Croker out injured, Hodgson stand in captain

[simo]

Its a big call on cotric but our club and ricky obviously rate him and a few games in the top frade, in one of his preferred positions will be good for him. It also acts as a great test to see if cotric is the one to replace eddie


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[raiderskater]

I'm not voting either way at this stage; I haven't seen enough of either Cotric or Turner. That said, isn't this exactly what the trial this weekend is for? I'll wager that Sticky will play one in that spot for one half and the other gets the other half, and we'll see what happens.

Whatever happens, I'll have faith in the choice Sticky makes. He hasn't let us down yet.

[Raidersfan]

Cotric is in the mix somewhere ... trains with the same bib as our regular starting team ... the injury to Croker might create a position for him

[lars]

I'd like to see how cotric goes in first grade but I suspect Ricky will have him play in Mounties regularly first before calling him up. I expect turner will get the gig.

[greeneyed]

"A team of Jarrod Croker's": Jordan Rapana backs Canberra Raiders to lead each other in NRL

Canberra Raiders front-rower Shannon Boyd has backed Josh Hodgson and Sia Soliola to replace injured captain Jarrod Croker in the opening stages of the NRL season.

"No doubt [Croker] will still be a leader from the sidelines," Rapana said. "We've got a lot of leaders here at the club and the culture's a good culture there, so I'm sure Ricky will have no problem putting someone in to take his spot.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-l ... ubctg.html

[GHC]

Cotric replaces Toots. Turner as bench utility. No other way without disrupting a genuine top 4 team prospect really...

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[CRR]

. It also acts as a great test to see if cotric is the one to replace eddie

i really hope edrick had a great off season and practiced a lot and also got his passion back. I want to see him have an awesome 2017, but we need to kick to him

[Sleek the Elite]

Passing the ball to him occasionally wouldn't hurt either.

I'm okay with Edrick in the centres. It would be a vote of confidence in him from Ricky and I think he'd measure up.

Can't see Cotric getting a start in the centres in Round 1 first year out of school.

His best chance is if Edrick is picked there, he would come into contention for a wing spot.

[Botman]

I dunno sleeky, Wighton put it on his **** tits, as did the opposition player on our goal line, Sezer put it exactly where he should be, and none of it mattered haha

[Sleek the Elite]

He was rusty. Got the shock of his life when the guy inside passed it to him.

[simo]

He wasnt rusty, he was asleep. As he is most of every game


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[Botman]

He was rusty. Got the shock of his life when the guy inside passed it to him.

Maybe the guy inside him would pass it more if he was a little bit more reliable in terms of his positioning and ability to catch a god damn football

[BadnMean]

Passing the ball to him occasionally wouldn't hurt either.

I'm okay with Edrick in the centres. It would be a vote of confidence in him from Ricky and I think he'd measure up.

Can't see Cotric getting a start in the centres in Round 1 first year out of school.

His best chance is if Edrick is picked there, he would come into contention for a wing spot.

Pretty much my thoughts. If Edrick is going to come back, he needs to be supported. And we seem to all forget he has a pretty good winger who had 2 bad games (his stats pre-finals stack up against most NRL wingers). He showed many good things last year which continued or built on previous form- burning pace in space, slick hands on a break, decision making in defence, size never to get monstered in contact, never pushed out (watch our wins, most opposition wingers go over the sideline once a game).

I guess hating on Eddie is the new "Croker to wing" (guilty) or "Fensom needs to go" (guilty)- we'll see next season which way that ends up.

[GHC]

Eddie is one of the best wingers in the biz suprisingly. Doubt him at your own perirl....

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[GHC]

This might be a thread for elsewhere...but name better wingers suited for our club (salary cap) inclusive, anyone?

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[Notaroboticfish]

This might be a thread for elsewhere...but name better wingers suited for our club (salary cap) inclusive, anyone?

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I'd expect Edrick would be on about average coin for a winger, so possibly Ottio, Feldt, Rapana, Addo-Carr, Vunivalu, Nathan Ross and probably a bunch of other guys that I would name if I wasn't too lazy to go look up team sheets

[zim]

Given his current form: Sosaia Feki, David Mead, David Nofoaluma, Daniel Tupou, George Jennings.

Croker to the wing was mostly a product of bad inside defence being entirely blamed on him.
Fensom needs to go did happen, and ended up being mostly justified. Not sure the point on that one.

You guys are confusing Eddies top drawer with his 2016 form. It's not through a lack of support either. Catching a ball and being in the right position are a wingers bread and butter. Croker is not the reason Eddie's form has dropped.

[Northern Raider]

He was rusty. Got the shock of his life when the guy inside passed it to him.

Maybe the guy inside him would pass it more if he was a little bit more reliable in terms of his positioning and ability to catch a god damn football

Edrick's biggest problem is he doesn't go looking for the ball. Spend way too much time sitting out there waiting for things to come to him. Blaming guys inside him for not giving him enough ball is a cop out of the highest order. All the best wingers impose themselves on the game. Only have to look at the opposite side of our backline to learn how its done. Rapana sets the standard in that regard.

Eddie has the talent. No question. Need somebody to get inside his head and give him a healthy shot of self belief and mongrel.

[Lui_Bon]

I thought Edrick's biggest problem over the season was a persistent ankle injury?

[simo]

Whatever you think his biggest problem was, he needs to change his attitude very quickly from 2016. 2 bad games? Did tony archer do that review? Edrick was not "in" at least 80% of games. Yes he did his job occasionally when the ball gets kicked down his throat orcroker handed it to him, but wingers are more than a tall bloke that hangs out with the touchy now.


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[julian87]

Interesting that Lee has 7 different biggest problems and different people all know what they are.

[simo]

It was also interesting last year that fensom had no problems within his game according to most


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[Ginga]

Interesting that Lee has 7 different biggest problems and different people all know what they are.

I thought he had 10 different problems, 5 on each hand

[papabear]

I know this will be unpopular but.

We could chuck santo in at fullback who would love going against his former club and wighton at left centre where from memory he was really good early in his career.

Santo really is a quality back up full back and it would imo be a wise defensive move for us. The only thing we would lose is the bit of ball playing that wighton has added in towards the end of last year.

I am not sure its the path I would go but its worth a thought if the other options at left centre arent really up to scratch.

[Raiders Lim!]

Interesting that Lee has 7 different biggest problems and different people all know what they are.

I thought he had 10 different problems, 5 on each hand

I heard he's got 99 problems but his baby's mother ain't one.

[kiwi raider]

I wouldn't be against Cotric starting at centre as he looks ready physically to me but Turner was signed as a back up centre(basically a direct replacement for Brenko Lee with added utility value) so I'd be very very surprised if he wasn't given first crack

[Mr. Snrub]

I know this will be unpopular but.

We could chuck santo in at fullback who would love going against his former club and wighton at left centre where from memory he was really good early in his career.

Santo really is a quality back up full back and it would imo be a wise defensive move for us. The only thing we would lose is the bit of ball playing that wighton has added in towards the end of last year.

I am not sure its the path I would go but its worth a thought if the other options at left centre arent really up to scratch.

It would be silly to take Wighton out of his best position, which is now fullback. The back half of last year, Wighton came into his own at fullback and changing him from that position would disrupt the flow of the team. I think Cotric is really the only option to cover Croker.

[EJ]

I agree that Santo is a good backup fullback. For when our fullback is injured/suspended. Otherwise he keeps doing a good job at Mounties.

[zim]

Eddie is more than capable of turning it around. I hope he does. But if he doesn't he most likely won't be here in 2018.

[Botman]

Eddie is more than capable of turning it around. I hope he does. But if he doesn't he most likely won't be here in 2018.

100% agree with this.
At his absolute best i think Edrick is one of the best 10 wingers in the game. But we cant wait around much longer for him to find that consistency. It's a big year for him. He's certainly got the talent to make that position his own and lock it down. Lets hope he does just that.

[SeeBee101]

As i've told many people, it seems as if Eddie is low in confidence.

When he first burst onto the scene, he was an arial attacking threat. In the past two season, I have not seen him (correct me if i'm wrong) score a single try from a cross field kick or bomb.

Considering his size and height you would think that this would be an advantage to him. Low and behold, everytime a kick occured last year he waited for the opposition to catch the ball instead of trying to score.

From the limited amount of time i've seen Cotric, I believe he will surpass Eddie this year to take his wing spot.

Whilst Croker is injured, Cotric should take his spot with Turner remaining on the bench as a utility.

[Mr. Snrub]

Maybe we should wait until the start of the season to make any sort of judgment on Edrick. He was obviously a bit distracted with family matters last season. For all we know, this could be his breakout season. At the start of last year, everyone was up in arms about Rapana being selected on the wing and this year it seems to be Edrick who's the target. It's still pre-season, let's not call for his head just yet.

[BadnMean]

As i've told many people, it seems as if Eddie is low in confidence.

When he first burst onto the scene, he was an arial attacking threat. In the past two season, I have not seen him (correct me if i'm wrong) score a single try from a cross field kick or bomb.

Considering his size and height you would think that this would be an advantage to him. Low and behold, everytime a kick occured last year he waited for the opposition to catch the ball instead of trying to score.

I think we have kicked to Eddie about 3 times in the last 2 years.

[Raidersfan]

Heard a brief snippet of Croker on the radio and he mentioned that he'll make sure he is 100% before coming back which could be up to 8 weeks

[simo]

Cotric just interviewed on 7 news


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