Thought we could have done with him last night. When O'Meley was off the field we really struggled to get hudds on the back foot. Dowes and cusack may shore up the defence but really offer very little going forward

Not sure he would have broken their defence tbh..Hame tried a couple of times, Hudds have one of the best defence in sl..
Noticed the 2nd half they kept running at Hame, interesting tactic which worked imo.

I believe we lost momentum more as a result of Berro being off. Big Sam has to improve defensively before he deposes Yak and Dowes in the team. There is far more to a props role than rolling through the opposition.

Alos when the Yak takes the ball up, which is far more often than Sam does he takes three or four men with him. Think about how much of their energy he is using up compared to his own and the benefit that has for our team. Its not massive yardage but it is so effective in grinding down the opposition.

I thought we missed Radders the most. He looked to be playing another blinder until he picked up a knock. First 20 minutes he was getting over the advantage line with ease.

i like big sam and hope he gets a run out next week ,but to dislodge any of the current props he needs to up his workrate, he carrys the ball stronger than anyone but is not as fit as cussack or dowes or radders this is where the club have probs been working hard with him ,i think he may play next week if radders is injured ,tbf not a bad swop hope we have no more injuries Agar said on radio that long and horne had dead legs hope there fit

I was one who would have liked Moa in the 17 for this game , And for the reasons you have said.

I though our pack muscled up really well against once of the best drilled defences in SL.

And there's far more to being a prop than tackling. Moa is an impact player and we had little impact last night. 3 props who basically play the same game. Moa would have given us something different IMO

Said last week we missed his punch and showed again last night, thought cusack very average and will never punch a hole, also seems easy to bring down.

For me him and o Meley interchange makes the oposition worry.

after seeing the last two games, i'd definately keep cusack in the squad

even if radford has picked up a knock, selection headache or what.

after two wins, and a game against crusaders, i think a bit of solidarity is necessary. he can help steady the ship and like someone said, he attracts a few defenders. there's plenty of other players in our squad with attacking finesse

I'd put Moa in for the Crusaders game for one of Radford, Cusack or Dowes. Not that they've done out wrong just think its good to mix it up a bit and Moa will give us some more impact which we lacked when O'Meley was off.

Thought cusack did quite well last night, haven't seen the stats but probably made some good yards.
Having said that, definatley looking forward to seeing sam have a few shunts when he finally gets on the field

One thing that concerns me with Moa is that he is never going to play good enough to live up to the hype that is surrounding him.

we certainly lacked any go forward last night as soon as omeley went of and struggled to make yards. radders wasnt on the field for long due to taken a bang, dowesy was ok does what he normally does but thought cusack was poor to be honest. hes to robotic and upstraight and that leads to him being picked up and put on his back which results in a slow play the ball, he gives no impact whatsoever.

lets also give credit where it is due...
This Hudds side make no mistake is going to push for all honours this year based upon the fact they are solid in defence as bradford found last week!!
They cleverly ran at Hame to tire him out for long periods over and over which then showed in his ability to break tackles as he was a tad tired and we did exactly the same to Crabbie ..
Yak and Dowes ran their blood to water and both were outstanding in my book, especially Yak who lined up their big forwards everytime they had the ball and neither of their bog hitters made any yardage at all...
We played a top class side last night and beat them and beat them good !!

Whiting again .. outstanding

Cusack's always been smart enough and had the technique in the tackle to land on his knees and elbows, which enables him to get a quick PTB. I don't recall him being picked up and put in his back much if at all. He's excellent at what he does, which is work hard, take the ball up and attract plenty of defenders as well as putting a boat load of work in in defence. He's a quality player, but not a 'showy' or spectacular player. He'll do for me.

Never going to be any quick ptb's against Hudds. I too dont remember being put on his back every time he ran the ball in. The main reason he doesn;t break the line often is because of the amount of tacklers he attracts.

Talking of attracting tacklers Lauaki played a massive part in Halls try running in and drawing two Hudds players in only to slip out a pass at the last second giving us the chance to carry on the move and score. The fact he made such an impression in the Saints game means teams may target him but if he draws in extra bodies it means more space out wide.

Correct team choice last night for me and, unless I'm very much mistaken, we won with that team. I'd play Moa next week though, definitely. I might even consider giving Turner and Washy a run out.

However, I don't know if it's too soon to start rotating a winning team.

Maybe give Radders a break especially if he has any niggles from the knock he picked up last night. No need to play players who are carrying any injuries especially at this stage of the season.

actually cusack dint get picked up and dumped but alot of the time he ends up on his back and results in him playing the ball slow. i just think we need to pick 2 from radders, dowes and cusack and whoever playing the best then will be in the team and with radders not been 100% then cusack will be in the team again most probably. then dont forget fitzy acts like a prop in the things he does defending and attacking down the middle tighing things together ect.

I have to completely disagree. Perhaps last night with a referee that allowed the opposition to work a player on the ground it happened a little, but Cusack is one of our faster players at the play-the-ball - especially when you consider he usually has taken two or three men with himin hte tackle.

So do I, one of the things Cusack does so much better than our other props is get to his knees, though it does seem O'Meley is good for a quick ptb as well.

good post, the Yak is a quality player. you cant have 13 omeleys on the field. you need grafters who take the energy out of the opposition. anybody who knows anything about the game knows what he brings to the team.

tonds and tons , a quality player and we are a better team for having him in it!!
and possibly the fastest play the ball of all the forwards too

You must of watched a different game to me,Cusack never stopped,his workrate and defence were immense,he puts his body on the line everytime.I think every team needs a player like him in their team.Maybe you should watch him sometime to really appreciate the amount of work and effort he puts in.