LIVE GAME Round 1 vs Knights

Live Game Discussion
Most disappointing thing about our attack wasn't a lack of execution, but what looked like a complete lack of a plan. Every other team has been running plays and knowing their jobs - our plan was slowly shift it sideways and hope

Galvins worst game in first grade. Would've liked to see Luai step up more.

The boys worked hard on defence to their credit but like every single game the last 5 years, they looked completely gassed 50-60 minutes in. I don't get it!
It is a worry. Same patterns.. if Benji is unable to resolve this then maybe this job isn't for him. Might be a better assistant coach rather than head honcho. Hope he proves me wrong I really do.

Luia played well considering his first match, barking orders, keeping busy.
 
Thanks. And Leichhardt?
I park on the street near the orange grove pub at lilyfield. There’s a lane just before it which is good when coming off the city west link. It’s a 10-15 minute walk from here, but a right of passage. U can have a few at the pub then get a roadie and walk through the old hospital grounds through to the hill side entry! It’s a nice walk and gets u in the zone highly recommended. There are a series of streets that run parallel to the orange grove which are also fine to park at, u just need to remember to only drive towards the city west link when u leave or u will hit the footy tragic the other way!
Then when u leave u walk back and straight on the city west link either way.
People are lazy they want to park right next to the ground with 30 minutes to go before the game starts and then [This word has been automatically removed] and complain at how hard and long it is to get out! Morons
Remember getting in early is the key the longer u leave it the further away u park. But there are pubs all along the Main Street so not so bad.
 
What bothers me most is that despite the significant player turnover during the off season...
NOTHING MUCH HAS CHANGED!!
Same old,same old
Knights were awful..we were worse...and Im just aint seeing a way forward atm.
Sure,Api and Bula will help,but our legacy core problems remain exactly the same as last year...and the year before that ..and...
Apart from the increased effort,I found it very disappointing tbh
Bit early to slit your wrists. However, our issues are embedded in our DNA. And we’re relying on a guy with no coaching experience prior to him taking on the role to be the one to turn it around. If that’s not bad enough, he played a role in our DNA being what it is. Can’t make it up.
 
Just hear the Newcastle coach on radio.
It might have well been Benji - his comments were applicable to both teams.
At least you heard him

Benji flat out refused to answer a question to elaborate on a point he himself made ie" a couple of moments in the 2nd half cost us"

Didnt even say 'No'...just shook his head and the presser was cut...very weird
 
Bit early to slit your wrists. However, our issues are embedded in our DNA. And we’re relying on a guy with no coaching experience prior to him taking on the role to be the one to turn it around. If that’s not bad enough, he played a role in our DNA being what it is. Can’t make it up.
Dont wanna assassinate the coach after round 1,but its quite transparent that the coaching" team": isnt a runaway success in addressing ongoing core incompetencies
And no,I dont buy into the DNA thing..if it was a cultural issue,u cldnt get better than Richo at the top to change that,but his predecessors' imbecilic decisions over their 3rd bottle of vino at Leichardt will simply elongate a decade or more of poor leadership
I said I wldnt do this,but Id be absolutely astonished if Benji makes it to the end of this season
Only thing that will save him will be the support of his hires...dont think it will be results
Truly hope Im wrong
 
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As I said before the game I expected Knights to win - they are a settled team who made the finals last year at full strength

We had 3 19 yr olds in our spine missing our captain and hooker plays our fullback, our 5th choice centre against Best and our star half hadn't played 1 min of trials and 7 new players in our 17.

Was very impressive defence in keeping them to 2 tries - 1 came off a dropped bomb from a 19 yr old nsw cup player and the other was a long break off a forward pass.

Our attack was clunky but why wouldn't it be missing half our spine and without 3 of our top 4 centre options and 2 new wingers

More good signs for us then the Knights.
If the Knights had their fullback, hooker and 3 centres out, that would've been no Ponga and Best for starters.

I know there was a bit of disappointment last night, but if the outs were on the other foot, the game would've likely played out fairly differently I'd say.

It'll be a while before this squad looks anything close to settled I think. That's frustrating but likely.
 
As I said before the game I expected Knights to win - they are a settled team who made the finals last year at full strength

We had 3 19 yr olds in our spine missing our captain and hooker plays our fullback, our 5th choice centre against Best and our star half hadn't played 1 min of trials and 7 new players in our 17.

Was very impressive defence in keeping them to 2 tries - 1 came off a dropped bomb from a 19 yr old nsw cup player and the other was a long break off a forward pass.

Our attack was clunky but why wouldn't it be missing half our spine and without 3 of our top 4 centre options and 2 new wingers

More good signs for us then the Knights.
I agree with all of this. I expected the Knights to win by more as they had a clear advantage in the backs and half our team had never played together.

The scramble in our defense was promising. Defensive systems are way more important to have at this time of the season. Attack will come.

But...let's see what our fitness is like and what new recruits we inevitably pick up in the next couple of months.
 
A couple things things i noticed during the game was that we kept attacking down the left side
(skeltons side) , and not much attack went down the right side (turuva side).
Would be so much better if we used both sides eaqually in a game and keep the opposition guessing , instead of always going down one side and being predictable.
The other was that i noticed with about 25minutes to go in the second half our boys intensity dropped off alot , and the mistakes were creeping into their game alot more.
Unfortunately T.T
Both our halves have a big preference to play right to Left
Which will make it very unfortunate for whoever is selected to be our right side centre/wing as I’m guessing there job will be chasing kicks and making tackles all day.
OR Wait
Train our halves to get a bit of confidence with passing left to right.
 
As I said before the game I expected Knights to win - they are a settled team who made the finals last year at full strength

We had 3 19 yr olds in our spine missing our captain and hooker plays our fullback, our 5th choice centre against Best and our star half hadn't played 1 min of trials and 7 new players in our 17.

Was very impressive defence in keeping them to 2 tries - 1 came off a dropped bomb from a 19 yr old nsw cup player and the other was a long break off a forward pass.

Our attack was clunky but why wouldn't it be missing half our spine and without 3 of our top 4 centre options and 2 new wingers

More good signs for us then the Knights.
The knights were absolutely awful. They had 16 errors and most of those were unforced. They bombed at least 3 tries through selfish play.
That score flattered our mob. They were very poor.
 
I agree with all of this. I expected the Knights to win by more as they had a clear advantage in the backs and half our team had never played together.

The scramble in our defense was promising. Defensive systems are way more important to have at this time of the season. Attack will come.

But...let's see what our fitness is like and what new recruits we inevitably pick up in the next couple of months.
They have an International fullback, two international centres, two top yardage wingers and they beat us by 2. I'm not too upset.
 
The knights were absolutely awful. They had 16 errors and most of those were unforced. They bombed at least 3 tries through selfish play.
That score flattered our mob. They were very poor.
Watch it again. I thought so too but on review, first game of the season, they weren't that bad. Defensively, they never gave up. Offensively, terrible. The effort is there and that's what's most important.
Galvin, however, isn't a 5/8.
 
Bit early to slit your wrists. However, our issues are embedded in our DNA. And we’re relying on a guy with no coaching experience prior to him taking on the role to be the one to turn it around. If that’s not bad enough, he played a role in our DNA being what it is. Can’t make it up.
To add to the challenge, he surrounds himself with assistants who also have either limited or no experience or no record of success.
Looks like we’re heading for another spoon. Yeh, I know, I’ve looked at the odds.
I think the only chance we have is…Latu at 7, Galvin 13 and Luai 6. Then Benji has pregame group meetings with the spine (13 included) on the game plan each week.
 
To add to the challenge, he surrounds himself with assistants who also have either limited or no experience or no record of success.
Looks like we’re heading for another spoon. Yeh, I know, I’ve looked at the odds.
I think the only chance we have is…Latu at 7, Galvin 13 and Luai 6. Then Benji has pregame group meetings with the spine (13 included) on the game plan each week.
I think Warriors, Titans and Roosters might beat us to the spoon. Fingers crossed!
 
To add to the challenge, he surrounds himself with assistants who also have either limited or no experience or no record of success.
Looks like we’re heading for another spoon. Yeh, I know, I’ve looked at the odds.
I think the only chance we have is…Latu at 7, Galvin 13 and Luai 6. Then Benji has pregame group meetings with the spine (13 included) on the game plan each week.

I would have had Latu on the bench start with Twal or whoever at 13 then bring him in as a 13 second 5/8 once the sting is out of the game. I would have also started Bird over Seyfarth and either Sione or Seyfarth drops off to accommodate Latu.
 
Ahhhh sorry, but he is known for smashing people, but in the same breath, no winger is "known" for their defence. Name me one winger that built their career on their impenetrable defence. They don't exist.

Honestly, we need to cut these nonsense narratives. He had a great game. Better than any Wests Tigers winger in recent memory, what is the point being made anyway? Bringing up some negative stats that made no difference tonthe outcome or is there something constructive to say?
We missed 50 tackles. I think it makes perfect sense to raise it. The negative stats are why we lost that game in my opinion.
I do agree though that he was a weapon but he can’t miss every tackle he attempts
 
Alf stole the game from and only just found out we lost. Phone data is patchy and takes forever to load a page. Were we awful????
 
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