The Understudies

[DjJazzyPete]

Hi ya .. after last Thursday night .. When I saw comments from friends like these ( not my comments ok , I'm in Nata Botswana and haven't seen the game ok guys ) :
Astbury will struggle with the new rules with his fitness, and won't be in our best 23 for much longer
Pickett and Caddy are 2s players
Caddy has been great but now is taking the place of a younger player who will be more value going forward

However these comments etc got me thinking .Also over the next few years were going have some of our great players retire ..yep this thread is about ..where our young players in the seconds are at .?..and who do you see them replacing in the 1s ( in the short and long term ?) How are our understudies going ?

 

[Tenacious]

Hi ya .. after last Thursday night .. When I saw comments from friends like these ( not my comments ok , I'm in Nata Botswana and haven't seen the game ok guys ) :
Astbury will struggle with the new rules with his fitness, and won't be in our best 23 for much longer
Pickett and Caddy are 2s players
Caddy has been great but now is taking the place of a younger player who will be more value going forward

However these comments etc got me thinking .Also over the next few years were going have some of our great players retire ..yep this thread is about ..where our young players in the seconds are at .?..and who do you see them replacing in the 1s ( in the short and long term ?) How are our understudies going ?

It’s a good point and a Catch-22

Typically young prospects are trying to grab one of the last available spots in a team (say positions 16-22 in general terms)
But in our current team - those “vulnerable” spots might be occupied by blokes with multiple premierships.

Hopefully the club will make the right calls at the right time because we do need to get games into the understudies so that they’re good to go when they are really needed in one, two and three years time. But that means hard calls at times and leaving out some of our heroes.

Just a pure hypothetical - but right now I’d rather see someone like (take your pick of Ross/Dow/RCD/Stack/CCJ/.......) become a triple premiership player than see someone like (Houli/Broad/Astbury/Castagna/whoever .....) win their fifth.

 

[mrposhman]

Slightly different to this exercise but I did take a look at our Under 25 team.

B Stack Miller Nyoun
HB Baker Balta Ralph-Smith
C Naish RCD Cumberland
HF Bolton Chol D Rioli
F Castgana CCJ MRJ
R Ryan Dow Graham
I/C Martyn Garthwaite Ross Mansell

Egg and Colina not included in the team

Theres some serious talent there, several already almost set and forgets in our first team (Bakes, Balta, Bolton, Castagna, Graham, DRioli - although form needs to improve) with some very good talent next cabs off the rank that we know that can play (Ross, Ralph-Smith, Stack, Dow, Martyn, CCJ) etc.

 

[Baloo]

Slightly different to this exercise but I did take a look at our Under 25 team.

B Stack Miller Nyoun
HB Baker Balta Ralph-Smith
C Naish RCD Cumberland
HF Bolton Chol D Rioli
F Castgana CCJ MRJ
R Ryan Dow Graham
I/C Martyn Garthwaite Ross Mansell

Egg and Colina not included in the team

Theres some serious talent there, several already almost set and forgets in our first team (Bakes, Balta, Bolton, Castagna, Graham, DRioli - although form needs to improve) with some very good talent next cabs off the rank that we know that can play (Ross, Ralph-Smith, Stack, Dow, Martyn, CCJ) etc.

Not to shabby though we definitely need to focus on the defence. Too many untested there.

 

[DjJazzyPete]

I guess were hoping Biggie and Miller make the grade down back .. Was surprised we didn't take a tall mobile KPP in the last draft .. as a understudy to Jack ..
Did hear Garth is playing forward in the 2s ?

 

[TigerPort]

I guess were hoping Biggie and Miller make the grade down back .. Was surprised we didn't take a tall mobile KPP in the last draft .. as a understudy to Jack ..
Did hear Garth is playing forward in the 2s ?

Can't fix everything in one draft. We did take Sampson Ryan and early reports are positive.

Multiple picks this year's draft should see a couple of talls join us

 

[rinso17]

Slightly different to this exercise but I did take a look at our Under 25 team.

B Stack Miller Nyoun
HB Baker Balta Ralph-Smith
C Naish RCD Cumberland
HF Bolton Chol D Rioli
F Castgana CCJ MRJ
R Ryan Dow Graham
I/C Martyn Garthwaite Ross Mansell

Egg and Colina not included in the team

Theres some serious talent there, several already almost set and forgets in our first team (Bakes, Balta, Bolton, Castagna, Graham, DRioli - although form needs to improve) with some very good talent next cabs off the rank that we know that can play (Ross, Ralph-Smith, Stack, Dow, Martyn, CCJ) etc.

You're missing Short and Soldo

 

[mrposhman]

You're missing Short and Soldo

Shorts already turned 25. Fair call on Soldo.

 

[tigerdell]

Slightly different to this exercise but I did take a look at our Under 25 team.

B Stack Miller Nyoun
HB Baker Balta Ralph-Smith
C Naish RCD Cumberland
HF Bolton Chol D Rioli
F Castgana CCJ MRJ
R Ryan Dow Graham
I/C Martyn Garthwaite Ross Mansell

.......

Ross on the bench!
Arguable he should be picked before an uncapped player eg RCD, its a reasonable pick for team balance.
Highlights the depth