LIVE GAME Trial 2 vs. Dragons

[Betterdays22]

I actually thought that performance was worse than most of their efforts last season …their defence was much tougher last year ..particularly at the start of the season

Yep that's true. But the mind numbing one out sets and lack of strike and creativity on their line was last year all over. Teams know they can slow the ruck and give away the odd 6 again, and still hold us out.

 

[Tucker]

Here we go….🤣

Well come on mate…
They aren’t holding anything back.
They didn’t use this game to test anything.
This was our only chance to have a full contact hitout for the only time in a month. St George used it as a proper hit out as well and dominated.
We look small, weak, meek and disorganised. Our attack was rubbish and our defence was worse.
We looked like the 2023 Tigers. Benji needs to go all out attack if we are to improve. We can’t bang like our contemporaries.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Wasn’t a good performance, but how many years have most of us been watching footy, At least 20? Considering that, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of emphasis people put into games like that. Some in the live game thread were riding it like it was round 27 and it was so or die.

 

[Blaze]

Fair comments, it was a rubbish game but unfortunately it was Wests Tigers that presented all the rubbish.

Liddle, Hunt and that edge of Su'a, Suli and Ravalawa made us look really bad and we didn't really look much better anywhere else.

I'd like to believe that it was just a Mickey Mouse hit out that meant nothing to the coach but the look on the faces of Benji, Robbie and John Morris in the dressing room at the end of the game told me otherwise.

Fair call, I just don’t think they were upset at the scoreline… just what wasn’t done that was requested of them. That’s all. All I saw was a bunch of guys out there last night doing something other than taking the game seriously that’s all.

 

[Blaze]

Well come on mate…
They aren’t holding anything back.
They didn’t use this game to test anything.
This was our only chance to have a full contact hitout for the only time in a month. St George used it as a proper hit out as well and dominated.
We look small, weak, meek and disorganised. Our attack was rubbish and our defence was worse.
We looked like the 2023 Tigers. Benji needs to go all out attack if we are to improve. We can’t bang like our contemporaries.

Everyone was saying we looked so much better in the first 20-30 last game… I just don’t believe that goes away… there was something up. That’s what I saw anyway.

 

[Tucker]

Everyone was saying we looked so much better in the first 20-30 last game… I just don’t believe that goes away… there was something up. That’s what I saw anyway.

It’s the inconsistency of the competition’s worst team.

 

[BAGNF05]

Really good post. As usual from you. Well said.

The way some of you are going off so early would
disappoint your wives haha. lets see in a few months.

We suffer from deep-seated trauma at the club, I know.
All I'm suggesting is that we wait & see before we
write off another season & slag everyone off here

To move up the ladder we’ll need to make change. People are simply pointing out those changes that they believe we need. When you sign an NRL contract you’re signing up to be judged on your performance.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Really good post. As usual from you. Well said.

The way some of you are going off so early would
disappoint your wives haha. lets see in a few months.

We suffer from deep-seated trauma at the club, I know.
All I'm suggesting is that we wait & see before we
write off another season & slag everyone off here

I think we’ll be seeing the same dross we have seen for the last however many years. However, that’s not based on what happened last night

 

[tigertuff]

Disappointing to see that we still don't know what the bloke next to us is doing. The backline plays with blokes standing still or flat not running on to the ball is under 10s stuff. No one straightens the attack, and it looks like they just run each other in to touch. I know it's just a trial, but this stuff should be like clockwork 3 weeks out from the season start.

 

[Blaze]

It’s the inconsistency of the competition’s worst team.

I’ll give you that if it’s the same come real competition… just not yet, too many other factors involved atm for my liking. I’m not saying we are a great team btw… just not going to judge yet.

 

[Telltails]

My hot-takes

Typical Tigers stuff, still needs to be fixed:
- disrespecting possession lets Dragons get onto front foot
- did not throw enough at Dragons early and allowed them to get confident in their defence
- generally slow PTB speed and inability to put together consecutive strong carries
- lack of line speed esp. when defending our own line

Problematic that these are both straightforward to identify and not so straightforward to fix - it's all about mindset, commitment and fitness. For example if Bud and IP and Seyfarth (and To'a) get up harder and make better first contact, Suli and Su'a and Ravalawa don't barge through the line so easily. They eventually figured Suli out but not until the damage was already done.

I think overall the handling was the worst part. Dragons basically scored from turnovers, as did we once they started dropping ball. Credit to Dragons, their ball control was pretty good, as was their goal-line scramble. Su'a was immense and their backline was solid. Ben Hunt played his usual tactically aware self.

IP was pretty bad. I disagree with an earlier poster, I think he tried hard in attack, but he got rolled a few times and he was just too casual in defence.

Api overplayed all match, it felt like a breath of fresh air watching Simpkin, of all people, just pass and tackle hard.

Bud was poor in the first showing but seemed to improve when given more responsibility late in the match. Generally speaking we won back control and finished much better the last 20 minutes than any other point of the match.

Galvin overall very impressive for a debut. Whoever has said he's too skinny, I didn't see him thrown about at all. He looks like a backrower but gets about like a half. I think you have to genuinely try and find a space for him in the team, he looks like Bula 2.0 just playing at a different level to the other kids we have.

Agree with ink that Bula needs to inject himself more - he's still majestic when he moves and quite effective in cover. A bit of the dropsies too.

Stefano was really impressive, lots of carries and work and PCM. Klemmer was plodding. The play-the-balls need to be so much faster.

Samuela Fainu looked good, there's no doubt at all he's a NRL player in progress. Big dude, seems fit, rangy, strong, bit angry. I like it.

Staines ineffective but I didn't love Lobb either. It's kind of a trade off between speed and vertical size; Staines did nothing in hitups and was never put in the clear, this week or last. Lobb is a genuine kick target but a bit of a lumberer about the field.

Olam - I dunno I thought he was alright, but also I can't say I noticed him a lot.

Sezer goes alright, I appreciate that he's not afraid to take on the line for a run or pass, but he's like an aging quarterback, he'll get sacked pretty much any time he attempts a carry. But his boot is good, if we can just improve our kick-chase Sezer can certainly land them.

Lastly I also have a strong suspicion, same as last week, that the team was instructed to play very safe, low-key football. Dragons seemed fired up to rip and tear but Tigers seemed very methodical, almost single-minded. We didn't throw much at them in attack first half but also we didn't seem to be trying to throw all that much at them; I say this for example because Bud is a known livewire and he just went through his paces. We got a good few repeat sets and that seemed to satisfy. Second half it looks like they were given more licence, and though it was a bit haphazard, Bud and Galvin certainly probed a lot, and we looked a lot more dangerous.

Also just classic Tigers, back to my first comments, to think we drop the ball, allow a barge-over try and then put the kickoff out on the full? And then allow another barge-over. It's no surprise you find yourself down 12-0 and the resulting loss of match control lets Dragons get two dubious tries (I still reckon Ravalawa dropped it short of the line and Bird knocked on in the lead-up to Hunt's try). It's like you do 3 or 4 bad things in succession, you lose control of the match, then the opposition both out-plays and out-lucks you and suddenly you are 20 behind and it's basically over.

Respect to the Dragons though, they took the game very seriously and their handling and defence was good. I honestly thought they were the worst team in the comp last year, despite us coming last, they had a better roster and a rep-quality half and only avoided the spoon by one win over us. So to play a measured, strong game tonight is a step in the right direction for them.

Dragons are a big physical side. They were poor against Souths no surprises that they were up for it last night.
Also not surprised by our performance given that the players that we have recruited all came with risks and or inexperience and were never going to suddenly unearth some untapped ability over the off season. They will have to play to the very best of their ability most weeks to challenge any side.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Dragons are a big physical side.

They’re still crap and will be fighting with us to avoid the spoon.

 

[Spartan117]

Seyfarth is not being paid to be a starter or regular in our 17.
He’s being paid to his ability as someone who can do a job in our 14-17 or just outside of that and provide good value when injuries occur.

Seyfarth wasn't the reason for all.those try's scored against us.

Flimsy edge defence and some very hard running big men

 

[Jimmy]

My real concern is benji said we’d be playing as a system with structure. Crab walking and allowing the halves so much time they make flanno look like Thurston is unacceptable. In attack it was the same garbage no one was cutting back and running good damaging lines. This is a key component of system footy. Api also cooked it last night and overplayed his hand big time. As a paying member benji has alot to work on. Both our nrl side and regs looked pathetic. I can’t go another year of 4 crappy wins

 

[Roar_Power]

Was a real worry our forwards being pushed around by their centres and wingers.

 

[Spartan117]

On the whole, We have improved as a club.

Playing through the middle is a great step forward.

Attack will come.

 

[tigeress]

Galvin has been impressive.
Surely forcing his way into the team.

But Galvin alone cannot win us games! From what I've seen we look the same as in past years-unimpressive.

And even though it's the players fault this will not give them any confidence, , and in my opinion they are not playing with any confidence. Unless something changes in the next few weeks, we are going to be in for the same as previous years. I do hope I'm wrong

 

[GNR4LIFE]

But Galvin alone cannot win us games! From what I've seen we look the same as in past years-unimpressive.

It’s not a good sign when everyone’s saving grace is an 18 year old kid who’s yet to debut. Sure, Benji was that kid, but he was a once in a lifetime prospect at 18. As good as Galvin is, I don’t think he’s that.

 

[tigeress]

And Balin.

I think you may be right, I think we acquired a player that has ongoing injury concerns, why isn't this picked up when they have a medical before joining the club ??

 

[tigeress]

I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news but I can’t see us winning a single game

We were never much good at winning two in a row....