Some food for thought

[GNR4LIFE]

We’re a funny team. Sure, we’re terrible, but is it a coincidence that every team we have played so far this year has been that clubs worst performance? Do we have a style that drags other clubs down to our level? Legit question. It doesn’t matter in the scheme of things because we have played even worse than our opponents, but I wonder if there is something about us that throws teams off.

 

[Needaname]

Weird one. Though Newcastle best performance was arguably agaisnt us. We broke them.

 

[krissy]

We are the joke of the NRL so teams come into games against us on cruise control expecting an easy win and no matter how badly they play we play worse, as is tradition.
Wests Tigers dragging NRL down to their level & still managing to lose.

 

[tig_prmz]

I don't think it says much but the games that we have been a part of are usually the worst games of the round. Maybe Rd 1 was the exception. False hopes and all...

 

[Fade.To.Black]

We’re a funny team. Sure, we’re terrible, but is it a coincidence that every team we have played so far this year has been that clubs worst performance? Do we have a style that drags other clubs down to our level? Legit question. It doesn’t matter in the scheme of things because we have played even worse than our opponents, but I wonder if there is something about us that throws teams off.

100%
We are garbage, quite possibly the worst attacking team in 24 years of the NRL, teams know they can have an off day and still win. Not many elite comps you can play like crap and still win. NRL is one.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I don't think it says much but the games that we have been a part of are usually the worst games of the round. Maybe Rd 1 was the exception. False hopes and all...

The Warriors and Titans games definitely.

 

[Lauren]

I don't think it says much but the games that we have been a part of are usually the worst games of the round. Maybe Rd 1 was the exception. False hopes and all...

Don't think it's too bad a thing that we can put teams off their game. IDC how ugly it gets but as long as we actually start winning those games.
We've got key players returning and if we can find ways to win it shouldn't really matter how, as there's still a lot of room for improvement.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Don't think it's too bad a thing that we can put teams off their game. IDC how ugly it gets, but as long as we win those games.
We've got key players returning and if we can ways to win it shouldn't really matter as theres still alot of room for improvement.

The Sydney Swans used to have a reputation 10-15 years ago of dragging the opposition down into a slug fest. As did the Sharks back when Ricky Stuart was coaching. Unfortunately it was a game plan. I don’t think it’s a game plan for us. It comes naturally.

 

[hank37w]

We don't appear to have a game plan.

 

[Alex Seyfarth's #1 Fan]

We’re a funny team. Sure, we’re terrible, but is it a coincidence that every team we have played so far this year has been that clubs worst performance? Do we have a style that drags other clubs down to our level? Legit question. It doesn’t matter in the scheme of things because we have played even worse than our opponents, but I wonder if there is something about us that throws teams off.

It's our defensive style. The A defender rushes up and tries to disrupt the first receiver. The first receiver feels rushed and can make mistakes.
The B and C defenders are meant to trail just behind to shut down the lead runners.
Everyone else is marking up on the person opposite to them.

The problem with this style of defence is if your opposition gets clean ball to the second receiver. You are often left with a 4 on 4 situation which the good teams can exploit. We haven't been good at defending this situation.

Something else going wrong is we don't make strong tackles early in sets. Once a team starts rolling through you, they can run down field with ease. We need to be better on our first three tackles. It's just not good enough to be leaking 30-40 metres on the first half of a defensive set. If you watch the Melbourne Storm defend, they go hard on the first 3 tackles, then they often leak 10+ metres per run on the 4th and 5th tackles. But the hard work was done, so it wasn't a big deal to leak a few metres.

This is just basic rugby league. I'm positive that these players would have been taught this when they were kids. I don't understand how our guys don't understand this.