Hi one and all back again, been working away, cant make tonights first game, so how do the guys look to you all during the friendlies. Are they looking fit and ready to go, and what did the new guy shape up like in his ruun out.

Puletua looks like he will be a big handfull when he gets fully fit.
He certainly got the ball carrying arm free on a number of occasions and just needed a player on his shoulder to exploit this.
Negatives was the fact he only played about 40 minutes. He needs to really be playing 60+.

Tom Armstrong made only one error which was a fumble at the play the ball.
Otherwise took high kicks with ease and handled grubbers with confidence.
He is a big lad 6ft 3 who has good foot movement standing up a couple of players with shimmies a bit like Gidley does. Didnt get to see how quick he is, but i would suggest he is probably around Gardner pace.
I would certainly stick with him, as while he isnt as devastating in attack yet as Meli. He looks a lot more solid in his all round game.

Tom Armstrong played well on his debut. He looked confortable dealing with kicks and returning the ball. Gilmour looked an attacking threat at centre and when Puletua is fully fit and up to speed with SL, he'll be difficult to stop.

Hargreaves & Maurie were disappointing, the kicking game was on the whole woeful.

Despite a pretty slow/rusty opening 50 minutes, I couldn't really complain about any of the other players.

I would say Armstrong and Gilmour played well for a new wing partnership, and as the others have said Tony P looks like he will be a star this year.

Saw the game on tv and was impressed at the determination the guys showed for their first hit out.
That new signing hes one big dude aint he?, and this young guy Armstrong impressed with him, but for me the burning question is what are we going to do about a kicker? We so desperatley need one, I thought Gidley was a kicker, or at least can kick, as I think Longys kicking days are well behind him.

Wellens - The usual Wellens really.
Gardner - Solid and always there to finish.
Gidley - Classy performance again
Gilmour - Went very well at Centre, but Gleeson didn't play so best to keep this in perspective.
Armstrong - Solid debut from the young lad. Good back up in that area for a change.
Pryce - Missing in the first half, popped up with some excellent plays in the 2nd.
Long - Quality performance bar his goal kicking.
Graham - Sensational workhorse
Cunningham - Hit and miss with his passing, but a trojan in defence.
Cayless - Not fully fit yet, but solid.
Wilkin - Did the simple things well.
Puletua - Good performance and adds real size to our pack. He's going to be a big hit if he stays fit, adds some class to our forwards.
Flannery - Solid.

Roby - Pretty quiet really.
Hargreaves - Pretty anonymous to be honest.
Fa'asavalu - I thought he was garbage, our only real disappointment
Clough - Pretty quiet.

Cayless - Not fully fit yet, but solid.

he barelly did anything tookin his first drive and gasping for breathe and was sloppy in defence shud never have played.

i think we need a bigger and stronger pack

Roby was surprisingly quiet, both Gidley and Gilmour were excellent in the centres. Pryce woke up after an hour and gave us some momentum and Graham was the usual workhorse in attack and defence.

To me, it seems like Maurie has gone downhill since his first season(2006?). He doesn't seem to break nearly as many tackles as he used to, and I wonder whether he has sacrificed some of his size for fitness? A bad decision IMO, what we need from Fa'asavulu is impact, not minutes.

2004 was Mauries first season

Time flies when you're having fun.

I agree, he has his games, but more often than not he isn't making as much impact as he did/should be. IMO, the reason for this is that he trys to run at the man and smash the man out of the way a lot of the time, were he used run into gaps which makes him much harder to tackle.

thats wat i was saying last night that he has lost his impact