2nd Half Syndrome

[momo_amp_medo]

Madge just needs to fix this aspect of our game.
Game management is just not there and on paper at least, we do have players with the knowledge and ability. But it’s just not clicking.
When it finally does then well perhaps be cooking.

 

[2005magic]

How did Brooks go in 2nd half? Did he try to lead and close the game out? Or, was it someone else, or as I fear no-one?

 

[Geo]

How did Brooks go in 2nd half? Did he try to lead and close the game out? Or, was it someone else, or as I fear no-one?

Found the touchline twice 10m out ..when the Cows were on a roll..3 other times kicked deep keeping them inside their 20m..

 

[Snake]

How did Brooks go in 2nd half? Did he try to lead and close the game out? Or, was it someone else, or as I fear no-one?

Found the touchline twice 10m out ..when the Cows were on a roll..3 other times kicked deep keeping them inside their 20m..

Brooks played ok tonight plenty of running good defence !

 

[mike]

How did Brooks go in 2nd half? Did he try to lead and close the game out? Or, was it someone else, or as I fear no-one?

Not much possession in the 2nd half. Wests Tigers made a lot of mistakes as well, including kicking on the 3rd by Reynolds. Ended up with 1 player on the bench. Brooks did a pretty good kick into touch towards the end, giving everyone a rest as they set the scrum. There really wasn’t an opportunity to close out the game with the injuries and possession going against us.

 

[Goanna57]

Madge just needs to fix this aspect of our game.
Game management is just not there and on paper at least, we do have players with the knowledge and ability. But it’s just not clicking.
When it finally does then well perhaps be cooking.

We have been waiting a long time for it to click so we can start cooking me it’s been so long I’m starving.Parra and roosters showed how you stay in the game.Opposition scores you go up a level or 2 not go down 4 levels

 

[2005magic]

I'm glad Brooks didn't go missing in action.

 

[Tcat]

What was the go with Reynolds kicking on the third twice , and the video ref deciding the ball wasn’t knocked out when he literally punched at the ball . Still cowboys scored off an intercept and 2 3 kicks . I’m not that upset considering how royally screwed we got by the football gods in the second half

Kicking on the 3rd is great when you're full of energy, but when the teams buggered, go for a repeat set at least. Madge would've noticed that and hopefully will rectify.

 

[05TIGZZ]

Hard to fault the boys tonight with the injuries we had.

 

[TrueTiger]

Today was a very good indication what our defence can be like, if we maintain it for 80 mins and nullify the errors in the game,then we will be very competitive in the weeks to come.''
A lot of these guys are learning,the more senior guys should be leading by example and not having brain explosions when composure is needed..
Madge really needs to get their mentality right,he is doing well teaching the defensive structure,now he has to teach them to play composed and all else will fall into place...

 

[GNR4LIFE]

We were down to 1 one on the bench. They ran out of legs.

 

[Goanna57]

I blame Benji for our second half no composure

 

[bbobb]

What was the go with Reynolds kicking on the third twice,

While I admire Josh’s efforts, enthusiasm and energy, I think he has a limited skill set which in turn limits his game management. I believe he has stole to play in our team but I though we needed him or Brooks to stamp their authority in the second half and neither overly did so. I feel Benji may have provided us with the direction, with Josh providing cover for Harry in terms of fatigue and the halves.

 

[mike]

What was the go with Reynolds kicking on the third twice , and the video ref deciding the ball wasn’t knocked out when he literally punched at the ball . Still cowboys scored off an intercept and 2 3 kicks . I’m not that upset considering how royally screwed we got by the football gods in the second half

Kicking on the 3rd is great when you're full of energy, but when the teams buggered, go for a repeat set at least. Madge would've noticed that and hopefully will rectify.

Yeah, Reynolds had a touch of the Benji’s tonight.

 

[jirskyr]

having said that we turned over a lot of ball in the 2nd half and made it more difficult on ourselves…

That was my major take-home.

The teams that are middle-pack, like us, we need to hold the ball to control the speed and flow of the game as much as possible. We aren't yet good enough to assert that control when we don't have the football (i.e. in defence).

Just watching Roosters last night, they did what they did on the 2019 GF, just absorbed the pressure and kept their tempo up, then when the opposition faltered, they took advantage. The Roosters 2018+ are like the Andre Agassi of rugby league, where they might not have the biggest power game or supreme technical ability, but they maintain a constantly high level of play and wait for you to make mistakes. For the Bulldogs those mistakes only took 5 mins, but for Parra they took 65. Roosters just keep in your face until you err.

So for Tigers, we dominated that first half and managed to stay on top despite Cowboys initially having decent possession. But Cows also had horridly casual defence and we made them pay for it.

Second half started off alright, but Reynolds throws that intercept and then Cows get a few lucky kicks and bounces, and we are on the back foot. Cows started finding success in tactical kicking and basically used it every set and we were unable to arrest that momentum. We literally barely even touched the ball until they'd put 16 points on the board. Once we did get the ball, then we did get a decent set plus penalty, marched up field and kicked that penalty goal. That pretty much ended the Cows charge despite another try at the death.

So I don't think it was just about "a bad second half". It was about losing control of the game's momentum and not being able to arrest the opposition's temporary dominance through either some tough defence or some smart sets with good ball control. It just happened to be in the second half where obviously we'd clocked off a little, Cows were desperate and ready to chance their hand, and we had injuries.

But the good teams can arrest those periods of opposition dominance with their own strong controlled play. Tigers and Cowboys can't at the moment. But we are a better attacking unit than Cows and we managed to put on 30+ with our momentum, they only put on 16.

 

[Geo]

having said that we turned over a lot of ball in the 2nd half and made it more difficult on ourselves…

That was my major take-home.

The teams that are middle-pack, like us, we need to hold the ball to control the speed and flow of the game as much as possible. We aren't yet good enough to assert that control when we don't have the football (i.e. in defence).

Just watching Roosters last night, they did what they did on the 2019 GF, just absorbed the pressure and kept their tempo up, then when the opposition faltered, they took advantage. The Roosters 2018+ are like the Andre Agassi of rugby league, where they might not have the biggest power game or supreme technical ability, but they maintain a constantly high level of play and wait for you to make mistakes. For the Bulldogs those mistakes only took 5 mins, but for Parra they took 65. Roosters just keep in your face until you err.

So for Tigers, we dominated that first half and managed to stay on top despite Cowboys initially having decent possession. But Cows also had horridly casual defence and we made them pay for it.

Second half started off alright, but Reynolds throws that intercept and then Cows get a few lucky kicks and bounces, and we are on the back foot. Cows started finding success in tactical kicking and basically used it every set and we were unable to arrest that momentum. We literally barely even touched the ball until they'd put 16 points on the board. Once we did get the ball, then we did get a decent set plus penalty, marched up field and kicked that penalty goal. That pretty much ended the Cows charge despite another try at the death.

So I don't think it was just about "a bad second half". It was about losing control of the game's momentum and not being able to arrest the opposition's temporary dominance through either some tough defence or some smart sets with good ball control. It just happened to be in the second half where obviously we'd clocked off a little, Cows were desperate and ready to chance their hand, and we had injuries.

But the good teams can arrest those periods of opposition dominance with their own strong controlled play. Tigers and Cowboys can't at the moment. But we are a better attacking unit than Cows and we managed to put on 30+ with our momentum, they only put on 16.

Yeah agree on most part but I wonder how teams go playing for 60 minutes with 15 and then 14 especially given 2 middle forwards and a winger which caused a reshuffle..

 

[Peter_B]

Very glad that we picked up the 2 points - but unhappy that we failed to finish with a healthy for & against margin. If we had put them to the sword, we'd be a couple of places higher on the table...

 

[TrueTiger]

Very glad that we picked up the 2 points - but unhappy that we failed to finish with a healthy for & against margin. If we had put them to the sword, we'd be a couple of places higher on the table...

I see what you mean about the f/a ,however I would prefer the team win games and get the 2 points rather than rely on the f/a....the loss against the Titans should never have happened and the 2nd half loss of composure last night shouldn't have happened albeit the injuries didn't help...
but it gets back to consistency and playing for the full 80...this is what Madge is working hard at to get the culture change needed to become a heck of a lot more competitive..

 

[rustycage]

Very glad that we picked up the 2 points - but unhappy that we failed to finish with a healthy for & against margin. If we had put them to the sword, we'd be a couple of places higher on the table...

16 points is a pretty healthy for and against in my opinion

 

[Russell]

An observance without being a reason for defeat, seeing as we won.

We are not the only team I have noticed (Rorters as well last night) getting pinged for another 6 tackles on quite a few occasions. That is fair enough if that is the criteria.

However the same criteria was not used on the opposition teams - they were allowed much more latitude. The Rorters being a better side it didn't cause them as much of a problem as us.

Whilst it didn't cost us a win - it did keep the momentum with the Cows, and kept the ball away from us and with 15 and then 14 men wore us down much more quickly than it should have.

Worth saying as a sidelight that I thought McIntyre played well - I have changed my opinion.