LIVE GAME 2023 Trial 1: Wests Tigers v Warriors

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Live Game Discussion
Just with that Staines bump off to score for the warriors, it’s a real pet peeve of mine that the attacking player can use the shoulder to charge yet the defender is no longer allowed. It’s all a smaller player has in a situation like that and it’s taken away from them. It really is a disadvantage and a joke tbh.
 
I get the negativity and much is deserving especially after the year we had and how the club has been building things up with their media releases

My take on the game

- expectation was low, it was a reggies / junior side. I have said a few times 23 is not going to be a great year but one of building how we want to play.

- people underestimate the change in game style impacts and the Seyfarth to Warriors try was a clear example of this. We are going to make alot of mistakes and defence is going to get a work out. Our fitness levels are going to be massive issues early on and skill level takes time to get cracking with combinations in the Sheens style.

- we are shot in halves depth. I have been worried about this all off season and this did nothing to change the view. Jake was a running hooker looked good his ball service often was a concern but noticed we were alot slower with play the balls impacting our meter gains as well. Once the forwards hit the line our post contact meters looked good.

- The side that played are either bench or reserve viewed players. Stef is the only starting option in the team list for us you would think but even then he probably should be bench forward letting Joe/Klem start. But the players who performed ok are actually the ones who are next inline for bench or injury cover (Staines, AJ, Mata, Pole, Jake). The rest are reserve graders or dev projects.

- Seyfarth has copped it here me included and he probably had his best game for a while. He made meters (which was rare - this game was nearly 3-4 nrl games total last year), defended ok and sure he passed it leading to Warriors try but that’s a Sheens play - the players outside or him stuffed that more than him. This though shows he is more suited to the lower than higher grades unfortunately.

- From the kids Bula in his limited chances looked good. His position play & work rate I was impressed with especially against the Warriors who are normally the biggest sides around. He held up ok. Want to see more of him. Tupou I just don’t get the love, like I can see something but geez his work rate /effort areas are a concern and the trial continued to show that for me.

- comeback kids. TT needs miles/body contact/game time. Not NRL ready. Stef looked good / above this group which was great.

Overall it was a reserve grade trial, I didn’t care if we won or lost was more focused on could we see a style change or direction in lower grades forming. I did see glimpses of this but it was a struggle the ball turnovers leading to fatigue and defensive weaknesses made it hard to weed through any positives though. We were slower than the warriors in most aspects which was my bigger concern of the game.
 
One thing the match tells me is Staines is not replacing Daino at fullback but what's not clear is what happening for our centers . I was thinking Naden paired with Talau but its a worry .None of the kids stood out at center and AJ has been tried and failed a few times
 
I get the negativity and much is deserving especially after the year we had and how the club has been building things up with their media releases

My take on the game

- expectation was low, it was a reggies / junior side. I have said a few times 23 is not going to be a great year but one of building how we want to play.

- people underestimate the change in game style impacts and the Seyfarth to Warriors try was a clear example of this. We are going to make alot of mistakes and defence is going to get a work out. Our fitness levels are going to be massive issues early on and skill level takes time to get cracking with combinations in the Sheens style.

- we are shot in halves depth. I have been worried about this all off season and this did nothing to change the view. Jake was a running hooker looked good his ball service often was a concern but noticed we were alot slower with play the balls impacting our meter gains as well. Once the forwards hit the line our post contact meters looked good.

- The side that played are either bench or reserve viewed players. Stef is the only starting option in the team list for us you would think but even then he probably should be bench forward letting Joe/Klem start. But the players who performed ok are actually the ones who are next inline for bench or injury cover (Staines, AJ, Mata, Pole, Jake). The rest are reserve graders or dev projects.

- Seyfarth has copped it here me included and he probably had his best game for a while. He made meters (which was rare - this game was nearly 3-4 nrl games total last year), defended ok and sure he passed it leading to Warriors try but that’s a Sheens play - the players outside or him stuffed that more than him. This though shows he is more suited to the lower than higher grades unfortunately.

- From the kids Bula in his limited chances looked good. His position play & work rate I was impressed with especially against the Warriors who are normally the biggest sides around. He held up ok. Want to see more of him. Tupou I just don’t get the love, like I can see something but geez his work rate /effort areas are a concern and the trial continued to show that for me.

- comeback kids. TT needs miles/body contact/game time. Not NRL ready. Stef looked good / above this group which was great.

Overall it was a reserve grade trial, I didn’t care if we won or lost was more focused on could we see a style change or direction in lower grades forming. I did see glimpses of this but it was a struggle the ball turnovers leading to fatigue and defensive weaknesses made it hard to weed through any positives though. We were slower than the warriors in most aspects which was my bigger concern of the game.
A reasonable appraisal but After last years 72-0 humiliation vs Roosters and the 42-0 first half at L.O. vs Raiders .I'm hoping that the forwards in those games don't make our pack this year with the exception of Joffa and note Stephano didn't play in those games .Seyfarth and Pole did
 
Complete waste of a trial match.

Now there's just one trial left to evaluate all the awesome successes that have been built in the off-season by the new coaching regime with something close to the regular starting first grade squad.

Any changes that need to be made will then be happening round 1 of the regular season.

Piss poor planning.
 
Complete waste of a trial match.

Now there's just one trial left to evaluate all the awesome successes that have been built in the off-season by the new coaching regime with something close to the regular starting first grade squad.

Any changes that need to be made will then be happening round 1 of the regular season.

Piss poor planning.
If the strategy was to show the top 17 there are players waiting to take your job off you, then it didn’t work imo.
What we need is a first up win in round one and with that in mind we could have had a predominately top 17 reinforcing standards and another 8 hopefuls coming off the bench. Then improve the squad for the 2nd game of the preseason challenge.
You’re right, we have probably blown an opportunity to hit the ground running in round 1?
 
The Tigers definitely looked underdone - the Warriors actually looked a lot better than last year.

The Tigers could have looked underdone because they trained harder all week, or they are trying to be at fitness levels for round 1 (or even round 4). Maybe the Warriors have peaked with fitness too early. We don't know what the conditioning plan is. Some argue that the best approach is to peak midseason, because players can only peak so long. This goes with combinations too...

The one thing that did stand out though was it was 2 instances of a lack of discipline that led to their first two tries...drop ball and high shot...both Matamua. Need to cut that crap out if we want to move forward.

In saying that, I'm not overly concerned...it's never fun to watch the Tigers get a bit of a paddlin', but if you remember we gave the Sea Eagles a bit of a paddlin' in the trials a couple of years ago and look how that ended up. I'm not going to start getting all worried about it, but if it's still happening in round 10 I might need to start supporting Balmain Netball Club 😛
 
A reasonable appraisal but After last years 72-0 humiliation vs Roosters and the 42-0 first half at L.O. vs Raiders .I'm hoping that the forwards in those games don't make our pack this year with the exception of Joffa and note Stephano didn't play in those games .Seyfarth and Pole did

Pole has something & is a clear project dev player. He showed more than most of the experienced players as a rookie last year.

Happy for him to grab a bench spot if Sheens thinks he should.

Seyfarth is a reserve grade quality player, ok for depth but he shouldn’t be playing week in week out.
 
Most Tackles vs Warriors
Simpkin - 42 (5 missed)
Matamua - 37 (0)
James - 28 (2)
Seyfarth - 27 (2)
Tumeth - 24 (5)

Most Metres
Staines - 131 (14 runs)
Pole - 128 (12)
Utoikamanu - 127 (11)
Seyfarth - 113 (13)
James - 98 (11)
 

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