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While he hasn't set the world on fire, he also hasn't really done anything wrong. Appears to me he's a bit of a victim of circumstance in this case as the interim coach appears to enjoy rearranging the deck chairs by resting different players and trialing new halves/centre/backrow combinations just about every round. I can't see the Dogs troubling Canberra too much this week so I daresay he'll be back in the rotation in whatever capacity that may be next week.

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I've watched the games shown on Sky. Luke Thompson has had the odd spurt but doesn't, by tactics or otherwise, really inject himself into games. He's not a loose forward.

I think Canterbury were expecting another James Graham. He's actually another Tom Burgess and every team in the league would like Tom Burgess in their ranks.

Under Scrutiny by the Right-On Thought Police

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19 minutes ago, Wolford6 said:

I've watched the games shown on Sky. Luke Thompson has had the odd spurt but doesn't, by tactics or otherwise, really inject himself into games. He's not a loose forward.

I think Canterbury were expecting another James Graham. He's actually another Tom Burgess and every team in the league would like Tom Burgess in their ranks.

À smaller version of Tom burgess 

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32 minutes ago, Wolford6 said:

Yes but he's quicker and punches holes.

In SL he did, but I think that's many people's point - he's just not doing that at the moment. His defence is what is most concerning for me and in my opinion that is why Tolman is getting the nod over him. 

For all the talk of Thompson's 'engine', which he no doubt has, you have to consider the side he was playing in compared to where he now finds himself and i'm not even talking about the difference between SL and NRL. At Saints he was surrounded by other very good hole punching forwards and playing off arguably the best 9 our comp has ever seen - go forward for a player like Thompson was steady work. Then there's defence - not only do you have to consider that with how dominant Saints are most games (and therefore do less in defence) you have to take into account most of the time the tackles Thompson would be involved in he'd have either or all Walmsley, Roby, Knowles along side him - years of trust and understanding of what the other guys are going to do. That's not going to come over night at the Dogs and isn't helped by the fact they do spend a lot of time defending when they're tired. Hopefully it'll click in training and start to translate on the field. Like I said in a previous post however, this at the moment looks like a case of right player (for the NRL) wrong club. 

Edited by hunsletgreenandgold
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21 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I think the situation for Thompson at the Dogs has been getting ever worse, with no signs of improvement. It was the wrong club for him. This weekend they play the Raiders who are already littered with English players - could definitely see how his work ethic at 13 would fit in there. Or even the Dragons - or to put it another way, the Dogs was the worst place he could've gone after Titans. Calling it now and I hope i'm wrong, because he definitely can cut it in the NRL, he'll be back in SL by the start of next season and either straight back to Saints or Leeds. 

I hope he'll be back, totally wasted at the Dogs

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7 minutes ago, Copa said:

The Raiders have said Elliot Whitehead has played 116 out of a possible 117 games. That’s some seriously good form.

Whitehead has been fantastic in the NRL. I have to admit, I knew little about him before he went over but he has been consistent and consistently outstanding. 

I don't think you can talk about the best Brits in the Aussie game in any era without including him.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tom Burgess was immense for Souths vs Melbourne yesterday. Probably the best I’ve seen him play, particularly defensively which he’s not necessarily known for. His defence and hits were reminiscent of his brother Sam. Ran really well for lots of metres too

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5 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Tom Burgess was immense for Souths vs Melbourne yesterday. Probably the best I’ve seen him play, particularly defensively which he’s not necessarily known for. His defence and hits were reminiscent of his brother Sam. Ran really well for lots of metres too

Agree with this, Tom Burgess is not known for big hits but he absolutely smashed Christian Welch a couple of times and he is a pretty handy prop.

Burgess is definitely in the best form of his career.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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7 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Tom Burgess was immense for Souths vs Melbourne yesterday. Probably the best I’ve seen him play, particularly defensively which he’s not necessarily known for. His defence and hits were reminiscent of his brother Sam. Ran really well for lots of metres too

He's been great this season. 

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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47 minutes ago, ghost crayfish said:

Agree with all the praise for Tom Burgess. Souths needed him to stand up this year as their most experienced forward, and he's delivered. No doubt he's the leader of the pack there now.

He’s delivered recently, certainly since lockdown. Early season he was less conspicuous when the Souths were going through a rough start

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Ryan Sutton was the standout Englishman this morning IMO.

Williams was great with the boot but between them none of the Canberra playmakers could open the Roosters defence which was just too well organised and committed.

Whitehead was solid and looked likely a couple of times without actually ever breaking the line.

Bateman was good in defence and kept Cordner in check but he never troubled the Roosters line with his trademark footwork and odd style.

The Roosters still look a cut above everyone when the big games come, if they continue in this mood and form they’ll win it for a 3rd time.

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Surprised to see that Tom Burgess didn't make the team of the week nominations for prop in the NRL.com poll this week

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/09/06/round-17-team-of-the-week/

And yet Christian Welch, who Burgess massively outplayed, from the Storm is in there.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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I’m giving special mention to Ryan Sutton . Played into the second half before getting a breather and caused the great Roosters outfit plenty of problems . Got stuck in in defence as well . Much better and busier from Luke Thompson to off the bench , and a perfectly legitimate try chalked off

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Just caught up with the Titans Bulldogs game.

Definitely Thompson's best display so far. He bent the line each time he touched the ball and was strong for a 58 minute stint after coming on midway through the first half.

As for his no try, if it had been sent to the bunker as a try I think it would have stood but as a judgement call it was chalked off as it was sent up as no try.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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So Thompson is back at 13 for the Bulldogs this week.

Farnworth is at centre for the Broncos.

Tom Burgess continues in the front row for Souths.

All 4 (fit) Brits start for the Raiders with Ryan Sutton starting again after some very good recent performances.

Just Ryan Hall on the outer as he is on the reserves bench for the Roosters.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

So Thompson is back at 13 for the Bulldogs this week.

Farnworth is at centre for the Broncos.

Tom Burgess continues in the front row for Souths.

All 4 (fit) Brits start for the Raiders with Ryan Sutton starting again after some very good recent performances.

Just Ryan Hall on the outer as he is on the reserves bench for the Roosters.

Hall will likely never play for the Roosters again, sadly. With both starting wingers back and Ikuvalu due to be fit again in the next couple of weeks, he's 4th choice. Some reliable local knowledge saying he's been offered 1 year deal with Wakefield for next year. 

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Thompson cut from the squad 24 hours prior to the game due to calf soreness. Feasible to think this may be something he's been struggling with after being thrust in the deep-end following the 2 week quarantine and months without games. Shame as he was quite strong last week.

 

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