General Your 2025 team

[Teets]

Interesting Matt Orford at storm and manly, strikes me as a Capewell type signing. Would really like to see youth come in from next year to set up for the following year and beyond. Experienced campaigners like JFH, Barnett, Capewell, Tohu, RTS laying the platform of what’s expected and some beginning to be overtaken

I'd say the difference is Melbourne let him go after this and moved on with a younger player when they broke through in 06.

And at Manly in 08 he was one of one only three guys in their GF team older than 27.

We had 11 guys 28 or older on Friday! Too old, too slow.

 

[Noitall]

I'd say the difference is Melbourne let him go after this and moved on with a younger player when they broke through in 06.

And at Manly in 08 he was one of one only three guys in their GF team older than 27.

We had 11 guys 28 or older on Friday! Too old, too slow.

We seem to have too many older ones but I still believe some are here for the influence on the younger guys coming through. The panthers 2018 team has a few more of these type of players with the likes of Sam McKendry, Trent Merrin, Dean Whare, James Tamou, James Maloney before they started playing the younger guys coming through consistently

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

Was having a look at some of the teamlists of the dynastic teams (multiple titles in a 10 yr period) the year before they played their first GFs.

Raiders 88
Broncos 91
Storm 05
Manly 06
Roosters 12
Panthers 19

Those teams were all young as hell and full of one club players.

Contrast with our teamlists this year and fuck our team looks ancient.


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Look at the quality of the 18 year olds on those lists - perhaps Julian O’Neil not quite so much, although he was elite off the field. There was a pretty decent 17 year old playing for the Panthers not long before their first premiership also!

 

[Teets]

Look at the quality of the 18 year olds on those lists - perhaps Julian O’Neil not quite so much, although he was elite off the field. There was a pretty decent 17 year old playing for the Panthers not long before their first premiership also!

There's often talk of the 50 game benchmark, which I agree with.

Eg. Adam Pompeys games 50 through whatever he's on now are way better than games 1-49.

But half the battle is getting them to 50 in the first place.

There's very few GF teams Storm 99/Sharks 2016 that weren't majority one club players

 

[Juno]

The last 4-6 games Walker has strictly tucked the ball under his wing first and foremost, the extent of his ball playing has been negligible!
Tohu was fucken useless ball playing this season too..

Hard to ball play with a broken wrist

 

[Brightman]

Hard to ball play with a broken wrist

He had a go once last night with CNK on the inside, but it must be terribly hard to take hit ups with a broken wrist too..

 

[Juno]

He had a go once last night with CNK on the inside, but it must be terribly hard to take hit ups with a broken wrist too..

Was talking about Tohu, but yeah, Walker is struggling with something too I reckon.

 

[Brightman]

Was talking about Tohu, but yeah, Walker is struggling with something too I reckon.

Yeah still, Tohu started the season having to pull a hell of a lot of extra weight trying to carry a decimated forward pack and from my view he shelved his ball playing to compensate. 2023 Tohu was mad ball playing at the line putting players through the line regularly. Hope to see that guy next season..

 

[Canonball]

Pretty clear where the hole is eh? and we have to think more mobility and spark at the back and wide


Tuaupiki
DWZ/RTS
Leiataua
Pompey/Berry/CNK
Pasikala
??
??
Barnett/Niukore
Egan (fit)
JFH
Halasima
Capewell
Tohu (fit)

CHT/Walker
Ale
Niukore/Sifakula
Laban/Toeava

 

[ndp26]

8. JFH
9. Egan
10. Barnett
11. Niukore
12. Capewell
13. Tohu

14. Walker
15. Halasima
16. Sifakula
17. Lussick

Agree with the backline - but what becomes of TMM, is he the first drop half (6 or 7) or do they shop him?

Is Niukore staying at second row on the assumption that they "un-beef" him and give him a pre season working towards playing second row? He was definitely carrying the frame of a middle this year and his lateral movement suffered as a result. It is probably the key question for our 2025 pack with the current roster.

If Niukore moves into the middle rotation, I'd seriously consider starting Halasima at second row. It would be a high risk, high reward play (get it wrong and we butcher the development of one of our best prospects) - but we need some X-factor in the side and I'd back Webby to get the best out of him (with Halasima and Laban to switch between NRL/Cup to share the burden of the higher intensity NRL workload over the first two thirds of the season, provided Laban fixes up some of his defensive issues).

A prop rotation of JFH, Barnett, Niukore and Sifakula wouldn't be too shabby. I'd start JFH and Niukore, bringing Barney on after 15-20 for Niukore (with Barney potentially being able to see out the match), and then Sifakula on for JFH 10 mins before halftime. Second half would depend on how the game is tracking / injuries. Second row injuries (slash early season blooding of Halasima) covered by Barnett and Niukore, or Sifakula at a pinch.

... but... we all know that the forward pack isn't the area we need the most improvement in... can Webby work wonders with the halves and backs?

 

[Tookey 2.0]

For me, I think Leka and Sifakula have shown enough to have full time spots on the bench sewn up for the whole of 2025.
When there's injuries etc they get a taste of starting for a few games and then towards the end of nek year, maybe we look at starting them for the odd game.

I like Ali, but currently his defence is massively suspect so I'm not sure you can lock him in from Rd 1. I think he needs to be paired with someone defensively strong on an edge. I'd hope that by the end of 2025 he's locked in and is holding a spot down, but his defence will have to improve before that happens.

Imo we've massively underperformed this year. Injuries have been one of the key areas outside of our control but also execution and our bench have been largely disastrous. If we improve our execution so we're completing at 80% and our defence gets back to where it was last year, we'll be comfortably in the 8 next year.

 

[Fonzie]

Agree with the backline - but what becomes of TMM, is he the first drop half (6 or 7) or do they shop him?

Is Niukore staying at second row on the assumption that they "un-beef" him and give him a pre season working towards playing second row? He was definitely carrying the frame of a middle this year and his lateral movement suffered as a result. It is probably the key question for our 2025 pack with the current roster.

If Niukore moves into the middle rotation, I'd seriously consider starting Halasima at second row. It would be a high risk, high reward play (get it wrong and we butcher the development of one of our best prospects) - but we need some X-factor in the side and I'd back Webby to get the best out of him (with Halasima and Laban to switch between NRL/Cup to share the burden of the higher intensity NRL workload over the first two thirds of the season, provided Laban fixes up some of his defensive issues).

A prop rotation of JFH, Barnett, Niukore and Sifakula wouldn't be too shabby. I'd start JFH and Niukore, bringing Barney on after 15-20 for Niukore (with Barney potentially being able to see out the match), and then Sifakula on for JFH 10 mins before halftime. Second half would depend on how the game is tracking / injuries. Second row injuries (slash early season blooding of Halasima) covered by Barnett and Niukore, or Sifakula at a pinch.

... but... we all know that the forward pack isn't the area we need the most improvement in... can Webby work wonders with the halves and backs?

Cheers mate

Based on Metcalfs injury history I think there’s plenty of FG in a first drop half if that’s where TMM ends up. If anything we need another half in the squad.

Yeah to me the two forwards that are hard are Niukore and Tohu. If we think we’ll get plenty of minutes in the middle out of Tohu I’d use Niukore as edge. If Tohu is dicey then I’d move him to the middle

I don’t think any of the kids are ready to be starters in 2025. 2026 is when they will be thereabouts.

Webby is going to have to completely overhaul our good ball shape. I’d be playing through Walker a fair bit.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Yeah to me the two forwards that are hard are Niukore and Tohu. If we think we’ll get plenty of minutes in the middle out of Tohu I’d use Niukore as edge. If Tohu is dicey then I’d move him to the middle

I don’t think any of the kids are ready to be starters in 2025. 2026 is when they will be thereabouts.

Webby is going to have to completely overhaul our good ball shape. I’d be playing through Walker a fair bit.

What does that mean for our hopes of top 8 or prem? Wouldnt that turn 2026 into a rebuild year?

 

[nzwarriorsfaithful]

1. SHOOTA
2. DWZ
3. CNK
4. ALI
5. RTS

backline would be great

 

[Brightman]

1. SHOOTA
2. DWZ
3. CNK
4. ALI
5. RTS

backline would be great

You hear something in the works..

 

[Fonzie]

What does that mean for our hopes of top 8 or prem? Wouldnt that turn 2026 into a rebuild year?

IMO we are clearly in a rebuild now mate

2023 was the shot but the bullet misfired in the chamber

 

[MrFrankWhite]

IMO we are clearly in a rebuild now mate

2023 was the shot but the bullet misfired in the chamber

Fair.

I had feared last year was our shot. I hope Webby rips the band aid off before next year. Im more optimistic now than I was mid season.

 

[Fonzie]

Fair.

I had feared last year was our shot. I hope Webby rips the band aid off before next year. Im more optimistic now than I was mid season.

I genuinely thought we were a chance in 2024, but the trend/injury line of the old guys just went down faster than I hoped

 

[Noitall]

I genuinely thought we were a chance in 2024, but the trend/injury line of the old guys just went down faster than I hoped

When you consider it, SJ was a huge factor to our 2023 season. Consistently played to a high standard to which was deserving dally m and his best injury free season in some time. I’m not convinced we’re in a rebuilding phase when considering our best period of this season and the players missing. A big factor is finding what players fit what positions but our forwards are largely settled with only JFH replacing AFB at this point. Feel like a lot is around halves and backline and finding the right place for the individual. I like at least we’re playing with settled halves being in the club and knowing our structures

 

[ndp26]

Cheers mate

Based on Metcalfs injury history I think there’s plenty of FG in a first drop half if that’s where TMM ends up. If anything we need another half in the squad.

Yeah to me the two forwards that are hard are Niukore and Tohu. If we think we’ll get plenty of minutes in the middle out of Tohu I’d use Niukore as edge. If Tohu is dicey then I’d move him to the middle

I don’t think any of the kids are ready to be starters in 2025. 2026 is when they will be thereabouts.

Webby is going to have to completely overhaul our good ball shape. I’d be playing through Walker a fair bit.

You're not wrong, there and TMM himself has had a few niggles this year too.

How does that distinction impact the interchange set up, as I assume Tohu and Walker share the Lock role, but Tohu would make up some minutes at prop? Not a lot of middle minutes to go around if you carry two props and Walker on the bench - so I expect fans will have to get to used to seeing the bench props getting limited minutes? Look forward to the TWL + Fonz season review on this, as it would be interesting to hear your views on whether Webby got the balance right.

I agree they're probably not starters at the beginning of 2025 (hopefully one of them edging themselves in towards the end of 2025), but something drastic will need to happen in the off season to improve our edge attack (especially in good ball as you said). Given our current backline stocks, you'd think we need to add some starch to our second row - whether that is Halasima being a bit more dynamic, kicking for Laban (like Cowboys have done with Nanai) or trimming Niukore down to be more of a threat on the edge - otherwise 2025 may be more of the same as what we're seeing at the back end of this year...