Pick Your Team NZ Warriors v St George Illawarra Dragons - [Round 12, 2026]
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He also scored a try & set up 2 more. Smashed a couple of blokes in the tackle. Thats after only playing 1 cup game on his return from injury.
I'm trying to remember the last time we had a halfback-support-ran try. Was it last year, pre-Metcalfs ACL injury?
Jett's not ready. Kade Reed situation is different because dragons are desperate. They are literally being forced to feed their young stars to the wolves way earlier than they should because of their predicament. Reed and their young forwards (Couchmans, LKP, etc) are going to be traumatized for years to come due to their being part of perhaps the worst NRL team in 100 years.
We have the luxury of easing our youngsters through a more gradual process that involves playing at least a season against grown men in cup.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can all see that Webby was right in 2024 when he was resisting calls to blood our young forwards early during a tough year when everyone on this forum was calling for him to do so. His more gradual approach of doing it over the 2024, 2025 and 2026 seasons is bearing fruits now when we see how Leka, Demi, Laban, TSS, etc have started to take off.
I'm sure that's the plan with Jett. We may see him towards the back end of the year with a debut if we are in a position to rest players for finals. Until then TMM is more than serviceable as a fill in 7 (Cogger style for 23 Panthers). I'm not comfortable with Mets being even considered until a) he gets some reps under his belt and ii) it is clear that there are no harmony issues with the team (SJ seems to think there are none and this is all driven by the fanbase ie us). We don't want a repeat of rounds 4-5 again if we reintroduce him. Dropping consecutive games again will be detrimental to our top 2 chances.
We have the luxury of easing our youngsters through a more gradual process that involves playing at least a season against grown men in cup.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can all see that Webby was right in 2024 when he was resisting calls to blood our young forwards early during a tough year when everyone on this forum was calling for him to do so. His more gradual approach of doing it over the 2024, 2025 and 2026 seasons is bearing fruits now when we see how Leka, Demi, Laban, TSS, etc have started to take off.
I'm sure that's the plan with Jett. We may see him towards the back end of the year with a debut if we are in a position to rest players for finals. Until then TMM is more than serviceable as a fill in 7 (Cogger style for 23 Panthers). I'm not comfortable with Mets being even considered until a) he gets some reps under his belt and ii) it is clear that there are no harmony issues with the team (SJ seems to think there are none and this is all driven by the fanbase ie us). We don't want a repeat of rounds 4-5 again if we reintroduce him. Dropping consecutive games again will be detrimental to our top 2 chances.
Hecka, I'm lucky If I can remember who we played in the weekend bro lol.
Noone has rose tinted glasses on. Both players have their weaknesses as has been outlined, just for me Metcalf has more.
He was the architect of a disfunctional attack last year, our defensive resolve and middles kept us in low scoring games while our attack shit the bed in the red zone. We were sitting in the top four with a single digit PD and it wasn't as if we were playing Cowboys shootout, we can score more than we can let in football it was the opposite.
I actually find the rose tint that Metcalf was the halfback messiah last season more bemusing. Felt it was pretty well established last year that it's was tedious to watch, but there weren't any other halfback options on offer for us, so lets let him grow into the role as it was only his first season in the role.
No there was definitely some last year. CWCs avatar is one of them.
oh yes- magic round v cowboys. Again Capewell to Mets combo.
CWCs Avatar is the first Donkies game, but I think the Cowboys game might be the last one where this happened..
I say we keep TMM at 7 until our next bye: vs Dragons (A) and Penrith (A). Mets shouldn't be an option until then if he hasn't had any reps with the team since returning from injury. Let Mets get up to speed and then revisit this after the bye v Cronulla at MSS. Until then, TMM is a serviceable option: what yesterday showed is that our system is not reliant on any one player. That's the contrast with last year when everything we did on attack was built around Mets. So TB going down, although massive, isn't going to be nearly as disruptive as the Mets injury last year was for us.
As an addition, if we seem to be on struggle street with Te Maire due to his yardage kicking and Taine can't step in as I mentioned in my original post(Penrith will be a great test for this). If Metcalf is doing reps in cup and killing it, then I would have no problems him coming in if Webby thinks hes the best man to get the job done.
The vast majority on here have their opinions myself included, but are fairly neutral in totality as we just want the team to succeed.
Evil_Mush
🛡️
I think most people are in agreement on this point - he came back early from injury and stunk it up defensively then got injured again during the second game.
He simply has to get a run in second grade for at least a couple of weeks just to prove match fitness and get the ring rust out of his system. I don't care about the "is he a reserve grade player" questions, he just needs to be eased in otherwise he'll just break down again, then all the talent questions are a moot point
Ref
🦋
Pre season we all couldn’t wait for Metcalf to come back into the team.
2 sub standard games when he was clearly not mentally ready for the physical contact and now he’s being treated like he has Ebola disease by several posters.
Plays reserves this week hopefully if his shit is sorted and if he looks physically committed and is down with Webbys plan bring him back next week or after the bye.
I think his recent exposure has clouded people’s judgement on his playing ability.
2 sub standard games when he was clearly not mentally ready for the physical contact and now he’s being treated like he has Ebola disease by several posters.
Plays reserves this week hopefully if his shit is sorted and if he looks physically committed and is down with Webbys plan bring him back next week or after the bye.
I think his recent exposure has clouded people’s judgement on his playing ability.
Evil_Mush
🛡️
Imagine if Luke had returned from injury for a few cup games around round 7-8 (as initially scheduled on injury lists start of season) and not done his hammy and played relatively well, he might have been due to reclaim his spot around Magic Round or this week anyway without all the dramas. Good old Captain Hindsight
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