The Greenhouse

BJ wrote: ↑June 28, 2018, 12:28 pm Remember how the left edge got defensively worse and the right edge got better when Sezer and Austin swapped sides last year. This was no coincidence.

One of my favourite things of that was after the switch occurred i read many different posts from many different posters saying some variation of

"Really impressed with how improved BJ's defense has been since the switch"
"Some of Croker's defensive issues from early in his career have resurfaced lately"
"I thought Croker was over these bad defensive reads"
"Leilua looks really switched on in defense."

it was incredible to read.

edwahu wrote: ↑June 28, 2018, 10:11 am Some of Austins mistakes are so bad they wouldn't count as misses. If you look at other defensive stats he is a much worse defender overall and is right near the top for halves in negative stats, whereas Sezer is middle or near the bottom.

Try causes - Austin 0.9, Sezer 0.5
Line break causes - Austin 1.1, Sezer 0.2
Ineffective Tackles- Austin 1.3, Sezer 0.5

These stats match the eye test for mine.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... ackles1On1

Very true! But I can remember multiple times that Austin has saved a try with one on one tackles too. If only his defensive reading was as good as his tackling.

sprintman wrote: ↑June 27, 2018, 9:32 pm

-TW- wrote: ↑June 27, 2018, 7:48 pm

sprintman wrote:What’s happening with Garvey? wasted money

Not really, he'd be on minimum wage which are the players you need in the squad

But he doesn’t get a run

This is obviously beyond you

I like this signing. Just need to find someone who can hold the defensive line to replace Austin.

Looks like we've officially consigned ourselves to mediocrity for the next 2 seasons.

Classic Raiders.

afgtnk wrote: ↑June 30, 2018, 2:03 pm Looks like we've officially consigned ourselves to mediocrity for the next 2 seasons.

Classic Raiders.

So your staying with the forum?

tbh Austin is a worse half.

We made the right decision re-signing Sezer as far as I am concerned. He isn't great. He is lucky he is surrounded by the biggest idiots who have ever played the game because he makes some shocking decisions like running on the 4th all the time but he is steady and a solid defender.

But we had to re-sign one of them realistically and well we made the right call.

The problem is Sezer isnt steady, he is out of his depth in the NRL. He cops less scrutiny than Austin because Austin actually tries things and fails, whereas Sezer get lots of touches but always plays the safe, conservative option. When was the last time Sezer threw a dangerous cut out pass that risked being intercepted? His running game is balls, I can count the number of line breaks on one hand. His kicking game is as mundane as it gets. He did force a repeat set last night which was arguably the highlight of his career. In incredible moment.

As bad as Austin was last night he is an NRL player, Sezer isnt. Give him a competent half back beside him and he is capable of carving teams up. Sezer has NO strings to his bow at all, he is below average in all aspects of rugby league. He is no spring chicken either, he has probably reached his ceiling as a player and wont improve considerably. Those who still support him or rationalise his inept performances are just holding onto the faint hope that some day, some how he will come good. He wont. He’s been re-signed and our halves are stuffed for the foreseeable future.

Austin can't defend. He is the worst defensive player in the comp by some margin. Sezer is a quality defensive player at least.

Yep

We couldnt get rid of both of them. Well i guess we could but without a replacement it probably wouldnt be wise. So we need to cut one and Austin is costing us matches right now. Put whitehead in at 5/8th last night and we win

Says a lot about the quality of your halves when you resort to defending them based on their defensive abilities, doesn't it?

Yes its a problem and one the club should be looking to fix. However I still believe that as things stand right now the most sensible course of action for the club is to re-sign Sezer and move Austin on and that is what the club is doing. Now if we can get a half decent replacement in for Austin then we can think about moving Sezer on.

Last night the Broncos knew just to pressure Austins decision making. This puts huge pressure on the guy inside him and outside him because Austin just vanishes from the line at the worst possible time. Austin is a good ball runner and has actually been attacking quite well lately but I just can't be having that kind of nonsense every week for us. The guy is mentally shot right now defensively

Pete Cash wrote: ↑July 1, 2018, 2:35 pm Yes its a problem and one the club should be looking to fix. However I still believe that as things stand right now the most sensible course of action for the club is to re-sign Sezer and move Austin on and that is what the club is doing. Now if we can get a half decent replacement in for Austin then we can think about moving Sezer on.

Yes all credit to the club on this one. Let's not mention that Austin saved them from themselves by knocking back huge offers twice.