Penny : Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:33 pm  

Would you play him on Sunday after bagging 4 tries. High on confidence bit of speed and enthusiasm.

I would give Riley a rest in reserves and move Hicks to full back. Riley had a shocker Friday (apart from his break for try) and his confidence will be low, and after all Lowes dropped Penny after 1 game v saints

Re: Penny : Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:36 pm  

JJJ wrote:

Would you play him on Sunday after bagging 4 tries. High on confidence bit of speed and enthusiasm.

I would give Riley a rest in reserves and move Hicks to full back. Riley had a shocker Friday (apart from his break for try) and his confidence will be low, and after all Lowes dropped Penny after 1 game v saints

So you think 1 bad game and Riley should be dropped, he's bin arguably our best player for the first 2 games of the season.

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:49 pm  

Whenever Kevin Penny has been dropped, they always trot out the phrase that he's got a lot to learn - which is fair enough.
But where is he more likely to learn - in the tougher climate of the first team, or in the reserves, where he's running in four tries?
One of the positive aspects of the franchise system was supposed to be that it would give young players the chance to come up through the ranks without the pressure of relegation being a factor in whether they played first team or not.
In my opinion, KP should be in the first team, and if he makes the odd error, so be it.

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:50 pm  

The Speculator wrote:

Whenever Kevin Penny has been dropped, they always trot out the phrase that he's got a lot to learn - which is fair enough.
But where is he more likely to learn - in the tougher climate of the first team, or in the reserves, where he's running in four tries?
One of the positive aspects of the franchise system was supposed to be that it would give young players the chance to come up through the ranks without the pressure of relegation being a factor in whether they played first team or not.
In my opinion, KP should be in the first team, and if he makes the odd error, so be it.

hear hear

Re: Penny : Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:13 pm  

JJJ wrote:

I would give Riley a rest in reserves and move Hicks to full back. Riley had a shocker Friday (apart from his break for try) and his confidence will be low, and after all Lowes dropped Penny after 1 game v saints

This is where you get a lot of contradictions on here, some users were up in arms recently when Kevin Penny got dropped as people were saying things like "He is being made a scapegoat for the teams poor performance" and "what will that do for his confidence ?" etc etc

Now your suggesting leaving Chris Riley out because he made a few mistakes against Wakefield, i agree he had a poor game at Wakefield but to use some past reasonings for a player being left out "what will this do for his confidence" ?

Kevin Penny has had made mistakes when he has had the luxury of playing in a regular position, how many first team games is it now that Chris Riley has had at full back and without being spectacular he previously has looked fairly solid ?

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:14 pm  

If a player scores 4 tries in the reserves, and the 1st team are getting hammered every week, then surely that player deserves his chance in the 1st team.

If not, what message does that send to any player in the reserves, and the first team come to that?

Personally I would leave Riley out, and move Hicks to full back.

I disagree that Riley has been our best player in any match - he was ok against Saints, poor against Catalan and downright awful against Wakey.

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:25 pm  

It really does fascinate me the Riley/Penny thing. Riley has a poor game and he is given leeway. Penny has a poor game and it would appear the majority want him out. Talk about divided opinion.

Rob, Riley isn't a novice when it comes to the fullback position, he played his Academy career there and I'm pretty sure his amateur days were spent there too (I'm sure SEB can verify this).

Riley should excel, in what is effectievly his natural posession. I know you can't cite individuals when the team played so poorly on Friday, but some of his play made him look like fullback was an alien position to him.

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:27 pm  

Antro wrote:

I disagree that Riley has been our best player in any match - he was ok against Saints, poor against Catalan and downright awful against Wakey.

I`m not sure who your referring too here as i certainly havn`t said that Chris Riley has been our best player in any game previously, what i said was he has been solid previously without being spectacular.

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

Rob, Riley isn't a novice when it comes to the fullback position, he played his Academy career there and I'm pretty sure his amateur days were spent there too (I'm sure SEB can verify this).

Its a far cry from playing at full-back at under 21`s and academy level than it is playing at SL level as the game is a lot faster with a lot more skill on show, Chris Riley did look like a fish out of water against wakefield at full back and i don`t disagree with that, what i do question though is some people on here were saying things like "What good can it do for a players confidence" when Penny got dropped but its alright to drop Riley for because he had shakey game at Wakefield but has been quite solid previously, its the defence in front of him that needs to be sorted, granted some of his mistakes were individual errors but even Billy Slater wouldn`t cope with the wave after wave of opposition running at him if he were our full back and even he would be made to look average in our team.

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:30 pm  

Regards Penny and Riley, if we released them both tomorrow, which one would attract saints, leeds and top union clubs and which one would probably go to salford or cas. By the way, i think we should play them both on opposite wings.

: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:01 pm  

Drop King. Simple answer