What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Wiki Special »

Bench;

Havili
Sutton
Murchie
Guler
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Dusty »

If the choice is from these guys I’d go with:

14. Havili
15. Murchie*
16. Sutton
17. Guler

I could quite easily pick Horsburgh here too, however, that mean Sia covers edge forwards


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2020: 1. Nicol-Klokstad 2. Cotric 3. Croker (c) 4 Leilua 5. Scott 6. Wighton 7. G. Williams 8. Papalii 9. Hodgson (c) 10. Sutton 11. J. Bateman 12. Whitehead 13. Tapine ----
14. Simmonson 15. Soliola 16. Guler 17. Horsburgh
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by LimeGreenMachine »

Havali
Guler
Sutton
Murchie
edwahu

Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by edwahu »

I don't get the selection of Murchie. What is he going to add off the bench?
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by LimeGreenMachine »

edwahu wrote: January 15, 2019, 6:42 am I don't get the selection of Murchie. What is he going to add off the bench?
My logic is if a back gets injured then Whitehead or Bateman will slot in a centre role. Therefore backrow position needed.
If a front rower does down , Tapine fills the role and a backrower is needed.

As we have seen with Stuart and this is what I expect the 4th spot player , in this case Murchie will see little to no time on the field for most games.

And I prefer a Murchie over a L.Bateman
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Wiki Special »

edwahu wrote: January 15, 2019, 6:42 am I don't get the selection of Murchie. What is he going to add off the bench?
With two props picked (Sutton, Guler) and a hooker/lock (Havili) I would rather have a backrower as the other reserve. Prefer that versatility over a 4th middle.

Plus I feel Murchie is a very good prospect who impressed me more than Guler did in their limited time last year.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Raidersteve »

I would have Havili, Sutton, Lui and Guler as my bench.

With Papalii playing in the forwards we have cover for injuries out wide.

Assuming Whitehead plays lock Havili can play lock if Whitehead is used in the centre or halves (Not ideal in the halves).

Or Bateman can cover centre with Papalii moving into the 2nd row and the bench covering the Papalii.

Either way we have cover with Papalii in the forwards.
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What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by greeneyed »

The Canberra Raiders strongest team for 2019: What the fans think

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The Greenhouse has traditionally run a series of polls in the off season to determine the fans' view of the strongest possible top 17... and irrespective of injuries. However, this year we've been doing something a little different.

We've assessed the contenders for each position, while we've invited members of The Greenhouse to list their strongest possible team. We repeat, this is a squad irrespective of injuries. We can think of it this way: it is the team Raiders fans would want firing in the finals.

So what do the fans think?

We've tallied the number of nominated players for each position, and today we reveal the consensus team, at least so far!

Fullback: Jack Wighton
Wingers: Nick Cotric, Jordan Rapana
Centres: Jarrod Croker, Joey Leilua
Five eighth: Sam Williams
Half back: Aidan Sezer
Props: Josh Papalii, Sia Soliola
Hooker: Josh Hodgson
Second rowers: Elliott Whitehead, Joe Tapine
Lock: John Bateman
Bench: Siliva Havili, Ryan Sutton, Dunamis Lui, Emre Guler
18th and 19th men: Luke Bateman, Michael Oldfield

There were three players who were unanimous choices for their positions: Josh Hodgson at hooker, Siliva Havili as hooker/utility, and Joey Leilua at centre.

The most contenious issue was where to play Jack Wighton. It was an evenly split decision as to whether Jack Wighton should move to the halves, or whether Sam Williams should take his place in the team. But there was also very strong support for Wighton at fullback as well, so we've slotted him in the No. 1 jersey in the consensus team.

Remarkably, the second most popular choice for fullback was "a new recruit". Many fans were keen on the idea of bringing Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards on board, given Dallin Watene Zelezniak looks likely to start at the back for the Panthers. But both the Raiders and Panthers have reportedly denied today that that will be happening.

While some fans have advocated it, there was not much support for a switch for Nick Cotric to fullback, or a swap between Cotric and co-captain Jarrod Croker.

One interesting quirk in relation to the halves was that many people see Sam Williams as a half back, and Aidan Sezer as five eighth. Many people saw Williams as the better organiser and Sezer as a more traditional five eighth. But that probably doesn't matter an awful lot, if the Raiders play them as "split halves".

Jordan Rapana was clearly seen as one of the top two wingers... even though he is set to miss the first half of the season while recuperating from shoulder surgery. And that is as it should be, given this is a team that is the strongest, regardless of injury. But many fans mentioned Oldfield, and he finds a place in a 19 man squad.

In the forwards, many pundits have new recruit Ryan Sutton starting at prop, but there was solid support for a shift for Josh Papalii to prop, partnering Sia Soliola - with Sutton starting on the bench. That's the role Sutton had at his English club, the Wigan Warriors. Remarkably, given he's played less than a handful of NRL games, Emre Guler was the most popular choice for bench forward, followed by Sutton and Dunamis Lui. That leaves Luke Bateman outside the top 17.

Most fans agreed that the incumbent second rowers, Elliott Whitehead and Joe Tapine, should retain those positions, with new recruit John Bateman starting at lock. However, was there was support for Bateman to start on the edge, with Tapine moving to the middle in the No. 13 jersey.

We hope people continue to list their teams as the pre season and trial matches continue - and in light of any further recruitment. After the second trial against the Bulldogs at Bega, we'll again come up with a consensus strongest team.

So keep on posting!
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Matt »

I think the fans have it right
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Lui_Bon »

Matt wrote: January 15, 2019, 7:04 pm I think the fans have it right
I didn't. I misread "season" for "starting the season". Luckily the wisdom of crowds has overrruled me....
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by T_R »

Matt wrote: January 15, 2019, 7:04 pm I think the fans have it right
I think that's a bottom four team.
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Son, we live in a world that has forums, and those forums have to be guarded by Mods. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Nickman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lucy, and you curse GE. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that GE’s moderation, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, keeps threads on track and under the appropriately sized, highlighted green headings.
You want moderation because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that forum -- you need me on that forum. We use words like "stay on topic," "use the appropriate forum," "please delete." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very moderation that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you get a green handle and edit a post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think about moderation.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Matt »

T_R wrote: January 15, 2019, 10:19 pm
Matt wrote: January 15, 2019, 7:04 pm I think the fans have it right
I think that's a bottom four team.
I didnt say it was a good 17, but it is our best
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by greeneyed »

Canberra Raiders’ best 17 for 2019: The fundamental flaw in their spine

Fox Sports Raiders’ best 17

1 Jack Wighton
2 Nick Cotric
3 Jarrod Croker
4 Joey Leilua
5 Michael Oldfield
6 Aidan Sezer
7 Sam Williams
8 Ryan Sutton
9 Josh Hodgson
10 Sia Soliola
11 Joe Tapine
12 Elliott Whitehead
13 Josh Papalii

14 Siliva Havili
15 Luke Bateman
16 John Bateman
17 Emre Guler

Read more: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 5cec8e22fc
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Matt »

You dont buy an international to sit him on the pine. Fox Sports, for shame!
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by greeneyed »

The "best" 17 surely has to include Jordan Rapana? And John Bateman is surely not a substitute player.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Timbo »

T_R wrote: January 15, 2019, 10:19 pm
Matt wrote: January 15, 2019, 7:04 pm I think the fans have it right
I think that's a bottom four team.
Unfortunately, I agree.
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What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Dusty »

I believe we have a top 8 team and I expect us to finish in the 5-8 region on the ladder.

I think our forward pack is great and our improved mobility will sure up our defence and also still provide a good platform for our great attack to flourish. Obviously game management is a concern for most Raiders fans and RL pundits. Yes that needs to improve but I strongly believe that our fit mobile pack will lessen our fade outs. The times we got run down were usually when teams rolled through our lumbering middle .

Have faith... 2019 will be OK


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2020: 1. Nicol-Klokstad 2. Cotric 3. Croker (c) 4 Leilua 5. Scott 6. Wighton 7. G. Williams 8. Papalii 9. Hodgson (c) 10. Sutton 11. J. Bateman 12. Whitehead 13. Tapine ----
14. Simmonson 15. Soliola 16. Guler 17. Horsburgh
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by edwahu »

I think the ceiling of the squad is about 6th and floor is 12th or so.

I don't think it's bottom 4 yet, probably mid table on paper. I'd have all of the top 8 except the Warriors ahead of us, plus the Cowboys and Knights. Titans would be on close to par now.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by -PJ- »

I seriously don't know what to expect.

They'll be games we should have won and didn't.

They'll be games where we start underdogs and get the win.

They'll be frustration, jubilation, pure hatred and unbridled love.

I'm ready.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by greeneyed »

I think we could have a top eight team, provided there is a first grade half or fullback recruit.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by simo »

Our team could be good if we recruit a quality player for one of two key positions....
Dont delete this GE
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Matt »

edwahu wrote: January 16, 2019, 8:22 am I think the ceiling of the squad is about 6th and floor is 12th or so.

I don't think it's bottom 4 yet, probably mid table on paper. I'd have all of the top 8 except the Warriors ahead of us, plus the Cowboys and Knights. Titans would be on close to par now.
This is where im at.
Its also where the Raiders have been at for far far too long.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Timbo »

greeneyed wrote: January 16, 2019, 9:05 am I think we could have a top eight team, provided there is a first grade half or fullback recruit.
I would change my 12-16th prediction to 6th-10th if we signed a FG standard half or fullback.

We are just tissue thin across three of the four creative positions.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by T_R »

Dusty wrote: January 16, 2019, 8:16 am

I think our forward pack is great and our improved mobility will sure up our defence and also still provide a good platform for our great attack to flourish.
You see, that's where I reckon you're wrong. I think those forwards, particularly if we get a couple of injuries (as we will) along the way, are going to get steamrolled. Which means we're going to have two substandard halves playing behind what I reckon will be a regularly beaten up forward pack. Which means....well, nothing good.
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Son, we live in a world that has forums, and those forums have to be guarded by Mods. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Nickman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lucy, and you curse GE. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that GE’s moderation, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, keeps threads on track and under the appropriately sized, highlighted green headings.
You want moderation because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that forum -- you need me on that forum. We use words like "stay on topic," "use the appropriate forum," "please delete." We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very moderation that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather that you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you get a green handle and edit a post. Either way, I don't give a DAMN what you think about moderation.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by edwahu »

Timbo wrote: January 16, 2019, 9:55 am
greeneyed wrote: January 16, 2019, 9:05 am I think we could have a top eight team, provided there is a first grade half or fullback recruit.
I would change my 12-16th prediction to 6th-10th if we signed a FG standard half or fullback.

We are just tissue thin across three of the four creative positions.
I don't think we need anymore creativity, we have the best attack in the comp over the last 3 years and not much has changed in that regard. Bateman will help if anything. We probably need less.

12th would be underachieving. There are some really terrible squads in the game at the moment.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Coastalraider »

Our issue is that while we have a good quality forward pack, and a good quality set of backs, our we only have 2 decent spine players in Hodgo and Jack, and we are likely to move Jack out of fullback into a position he has not been able to adapt to in the past - meaning we really only have a good hooker, average halves and (currently) a reggies level fullback.

Looking at the supercoach prices that came out this week, it is really telling that only 1 of our spine players made it into the top half of our list - and the spine are the most influential positions.

We have stacked our team in all the wrong places for me.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Wiki Special »

With no more signings I would go with this. Mainly because we need to establish a defensive identity first and foremost. We have been a rabble for a while now. Most will balk at my choice at 6 (which I completely understand) but honestly as we are constructed we have minimal options. My preferred option would be to buy a fullback in which case I make the following changes - Lui out of the 17, Wighton to 6, Whitehead to 2nd row, Tapine to middle.

Wighton
Croker (c)
Cotric
Leilua
Rapana (Oldfield)
Whitehead
Sezer
Soliola
Hodgson (c)
Lui
Tapine
J. Bateman
Papalii

Havili
Sutton
Murchie
Guler
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Roger Kenworthy »

edwahu wrote: January 16, 2019, 10:33 am
Timbo wrote: January 16, 2019, 9:55 am
greeneyed wrote: January 16, 2019, 9:05 am I think we could have a top eight team, provided there is a first grade half or fullback recruit.
I would change my 12-16th prediction to 6th-10th if we signed a FG standard half or fullback.

We are just tissue thin across three of the four creative positions.
I don't think we need anymore creativity, we have the best attack in the comp over the last 3 years and not much has changed in that regard. Bateman will help if anything. We probably need less.

12th would be underachieving. There are some really terrible squads in the game at the moment.
I think our poor defence draws other teams into playing a more open brand of football against us. My theory is it's a lot easier to score 563 points over a season when you concede 540 than it is when you concede 400. With improved defence we'd need our players to do a much better job of applying consistent attacking pressure when we get in to the opposition half, this will be more challenging without the threat of Rapana being on the field.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by edwahu »

I think that's a fair call against the top sides but the weaker sides just can't stop some of our individual players. We don't need to beat the tops sides regularly to make it to mid table anyway.

I would agree Rapana is a huge loss as he is one of those individuals who contributes to wins on his own.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Supershamrock »

Agree with Rapana putting on freakish displays sometimes dragging our team to wins otherwise not possible. Though as a thought do we sometimes suffer from the 'give it to BJ and Rapana they'll do something' laziness?

Hadn't paid too much attention to it, but they have done it very often over the last couple of seasons. Are we depending on it?

When it's not there will we play more structured footy to compensate or just lose more :( ?
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by dubby »

-PJ- wrote:
dubby wrote: January 11, 2019, 5:18 pm
-PJ- wrote:#11 Bateman
#12 Tapine
# 13 Whitehead.
I think you've nailed it, Bruce.

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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by edwahu »

Supershamrock wrote: January 16, 2019, 3:47 pm Agree with Rapana putting on freakish displays sometimes dragging our team to wins otherwise not possible. Though as a thought do we sometimes suffer from the 'give it to BJ and Rapana they'll do something' laziness?

Hadn't paid too much attention to it, but they have done it very often over the last couple of seasons. Are we depending on it?

When it's not there will we play more structured footy to compensate or just lose more :( ?
We went away from it a lot (probably too much) last year when we just went with the Jack sweep all the time. Once he was suspended we went back to it since Abbey couldn't execute the sweep consistently. That could be because Hodgo was back as well.

I am hopeful that with all of our spine in place the balance is better.
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Raiders666 »

I know he probably isn't ready but I'd really like to find a spot for Horsburgh on the bench before he does a TPJ and bails... The kid is really impressive
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by kiwi raider »

Raiders666 wrote: January 16, 2019, 5:40 pm I know he probably isn't ready but I'd really like to find a spot for Horsburgh on the bench before he does a TPJ and bails... The kid is really impressive
Me too, given we will likely have 3 other middle forwards the bench we could carry Horsburgh even if he’s not quite ready, give him 10-20mins a game to get a feel for it and make him feel wanted
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Re: What's your strongest possible Canberra Raiders 2019 line up?

Post by Dusty »

kiwi raider wrote:
Raiders666 wrote: January 16, 2019, 5:40 pm I know he probably isn't ready but I'd really like to find a spot for Horsburgh on the bench before he does a TPJ and bails... The kid is really impressive
Me too, given we will likely have 3 other middle forwards the bench we could carry Horsburgh even if he’s not quite ready, give him 10-20mins a game to get a feel for it and make him feel wanted
Absolutely
And as mentioned somewhere a week or two ago, I have it on very good authority (a current top 30 player) that he is fielding offers weekly from other clubs.


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2020: 1. Nicol-Klokstad 2. Cotric 3. Croker (c) 4 Leilua 5. Scott 6. Wighton 7. G. Williams 8. Papalii 9. Hodgson (c) 10. Sutton 11. J. Bateman 12. Whitehead 13. Tapine ----
14. Simmonson 15. Soliola 16. Guler 17. Horsburgh
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