2021 season predictions and previews

[BadnMean]

There's been a bit of a shift about what style of dummy half is suited.

When it was stifling defence and slow ruck speeds, Hodgo's trick shots and getting that ruck humming was valuable. Faster, more direct hookers had less to work with and were only effective behind a dominant pack (see Cook over seasons).

Now its faster and slanted toward running, direct style halves. Havili (direct) + Starling (fast running) were an effective combo.

The elephant in the room was Cam Smith summed that up and found a way to be very effective without any special running talents- he just played more fast balls and chose his moments. Hodgo deserves every chance to show he's got the nous to do so too. Whether we do that supported by Havilii's strength and versatility or more likely Starlings running game for the times when the games could be opening up, is up to Ricky.

[simo]

Just pass the **** ball Josh, or run the damn thing yourself. Stop mucking around trying to engage the markers or putting trick shots on the A and B's, slowing everything down.

Ill probably let the world class hooker decide what he wants to do

Yeah, well whatever he was doing wasn't working for him, or the team, before he got injured.

We looked terrible and a lot of it was down to how Hodgson was playing.

Hence the article.

And i think Josh hodgsons probably more equipped to come up with the solution than a journo or forum punter.
Hence the international career

[Seiffert82]

Just pass the **** ball Josh, or run the damn thing yourself. Stop mucking around trying to engage the markers or putting trick shots on the A and B's, slowing everything down.

Ill probably let the world class hooker decide what he wants to do

Yeah, well whatever he was doing wasn't working for him, or the team, before he got injured.

We looked terrible and a lot of it was down to how Hodgson was playing.

Hence the article.

And i think Josh hodgsons probably more equipped to come up with the solution than a journo or forum punter.
Hence the international career

And I think we looked better last season without him in the team.

Hence making the Preliminary final.

[simo]

Just pass the **** ball Josh, or run the damn thing yourself. Stop mucking around trying to engage the markers or putting trick shots on the A and B's, slowing everything down.

Ill probably let the world class hooker decide what he wants to do

Yeah, well whatever he was doing wasn't working for him, or the team, before he got injured.

We looked terrible and a lot of it was down to how Hodgson was playing.

Hence the article.

And i think Josh hodgsons probably more equipped to come up with the solution than a journo or forum punter.
Hence the international career

And I think we looked better last season without him in the team.

Hence making the Preliminary final.

Unlike the year before when we had him in the side.
Hence making the grand final

[Seiffert82]

Ill probably let the world class hooker decide what he wants to do

Yeah, well whatever he was doing wasn't working for him, or the team, before he got injured.

We looked terrible and a lot of it was down to how Hodgson was playing.

Hence the article.

And i think Josh hodgsons probably more equipped to come up with the solution than a journo or forum punter.
Hence the international career

And I think we looked better last season without him in the team.

Hence making the Preliminary final.

Unlike the year before when we had him in the side.
Hence making the grand final

Different season, different rules, different level of play from the same player.

Hence the difference in results.

[Seiffert82]

There is no doubt we need Hodgson at his best to be at our best. His peak level of performance suits the new rules well. Hopefully he hits the ground running.

[afgtnk]

There's been a bit of a shift about what style of dummy half is suited.

When it was stifling defence and slow ruck speeds, Hodgo's trick shots and getting that ruck humming was valuable. Faster, more direct hookers had less to work with and were only effective behind a dominant pack (see Cook over seasons).

Now its faster and slanted toward running, direct style halves. Havili (direct) + Starling (fast running) were an effective combo.

The elephant in the room was Cam Smith summed that up and found a way to be very effective without any special running talents- he just played more fast balls and chose his moments. Hodgo deserves every chance to show he's got the nous to do so too. Whether we do that supported by Havilii's strength and versatility or more likely Starlings running game for the times when the games could be opening up, is up to Ricky.

A class player doesn't become redundant when the rules of the game are tweaked a bit. He finds a way to adapt in order to bring out the best of his adundant skills.

Hodgo is slow as guts, but when he's on he's a good runner out of dummy half - just like Smith. By that, I mean he knows where the gaps will open up, how to manipulate the ruck, and choose his moments well.

I'm confident that Hodgo is capable of thriving under a faster game. His ability to relinquish partial control to two halves who are currently in the top echelon is more concerning for me, but that's where I expect the coaching staff to be doing their work.

[simo]

Yeah, well whatever he was doing wasn't working for him, or the team, before he got injured.

We looked terrible and a lot of it was down to how Hodgson was playing.

Hence the article.

And i think Josh hodgsons probably more equipped to come up with the solution than a journo or forum punter.
Hence the international career

And I think we looked better last season without him in the team.

Hence making the Preliminary final.

Unlike the year before when we had him in the side.
Hence making the grand final

Different season, different rules, different level of play from the same player.

Hence the difference in results.

Which the international player is more likely to remedy than a journo and a forum coach.
Hence forum coach

[Seiffert82]

And i think Josh hodgsons probably more equipped to come up with the solution than a journo or forum punter.
Hence the international career

And I think we looked better last season without him in the team.

Hence making the Preliminary final.

Unlike the year before when we had him in the side.
Hence making the grand final

Different season, different rules, different level of play from the same player.

Hence the difference in results.

Which the international player is more likely to remedy than a journo and a forum coach.
Hence forum coach

Sharing an opinion on a forum. Like you.

Yawn.

[Ruben Daley]

I’ve got no doubt Hodgo was playing injured before he got officially injured as he was a shadow of himself during that period.

I also totally expect him to have formulated a plan to be the most effective he can based on what he’s seen. He’s overplayed his hand at times in the past but that wasn’t for selfish reasons, just because he thought that’s what the team needed. Until Jack emerged in 2019, he had never played with elite halves. Now he’s got two, he’ll find a role that complements them.