NRL NRL Round 1, 2024 Discussion

Do you think its lack of heart or just young and dumb, lacking in maturity? Does seem like a bit of a sook when things get tough or go against him.
100% heart. It’s why they say it’s the one thing you can’t teach. You can uncover it, but you can’t train a coward to be brave.

I death ride him, so I watch him A LOT looking for mistakes. Here’s some tips.

  1. He will always look to avoid contact
  2. He will only kick return if made to
  3. He will always hide when carrying off their line
  4. Any error must be redeemed through an overt show of false bravado.
  5. He will quit before failing
 
100% heart. It’s why they say it’s the one thing you can’t teach. You can uncover it, but you can’t train a coward to be brave.

I death ride him, so I watch him A LOT looking for mistakes. Here’s some tips.

  1. He will always look to avoid contact
  2. He will only kick return if made to
  3. He will always hide when carrying off their line
  4. Any error must be redeemed through an overt show of false bravado.
  5. He will quit before failing
Always looking for the hero plays.
No interest in the tough stuff.
I prefer CNK every day of the week.
Walsh might mature one day
 
100% heart. It’s why they say it’s the one thing you can’t teach. You can uncover it, but you can’t train a coward to be brave.

I death ride him, so I watch him A LOT looking for mistakes. Here’s some tips.

  1. He will always look to avoid contact
  2. He will only kick return if made to
  3. He will always hide when carrying off their line
  4. Any error must be redeemed through an overt show of false bravado.
  5. He will quit before failing
The best thing that could have happened for him would have been to play in the halves when he was with the Warrior.
Maybe might have given him an attitude adjustment.
Or maybe as you strongly allude to he is scared of or unwillingly to engage in contact.
No matter your position you have to front up at times with the hard yards no matter your size and it’s not about being a hero.
Do the dirty work.
It’s just a basic of the game for all players.
 
I saw it a bit differently. I think a lot of teams would have capitulated under the pressure the Roosters put them under. I expected a blowout after the Manu try. But they came back a bit.

That said, I definitely see Broncos as weaker this year. It's hard to top last year. All that brilliant youth in one team, but without Flegler and Capewell, someone has to step up alongside Haas. I also don't know if Haas can repeat last year's effort. Would be pretty tough.

Young players have enthusiasm, but a few losses can drag them down.

If they do enough to make top 5 anything can happen. But I can't see a weaker Broncos beating out a stronger Manly, Roosters, Warriors and a cannier Storm and Penrith.
Capewell is a loss for them, but Flegler is a bigger one as they don't have a ready made replacement.

Jensen and Marty are not of the Flegler calibre, Haas really looked alone out there.
 
The best thing that could have happened for him would have been to play in the halves when he was with the Warrior.
Maybe might have given him an attitude adjustment.
Or maybe as you strongly allude to he is scared of or unwillingly to engage in contact.
No matter your position you have to front up at times with the hard yards no matter your size and it’s not about being a hero.
Do the dirty work.
It’s just a basic of the game for all players.
And the more he shirks the hard work, the more his team mates will resent him for it.

The Roosters last try was very telling. He’s miles out of position, puts zero effort in and Teddy basically just passes to Victor way early and Walsh just ends up standing meekly in the gap.
 
Capewell is a loss for them, but Flegler is a bigger one as they don't have a ready made replacement.

Jensen and Marty are not of the Flegler calibre, Haas really looked alone out there.
Piakura doesn’t seem to be able to stay on the field, agree about Flegler but I think Capewell is going to be as bigger loss
 
And the more he shirks the hard work, the more his team mates will resent him for it.

The Roosters last try was very telling. He’s miles out of position, puts zero effort in and Teddy basically just passes to Victor way early and Walsh just ends up standing meekly in the gap.

I am astounded that any full back stands in the defensive line.
Second marker close to the line is acceptable and you follow the ball..
As a former pretty boy, young, fullback myself with as much flair as Walsh at the level I was playing and about the same size as him, I would be embarrassed I would think if I played with a pea heart.
I don’t know cause I was always hearty.
 
I am astounded that any full back stands in the defensive line.
Second marker close to the line is acceptable and you follow the ball..
As a former pretty boy, young, fullback myself with as much flair as Walsh at the level I was playing and about the same size as him, I would be embarrassed I would think if I played with a pea heart.
I don’t know cause I was always hearty.
Ponga spent some time in the front line.
Now back to FB to prolong his career
 
I'm certainly supportive of the NRL trying to grow the game internationally, so am fully supportive of this Vegas concept. But a couple of other thoughts on it:
- Agree with their approach of introducing the game to the betting market there as it must be lucrative, but question whether there is any effort to actually grow the player base there, although I am hoping this is part of their overall long term strategy.
- I get miffed about the "Rugby" instead of "League" use in the states and really felt it was an opportunity to somehow clarify they are two different sports. Rugby is essentially a competitor and if we were serious enough about trying to grow the game there you would think it would do more to somehow differentiate between the two to make inroads into what rugby has already done there. Its challenging though and I hope the NRL wondered whether it was worth the effort.
- Agree with someones suggestion that they need to get into the college system, but it would be challenging. Rugby has a good stranglehold within colleges in the US (I played sport at college in the US so have some feel for it there) and feel this would be a great opportunity to give high school athletes an opportunity to play sport if they havent made the jump to college sport.
 
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Watching NRL360 tonight what the hell has Paul Kent been smoking.

Talking about the Dragons fullback and how he doesn't get under the ball or stuck in when the opposition are close to scoring. He lists all of the top fullbacks how they get in there. Then he lists Walsh.

Walsh might be in the picture but his team mates are typically doing the work. He's like one of those guys when you carrying something heavy and he's just helping direct it a little bit.
 
I don't see them imploding but it's been made pretty clear by multiple players that Kevvie ain't a coaches ass.

So I expect teams will catch up to them due to lack of innovation and improvement
I just rewatched our pre-lim against them. Very 05 Tigers, 02 Warriors. Does not look sustainable at all. When the passes are sticking, the miracle plays are coming off your ride it as long as you can. The moment they lose a bit of confidence and it isn't clicking I don't think they have anything to fall back on.
 
I just rewatched our pre-lim against them. Very 05 Tigers, 02 Warriors. Does not look sustainable at all. When the passes are sticking, the miracle plays are coming off your ride it as long as you can. The moment they lose a bit of confidence and it isn't clicking I don't think they have anything to fall back on.
They had almost the perfect squad last year to play the way they did. Losing the players they did and moving Cobbo to centre has really hurt them. Kev Walters also seems like a short term motivational type coach. As you say, not a lot to fall back on and it looks like an even heavier reliance on Walsh to create something. They'll still beat plenty of teams this year just on talent they have but I think they have certainly returned back to that next tier of teams rather than that top level they achieved last season.
 
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They had almost the perfect squad last year to play the way they did. Losing the players they did and moving Cobbo to centre has really hurt them. Kev Walters also seems like a short term motivational type coach. As you say, not a lot to fall back on and it looks like an even heavier reliance on Walsh to create something. They'll still beat plenty of teams this year just on talent they have but I think they have certainly returned back to that next tier of teams rather than that top level they achieved last season.
You said it - they got by in raw talent.

They got through last year on being fast and skilful rather than structure.d and systematic.

Breaking open a game rather than breaking down the opposition.

To be honest it was refreshing to watch but hard to replicate year on year.

Same as Walsh. While he’s young and fast he’s bamboozling the opposition but he will need to reinvent his game aka SJ as he gets older.
 
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