Team List Warriors v Cowboys - [Round 9, 2025]

[BangBro's (still banging)]

Hypothetical question......

If you could only pick one of either Rocco Berry or Ali Leiataua on that right edge, who gets the nod?

I think Rocco Needs a huge two weeks to keep his place in this side when RTS and DWZ come back into the fold.

Pompey is Probably ahead of both Ali and Rocco no?

 

[roguei]

Hypothetical question......

If you could only pick one of either Rocco Berry or Ali Leiataua on that right edge, who gets the nod?

I think Rocco Needs a huge two weeks to keep his place in this side when RTS and DWZ come back into the fold.

Pompey is Probably ahead of both Ali and Rocco no?

Its interesting because i think rocco matches really well with DWZ. He's quite good at covering for some errors DWZ has defensively and is able to get the ball to him just in time.
On the otherhand i think Ali matches really well with Leka on that same side. Both growing up togther through the grades and have a real intensity about them. Which i don't think rocco has currently with Leka.
Now to both of those points, Rocco has not had enough time with Leka to prove 100% Ali is a better match. And Ali has had no game time with DWZ to prove the inverse this year.

Outside of that i think Ali has had better form so far this year. So that edges him out for me. Where although rocco is a bit more involved in tackling, Ali's attack is just so much cleaner at the moment. And he is involved in a lot less errors.

Both are kiwis and both are fairly young. So it's a really good problem to have. And with how old and injury prone our wingers are it would not surprise me to see it not be a huge issue.

 

[Get them onside ref!]

Hypothetical question......

If you could only pick one of either Rocco Berry or Ali Leiataua on that right edge, who gets the nod?

I think Rocco Needs a huge two weeks to keep his place in this side when RTS and DWZ come back into the fold.

Pompey is Probably ahead of both Ali and Rocco no?

Boysenberry got no attack
Or step
Or raw bump off power

 

[Gods_17]

Hypothetical question......

If you could only pick one of either Rocco Berry or Ali Leiataua on that right edge, who gets the nod?

I think Rocco Needs a huge two weeks to keep his place in this side when RTS and DWZ come back into the fold.

Pompey is Probably ahead of both Ali and Rocco no?

I agree, Berry needs to step up to the plate Now. Ali ain't quite the Leiataua we All know, playing on the left side and Berry knows it.

Pompey's doing it right but I reckon he knows, as well, that he's fighting for the/any position with the injuries we got.

Berry for mine for now.

 

[BangBro's (still banging)]

Its interesting because i think rocco matches really well with DWZ. He's quite good at covering for some errors DWZ has defensively and is able to get the ball to him just in time.
On the otherhand i think Ali matches really well with Leka on that same side. Both growing up togther through the grades and have a real intensity about them. Which i don't think rocco has currently with Leka.
Now to both of those points, Rocco has not had enough time with Leka to prove 100% Ali is a better match. And Ali has had no game time with DWZ to prove the inverse this year.

Outside of that i think Ali has had better form so far this year. So that edges him out for me. Where although rocco is a bit more involved in tackling, Ali's attack is just so much cleaner at the moment. And he is involved in a lot less errors.

Both are kiwis and both are fairly young. So it's a really good problem to have. And with how old and injury prone our wingers are it would not surprise me to see it not be a huge issue.

It does surprise me how automatic Berry is in this team. I think Berry needs time to build into his season.

I remember that Knights finals game, he played very well. But I'm just thinking Ali could have some huge moments more frequently and looked to have a good combo forming with Metcalf.

Will ne interesting the next few weeks for sure.

 

[Get them onside ref!]

It does surprise me how automatic Berry is in this team. I think Berry needs time to build into his season.

I remember that Knights finals game, he played very well. But I'm just thinking Ali could have some huge moments more frequently and looked to have a good combo forming with Metcalf.

Will ne interesting the next few weeks for sure.

Cuddles loves Boyseberry

 

[roguei]

Cuddles loves Boyseberry

I think its more that webster values defense and small effort areas above all else. And rocco has traditonally been quite good on those areas. Now we as a audience value the strike power of Ali quite highly. If Ali can improve in those areas i think he'll be leaps and bounds above rocco because of those areas he is already good at.

 

[Lance155]

Ali is the auto selection for me. Pompey and Berry are the toss up. Previously I have always picked Berry but this year I think that's a tough to justify with his drop off and Pompeys improvement

 

[run_it_str8_again]

Webster is loyal. When berry was injured Webby didn't demote him. Berry is warming back from a long injury. There were low odds of him exploding into awesome mode. But Webby coaches with loyalty. So who have our centres been since 2023? Berry is in that cohort and Webby will keep picking him into form.

 

[snake77]

At the moment, I'd go with Leiataua over Berry on the right-hand side.

If it were a case of playing both of them, it would be moving Leiataua to the left. Why? mainly because what I've seen of both of them on the left, he'd work better. I'll admit that is a small sample size for both players.

Berry was playing well before his injury. He was working well with DWZ, leading our kick chase. He'd run good lines off Johnson. He does look like he would have benefited from a few more games in NSW Cup. Injuries may have prevented that. I can't recall who was injured what rounds and when he came back. But, there have been weeks where there haven't been much options.

I've always been of the opinion with coaching you need to adapt. Going into a season, you may have a preference on who lines up where or combinations. That might need tweaking as the season progresses. Going into the season, I'd probably have planned for Berry there when he comes back. Leiataua has played well enough to keep the spot. Give Berry a bit more game time and earn his spot back.

Our attack isn't looking great at the moment. A couple of things to consider.

• Leiataua has been getting moved to accommodate injuries.
• Leiataua was playing inside a fullback, filling in on the wing. Would things look better when DWZ comes back?
• Berry might have worked well outside of Johnson who in his later years was primarily a ball player. Who works best with Metcalf?

 

[snake77]

If Healey is going to debut this weekend I hope it is alongside Egan and not instead of Egan or covering for an injury.

They are quite different. It would be good to see Healy come on and provide something different.

Long term we are going to need him able to play long minutes. But for his debut, it would be good to have it planned.

 

[Get them onside ref!]

Webster is loyal. When berry was injured Webby didn't demote him. Berry is warming back from a long injury. There were low odds of him exploding into awesome mode. But Webby coaches with loyalty. So who have our centres been since 2023? Berry is in that cohort and Webby will keep picking him into form.

In this game
Loyalty will only go so far!
If we drop a couple of games
You have to drop players
Other teams do it
Storm have done it
I’m happy to give Boysenberry some more time
However how long is that going to be?
Kearney done this for years
Kept picking his fave players
At the teams detriment


When

 

[MrFrankWhite]

This is a speculative comment and is predicated on the idea that Healey plays,, which may or may not happen.

If he does play then it is noteworthy he is debuting in round 9.
Perhaps the Warriors, if he does play, planned this all along, Start Healey in NSW cup for two months to give him a sense of our systems before introducing him to first grade. If this turns out to be part of a master plan, ie delaying his introduction for two months, then I am highly impressed with the coaching staff.
Off course there are other possibilities like they wanted to take a look at him first and that the earned his way up; But I like the concept this may have been pencilled in before the season started and if that was the case then Kudos to Webster.

Right when Egan is looking at Origin too...

 

[roguei]

In this game
Loyalty will only go so far!
If we drop a couple of games
You have to drop players
Other teams do it
Storm have done it
I’m happy to give Boysenberry some more time
However how long is that going to be?
Kearney done this for years
Kept picking his fave players
At the teams detriment


When

You're not answering the hypothetical and are instead getting into the coach about it.

 

[CWC]

Pompey's in career peak form so it'd be a shame if he's dropped, I'd have Ali on the right until Berry and DWZ work amazing combo in Cup again then look at putting them back, but DWZ is going to be back straight away or after 1 cup game so for me Berry as back up. But Webby will keep starting him on the right and I'm guessing 50/50 between Pompey and Ali on the left, because the rationale of keeping Berry is his work rate and defense, which Pompey is better than Ali at, and his attack is not too shabby right now, on the left. If Berry's ruled out with his busted head last weekend we wouldn't have this problem lol

 

[run_it_str8_again]

In this game
Loyalty will only go so far!
If we drop a couple of games
You have to drop players
Other teams do it
Storm have done it
I’m happy to give Boysenberry some more time
However how long is that going to be?
Kearney done this for years
Kept picking his fave players
At the teams detriment


When

What is he being dumped for at the moment? I agree with your point about loyalty only going so far and it's worked well in getting Leka and Demetric more game time. But I'm not off the Berry train yet. He's only a half dozen games back. If it's because the other centres give us more then I'm all for it.

 

[Damo]

Wonder if they took extra people over, TMM, TSS all pictured in the captains run. And if the rumours about Healey are true?

 

[roguei]

Wonder if they took extra people over, TMM, TSS all pictured in the captains run. And if the rumours about Healey are true?

Oh i think they take 2-3 reserves for "big" games like this. But with the amount of social media around it and even 2 journlists saying that it's happening. Then getting back comments like "Is this confirmed or conspiracy theory" and responding with "I don’t deal in conspiracies". It feels pretty likely at this stage. But it doesn't happen... This will be pretty hilarious.

 

[Wah's Up]

As an astute armchair COACH cough cough I never change a winning team. FULL STOP.
When injuries occur then is your chance to shine. Your performance must be so spectacular that I cannot afford to swap you out when the incumbent returns.

 

[Rick O’Shay]

I'm really interested to see Healey get a run. His work in cup has been very good and even though it's a big step up, I reckon he can provide something different. Such a tall gangly kid but he sure has some pace.