No Ikahifho?

i thought Woolford got it about right in his assessment about last night. Cudjoe did very well with the limited chances he got, as did Jerry. Mellor scored a good try and looks dangerous and for me, Lawrence was quite good going forward for once, maybe Woolford has given him some new insight.

Lawrence ran the ball up harder,actually passed and went to ground quickly after being tackled this allowing a quick play the ball

Now dont go taking sense- unless he’s knocking players over like skittles he’s useless according to some of our uneducated fans.
Rapira was the same- hard yards- fall on his front quick PTB - but slAted at times

cudjoes back and mcgillvary starts scoring again... strange that



mellor has really impressed past few weeks!

I agree re Mellor- been amongst if not the top tackler for the last few games and some good gains per carry.

a totally different side with hinchy on the field as shown on friday night think we still need him for next season

I agree with that, maybe woolford is going to be the man to teach him something, I would like to see him offload out of the tackle a bit, maybe that will come.

Lawrence is a real enigma and always has been. Like Cudjoe he has fantastic genetics for a rugby player and you would expect him to be a try scoring forward, regularly busting tackles and scoring from deep, but instead he's a real plodder in attack, yards and find the floor and only really shines in defence. I do indeed hope Woolford is the man to teach him to use some of that athleticism to good effect and Friday maybe saw the beginnings of that.

Depends how he’s been asked to play-
A few of the things I’d say are very good about Lawrence. Hardworking in defence, misses few tackles, rarely makes errors, rarely gives away penalties, rarely turned on his back in the tackle enabling a quick play the ball.

totally different side when we had smith and ikahihifo propping too and obrien on the pitch!

think we all know lawrences plus points by now!

But I don’t think many of our fans do- I don’t think they recognise that winning the tackle and getting a quick ptb can be worth more than a player using up energy making an extra one or two metres after contact. You can make those metres up in the next play by a quick ptb - and have conserved energy.

I do get Lawrences strengths but I still don't think he is good enough at either prop or 2nd row for a team wanting to make the top 4. Hes an extremely valuable team player as are Clough, Murphy and even Rankin could fall into this bracket. However, these are the "dependables" we do need in the squad but also need to improve on them in regards to our starting 17 if we are to make it back into the top 4.

I agree with that, It all depends what the club aspires too though.

I’d like to bet Lawrence will be on less money than clough and Rankin.
I’d say therefore he’s better value for money to the club than those players.
Id also rather have a dependable local lad in our squad than any other similar.

So if the Hastings and Uate deals come off.......what the consensus on the next position we need to strengthen next?

With Symonds gone, Wakeman and Mamo certain to leave and potentially Hinchliffe too we could still have room for another 2 signings.

I do think we still need to offload some current players such as Roche and potentially Walne also.

We need two players for the pack.
Whether that is two props Or a prop and second row is a moot point.

But we need two players one who is aggressive and a pack leader like peacock or Hill and maybe a second row who can run out wide.

Agree completely. Halfback with a kicking game, and distribution was number one to replace Brough in max one years time. Hastings from his highlights is exactly that, lots of try assists and pinpoint kicks. He's not a longterm solution though i would assume, although you never know once he gets over here! Number two priority is a good prop with some real aggression and go forward, big unit would help too.

I wonder when it will be announced?

It’s hardly a secret - it’s been on the official NRL website!

didnt say where he was going though.

prob announce is when we announce season tickets for 2019

what benefit are the club going to get from announcing it now? may aswell leave some things for the marketing for next season but we know how rubbish at that they are... at least england know what they are doing using mcgillvary to promote the new england shirt... something we could have done last season on the back of the huge world cup he just had but no...not a clue how to use our main asset mcgillavary

From the NRL website:

“Sea Eagles veteran Akuila Uate will take up a lucrative three-year deal with Super League outfit Huddersfield in 2019, ending a decade-long career as one of the NRL's most entertaining flyers.”

It’s all over the Aussie media.

To avoid looking like chumps?

We need to ensure we are still in SL next season before we make any announcements!

This. Have any of you criticising the club thought that maybe there will be a clause in the contract that makes it moot if we are relegated; and therefore the club might wait to see if we make the 8s to announce it? They could potentially announce season tickets at the same time then.