Pick Your Team NZ Warriors v St George Illawarra Dragons - [Round 12, 2026]

[sydneywarrior92]

I'd argue though that Tigers caught us by surprise. Didn't see that one coming.

More the mass changes to the winning team (Metcalf and CNK to centers) imo than taking the tigers lightly. Threw the entire team balance off- not just on attack but also on defense for 2 weeks. Metcalf issue aside, the CNK to center experiment for me was the bigger problem in those games.

 

[Boston Boy]

More the mass changes to the winning team (Metcalf and CNK to centers) imo than taking the tigers lightly. Threw the entire team balance off- not just on attack but also on defense for 2 weeks. Metcalf issue aside, the CNK to center experiment for me was the bigger problem in those games.

Yep, I loved CNKs effort areas but Ali, RTS and Pompey are all ahead of CNK in the centres for me. Taine has also snuck ahead at fullback.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Yep, I loved CNKs effort areas but Ali, RTS and Pompey are all ahead of CNK in the centres for me. Taine has also snuck ahead at fullback.

There's also Berry coming back next week. I'd even prefer old man Capes at center. CNK is either FB or not in the team. When asked about our most dangerous player in a fan forum during magic round, Cam Munster actually pointed to Taine. So I think we pull the trigger long term on Taine.

 

[sup42]

NRL 360 also said we were not allowed to do the pop up store, and were fined $10k per day for doing it. But we did it anyway, Mohawk is no idiot, he just turned $50k investment into $500k!

Edit:

Obviously there would have been other costs involved, but surely the profit on $500k of sales less fines, store costs, merchandise wholesale costs, staffing etc etc etc would still clear $300k

Not bad for 5 days work

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/yQb8MgwY5mo?si=vPx7qqpEo8RrdxQE

 

[sydneywarrior92]

More than a few league pundits on the other side of the ditch think this is the Dragon's best chance for a win this month. It's almost as if the first 11 rounds of the comp didn't happen and this isn't 17th vs 2nd. They really do look for a reason to tip against us don't they?

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

More than a few league pundits on the other side of the ditch think this is the Dragon's best chance for a win this month. They really do look for a reason to tip against us don't they?

It's tough to back up from big occasions, like Magic round and to their credit, the Dargs really aimed up against the Panthers.

I think we'll be fine.

 

[Evil_Mush]

I suppose they put up a good fight against Penrith, so are trending towards a potential win hah!

With us finally joining the hallowed halls of "Origin-affected teams" with two experienced heads out this week, not to mention our on-fire #7 out for the season, it's not out of the realms for us to not be fully on fire on the day either. I just hope we put a big dent in the points differential so we have the chance to overtake Penrith for the top spot next week!


I reckon Setu Tu will be looking for a 'remember me' try, might include him on my multi this week.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

It's tough to back up from big occasions, like Magic round and to their credit, the Dargs really aimed up against the Panthers.

I think we'll be fine.

we backed up fine v titans from our emotional hoodoo breaking win in Melbourne. The real question is not whether we will back up from a big performance, it's whether the dargs can do it.

 

[sup42]

There's also Berry coming back next week. I'd even prefer old man Capes at center. CNK is either FB or not in the team. When asked about our most dangerous player in a fan forum during magic round, Cam Munster actually pointed to Taine. So I think we pull the trigger long term on Taine.

Be good to see Berry back.

Can't see him edging out Ali atm, but you never know, Berry has the kick chase advantage, and we need that now more than ever with the shrinking length of our kicking game, so I get it if he bumps Ali out.

Roger comes back in for Pompey (I toyed with the Roger in NSW cup idea for club culture and good optics, but was roundly shouted down, I gave up that fight pretty early since my heart was only half in it - but the principle still holds true - if you want to remove the Princess factor from this club forever then you normalize the use of stars in cup).

We can't use both Ali and Berry, because that means we lose on of our two equally effective wingers.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Be good to see Berry back.

Can't see him edging out Ali atm, but you never know, Berry has the kick chase advantage, and we need that now more than ever with the shrinking length of our kicking game, so I get it if he bumps Ali out.

Roger comes back in for Pompey (I toyed with the Roger in NSW cup idea for club culture and good optics, but was roundly shouted down, I gave up that fight pretty early since my heart was only half in it - but the principle still holds true - if you want to remove the Princess factor from this club forever then you normalize the use of stars in cup).

We can't use both Ali and Berry, because that means we lose on of our two equally effective wingers.

Ali/RTS have to be the first choice centers moving forward. Pompey and Berry have to be the depth from now on. With AKP and DWZ on the wings, we can run slingshot moves on either edge which is really nice.

 

[slime]

More than a few league pundits on the other side of the ditch think this is the Dragon's best chance for a win this month. It's almost as if the first 11 rounds of the comp didn't happen and this isn't 17th vs 2nd. They really do look for a reason to tip against us don't they?

Wishful thinking for a team that hasn't won a game, and pundits that never get behind us.

The TAB has the most likely outcome being the Warriors by 13+.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Hopefully RTS is right for this one. With Tannah out, I'd say we are losing about 100-150 kicking metres per game. Tannah usually kicks 700m per game, last game we had about 570 (still out kicked Reynolds!). So since we are losing on kicking metres, we need to up our yardage game even more than it currently is. RTS coming in helps with that big time since we are sacrificing a bit of our traditional power in our backs for speed by having Taine and AKP in the side.

Long term though I was thinking about whether our middle rotation needs some changing. Instead of playing Laban off the bench, maybe we need to go with 3 middles (Demi, Barney/Ford, TSS/Marata) in addition to Healey. Since we have two mobile backrowers who can play 80 in Capes and Leka, I can see it working even though it is a bit harsh on Laban. We just need to find a long term solution to replacing lost kicking metres via more set distance yardage imo.

 

[CWC]

Trying to think how we navigated in 2024 with TMM/CHT's kicking game, we did really well considering the weak defense, Luai was at 7 and had the same kicking power for penrith.

Has Linnane got a boot? Interested to see him put straight in cup, could it be a possibility he's next in line and CHT moves to 7 if TMM goes down

 

[CWC]

lol

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Trying to think how we navigated in 2024 with TMM/CHT's kicking game, we did really well considering the weak defense, Luai was at 7 and had the same kicking power for penrith.

Has Linnane got a boot? Interested to see him put straight in cup, could it be a possibility he's next in line and CHT moves to 7 if TMM goes down

My memory of 2024 is that TMM/CHT actually went quite well and almost saved our season that year. We pulled off the magic round miracle v Penrith. We then beat the then 4th placed Dolphins with basically a cup team with that halves combo and then thumped the cows in Townsville. It was only when SJ came back in that things went to shit because him and TMM just didn't work well together- kind of like Boyd/Mets today.

Watching the Broncos game, it actually looked like TMM took a backseat and let CHT run the show with Egan and Clark also having more touches during our attacking sets. So in practice it almost looked like CHT was playing the 7 and did a lot, not all, the kicking.

 

[CWC]

My memory of 2024 is that TMM/CHT actually went quite well and almost saved our season that year. We pulled off the magic round miracle v Penrith. We then beat the then 4th placed Dolphins with basically a cup team with that halves combo and then thumped the cows in Townsville. It was only when SJ came back in that things went to shit because him and TMM just didn't work well together- kind of like Boyd/Mets today.

Watching the Broncos game, it actually looked like TMM took a backseat and let CHT run the show with Egan and Clark also having more touches during our attacking sets. So in practice it almost looked like CHT was playing the 7 and did a lot, not all, the kicking.

Your theory makes it more plausible that Hansen and Linnane are the next men up if CHT actually plays well at 7 now lol, even kicking goals too. I did notice Clark stepping up more as a playmaker too.

 

[sup42]

Ali/RTS have to be the first choice centers moving forward. Pompey and Berry have to be the depth from now on. With AKP and DWZ on the wings, we can run slingshot moves on either edge which is really nice.

Hopefully RTS is right for this one. With Tannah out, I'd say we are losing about 100-150 kicking metres per game. Tannah usually kicks 700m per game, last game we had about 570 (still out kicked Reynolds!). So since we are losing on kicking metres, we need to up our yardage game even more than it currently is. RTS coming in helps with that big time since we are sacrificing a bit of our traditional power in our backs for speed by having Taine and AKP in the side.

Long term though I was thinking about whether our middle rotation needs some changing. Instead of playing Laban off the bench, maybe we need to go with 3 middles (Demi, Barney/Ford, TSS/Marata) in addition to Healey. Since we have two mobile backrowers who can play 80 in Capes and Leka, I can see it working even though it is a bit harsh on Laban. We just need to find a long term solution to replacing lost kicking metres via more set distance yardage imo.

Doesn't Berry solve in part these issues? I wouldn't dismiss his weightings with our fan eyes as compared to a coaches eyes, especially a coach that uses kick chase as his platform (the one area where we have become like Penrith when the chips are down, our chase goes up big time).

I guess we will see to what extent Webster weights his new 'form first' principle (I am looking forward to seeing that tested all season).

Mind you, things do not look great for Rocco, especially since the club for the second week in a row, has drafted Jye Linane into left center (Rocco may be right side but it is one less seat on the plane in the Center section).

I believe (and I hope I am correct) that the attack coaches have talked with AKP (ongoing) and Webster about how to get more from our most dangerous attacking back in this team - and Jye Linnane is their answer (brilliant, just brilliant, trust me, forget about fullback, our left flank is ball starved and we are too right side attack centric - oh sure we chuck it left a chunk, feed some crumbs via CHT, but I think we all can see Roger is not the answer coz he is not the greatest distributor and he is leaving, and having a slow center on that side sets up support running problems).

I feel the need, the need for speed.

 

[sydneywarrior92]

Doesn't Berry solve in part these issues? I wouldn't dismiss his weightings with our fan eyes as compared to a coaches eyes, especially a coach that uses kick chase as his platform (the one area where we have become like Penrith when the chips are down, our chase goes up big time).

I guess we will see to what extent Webster weights his new 'form first' principle (I am looking forward to seeing that tested all season).

Mind you, things do not look great for Rocco, especially since the club for the second week in a row, has drafted Jye Linane into left center (Rocco may be right side but it is one less seat on the plane in the Center section).

I believe (and I hope I am correct) that the attack coaches have talked with AKP (ongoing) and Webster about how to get more from our most dangerous attacking back in this team - and Jye Linnane is their answer (brilliant, just brilliant, trust me, forget about fullback, our left flank is ball starved and we are too right side attack centric - oh sure we chuck it left a chunk, feed some crumbs via CHT, but I think we all can see Roger is not the answer coz he is not the greatest distributor and he is leaving, and having a slow center on that side sets up support running problems).

I feel the need, the need for speed.

because of his kick-chase? Maybe. But he needs some time in cup because he hasn't earned the right to his jersey. Putting him back immediately at center and demoting Ali is something Ciraldo would do, not Webby. Linane looks like more of a long term project- I can't see how he can be ready this year. Next cab off the rank if something happens to either CHT/TMM is Hanson imo.

 

[Neo]

Doesn't Berry solve in part these issues? I wouldn't dismiss his weightings with our fan eyes as compared to a coaches eyes, especially a coach that uses kick chase as his platform (the one area where we have become like Penrith when the chips are down, our chase goes up big time).

I guess we will see to what extent Webster weights his new 'form first' principle (I am looking forward to seeing that tested all season).

Mind you, things do not look great for Rocco, especially since the club for the second week in a row, has drafted Jye Linane into left center (Rocco may be right side but it is one less seat on the plane in the Center section).

I believe (and I hope I am correct) that the attack coaches have talked with AKP (ongoing) and Webster about how to get more from our most dangerous attacking back in this team - and Jye Linnane is their answer (brilliant, just brilliant, trust me, forget about fullback, our left flank is ball starved and we are too right side attack centric - oh sure we chuck it left a chunk, feed some crumbs via CHT, but I think we all can see Roger is not the answer coz he is not the greatest distributor and he is leaving, and having a slow center on that side sets up support running problems).

I feel the need, the need for speed.

The kicking metres always need to be given context with how many tackles you had in the opposition 20, as that will result in short kicks at the end of sets.
If CHT is doing the majority of the long kicking going forward it will probably fall more towards AKP, Roger and Capewell to lead the way.
I also don’t think you can discount how well that right edge is now defending with Ali and Leka spending a number of wees there. I wouldn’t want to go upsetting that at this stage

 

[CWC]

Doesn't Berry solve in part these issues? I wouldn't dismiss his weightings with our fan eyes as compared to a coaches eyes, especially a coach that uses kick chase as his platform (the one area where we have become like Penrith when the chips are down, our chase goes up big time).

I guess we will see to what extent Webster weights his new 'form first' principle (I am looking forward to seeing that tested all season).

Mind you, things do not look great for Rocco, especially since the club for the second week in a row, has drafted Jye Linane into left center (Rocco may be right side but it is one less seat on the plane in the Center section).

I believe (and I hope I am correct) that the attack coaches have talked with AKP (ongoing) and Webster about how to get more from our most dangerous attacking back in this team - and Jye Linnane is their answer (brilliant, just brilliant, trust me, forget about fullback, our left flank is ball starved and we are too right side attack centric - oh sure we chuck it left a chunk, feed some crumbs via CHT, but I think we all can see Roger is not the answer coz he is not the greatest distributor and he is leaving, and having a slow center on that side sets up support running problems).

I feel the need, the need for speed.

I think next year it'll be Ali/AKP on the left and Anderson/WW on the right.
Boyd/CHT/TMM halves....maybe Linnane is the utility man covering centre and FB....we'll see how he's used for the rest of the year in Cup...there's Jett too...CNK's last year.