Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Fox League Podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Darcy McDonald and joining me in studio today to
Speaker 1: wrap up the regular season and dissect the seasons of
Speaker 1: the bottom nine teams. Two of my Fox Sports Digital colleagues,
Speaker 1: Dan Nuttle and Kyle Robins. Welcome to the.
Speaker 2: Show boys having us on this.
Speaker 1: I'm happy to have you on debutes for both. What
Speaker 1: it's time?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Well, all the talk at the moment is about finals,
Speaker 1: but we can't say goodbye to the bottom teams without
Speaker 1: unpacking their season first, and I guess running our eyes
Speaker 1: over what went wrong for them? What was there? Is
Speaker 1: there a silver lining? Actually? And what does the future
Speaker 1: look like? Yeah, before we get into it though, finals
Speaker 1: came early on the weekend. In the last game of
Speaker 1: the regular season, which was a playing clash between the
Speaker 1: Knights and the Dolphins. Knight's got the win, which means
Speaker 1: Wayne Bennett and his Dolphins finish up again missing finals.
Speaker 1: So even though they finished tenth, we're going to start
Speaker 1: there because I feel like they're still the flavor of
Speaker 1: the week at the moment. Kyle, you've put your eye
Speaker 1: through them. What do you reckon went wrong with the
Speaker 1: Dolphins this season?
Speaker 3: I think the obvious answer is Wayne's moved to the
Speaker 3: Rabbits didn't help. He signed that at the he was
Speaker 3: announced to join the Rabbits at the end of May.
Speaker 3: They played thirteen games after that and lost ten, So
Speaker 3: that's sort of the obvious answer. But I think in
Speaker 3: terms of the playing roster, injuries really killed them. Tom
Speaker 3: Flegler had his nerve, his shoulder nerve injury. He only
Speaker 3: played four games this year. Tom Gilbert's an Origin level middle,
Speaker 3: he didn't play it all this year. Jeremy Marshall King
Speaker 3: missed nearly two months at the back end of the season.
Speaker 3: The Hammer had that origin injury, missed a couple weeks there,
Speaker 3: and then he was out with origins. I think they
Speaker 3: just sort of lost a few key guys to injury,
Speaker 3: Like losing two your best middles injured never really, it
Speaker 3: never helps anyone. Losing your best player Jeremy Marshall King,
Speaker 3: one of their best players at a crucial point of
Speaker 3: the season when the season he's on the line doesn't help.
Speaker 3: And then yeah, the Hammer stuff sort of it wasn't
Speaker 3: a massive injury, but it's sort of enough to sort
Speaker 3: of derail them and put him off. You know, put
Speaker 3: him off the push for the eight.
Speaker 1: And it looked like they'reforewards kind of ran out of
Speaker 1: juice at the end of the season.
Speaker 3: Right older as well, Like you got to remember it's
Speaker 3: a lot of experience, guys. Jesse Grmerch's retiring now, Kenny
Speaker 3: Brommitch's sort of getting on as well. Felice confus he
Speaker 3: has been played in the middle of a bit like yeah,
Speaker 3: like Ray Stones, a good, good, good, reliable player, but
Speaker 3: he's not Fleglor or Tom Gilbert. He's not as punchy
Speaker 3: as those guys. So yeah, it just sort of seems
Speaker 3: like it's sort of got Tom a little bit.
Speaker 1: Do you reckon as well? Do you guys reckon that
Speaker 1: Herbie farm Worth didn't quite hit expectations overall. I mean,
Speaker 1: he had some great games, but overall.
Speaker 4: Agree, yeah, he is one of it all proved it
Speaker 4: a bit last year with the Broncos when the Dalyam
Speaker 4: Center of the Year.
Speaker 2: Was he consistent enough for the whole season? I don't
Speaker 2: think so.
Speaker 4: But in saying that he was, you know, he's sort
Speaker 4: of flow. Wasn't that bad either. Is obviously a classy player. Look,
Speaker 4: it's hard to be too critical of the Dolphins second
Speaker 4: season in the league. Did anyone expect them to be
Speaker 4: challenging for a final year two? I don't know, Maybe,
Speaker 4: probably not, but they were sort of right up amongst
Speaker 4: the top four teams there. Obviously they weren't being talked
Speaker 4: on the elk of like Penrith or Melbourne all those
Speaker 4: sort of teams. But they sort of did choke the
Speaker 4: back ends the last back end of this season. To
Speaker 4: miss out, to miss out from where they were, Granted,
Speaker 4: I'll give you that the injuries did play a part,
Speaker 4: but you know, from where they were, I think they'll
Speaker 4: be pretty disappointed they've missed out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially after that win over the Broncos, I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: here we go, they're playing finals.
Speaker 3: And then but the weekend, it was just I think
Speaker 3: the refereeing decision on the weekend probably doesn't help them there.
Speaker 3: It's a different game if that gets allowed. But yeah,
Speaker 3: they just looked like they got it out fought by Newcastle.
Speaker 1: But silver lining, there has to be a silver lining.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there is. I think the development of
Speaker 3: their young core over the year. I think obviously everyone
Speaker 3: knew what the Hammer was and what Herbie was coming
Speaker 3: into this year. They were sort of really you know,
Speaker 3: top top level guys in their position. But Isaiah Katoa
Speaker 3: obviously spent the last couple of weeks on the bench
Speaker 3: and then out of the side, but for a large
Speaker 3: part of that season or this season, he was probably
Speaker 3: the best young half under twenty three in the comp.
Speaker 3: Max Plath as well, sort of come from nowhere. I
Speaker 3: don't remember Max Plath playing in twenty twenty three. This
Speaker 3: year he was. He was a smoky for Origin at
Speaker 3: one stage, like he was just he's just so gritty
Speaker 3: field in at hooker. Really well, like I think their
Speaker 3: average age is just over twenty two years old. Next
Speaker 3: year they got Finifuyaki coming down from the Cowboys. He'll
Speaker 3: be really good on an edge for him. Whether he
Speaker 3: starts or off the bench, it remains to be seen,
Speaker 3: but he'll be good. Then you've got avarill On, Jake
Speaker 3: Bostock also under Jack Bostock, also under twenty five. Connolly
Speaker 3: Lemowelo's twenty six, but he's only played about sixty odd games,
Speaker 3: so there's just a nice young foundation for them to
Speaker 3: build off of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, next year, well then looking ahead, future looks pretty bright.
Speaker 1: I mean new coaching as well, because of Wayne Bennet,
Speaker 1: but you'd imagine Christian Wolf has had a pretty damn
Speaker 1: good apprenticeship underway.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think of all the people to follow Wayne Bennett,
Speaker 3: you know, obviously it's that Wayne Bennett curse that they
Speaker 3: thought of never do well. But I think Christian will
Speaker 3: was probably the most qualified person to take over from
Speaker 3: Wayn Bennett in a coaching role, and he does have Yeah,
Speaker 3: he does have plenty piece of work with Flegler might
Speaker 3: be back next year.
Speaker 2: Flegil will be back next year. So Tom Gilbert.
Speaker 1: Another way, Yeah, Tom Gilbert definitely coming back. But Tom
Speaker 1: Flegler going under the knife and yeah, it's kind of scary,
Speaker 1: but so we'll wish him all the very best. But
Speaker 1: Camber Raiders, as the ladder would have it, they actually
Speaker 1: finished ninth and I don't know, if there was a
Speaker 1: wild card round, I would have loved to have seen
Speaker 1: the Raiders, you know, I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 1: they could have done something to mix up the finals,
Speaker 1: but dan ultimately they miss out. What went wrong with
Speaker 1: it for them this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Look, I think the big flashpoint of the season
Speaker 4: for Canberra was an injury Jamal Foggerty round seven against
Speaker 4: the Broncos. It was they were traveling pretty nicely at
Speaker 4: that stage and well four and two entering around seven,
Speaker 4: Bronco sort of beat him quite easily, gave him a
Speaker 4: little bit of reality check, and Foggetty was injured I
Speaker 4: think early in that second half. He came off with
Speaker 4: with an injury. He missed a substantial part of the
Speaker 4: season with him in the lineup. They won eight, lost
Speaker 4: six Without him, they lost six one four, So obviously,
Speaker 4: you know there was some good wins while he wasn't there.
Speaker 4: But they missed his leadership, they missed his direction. He's
Speaker 4: one of the best kicking half backs in the game
Speaker 4: general field kicking, I mean, and yeah.
Speaker 2: They just they did miss it.
Speaker 4: That sort of his injury, I guess were for silver
Speaker 4: lining for that injury was Ko Weeks coming to the
Speaker 4: side in the halves originally, then they moved to fullback,
Speaker 4: and I thought he was a revelation at fullback, but
Speaker 4: he played well in the halves when needed to. But
Speaker 4: look with Weeks and Ethan Strange there, and that Adam
Speaker 4: Cook came in as well and played well. But you
Speaker 4: know they aren't here, aren't the veteran president that Jamal
Speaker 4: Foggetty is and I think that really cost him in
Speaker 4: that middle stages there when they probably lost some games
Speaker 4: where they should have won and had that happend they
Speaker 4: won those games, they sitting seventh or six. So that's
Speaker 4: probably the big attorney point for me for the Raiders,
Speaker 4: was that injury to Foggty.
Speaker 1: Silver lining though or a few Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4: Like, I didn't have high hopes for the Raiders this
Speaker 4: season in terms of like, I thought they'd be quite decent,
Speaker 4: but you know, finished eleven, twelve, thirteenth. I didn't think
Speaker 4: they'd be still on the knocking on the door of
Speaker 4: an eight at the end of the season. But the
Speaker 4: young guns we saw, as I mentioned Ethan Strange like,
Speaker 4: he has been one of the top rookies this season.
Speaker 4: He might win a Rookie of the Year based on
Speaker 4: a fact lockm. Galvin and Max Plath suspended so he
Speaker 4: rules them out. But yeah, he'd be a worthy winner.
Speaker 4: He was fantastic at the start of the season. Ricky
Speaker 4: obviously gave him a break and gave him a game
Speaker 4: off sort of at the back end there and explained
Speaker 4: that you know, a young kid having to the riggers
Speaker 4: of his first down or l season. Basically playing in
Speaker 4: a position like five eighth, get top, a lot of contact,
Speaker 4: run a lot of ball, make a lot of tackles
Speaker 4: and yeah, big future headfeeth and strange. Kayle Weeks is
Speaker 4: another one came from Manley that's seems proven to be
Speaker 4: a really good pick up.
Speaker 1: He was from the arter at Many too, made a
Speaker 1: move to kind of save not save his career, but.
Speaker 4: I guess, and he was quite highly regarded as a
Speaker 4: young stuff just didn't sort of get the I guess
Speaker 4: put the games together. I guess at the Seagulls whether
Speaker 4: that be is behind some stars there, but it's come
Speaker 4: to Canberra, he's been able to flourish and he was
Speaker 4: fantastic at fullback, so I think that he's probably their
Speaker 4: fullback going forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah wow, because of course Jordan up and heading over
Speaker 1: to the UK. But yeah, looking ahead, it seems like
Speaker 1: Ricky is really investing in youth because they've got another
Speaker 1: young guy Savellio to Marlay coming down from the Dragons
Speaker 1: and he.
Speaker 2: Is debut against them last year.
Speaker 1: Years ye as well Chevy Stewart. Like they've got some
Speaker 1: talon Savage. I think they're young, Yeah, a young guy
Speaker 1: old Patty one. I think Jersey Flegg player of the
Speaker 1: year for the competition. He was from the Raiders. Adam
Speaker 1: Cook was cut Player of the year. So they've got
Speaker 1: the building.
Speaker 2: Block is good. Yea. They want the one Premiership can
Speaker 2: New Sales Cup.
Speaker 1: No, they just lost the Sticky Bears, but they were
Speaker 1: i'd say form team of copetition.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, So obviously Trey Moon is another impressive forward.
Speaker 4: I think he had some really good games this year
Speaker 4: and sort of I think when he gets some more
Speaker 4: minutes into his legs at for NROL level, he'll be
Speaker 4: a really good player. So yeah, plenty of like about
Speaker 4: Camber and I think they've done well. Ruce's PENRITHI win
Speaker 4: at the un Panthers a little bit depleted, but to
Speaker 4: beat those sides at the end of the season sort
Speaker 4: of had as they preparing for a finals campaign as
Speaker 4: a big tip of the cap to him. So player
Speaker 4: looked forward for as for as a camera Fana.
Speaker 1: They always get their recruitment right as well.
Speaker 2: Yes, another UK sign they get them right.
Speaker 1: A Dragons, God, they're frustrating. Finished eleventh and I went
Speaker 1: back and I thought about what went wrong with them
Speaker 1: and there were so many so many bits and pieces
Speaker 1: like they were consistently inconsistent. But I also went all
Speaker 1: the way back to December last year when Talatate online
Speaker 1: was de red, just said for that off field incident.
Speaker 1: And you have to remember when Shane Flanning and arrived
Speaker 1: to the club, he probably thought my halves are going
Speaker 1: to be Talatale, Moan and Ben Hunt. When he was deregistered,
Speaker 1: he's then had to shuffle a few deck chairs. Incomes
Speaker 1: Kyle Flannagan, who I would have thought was going to
Speaker 1: probably be the bench utility. He starts at five eighth,
Speaker 1: and then of course they had the Ronald Wolkman incident,
Speaker 1: so they had they lacked depth and they had to
Speaker 1: scramble so that, you know, we can't disregard that, as
Speaker 1: I mentioned, consistently inconsistent. I mean, they went down to Melbourne,
Speaker 1: beat Melbourne in Melbourne, but then they just get spanked
Speaker 1: by the Eels in a must win game. They were
Speaker 1: in the box seat, the box seat to make the
Speaker 1: eight and they fumbled the bag big time like it
Speaker 1: was just and but it kind of leads into my
Speaker 1: silver lining for them. I mentioned it. You know they
Speaker 1: broke that twenty five year who do to be beating
Speaker 1: the storm in down in Melbourne, and the storm was
Speaker 1: pretty much full strength as well, Like that's a major
Speaker 1: flex and they looked like dead set finals contenders there.
Speaker 1: Zach Lomac's form on the wing was outstanding. You know,
Speaker 1: sucks that he's leaving, but.
Speaker 4: Arguably one of the stories of the year just in
Speaker 4: terms of the srutiny, the scrutiny I guess, I guess
Speaker 4: for lack of a better word, at the start of
Speaker 4: the season when he was moved and it was sort
Speaker 4: of like, you know, his Lomax, he sort of doesn't
Speaker 4: want to really want to be playing on the wing,
Speaker 4: and the decisions you know, sort of led him to
Speaker 4: getting his first Origin, Yeah, deb and he's he started
Speaker 4: in Origin, so yeah, quite remarkable and obviously the move
Speaker 4: to the Eels in years sort of added uce to that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, a great like a great turnaround for his career.
Speaker 1: But it also feeds into that looking ahead the future,
Speaker 1: it looks bright because it's clear shamefuland against the right
Speaker 1: man for the job. He went all in on that
Speaker 1: decision to move Zach Lomax to the wing. It was
Speaker 1: a master stroke. You know, he's brought in guys like
Speaker 1: Damian Cook and Valentine Holmes for next year and they're winners,
Speaker 1: their representative players and then but you know what the
Speaker 1: big question mark for me, and I've had this all season,
Speaker 1: Tyrel Stone at fullback. I rate him, I love him.
Speaker 1: I think he's such an exciting player, but I think
Speaker 1: they need somebody else. They're challenging him for that number
Speaker 1: one Jersey because they didn't have it this year. Back
Speaker 1: in New South Wales Cup, they were switching and like
Speaker 1: they were moving through fullbacks, like there was no Tomorrow
Speaker 1: whoever put their played fullback. Yeah, that Sabelli, Tomarle. That
Speaker 1: like in Kingtoggy, whoever would put their hand up to
Speaker 1: play fullback played fullbacks. They didn't have a genuine number one.
Speaker 1: And I think had there been a genuine number one
Speaker 1: that was challenging him, I don't know, it might have
Speaker 1: brought out the best in him, because we saw when
Speaker 1: he was dropped he came back firing. And maybe having
Speaker 1: Valentine Holmes at the club might.
Speaker 3: Iron sharpens iron Mal Holmes a great fullback in his
Speaker 3: own right. You know, Filane's made no reservations about Sloan's
Speaker 3: sort of defensive deficiencies, like, yeah, maybe Valholmes is the
Speaker 3: man to come in there and sort of give him
Speaker 3: those little one percent point is that someone only someone
Speaker 3: who's played fullback at a high clip before can give
Speaker 3: him because Tyrrel Slane, I think he's a fullback or
Speaker 3: he's nothing, you know what I mean. He's not like
Speaker 3: you'd be wasting him on the wing. And I don't
Speaker 3: think he's a center, like he's a fullback or he's nothing.
Speaker 3: And I think getting him right is just such a
Speaker 3: big step, Like if they can nail the defensive side
Speaker 3: of things and just get his up, like get him
Speaker 3: primed for a big year, it'll go massive towards what
Speaker 3: they do next year.
Speaker 2: He's he's fantastic.
Speaker 4: The thing with Sloan is the difference between his best
Speaker 4: and his worst is quite considerable. And you know the
Speaker 4: area is that of his game, which is probably you know,
Speaker 4: aren't too red hot at the moment or you know,
Speaker 4: definitely was the fact of him getting dropped this season
Speaker 4: was his defense.
Speaker 2: And that's just effort.
Speaker 1: Yeah really, which seems like an easy fix, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think if anyone can fix it, it's
Speaker 4: funny again, I know he's been there for a season
Speaker 4: or reading. But yeah, I think Sloan, Yeah, I think
Speaker 4: the best team is Sloan at fallback. Next year this
Speaker 4: is Sloan at fullback and Val in the centers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's worth noting as well. Corey Allen comes back
Speaker 1: from an ACL injury, but you know that's a tough
Speaker 1: injury to return from. And then Cody Ramsey his future
Speaker 1: is still up in the air. But you know what
Speaker 1: I said, the Dragons fumbled the bag, but now my
Speaker 1: expectations are for them. I think they have to play
Speaker 1: finals next year. Kyle the Broncos one of the stories
Speaker 1: of the season that fun not in a good way
Speaker 1: for Brisbane fans. Everyone thought that it would be a
Speaker 1: Grand Final rematch this year.
Speaker 2: It just wasn't.
Speaker 4: It just wasn't their year and the Broncos thought they
Speaker 4: were gonna before that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there's plenty that I had for what went wrong.
Speaker 3: So there's the Grand Final hangover, there's the external noise
Speaker 3: and expectations that come with making a Grand Final, and
Speaker 3: not just making a Grand Final, but going within whiskers
Speaker 3: of winning one like it was in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: Grand Final twenty twenty three not great. See I was
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one Grand Final. Even there, they were
Speaker 3: really close to twenty in that game. Not as close as Brisbane,
Speaker 3: but really close to twenty in that game twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: We all sort of know how that went. That I got.
Speaker 3: The injuries to Reynolds and Walsh were massive. I think
Speaker 3: the injury to Reynolds bigger than the injury to Welsh
Speaker 3: per se, because the drop off between Reynolds and Jock
Speaker 3: Madden is larger than the drop off between Reese Walsh
Speaker 3: and Tristan Sailor. Yeah, questionable pre season roster moves. They
Speaker 3: obviously let go of Tom Flegler, they let go of
Speaker 3: Herbie Fineworth, and the big one for me is they
Speaker 3: let go of Kurk caate.
Speaker 1: Well and they didn't replace them. They promoted from with.
Speaker 3: Him, promoted from with him, which is which is fair enough.
Speaker 3: I think it's it's, you know, that's a good strategy
Speaker 3: to have. I think the cap Well one it came
Speaker 3: early in December, but I think December then you go
Speaker 3: into Christmas. They've got a whole new left edge essentially
Speaker 3: because it's gone Selwynkobe has been moved to left center.
Speaker 3: Brendan Piter Kruisman move to left edge back row. That's
Speaker 3: just not not so much with the ball, but without
Speaker 3: the ball defending you just got to get all your
Speaker 3: timings right and stuff like that. I think that really
Speaker 3: probably derailed them. Origin was one that was touted, but
Speaker 3: they had Origin last year and they got through it
Speaker 3: and they went to the Grand Final, so I'm not
Speaker 3: really sort of using that one. Yeah, there's questions always
Speaker 3: about Kevy's coaching mobility, and none more so than sort
Speaker 3: of the last week or so. You've got to remember
Speaker 3: the Selwyn Cobbe is saying Kevy's not a good coach
Speaker 3: ice and Gamble saying Adam Reynolds is the go to
Speaker 3: at the club for footy and you know the team
Speaker 3: or footage during his time at the Broncos. There's questions
Speaker 3: about the players attitude, defensive issues in the latter parts
Speaker 3: of the season. The game against the Dogs, they got
Speaker 3: ripped part on the edges. The Dogs just ship the
Speaker 3: Dog's smaller pack Brisbane big pack, Painhass, Corey Jensen Pack, Harrigan,
Speaker 3: They've got a big boys mobile boys. The Dogs went
Speaker 3: side to side, got holes on the edges and then
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks later it was the middle. The
Speaker 3: Dolphins got punched you through the middle and Melbourne got
Speaker 3: punched through the middle. Melbourne had lucky outside, but they've
Speaker 3: got punch you through the middle.
Speaker 2: Like there's that. Harry Grand tried that he just show
Speaker 2: straight through.
Speaker 1: They didn't adjust on the run to in both of
Speaker 1: those games. Tough one silver lining is there.
Speaker 3: Any It's hard because it was such a spectacular failure,
Speaker 3: failure of a season. But I sort of think the
Speaker 3: silver lining is that they have everything that needs to
Speaker 3: be that they need to succeed in the club.
Speaker 1: That's a good point.
Speaker 3: You know, they still have Adam Reynolds. Race shall be
Speaker 3: better next year. They still have you know, Catani Stags
Speaker 3: on his day is one of the best centers.
Speaker 2: Cell and Cobo.
Speaker 3: You know, if he has a non disrupted campaign, he'll
Speaker 3: be a really good center as well. Carrigan Harsen make
Speaker 3: got two better middles. Ezra Man's really good on his day.
Speaker 3: And I also like what I saw from like Blake
Speaker 3: Moser and Xavier Willison's a couple of young guys mos in.
Speaker 2: Particular back half the season.
Speaker 3: Tough gig to come and sort of come off the
Speaker 3: bench and a team that was really struggling, but you know,
Speaker 3: he's got a lot of creativity out of the Rock that.
Speaker 2: I thought was quite nice.
Speaker 3: And Willison sort of yeah, he had his Yeah, he
Speaker 3: had his moments, but it's really tough.
Speaker 2: One for the promise.
Speaker 1: So looking ahead then, I'm going to put it to
Speaker 1: both of you. Do they play finals next year?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, they.
Speaker 4: Paint ass, Well, you touched on it. Cole paint ass, Kyle, sorry,
Speaker 4: paint ass. Adam Reynolds and Reese Walsh. I think they
Speaker 4: missed the combines just under fifty percent of games of
Speaker 4: the season, like yeah, yeah, of course has played at
Speaker 4: fourteen games on his origin and mixed in into that
Speaker 4: as well, but was about twelve or thirteen. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: just think if I just don't think they'll get up
Speaker 4: that unlucky with injuries. Again, they're too good a side,
Speaker 4: and like some of their best performances.
Speaker 2: Were really good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they just lost their weight at stages there.
Speaker 1: They've got to do it next year for Adam Reynold's retires,
Speaker 1: so they've got to.
Speaker 2: Do it next year because their coaches jobs on the line.
Speaker 3: They come out to see if they start the season
Speaker 3: and they lose five or six of their first ten games,
Speaker 3: the noise will be almost immeasurable and really looked so
Speaker 3: hard to overcome. Like it's just they need to start
Speaker 3: winning early and then if they do that, they'll go
Speaker 3: go through. But if they start losing real early, it's
Speaker 3: going to be theffield no its might be too much.
Speaker 1: And the thing in Brisbane is when they're winning, their
Speaker 1: rock stars when they're losing, get them out of there,
Speaker 1: all right. The Warriors. I had them top four, potentially
Speaker 1: winning the premiership this year because they were one of
Speaker 1: the very few teams that only added to their roster.
Speaker 1: They didn't lose any firepower. But holy hell from up
Speaker 1: the toe, how disappointing. They got a major reality check
Speaker 1: this season. They were the fairy tale story of last
Speaker 1: season and I have to wonder if maybe they, I
Speaker 1: don't know, came into the off seas, into the preseason
Speaker 1: not I don't want to say, I don't want to
Speaker 1: use the word and say complacent, because I know every
Speaker 1: player and coach will just go no way. But you
Speaker 1: have to wonder if some consciously they thought, all right,
Speaker 1: we've done all the hard yards you know during last season,
Speaker 1: we just need to build on it and whether there
Speaker 1: was like not a little bit of cockiness maybe I'm
Speaker 1: not too sure. They also couldn't fly under the raidar
Speaker 1: because everyone would have been focusing. No one would have
Speaker 1: seen them coming last year. This year everyone saw them coming.
Speaker 1: Throw in the fact that Luke metcalf stuff that horrific
Speaker 1: broken leg in round four. Again, you spend the whole
Speaker 1: preseason training with him and Sean Johnson and there go
Speaker 1: throw that out. Sean Johnson just wasn't the player that
Speaker 1: he was last season. There's no two ways about it.
Speaker 1: It was just a year that just didn't stack up
Speaker 1: to expectation.
Speaker 3: Just on the worries as well in the past, because
Speaker 3: how big rugby union has been in New Zealand, if
Speaker 3: they've had a poor year, it's mainly the media noise
Speaker 3: has mainly been Australian media noise because it's rugby league's
Speaker 3: more of an Australian game. But because of how popular
Speaker 3: the wires are now, their bad performances were almost as
Speaker 3: you know, focused on in New Zealand as they would
Speaker 3: have been over in Australia. I just wonder how much
Speaker 3: sort of that would have impacted them, Like that's almost
Speaker 3: a first for them really because every game sold out.
Speaker 1: But they would have become rock stars last year one
Speaker 1: hundred percent, and then all of a sudden they're not
Speaker 1: delivering to those expectations. And then you know, a wind
Speaker 1: changes everything, and when you're losing everything, the noise is louder.
Speaker 1: So again, I feel like they'll learn from this. There
Speaker 1: were some silver linings though. There's some really exciting young
Speaker 1: talent coming out in New Zealand. Jacob Laban, I think
Speaker 1: he got their Rookie of the Year at the Assignment
Speaker 1: simmer Mannering Medal the other night, like a Hall of Sema.
Speaker 1: Maybe his debut, like he came on, I think you
Speaker 1: played on an air you played in the centers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: played in the center.
Speaker 3: He played in the Center's nearly scored from about forty
Speaker 3: five menus out but yes, miraculous Bronze and shri held
Speaker 3: him up over the trial.
Speaker 2: I couldn't. I don't know how, but he's excited.
Speaker 1: Mitch Barnett best season to date maybe, yeah, unbelievable. Got
Speaker 1: their Player of the Year at the awards night, and
Speaker 1: I thought tomorrow Martin had a really good year as well.
Speaker 1: He thought I thought he looked really good in the
Speaker 1: number seven jersey and when you look ahead, I wonder
Speaker 1: does he replace Sean Johnson.
Speaker 2: Probably you'd think eventually it's a good game.
Speaker 4: Back to the Metcalf you mentioned that, I think that was, Yeah,
Speaker 4: that rocked their season because their last how the games
Speaker 4: he played at the end of this season, he was
Speaker 4: near the best on the ground for those, so that
Speaker 4: was a big loss. Tomorrow Martin, Yeah, I think he's
Speaker 4: definitely earned as a bit of water to go on
Speaker 4: the bridge for the start the next season, but definitely
Speaker 4: earned a role in the halves. A young play didn't mention.
Speaker 4: I thought was excellent was Tanane.
Speaker 2: To a picking?
Speaker 1: I loved Taying to a pick and I thought it
Speaker 1: was really interesting. Was it the final round? Their final
Speaker 1: round of the season. Andrew Webbs moved to chance and
Speaker 1: the Brook starts to the centers and played Tane and
Speaker 1: which was it was a timely reward because he was
Speaker 1: killing it in New South Bales Cup comes in.
Speaker 4: And it's the best on ground and they upset the.
Speaker 1: Magic question full back next year, Roger, are you moving
Speaker 1: Roger there?
Speaker 3: I don't know because at the times if they got
Speaker 3: the board, when they when they got the boardroom and
Speaker 3: they were flowing.
Speaker 2: It worked. I don't know. I just that's a hard one.
Speaker 2: They've got three guys that you could easily I'd go
Speaker 2: tain to a picky at full back. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: Look, they might put Roger there, but I thought if
Speaker 4: they were going to do that this year they would
Speaker 4: they would have. There was a lot of opportunity for
Speaker 4: them to and they didn't. I don't know whether Roger
Speaker 4: wanted to. But when he did play fullback, I think
Speaker 4: their record when I mean two or three games, I'm
Speaker 4: not sure, but they definitely one more and they lost
Speaker 4: when he played fullback. So yeah, it depends will charge
Speaker 4: on a play center who knows a lot to go.
Speaker 4: But I think Tanne to a pick is too good.
Speaker 2: Not in inside.
Speaker 1: I think yeah. And looking ahead at next year, I
Speaker 1: mean they lose Adam for nol Blake, but they add
Speaker 1: James Fisher Harris, I mean huge, pretty cool. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: reckon that this was a reality check and next year
Speaker 1: they should bounce back. Gold Coast Titans new era under
Speaker 1: Dez started a bit clunky, strange year, came really good
Speaker 1: and then admittedly.
Speaker 2: I thought they'd be a top eight team this year.
Speaker 1: Coming into the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did. I thought that.
Speaker 4: I just thought, you know, I the start was they're undoing.
Speaker 4: They missed the kickway at lengths. Basically, they lost the
Speaker 4: first six games and lost Tino in round three. It's
Speaker 4: a big loss, obviously, massive. Yeah, I just think, you know,
Speaker 4: for the year. With a year there under the belt,
Speaker 4: I think they can improve next year.
Speaker 2: For sure. There were some really good signs. They thrashed
Speaker 2: the Warriors that game.
Speaker 4: Their attack was humming at different stages throughout the year,
Speaker 4: but defensively they were really ordinary.
Speaker 2: I thought they'd be better.
Speaker 4: That was probably the area I thought they would sort
Speaker 4: of maybe they'd be a little bit more improved with
Speaker 4: but they sort of regressed in that area.
Speaker 2: So that was the big disappointment for me.
Speaker 4: But look, we know Des Hasler in the past, but
Speaker 4: he's a very good defensive wanded coach. You can sort
Speaker 4: of turn teams around, and I think he'll be able
Speaker 4: to do that, but he'll need a big turnaround on
Speaker 4: defense because they were one of the worst.
Speaker 1: Big decision as well in the off season a Jo Brimston,
Speaker 1: Jade and Campbell, Keanu Kinney.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been city.
Speaker 1: This has been sitting on my mind for dead sat
Speaker 1: at least three months.
Speaker 2: Well Campbell, I think's a six, right.
Speaker 1: And Keanu Kinney is a one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Brimston has to Where else do you
Speaker 2: put him? You can put him right.
Speaker 1: I was waiting, So the back end of that season
Speaker 1: there was like switching and swapping because Philip Sami was sick,
Speaker 1: and then someone was injured, and we never really got
Speaker 1: to see what Dez was thinking. And then when everyone
Speaker 1: was fit, they go a Joe Brimson's going to go
Speaker 1: under the knife and you just have an early mark
Speaker 1: And I thought, I don't want to wait until next
Speaker 1: season to find out what happens. But he's on, he'd
Speaker 1: be on big money. AJ is on a long term deal.
Speaker 1: But I don't know where. Like Sami was great in
Speaker 1: the sense.
Speaker 2: He has to be in left, I don't seventeen when
Speaker 2: he's when he's fit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know what Dez does.
Speaker 2: It's a good head, Brian Kelly.
Speaker 3: Ryan Kelly's good. The wing is a good as well,
Speaker 3: So Somemy can't just move to the wing like.
Speaker 1: It's I have something outrageous to put out there. Here
Speaker 1: we go a j Brimson to play fullback at the Dragons.
Speaker 2: Well that is very red.
Speaker 4: I thought you like a lock fall, that is what
Speaker 4: I was excited.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, yeah, I'll just given Sloan a big rap so.
Speaker 1: Well, well, he doesn't have to necessarily play, but he
Speaker 1: could probably play in the centers at the Dragons to
Speaker 1: I don't know, I.
Speaker 4: Think is the fullback position at the moment is absolutely stocked.
Speaker 4: You go through every team and you know, there's not
Speaker 4: a I would have said maybe at the halfway point
Speaker 4: of the year. The only team that was like, you
Speaker 4: wouldn't really be sure about who their future fallback would
Speaker 4: be for the next two or thre years would Big Camera
Speaker 4: because they'd Rapana playing there and he was probably going
Speaker 4: to be leaving at the end of the year. And
Speaker 4: then Kyle Weeks came in to merge, and you know,
Speaker 4: he's got a bit to works it do a fullback,
Speaker 4: but he was very good. He was very good in
Speaker 4: limits of time there. So yeah, in terms of like
Speaker 4: another club, I'm sure a J. Brimston would definitely be
Speaker 4: in the top sixteen full back.
Speaker 1: You look at someone like so far longer on the
Speaker 1: bench Storm sometimes eighteenth man, so like, yeah, you'd hate
Speaker 1: to be a fullback at the moment. All right, well,
Speaker 1: let's move along to the paramount of Eels.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I'm going to say probably the worst performing
Speaker 3: team compared to their expectations.
Speaker 1: The biggest disappointment this year. I got to give you
Speaker 1: some insight. I went to a training session in their
Speaker 1: preseason and I interviewed a stack of their players, and
Speaker 1: I genuinely thought that they were going to bounce back
Speaker 1: this year in the way that the Broncos bounced back
Speaker 1: from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three, because talking
Speaker 1: to them, you could see how genuinely they were hurt
Speaker 1: and embarrassed by what happened last season. And boy did
Speaker 1: they disappoint. But what went wrong, Mitchell moses like that
Speaker 1: injury and this is a heel that I will die on.
Speaker 1: The Eels killed themselves by not having a like for like,
Speaker 1: genuine backup number seven ready to go. So when they
Speaker 1: let Jake Arthur leave the club, they didn't replace him
Speaker 1: and Deja nasty, great player, but he's not a like
Speaker 1: for like half back that's in New Southwest cau't playing
Speaker 1: half back every single week. He's playing here, there and everywhere.
Speaker 1: In his versatility is his asset. They needed a half
Speaker 1: back like it was very clear in Brad Arthur's coaching
Speaker 1: plan in that twenty twenty two season when they made
Speaker 1: the Grand Final, just how important the halves were so
Speaker 1: much so he was happy to put Jake Arthur on
Speaker 1: the bench and have him not play any minutes at all,
Speaker 1: so long as he was there as an insurance plan.
Speaker 1: So that's clear how important the halves were. And then
Speaker 1: they came into this season with no backup and they
Speaker 1: were completely exposed for that. Mitchell Moses, you know that
Speaker 1: was a terrible injury. He's out. That kind of just
Speaker 1: snowballed into Brad Arthur's sacking. And then just to add
Speaker 1: I guess injury to insult or insult to injury. Sorry,
Speaker 1: you've got Ethan Sanders signing with the Raiders, Blaze Ta Lungy'
Speaker 1: signing with the Panthers, Mad Arthur signing with the Knights.
Speaker 1: So their next generation of players, Charlie.
Speaker 2: Gimer wants to leave as well.
Speaker 1: Apparently Little Player too, silver Line.
Speaker 2: And Blaze's younger brother apparently and moved to Penrith as well.
Speaker 2: I read the other day they just.
Speaker 1: Need to I don't know, blow it up and start again.
Speaker 1: Silver lining. I struggled with this. I think the silver
Speaker 1: lining is they didn't get the wooden spoon. As Clint
Speaker 1: Garthurson said in the press conference after Spoon Bowl, no
Speaker 1: one remembers who came fifteen sixteenth. It's everyone remembers who
Speaker 1: came seventeenth. And he has a point there. One other
Speaker 1: silver lining is they did secure the next big thing
Speaker 1: in coaching in Jason Ryles. He has a massive job.
Speaker 1: But I suppose, you know, everyone was interested in signing
Speaker 1: Jason Ryles and the Eels got their man.
Speaker 4: I would still I don't know about you guys, but
Speaker 4: I would still, you know, based on assuming they get
Speaker 4: through the off season healthy and all that sort of stuff,
Speaker 4: I still think that they be favorites to be in
Speaker 4: the finish in the top eight next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Like I know it was against the Tigers, but they
Speaker 4: show what they can do when they went on. You know,
Speaker 4: they've you know, they've got an aging roster, I guess,
Speaker 4: but Moses was outstanding when he was healthy, obviously, and
Speaker 4: you have some good pieces that they can work with.
Speaker 4: I think I think they really should be I think
Speaker 4: they have a pretty tough draw this year.
Speaker 1: You look at their like their site. Clink Arthurson never
Speaker 1: lets you down right. Mitchell Moses one of the best
Speaker 1: halves in the game. Dylan Brown, you know, great news
Speaker 1: that he hasn't ruptured his ACL that's amazing news. He'll
Speaker 1: be back for round one. Add Zach Lomax to that
Speaker 1: back line.
Speaker 2: Penasine is, if not the most powerful center.
Speaker 1: In the camp, like you're adding Isaiah Iongi from the Panthers.
Speaker 1: He'll be a good backup to Clink Artherson. So and
Speaker 1: then they're also, Thank goodness, I've realized they need a
Speaker 1: backup to Mitchell Moses, and they've got the rise on
Speaker 1: Dean Hawkins at the rabbit O's and he's a very
Speaker 1: lightful like player. So I agree with you. I expect
Speaker 1: them to be playing finals next year, even though it's
Speaker 1: Jason Rowles's first season.
Speaker 3: Good enough forward pack to do it really, like you know,
Speaker 3: Paulo Kem Gillard hop good freak. The back round was
Speaker 3: a great Brice cart ride on these days. Unbelievable hooker
Speaker 3: is probably is.
Speaker 1: Probably it's a big you know, I rate Brendan hands,
Speaker 1: but I do agree that they you know, Okay, I've
Speaker 1: got another one to throw out there Jade and Brayley.
Speaker 1: He was tapped on the shoulder right to the eels.
Speaker 3: If Jason Rowles likes a stin and deliver hooker, yeah, he's.
Speaker 1: A clever player. He's experienced.
Speaker 2: If Jason Roles likes.
Speaker 1: His with Brendan hands off the bench, bringing on some
Speaker 1: a bit of spark.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I hate look. I think the best
Speaker 2: available hooker. Yeah, I think it's the best devaible.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to move some pieces around.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I don't know if that'll be not sure
Speaker 4: an upgrade. I know he's a veteran presence. Brailey, you know,
Speaker 4: very good on his day. But I just I thought
Speaker 4: brillianone's quite good when he was.
Speaker 1: Actually I love him, but I don't know eighty minutes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm a big believer in playing two hookers. I
Speaker 1: think hooker is such an important position. You argue, you've
Speaker 1: got your hands on the ball most and you're arguably
Speaker 1: making more decisions than anybody else on the field. And
Speaker 1: I mean you're getting fatigued, your decision making lapses, your service,
Speaker 1: you know, doesn't get so good.
Speaker 3: Who was the new South Wales hooker in the under twenties.
Speaker 3: This year maybe be a good pick up for the Ears.
Speaker 1: Mad Arthur, Yes, yeah, no, I think next year they
Speaker 1: bounce back.
Speaker 2: It hard to say them.
Speaker 1: Also really keen to see how Jason Rowls goes in
Speaker 1: that job. Rabbit os Dan. Second last, it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: before we get into this, did you guys did you
Speaker 1: guys have them in your eighth this year? Did you
Speaker 1: think last year was just a you know, chuck that
Speaker 1: to the side. You've got the roster to go all
Speaker 1: the way?
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 4: I thought they'd make the eight. I wasn't thinking they'd
Speaker 4: be Yeah, well, I definitely thought they make the eight.
Speaker 4: I don't think it would be one of the top
Speaker 4: premiership hopes. But on it was just so much that
Speaker 4: went wrong. We could do a whole episode on the rope.
Speaker 4: I'll see how Sydney alone. But obviously you know, went
Speaker 4: to Vegas, good experience, it's up there, and that they
Speaker 4: got the loss there. That was the start of it,
Speaker 4: and then obviously got a much worse after that. Chasing
Speaker 4: Demetro sacked started May. Yeah, it looks like seven eight
Speaker 4: rounds into the season.
Speaker 1: Looks like they didn't really get a handle on whatever
Speaker 1: was rotting at the end of last season, they never
Speaker 1: actually really stopped.
Speaker 2: Well that's it.
Speaker 4: You can you can you can obviously trace it back
Speaker 4: to back then the sam Burges just walk out and
Speaker 4: all that sort of stuff. Latrell wasn't healthy for much
Speaker 4: of the year, then he plays one of the best
Speaker 4: Horozen games at the Center in recent memory, and then
Speaker 4: he comes back injured. Obviously, the white substance scan at
Speaker 4: the end of the year just sort of rubs salt
Speaker 4: into the wound. I guess on what has been a
Speaker 4: horror season for South Sydney, so you know, and moving
Speaker 4: onto the silver lining, they cannot be possibly any worse
Speaker 4: than Kembill.
Speaker 1: Grahame's back massive you forget about Campbell Graint and also
Speaker 1: think about the halves to Localilli has dropped, broke his
Speaker 1: leg and he breaks his Legan Hawkins comes in. You know,
Speaker 1: it took a while for Ben Hornby to make that
Speaker 1: switch that everyone wanted to see him move Jack Whiton
Speaker 1: into the halves. Yeah, Alex Johnston was injured, Jayarro, Camra
Speaker 1: Murray spent some time out to it.
Speaker 4: Just yeah, I think their forwards are a little disappointing
Speaker 4: for me this year. Keon Klomba tongue when he was
Speaker 4: moved in the middle was very good, fantastic. David kay
Speaker 4: Murray wasn't going to have his best year. I didn't
Speaker 4: think he was still, you know, we have high expectations,
Speaker 4: but he was probably not less. Sean Kepio expected a
Speaker 4: bit more from him this year. There was talk, there
Speaker 4: was talks about him playing you know, Origin at the
Speaker 4: start of this season, like he was talking about it.
Speaker 4: I think he was saying that's what he was like
Speaker 4: to press for and he didn't really deliver this year.
Speaker 4: I just think they need a bit more punch from
Speaker 4: their forwards. Let them down obviously, and injuries cost them
Speaker 4: as well. But with that said, it's you can't make
Speaker 4: a whole. While a lot went wrong, they were pretty
Speaker 4: ordinary too.
Speaker 1: Are your halves? Are you sticking with Cody Walker and
Speaker 1: Jack Whiton in the halves?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think Cody Walker's played really well at half back
Speaker 4: at stages this year. Jack Whiton, I love Jack Whitton.
Speaker 4: I just think he went missing in games too this
Speaker 4: year as well. I thought he was better at five
Speaker 4: eight than he was at Sene because you get obviously
Speaker 4: get your hands on the ball more at five eighth
Speaker 4: than and that.
Speaker 2: But you know you got little dog coming Jamie Humphries
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 4: Jamie Humphries is a guy who will be pressing first
Speaker 4: grades election.
Speaker 1: I'd pick one of them at half back because they
Speaker 1: are going to lose Dean Hawkins and they're told luck
Speaker 1: itly as he can leave. Yeah, interesting, Hawky.
Speaker 4: Probably you probably put Whiton and Whiton and Campbell Grahm
Speaker 4: your centers.
Speaker 2: I would play Whiten in the back row.
Speaker 3: In the back row, play White and left edge back
Speaker 3: row big John Sutton Vibes and I'd get like Isaiah
Speaker 3: Task next to him at left center, and I just
Speaker 3: I just let that left edd rome.
Speaker 2: But they have you and Aiken as well.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing when you start piecing it together,
Speaker 1: like it's a great roster tyro and Monroe like he
Speaker 1: missed the chunk of the year. Put him in. Alex Johnson,
Speaker 1: you got speed, try scoring machines on both the Campbell
Speaker 1: Graham great defensive center. If you were to play Jack
Speaker 1: White on the other side, you work your way in.
Speaker 1: I don't know where you put kill Klinma tongue somewhere.
Speaker 3: Wayne will probably open. Wayne'll play Hi in the middle.
Speaker 3: Wayne seems to like him in the middle.
Speaker 4: I don't know why they wouldn't him in the front
Speaker 4: of favor while their front rowers this year weren't great.
Speaker 4: When colin On Toungue was in the middle at Locke,
Speaker 4: yeah he was, it was really good. Just need a
Speaker 4: couple of upgrades to their back line. I think a
Speaker 4: couple of guys in there this year probably aren't up
Speaker 4: to enter. I stand in my opinion, But you know
Speaker 4: that was because it was injuries and all that sort
Speaker 4: of stuff called Campbell, Graham back, Colmence, Hungy in the
Speaker 4: middle and then yeah, you and Aiken ads so.
Speaker 2: Underrated keeping him at full back, Yeah I am. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're better when he's at fullback. When he's not
Speaker 3: at fullback and they I don't think they have the
Speaker 3: team yet. I'm not too sure they have the team
Speaker 3: to if they move him to left center, get him
Speaker 3: good enough football to then affect the game. I think
Speaker 3: at fullback he's not going to do. You're Dylan Edwards
Speaker 3: three hundred meters a game full back. I wouldn't want
Speaker 3: that from him. Yeah, he just needs to influence the
Speaker 3: game when he's in the attacking half. The other problem
Speaker 3: is their wingers aren't the best coming out of.
Speaker 1: Their any Well, they're not. That's not there. That's not
Speaker 1: They're not Brian Tos Yeah, or Jacob Kurra.
Speaker 3: That's where Kembell Graham and Jack White and Isaiah Tuss
Speaker 3: and those guys will come in and do that heavy lifting.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'd leave the trail at the back.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you meant we kind of touched on it,
Speaker 1: the big silver lining and the looking ahead. Wayne Manette returned,
Speaker 1: say no more like he took him to a Grand
Speaker 1: Final in twenty twenty one. The players love him. If
Speaker 1: there's anyone that can kind of, you know, put their
Speaker 1: magic dust on a club and turn it around, Dayne Bennett.
Speaker 1: Hence why the Eels tried to get him as well.
Speaker 1: All right, well let's finish off on our three time
Speaker 1: Wooden Spooners, the West Tigers. Kyle, what went wrong?
Speaker 3: Look, it's it's very easy to look at the club
Speaker 3: that's just won their third consecutive Wooden Spin and say
Speaker 3: pretty much everything went wrong. But I don't know if
Speaker 3: I'd go that hard. I think the worst thing for
Speaker 3: the Tigers is she was Dissa. They're the most symbian
Speaker 3: team in a single season in NRL history. So they
Speaker 3: had sixteen players sent to the Symbian. They had games
Speaker 3: where they had two players sent to the Symbian, and
Speaker 3: teams can survive with two in the symbian. The Dogs
Speaker 3: beat the Knights at Ako early in the season with
Speaker 3: two players in the Symbian, not simultaneously, but still. But
Speaker 3: I just think when you're a team like the Tigers
Speaker 3: and you just don't have, you know, the runs on
Speaker 3: the board and that winning mentality, losing to you know
Speaker 3: that many people to the symbin is massive. They had
Speaker 3: twenty five charges by the Match Review Committee. They had
Speaker 3: six players suspended for a total of eight times, so
Speaker 3: Caesar and Justin olanm was suspended twice and they all
Speaker 3: spent so that they all spent sixteen matches on the sideline,
Speaker 3: So that's eight and seas. You started half back, Lachlan Galvin,
Speaker 3: your you know, your best young player and your five
Speaker 3: eighth on the sideline. Justin Olam, you're probably your best,
Speaker 3: saying Isaiah Poppelli one of your best forwards, David Klamer
Speaker 3: your best front rower.
Speaker 2: Like these guys, missing time doesn't help. So I think
Speaker 2: disciplines are massive. And then like they just have so
Speaker 2: much off field stuff as well.
Speaker 3: Like it's very hard to ignore the offield stuff like
Speaker 3: the you know, the Stefano where's he going? Where was
Speaker 3: he and a go, like all that kind of stuff
Speaker 3: up in the air, Bateman's mid year loan and sort
Speaker 3: of the pressure that come with Shane Richardson was in
Speaker 3: the UK earlier in the shopping players around.
Speaker 1: You could just imagine what that did to the mentality.
Speaker 3: Ben his Fiji trip, and then right at the end
Speaker 3: of the year the threat from Bowmain to try and
Speaker 3: split the club. Like there's all these little things that
Speaker 3: just yeah, just would eat away.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't take much for the media to latch
Speaker 1: onto a story when it's on the Tigers and just yeah,
Speaker 1: Silver Linings, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Civil Linings is definitely the young players that they got,
Speaker 3: Like they've seriously got so many good young players that
Speaker 3: like they're they're super raw at the moment because they're yeah,
Speaker 3: obviously young and haven't played heaps of football, but like
Speaker 3: like obviously Galvin is a freak, Like he's Gus called said,
Speaker 3: he's like the best teenager he's ever seen, Yeah, which
Speaker 3: is some rap considering the amount of footy Guss watched
Speaker 3: like samue La Fay and who was unbelievable at points
Speaker 3: this season. Like for Nopol, he's got, you know, he's
Speaker 3: got a big future in him.
Speaker 2: Talent.
Speaker 3: The Silver's really talented. Dream baller is obviously if you
Speaker 3: get about h because he missed a.
Speaker 1: Couple and you go one step lower.
Speaker 3: Heath mate Sanoa t River's only twenty one and he's
Speaker 3: joining next year, Like this is crazy.
Speaker 1: Well looking ahead, I mean all eyes on Jerome Lilie right.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 3: Big Jerome showed this year that he can lead the
Speaker 3: team as a number seven. He's got you know, he's
Speaker 3: got players around him that can sort of affect the Scoreboy,
Speaker 3: he's got Lachlan Galvin there, Like yeah, I think LOUI
Speaker 3: will go there with not too much a chip on
Speaker 3: his shoulder. But you know, he's shown for you know,
Speaker 3: ten or twelve rounds this year that he can be
Speaker 3: the main guy. But I think still going into next year,
Speaker 3: because it's said the Tigers are not the Panthers, I
Speaker 3: think there'll still be massive doubts about you know, it
Speaker 3: was this twenty twenty four sort of a bit of
Speaker 3: an anomaly, and I think he'll have a little bit
Speaker 3: of a chip on his shoulder that he want to yeah,
Speaker 3: and a point to prove, and I just think, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think he'll just.
Speaker 2: He'll work wonders for him.
Speaker 3: Seriously, I think just the leadership and stuff like we
Speaker 3: see with Stephen Crichton at the at the Dogs. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think you can't underestimate just how much leadership and
Speaker 3: influence he will have on that young team.
Speaker 1: I think Abby Corusal will sigh a little bit of relief.
Speaker 1: Jeromeurns from four game suspension probably tried to take some
Speaker 1: things from Penrith and implement them at the Tigers. And
Speaker 1: you can see sometimes he's jumping out of dummy half
Speaker 1: and there's no one you know that's on the same
Speaker 1: page as him throwing. Jerome Louwhite, They've come from similar systems.
Speaker 1: They had success. That's a good spine. Jerome lu and Lachland, Galvin,
Speaker 1: Jerine Buller.
Speaker 3: It's similar because when the Dog sign read Marnie that
Speaker 3: first season, there wasn't a whole lot going out and
Speaker 3: he would jump out of dummy howf and skip and
Speaker 3: skip and skip, and then he'd try to overplay his
Speaker 3: hand and it would be an error.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't do anything. There's probably times where app he's
Speaker 2: tried to do that this year.
Speaker 3: He just needs one guy just knows what he's sort
Speaker 3: of doing to get there, and then the rest of.
Speaker 2: The team will follow.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: I'm really high on the Tigers next year.
Speaker 1: Are we tipping him to lift themselves up?
Speaker 2: They might go to ninth? Oh don't, I'll improved. They
Speaker 2: won't make it. I don't think. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just think there's too much improvement from some of
Speaker 4: the teams we've mentioned that I think are better than
Speaker 4: the Tigers at this stage, and we'll be next year.
Speaker 4: I think, like the Paramatta and the Gold Coast, I
Speaker 4: think they will really improve sharply. Tigers will definitely improve.
Speaker 4: They wouldn't spare it. It would be crazy to think
Speaker 4: with that roster they have next year that they will.
Speaker 4: But yeah, they'll be.
Speaker 2: They won't be in the media as nearly as much
Speaker 2: next year.
Speaker 4: I don't think these air performances on the field, will
Speaker 4: you keep the heat off Benji in their players?
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 1: Well, that's twenty twenty four. The season wrapped up for
Speaker 1: those nine teams. They can sail off into the Valley
Speaker 1: sunset and enjoy a premature off season for the remaining
Speaker 1: eight teams, though, this is where the fun really begins.
Speaker 1: So thank you Dan and Kyle for jumping on this
Speaker 1: week and for our listeners keep your eyes peeled, I
Speaker 1: should say, for our club by club end of season
Speaker 1: reviews on Fox sports dot com dot Au. Catching next time.