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Pre-Season 21/22

Definitely need a senior 10, imo - maybe the youngsters will step up, but it's a big risk to go into the season with no real experience in such a vital position

Can't think of (m?)any young 10s that broke through without a mentor to dovetail with
Farrell and Hodgson
Smith and Evans
Ford and Flood
Simmonds and Steenson
etc.
 
But they will have Joel Hodgson who is 29 and Brett Connon who is 25. Or do you mean...a quality older head.
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Definitely need a senior 10, imo - maybe the youngsters will step up, but it's a big risk to go into the season with no real experience in such a vital position

Can't think of (m?)any young 10s that broke through without a mentor to dovetail with
Farrell and Hodgson
Smith and Evans
Ford and Flood
Simmonds and Steenson
etc.
Click to expand...
True... but if option isn't there then sometimes you may have to wing it. Connon/Hodgson would help with this season but i'd say go for it with the youngsters. Potentially lose both next season if possible and bring in an older 10.

Tough call on the those two but don't want to block the route though and toon youngsters are doing very well atm.
 
It'll be interesting to see how big Deano plays it...thats for sure.

Hes notoriously bad at playing the young backs, unless he's absolutely 100%, yet he has no trouble putting young forwards in. Maybe he'll break his ways.
 
Geordiefalcon said:
It'll be interesting to see how big Deano plays it...thats for sure.

Hes notoriously bad at playing the young backs, unless he's absolutely 100%, yet he has no trouble putting young forwards in. Maybe he'll break his ways.
Click to expand...
Yh would always be a little worry. Got to blend them in.

I looked at our squad for this season and we have Oghre, Barbeary, West, Nearchou, Curran, T Willis, J Willis, Porter, Atkinson, Simonds, Spink, Anderson (true academy) plus Ma'asi White likely to get centre game time.
Significant academy usage.
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Definitely need a senior 10, imo - maybe the youngsters will step up, but it's a big risk to go into the season with no real experience in such a vital position

Can't think of (m?)any young 10s that broke through without a mentor to dovetail with
Farrell and Hodgson
Smith and Evans
Ford and Flood
Simmonds and Steenson
etc.
Click to expand...
Smith and Evans is a bit different as they didn't cross over as players. No reason why Flood couldn't do the same with Hayden-Wood.

Marcus Smith is clearly the best advert for a young player being thrown in at the deep end and thriving rather than just swimming. He's already played 100 Premiership games at 22.

Part of me thinks it's too much and a more graduated introduction like Simmonds had is generally the better route, but with no relegation to worry about, I'd give the young guys a shot.
 
BPM said:
Smith and Evans is a bit different as they didn't cross over as players. No reason why Flood couldn't do the same with Hayden-Wood.
Click to expand...
Ah, didn't realise Evans retired so long ago now! Thought they'd at least had a season or two playing together
Good point on Flood still being in the mix as a coach, though, also no relegation does remove a lot of the pressure on throwing in younger players

I wouldn't count Hodgson as an experienced older head to mentor young 10s - realistically he's a 9 who plays 10 cause there's no else to

I'd still stay an experienced older 10, even just on a 1yr deal, would be worth it - but then this season is gonna be a weird one with no relegation and bye weeks n that, so why not roll the dice
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Ah, didn't realise Evans retired so long ago now! Thought they'd at least had a season or two playing together
Good point on Flood still being in the mix as a coach, though, also no relegation does remove a lot of the pressure on throwing in younger players

I wouldn't count Hodgson as an experienced older head to mentor young 10s - realistically he's a 9 who plays 10 cause there's no else to

I'd still stay an experienced older 10, even just on a 1yr deal, would be worth it - but then this season is gonna be a weird one with no relegation and bye weeks n that, so why not roll the dice
Click to expand...
And he cant actually hold down the starting 10 spot either. Connon was mostly starting 10 last season...which is why many falcons fans say we need someone else.

I think Connon is good enough for the moment and hopefully him and Hodgson have enough...then hopefully Flood can work his magic with the young lads.

Personally though, i just say just go with what we have. With the likes of Burrell, MIke Brown, Michael Young etc around them...there's enough experience.
 
Not Mike Brown's Sock said:
Umaga shouldn't really need anyone by this point in his development imo - it says a lot about how good he actually is that he's still not able to run a team properly
Click to expand...
I think he can.. but i think he needs a good 9 with him. I would also say that i think this season will be a big one for him. After the england call up he was top of the world but was out of game form and suffered. There was also a very interesting interview he did with wasps where he speaks about how much social media effected him... including Wasps fans saying he wasn't worthy of the shirt which is pretty deplorable. I would really recommend watching if you have a chance, some very interesting points.

(Umaga on spotlight pressure)

(Odogwu on Racial bias in Rugby)
 
it is interesting.
Whilst it is great for younger players to get game time you do need to win.

It's easier and better to development players whilst you are winning.

Because generally either they get their confidence shot if they do badly in a poor team or they move on if they perform well in a bad team.
 
Dan Kelly is Irish said:
it is interesting.
Whilst it is great for younger players to get game time you do need to win.

It's easier and better to development players whilst you are winning.

Because generally either they get their confidence shot if they do badly in a poor team or they move on if they perform well in a bad team.
Click to expand...
Very true.

If Finn Smith shines at Wuss for example, someone with a need for a 10 will come sniping... but realistically there aren't too many teams that need a new 10 out there. Got me thinking of starting plus hot youngster

Saracens (Farrell, Vunipola), Exeter (Simmonds, Skinner/Walsh), Bath (Cips, Bailey), Saints (Biggar, Grayson), Wasps (Umaga, Atkinson), Quins (Smith, ?), Sale (Du Preez/Macginty, ?), Leicester (Ford, Lancaster), Glaws (Hasting, Barton), Bristol (Sheedy, Lloyd), Wuss (Shillcock/Searle, Smith)

So realistically he plays regularly and gets pinched by someone like Sale (if Wuss don't progress) or stays stuck behind those guys and doesn't play.

Umaga when he had confidence for us with Gops/Mills outside played amazingly but as soon as we were out of form, he was awful.

Actually out of interest.... how on earth does a team like Quins get a quality second string.... Smith is never going to get ousted as starting.
 
will311293 said:
Very true.

If Finn Smith shines at Wuss for example, someone with a need for a 10 will come sniping... but realistically there aren't too many teams that need a new 10 out there. Got me thinking of starting plus hot youngster

Saracens (Farrell, Vunipola), Exeter (Simmonds, Skinner/Walsh), Bath (Cips, Bailey), Saints (Biggar, Grayson), Wasps (Umaga, Atkinson), Quins (Smith, ?), Sale (Du Preez/Macginty, ?), Leicester (Ford, Lancaster), Glaws (Hasting, Barton), Bristol (Sheedy, Lloyd), Wuss (Shillcock/Searle, Smith)

So realistically he plays regularly and gets pinched by someone like Sale (if Wuss don't progress) or stays stuck behind those guys and doesn't play.

Umaga when he had confidence for us with Gops/Mills outside played amazingly but as soon as we were out of form, he was awful.

Actually out of interest.... how on earth does a team like Quins get a quality second string.... Smith is never going to get ousted as starting.
Click to expand...
Tommy Allan is a arguably the best/second best second string in the league to be fair.
Jamie Benson coming through as well is a good prospect
 
will311293 said:
Sale (Du Preez/Macginty, ?)
Click to expand...

We've got a couple guys coming through the academy: Kieran Wilkinson and Tom Curtis (Dean Schofield's stepson)

One of the crappy things about last season was the lack of game time for younger players - no A games or lower level rugby to loan guys out to,
Think Wilkinson is supposed to be the better of the two and does seem to be higher in the pecking order (14 senior games vs 7) - hopefully see (at least) one of them kick on this season,
Reckon Wilkinson will come into the side while AJ is with the USA
 

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