or not.