Looks like there’s going to be a strong westerly breeze tomorrow. I’m assuming it won’t be too much of a factor as the field orientation is N/S, but something to keep in mind as it was a big factor in our game vs the knights.
TeamList Warriors vs Manly - [Round 6, 2024]
- Thread starter mt.wellington
- Start date
Correct, he was terrible defending on the wing.
The experts did pick up him being unsettled before he asked for a release. just saying like... credit where credits due.
Surely you can see Webby is wrapping his key players up in cotton wool. Seems the slightest niggle is an excuse to get a weeks rest this early. And I'm around it. Look at Ponga and the Knights.
That's what it feels like. Last season we did all we could to get through the season finishing as high as we could on the table and ended up looking a bit jaded at the end. That Broncos semi final seemed like a bridge too far. Managing the guys through where we can seems like a very sensible move. If we can give the odd player a rest week here and there to manage some niggles and refresh them, I'm all for it
We need to establish ourselves in the top 4 before we even contemplate resting players in my view. If SJ is fit, he needs to play. Not playing SJ is tantamount to surrendering this game. We are not at a stage where our position in the comp is secure, so we need to secure as many wins as possible, especially given our 0-2 start to the year. We need to win this game.
John Nick
Contributor
True. Webby and his training guys can manage the week to week training.
I am based in the US where it is night time and will go to sleep in a few hours. I hope I don't wake up to the horror news of SJ, DWZ and Capewah being announced as late withdrawals from this game. I almost lost my mind this time last week when I woke up to the news that Niukore and DWZ were late scratchings for the bunnies game.
Risk versus reward. It's not the end of the world if we lose this week. Every week becomes one of those games and allowing a player a week off to recover can be very beneficial at season end. Both with how that player is feeling physically and with the depth of players filling in. I'm not worried about losing a game during the season. I'm more concerned with winning games at the end and I'm all for what ever gives us the best chance of doing that.
Many players in this comp play with a slight injury. It's just the reality of the game which is brutal by nature. Players are going to finish games a little bit sore and worse for wear. If we were to rest a player every time this happens, we're going to field half strength teams most weeks and at some point that's going to adversely impact our position on the ladder. I'm not against exercising some caution for certain players who are clearly playing with non-trivial injuries (ie resting SJ during week 1 finals last year). But we shouldn't go the opposite extreme of resting anyone who has a slight niggle which is what some members of this forum seem to be advocating.
agreed. But that's not I am saying.
If you look at Penrith for example, quite often they will rotate out certain players, particularly towards the back end of the season. I am not opposed to this.
SJ is good to go for tomorrow.
Source: SENZ
Source: SENZ
Sure, I'm not opposed to us doing that either.
Nightmare averted.
The most successful sports teams will place the full control over who plays in the hands of their medical staff.
These people have degrees, some have gone to Uni for eight years.
A wise coach will vest total control and the power of veto to his head medico.
Otherwise why have medical experts if you are going to ignore their best practice.
This is meeting the minimum duty of care in any profession. Imagine our bosses telling our General practitioner that we are too valuable in particularly crucial work window and therefore they are over ruling a medical certificate.
That is the frame work.
From there we all understand that in sports, people do still compete while nursing injuries, this is a personal choice by the athlete, who like any of us, can choose a different option to the Doctors advice (but you and me in that scenario can still be told to piss off home with our back pain by the boss, or the boss can send us to the company Doc for a 2nd opinion despite our protests).
And then there are situations where the season is on the line, and players can still play, albeit when they should rest, and a calculated risk assessment is made. At the best run clubs, that decision is still guided heavily by the medical opinion on how to play someone who wants to play injured, when the season is almost over, and they accept that risk knowingly, that their bodies may fail (What I am describing is informed consent, a pillar of medical ethics, in my time following the NRL I have been challenged many times by some club decisions including ours that seem completely unethical and selfishly weighted in the interest of the club over the players best interest). In the background, under a good professional model the Medico Chief still can veto any plan.
Here is an example: A hypothetical scenario to explain the risk vs benefits ratio - lets say Mitch Barnett has pinged his neck on the Eve of a GF appearance. Lets say the risk of further injury is low. But lets add the Medical specialists report that says, while the risk is low, if he does suffer significant trauma to the affected neck, it could result in paralysis because his past neck trauma places him in a higher risk bracket.
So Mitch says yeah ok but I feel fine and am willing to take the risk, the coach says yeah ok I want to play you - a proper coach will say....but.....the final call is gonna made by our top Doc over the course of GF week.
In the case of Shaun Johnson there are several reasons why I personally would be strongly against taking risks.
1. This is a lower leg injury, any injury to legs can rapidly deteriorate because of a thing called body weight and Gravity.
2. He is an older player, with an extensive history of Leg injuries. A pattern is emerging where he is experiencing different leg problems year on year, suggestive of a chronic decline in his musculoskeletal structures in the legs. Tendons, ligaments, Muscles, bone and Menisci (the pads in your knees). His Doctor I am sure would be having that conversation with him about the long term picture, life after football, arthritis, chronic pain, and being able to run around after his children....the same convo lots of us have had with the family Doctor when we stay in jobs where you get beat up for a living till past your thirties.
3. He has just come off prolonged injury management to his legs/groin/hips under a kicking ban.
5. He is at the very late stage of his career, where he is being signed to play on a season by season basis, because someone with his age and injury profile is one injury away from careers end.
6. His running speed has slowed drastically this year as a function of wear and tear over time, team game plans are formulated specifically to protect him from further decline. In other words he is already being wrapped in cotton wool on field as best the game plan can, for obvious reasons, he is the best field kicker when given a kick chase template in the NRL this season.
So in summary, why would you push him out there as early as round six of a long year, when that may mean no Shaun Johnson forever vs two NRL points?
Let me say that with respect to people wanting him to play, I am not trying to sound like I know better, my whole point is none of us do, the people who know better are not us, they are not Webster, and they are not even necessarily Shaun.
I am also not trying to dissuade fans from disagreeing, I too agree this game is vital and could be season defining....I hope it isn't....I hope we are robust enough to lose and still make the top four anyway.
I enjoy the debate as much as the next guy so welcome anyone thinking Shaun should play anyway.
Tough one eh, SJ is our Turbo, our Ponga, our Cleary.
As such I say put that fucker on ice if needed.
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