Curtis Scott signs with Canberra Raiders to end 2023

[gangrenous]

At this rate we’ll be throwing him a sackful of donuts and starting him at prop.

[BadnMean]

He's had a pretty average start, but I'd like to see him given a shot with a settled team, in a non-Covid disrupted year, with an off season in the gym and no (self-inflicted, granted) court case hanging over his head. If he's still having a shocker, then I'll get on board.

That's all reasonable but what do you do with him this year?

[Finchy]

Re: greeneyed's edit and subsequent removal of my post: "It is an EDIT anyway. That's never a joke."

Well on the Simpsons, it was.

[gangrenous]

He's had a pretty average start, but I'd like to see him given a shot with a settled team, in a non-Covid disrupted year, with an off season in the gym and no (self-inflicted, granted) court case hanging over his head. If he's still having a shocker, then I'll get on board.

That's all reasonable but what do you do with him this year?

I notice Leebola didn’t specify that team had to be the Raiders...

[Leebola]

He's had a pretty average start, but I'd like to see him given a shot with a settled team, in a non-Covid disrupted year, with an off season in the gym and no (self-inflicted, granted) court case hanging over his head. If he's still having a shocker, then I'll get on board.

That's all reasonable but what do you do with him this year?

I notice Leebola didn’t specify that team had to be the Raiders...

well played.

[Leebola]

He's had a pretty average start, but I'd like to see him given a shot with a settled team, in a non-Covid disrupted year, with an off season in the gym and no (self-inflicted, granted) court case hanging over his head. If he's still having a shocker, then I'll get on board.

That's all reasonable but what do you do with him this year?

I think circumstances are going to force our hand anyway...

[Dusty]

Curtis Scott is out of form,,, Yes.

However, I think he will prove to be a solid signing. He is young, has good skills and plenty of potential.
Hopefully he can get the court case done and dusted, clear his mind and just concentrate on playing footy.

Stick with him long term.

[GreenMachine]

Curtis Scott is out of form,,, Yes.

However, I think he will prove to be a solid signing. He is young, has good skills and plenty of potential.
Hopefully he can get the court case done and dusted, clear his mind and just concentrate on playing footy.

Stick with him long term.

Exactly.
I can recall the hot takes on Rapana when he first joined the team.
Same thing, he’ll come good as he settles in.

[BadnMean]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

[amiafish]

Curtis Scott is out of form,,, Yes.

He is young, has good skills and plenty of potential.

I'm not trolling here. I seriously want to know where you formed the view that he has good skills?

I didn't follow him carefully when he was at the Storm (only noticed him in a couple of games when he made errors). I didn't see the Parra game where he scored the 100m try, but Botman posted the link to it and I've watched it carefully a number of times. It's actually not very inspiring at all. He brushes past a couple of arm tackles, fends off a tired grasp, and then gets mowed down by much faster players (Addo-Carr and Vunivalu in support, and Fergo in defense). He actually goes within a whisker of completely botching it.

My biggest problem with Scott (judging from his time at the Raiders) is not that he makes stupid defensive choices (that can be trained out of him) or that he misses tackles (that too can be trained), but that he doesn't have the size or speed for an NRL centre. It's not that easy for a skinny kid to whack on 10kgs of muscle and gain three yards of pace in an off-season...in fact, it's pretty much impossible (without taking banned substances). I just can't see where the huge improvement is going to come from.

[papabear]

Curtis Scott is out of form,,, Yes.

However, I think he will prove to be a solid signing. He is young, has good skills and plenty of potential.
Hopefully he can get the court case done and dusted, clear his mind and just concentrate on playing footy.

Stick with him long term.

Exactly.
I can recall the hot takes on Rapana when he first joined the team.
Same thing, he’ll come good as he settles in.

Rapana is not the same.

At least rapana had a crap load of speed and good strength.

Curtis' problem is that he is not fast big and strong, thus once you get past the drop balls and bad decisions, he is an average centre athlete wise at best.

Add to that, croker isnt big strong and overly fast, but atleast he is very elusive, great at finishing and sniffing our a try and setting up his winger and a really good goal kicker.

Look, if curtis becomes a solid centre then that is fantastic as its better then where we are now, but honestly, if the team can ship him off and take a punt on someone else I would do that straight away.

[papabear]

Curtis Scott is out of form,,, Yes.

He is young, has good skills and plenty of potential.

I'm not trolling here. I seriously want to know where you formed the view that he has good skills?

I didn't follow him carefully when he was at the Storm (only noticed him in a couple of games when he made errors). I didn't see the Parra game where he scored the 100m try, but Botman posted the link to it and I've watched it carefully a number of times. It's actually not very inspiring at all. He brushes past a couple of arm tackles, fends off a tired grasp, and then gets mowed down by much faster players (Addo-Carr and Vunivalu in support, and Fergo in defense). He actually goes within a whisker of completely botching it.

My biggest problem with Scott (judging from his time at the Raiders) is not that he makes stupid defensive choices (that can be trained out of him) or that he misses tackles (that too can be trained), but that he doesn't have the size or speed for an NRL centre. It's not that easy for a skinny kid to whack on 10kgs of muscle and gain three yards of pace in an off-season...in fact, it's pretty much impossible (without taking banned substances). I just can't see where the huge improvement is going to come from.

had ai read your post I wouldnt have bothered to type the same thing, with different words!!

[gerg]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

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[BadnMean]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

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Nope. I rewatched the game yesterday. Oldy defends just fine until after the 70th minute- at which point match fitness starts to tell.

[amiafish]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

Oldy was exposed for conditioning in the last half, for sure. Made some poor attempts at tackles. So far, that puts him equal with Scott.

But Oldy has pace to burn and hits the line hard every hit-up, usually pokes his head through and gets a quick play-the-ball. That's a clear win to Oldy. No?

[GreenMachine]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

Exactly.
People think Oly covered himself in glory?
It was the same crap.

[GreenMachine]

Curtis Scott is out of form,,, Yes.

However, I think he will prove to be a solid signing. He is young, has good skills and plenty of potential.
Hopefully he can get the court case done and dusted, clear his mind and just concentrate on playing footy.

Stick with him long term.

Exactly.
I can recall the hot takes on Rapana when he first joined the team.
Same thing, he’ll come good as he settles in.

Rapana is not the same.

At least rapana had a crap load of speed and good strength.

Curtis' problem is that he is not fast big and strong, thus once you get past the drop balls and bad decisions, he is an average centre athlete wise at best.

Add to that, croker isnt big strong and overly fast, but atleast he is very elusive, great at finishing and sniffing our a try and setting up his winger and a really good goal kicker.

Look, if curtis becomes a solid centre then that is fantastic as its better then where we are now, but honestly, if the team can ship him off and take a punt on someone else I would do that straight away.

We need to give it time to happen.
He's had a rotten start on and off the field...
would I snatch at the first opportunity to get rid of him right now? Yes I would.
Do I think that will happen - no.

[Roger Kenworthy]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

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Exactly.
People think Oly covered himself in glory?
It was the same crap.

It's apples and oranges though isn't it? Oldfield was a big improvement with ball in hand and a minor one defensively. Guess what - he's a back up winger probably on less than half of what Scott is on. If he ran the ball the way he does and defended at a high level he'd be the one on over half a million dollars.

[GreenMachine]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

Exactly.
People think Oly covered himself in glory?
It was the same crap.

It's apples and oranges though isn't it? Oldfield was a big improvement with ball in hand and a minor one defensively. Guess what - he's a back up winger probably on less than half of what Scott is on. If he ran the ball the way he does and defended at a high level he'd be the one on over half a million dollars.

Is Scott on half a million dollars?
If we got rid of Scott (big if) what is the plan?

[Roger Kenworthy]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

Exactly.
People think Oly covered himself in glory?
It was the same crap.

It's apples and oranges though isn't it? Oldfield was a big improvement with ball in hand and a minor one defensively. Guess what - he's a back up winger probably on less than half of what Scott is on. If he ran the ball the way he does and defended at a high level he'd be the one on over half a million dollars.

Is Scott on half a million dollars?
If we got rid of Scott (big if) what is the plan?

We took on two years of his Storm deal which was reported as being $1.5mil over three years. I hope we're getting that significantly discounted at least this year.

I don't really know if shopping him in an option. Surely we'd be paying 60 or 70c on the dollar for anyone to take him at this stage.

[gerg]

Everything Oldy did was better than everything Scott did all year in the position but we still think Scott is the man for it? Nup.

Aitken gave him an absolute bath. If that was Curtis this site would have imploded.

Oldy was exposed for conditioning in the last half, for sure. Made some poor attempts at tackles. So far, that puts him equal with Scott.

But Oldy has pace to burn and hits the line hard every hit-up, usually pokes his head through and gets a quick play-the-ball. That's a clear win to Oldy. No?

According to NRL.com stats Aitken ran for 221 metres and made 10 tackle breaks, made 10 tackles and missed none.

Oldfield ran for 50 metres and made 1 tackle break, made 20 tackles and missed 5.

In 19 minutes Scott ran for 25 metres and made no tackle break, made 10 tackles and missed 1.

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[gangrenous]

So you are suggesting trading Scott for Aitken?

[KasparRaider]

And if we sign Waterman then we could have...Stock Aitken Waterman! 80's English songwriters - think Kylie, Bananarama, Rick Astley.
Couldn't be any worse than our current right flank in defence!

[RedRaider]

I don't think we'll see HSS over the next 2 weeks but I hope he is given an opportunity soon.

It could be worse though. We could still have BJ who is about to have an enforced break due to another dumb act.

[BadnMean]

I don't really know if shopping him in an option. Surely we'd be paying 60 or 70c on the dollar for anyone to take him at this stage.

Keeping something useless just because it is expensive is a sunk cost fallacy.

[simo]

I don't really know if shopping him in an option. Surely we'd be paying 60 or 70c on the dollar for anyone to take him at this stage.

Keeping something useless just because it is expensive is a sunk cost fallacy.

Same can be said for buying high and selling low.
Theres still a chance he works out. Stop being so impatient and dramatic

[gerg]

So you are suggesting trading Scott for Aitken?

If Scott put those numbers up against Aitken and vice a versa people would be absolutely losing their minds.

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[GreenMachine]

So you are suggesting trading Scott for Aitken?

If Scott put those numbers up against Aitken and vice a versa people would be absolutely losing their minds.

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That’s my point.
He needs more time.

[BadnMean]

My point is, Oldy has done better than Scott. Oldy needs more time. He's shown a higher ceiling and higher floor both.

Again, look at the game until 70 mins...

Dramatic? Maybe. He's the worst centre we've played since Allwood, who was not NRL standard at all. Allwood was the worst since Bulgarelli, who Scott will have to get incarcerated to top.

[GreenMachine]

My point is, Oldy has done better than Scott. Oldy needs more time. He's shown a higher ceiling and higher floor both.

Again, look at the game until 70 mins...

Dramatic? Maybe. He's the worst centre we've played since Allwood, who was not NRL standard at all. Allwood was the worst since Bulgarelli, who Scott will have to get incarcerated to top.

I agree Scott hasn’t set the world on fire but Oldy isn’t the answer if you’re honest.
There’s a reason for why he’s been a career backup player (and good one at that).
We either trust Scott to eventually deliver or write it off and find a permanent solution.

[gerg]

My point is, Oldy has done better than Scott. Oldy needs more time. He's shown a higher ceiling and higher floor both.

Again, look at the game until 70 mins...

Dramatic? Maybe. He's the worst centre we've played since Allwood, who was not NRL standard at all. Allwood was the worst since Bulgarelli, who Scott will have to get incarcerated to top.

He hasn't though. Let me put those numbers up again.

RM - TB - TA - MT
50 - 1 - 20 - 5 (Oldy Saints)
57 - 0 - 21 - 5 (Scott Eels)
100 - 2 - 18 - 3 (Scott Manly)
134 - 6 - 13 - 2 (Scott Tigers)
132 - 1 - 14 - 5 (Scott Knights)
58 - 1 - 14 - 1 (Scott Storm)
104 - 5 - 16 - 2 (Scott Warriors)
134 - 2 - 13 - 2 (Scott Titans)

Statistically Scott has not played as poorly as Oldfield did on the weekend. I don't have the data on his opposing centre for those games above because I can't remember who he faced up against. But there is no way anybody can say that Aitken didn't hand Oldfield his ****.

Nobody is riding Oldfields **** for playing poorly yet there has been a clear anti-Scott campaign despite him not playing as badly as Oldfield did on the weekend.

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[Finchy]

Give Oldie another 7 games and revisit the stats I say. Lacking match fitness and being played out of position.

[BadnMean]

Give Oldie another 7 games and revisit the stats I say. Lacking match fitness and being played out of position.

Ignoring the out of position- it's the position he's in- I tried to explain the rest. It's being ignored. To make a case for Scott.

If they want to pick stats- sweet let's play. I see we are playing defensive stats.

Try causes per game at centre for Raiders

C Scott: 1 try cause per game, 1 LineBreak cause per game (averages here, not total per season)
M Oldfield: 0.5 try cause per game, 0.25 LineBreak cause per game.

So... going to the stats has Oldy more than twice as good as Scott. Cool. That's a match winning margin right there. And Oldy was at the said fitness disadvantage and solid as for 70 mins...

If they want to argue Scott ran more effectively than Oldy- they can say it, but not what I saw. Play the ball speed? Errors?

Oldy played WELL for 70 mins on the weekend. Something Scott hasn't yet managed to do. But ok, if Scott is the hill they want to defend, fill yer boots fellas. He's pants.

[BadnMean]

My point is, Oldy has done better than Scott. Oldy needs more time. He's shown a higher ceiling and higher floor both.

Again, look at the game until 70 mins...

Dramatic? Maybe. He's the worst centre we've played since Allwood, who was not NRL standard at all. Allwood was the worst since Bulgarelli, who Scott will have to get incarcerated to top.

I agree Scott hasn’t set the world on fire but Oldy isn’t the answer if you’re honest.
There’s a reason for why he’s been a career backup player (and good one at that).
We either trust Scott to eventually deliver or write it off and find a permanent solution.

Yes please.
But if we want to challenge this year, I'd rather Oldy at centre than Scott. Let's give him the rope Scott was given for once. On the amount of contributions vs amount of stuff ups scale, Oldy is in the black with Raiders, Scott ain't close.

[gerg]

Give Oldie another 7 games and revisit the stats I say. Lacking match fitness and being played out of position.

Ignoring the out of position- it's the position he's in- I tried to explain the rest. It's being ignored. To make a case for Scott.

If they want to pick stats- sweet let's play. I see we are playing defensive stats.

Try causes per game at centre for Raiders

C Scott: 1 try cause per game, 1 LineBreak cause per game (averages here, not total per season)
M Oldfield: 0.5 try cause per game, 0.25 LineBreak cause per game.

So... going to the stats has Oldy more than twice as good as Scott. Cool. That's a match winning margin right there. And Oldy was at the said fitness disadvantage and solid as for 70 mins...

If they want to argue Scott ran more effectively than Oldy- they can say it, but not what I saw. Play the ball speed? Errors?

Oldy played WELL for 70 mins on the weekend. Something Scott hasn't yet managed to do. But ok, if Scott is the hill they want to defend, fill yer boots fellas. He's pants.

I'm not dying on any 'Scott' hill, just playing devils advocate. Storm pun intended.

Scott has been labelled as garbage based on a lack of impact in attack (run metres and tackle busts are generally attributed to attack) and his defence (tackles and missed tackles are generally attributed to defence). Try assist statistics have been picked apart by many posters on this site (not by me) as not being a reliable judgement on a player because of how subjective they are.

But I'm sidetracking here a little. The bloke who has come into replace Scott because Scott was garbage throws up worse numbers than Scott. Oh he was fatigued.... nobody would accept any excuses for Scott's (lack of) form. Against Aitken. Where does Aitken rank amongst NRL centres for you mate? Sure, every player has good games and every player has bad games. But let's just hold all of our players to the same standard.

And lets be clear here. I'd love nothing more than Oldfield blitzing it this weekend. It shouldn't be a case of rubbing my face in it if he plays well. My point is if posters are going to pile on Scott for playing poorly, do the same for other players.

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