Guys I have had a bit of a think about it and I don't think things are as bad as they are made out. We seem to be coping a pasting in here and in the media the past month. That the players are not interested and were a disgrace. A pasting like a side that is on the bottom of the ladder without a win to their name. Sure, our last 2 performances have been terrible on the whole and deserve lots of raised eyebrows. It's only a small positive however we only missed 13 tackles last week, I think we did want to bounce back, it just didn't happen. We withstood a few of these total debacles last season with the same group. The same group that is being picked apart were still good enough to take us to within 1 point of a probable premiership.
For mine we have badly missed our 2 MOST CONSISTENT footballers in Chris Lawrence and Gareth Ellis. They are International quality players in my opinion. These are perhaps the only 2 that produce 8/10 efforts every week in the grind of the NRL. Robbie, and Benji are our 2 best footballers, but such is their style of footy they can produce a few 5/10 games each year. Throw in Lote Tuqiri and your missing again arguable 3 of your top 5 footballers. Were missing our lethal left edge which produced probably 75% of our points last season. You couple that with not being able to put Gibbs, Payten and Ellis together as our defensive core around the ruck and you can see why were rocking in the forwards.
You take these crucial elements out of our football team, genuine point scoring out wide and defensive stabilty and reliable and tough footballers around the ruck and your left with a bit of a riff raff mix of youngsters, honest toilers and slow backs led by 2 or 3 brilliant but at times flawed geniuses. 4 out of our current back 5 would not run out of sight on a dark night. Mckinnon, Brown, Ashford and Utai are all fair footballers in their won right. We can't capitalise on half opportunities created by the halves with these players. They are similar types of players, steady without offering threat at the attacking end. They lack pace and its a poor and unthreatening combination when put together. Then in the forwards you have young players such as Dwyer and Fifita who are very good prospects. However last season when we were firing they were bench players providing impact. Now they are being called upon to start games in the week in week out grind. There not going to be consistent. Then you have the likes of Fulton and Heightington, loved by Tigers fans, however they are battlers or honest footballlers at best.
I Don't want to sound like i'm being rude to these players. It's still a decent team capable of winning football games. However it's a team when looked at closely, lack pace and strike out wide and lacks stability in the forwards. A very strong squad that has had plenty of holes poked in it since the back 2 months of last season. The current side we are fielding week in week out is over rated a little by the media and fans and should not be starting $1.30 favourites.
After the woeful injury toll at the start of the season we talked about chipping away at 50%, trying to scramble wins in the mean time and gathering ourselves for a tilt in the final 2 months. At 5-5 and in 8th place I think we are still on track to do that. Ok, it's been pretty ugly and there are times where you could question our attitude but there is still time to turn it around. Might sound a little negative but I think we get another 5 wins from 10 starts and get to 10/10 im mighty confident we can win our last 4 and set up our push. Parra, Penrith, Titans and Sharks is a dream last 4 rounds if we have all our troops back.
I just think we are not unlike 13 or 14 other clubs in the NRL. That when we get injuries, we can only bat at 50% or slightly better. In my opinion the current 17 in the NRL is an only slightly above average side talent wise. Injuries to key aspects of our side have blunted our attack and loosened our ruck. People talk about playing a depleated Souths and Penrith, however for mine we are depleated. I think sometimes we just think because Marshall and Farah are there we should be winning all the time. I can see peoples concerns with our attitude. However I think it as much team balance and lack of confidence.
I don't think we will beat the Dragons, however the season is still very much alive and I think we will get better in the second half. We showed last season we had found some spirit and togetherness by winning several close battles.I thibnk the togetherness is still there. We have had some distraction and probably took our eye off the ball. Its not happening at the moment but we will get some key troops back soon and im still confident enough we can do it.
This time last season we were 5-5\. I think ultimately whilst 2006-09 were failures last season the side grew up a bit. We won't fall into that 9th to 11th rut again. I still think we are on the rise, we have learned to win close games an win ugly. We have had a rocky 10 weeks but it's not a disgrace in my opinion.
For mine we have badly missed our 2 MOST CONSISTENT footballers in Chris Lawrence and Gareth Ellis. They are International quality players in my opinion. These are perhaps the only 2 that produce 8/10 efforts every week in the grind of the NRL. Robbie, and Benji are our 2 best footballers, but such is their style of footy they can produce a few 5/10 games each year. Throw in Lote Tuqiri and your missing again arguable 3 of your top 5 footballers. Were missing our lethal left edge which produced probably 75% of our points last season. You couple that with not being able to put Gibbs, Payten and Ellis together as our defensive core around the ruck and you can see why were rocking in the forwards.
You take these crucial elements out of our football team, genuine point scoring out wide and defensive stabilty and reliable and tough footballers around the ruck and your left with a bit of a riff raff mix of youngsters, honest toilers and slow backs led by 2 or 3 brilliant but at times flawed geniuses. 4 out of our current back 5 would not run out of sight on a dark night. Mckinnon, Brown, Ashford and Utai are all fair footballers in their won right. We can't capitalise on half opportunities created by the halves with these players. They are similar types of players, steady without offering threat at the attacking end. They lack pace and its a poor and unthreatening combination when put together. Then in the forwards you have young players such as Dwyer and Fifita who are very good prospects. However last season when we were firing they were bench players providing impact. Now they are being called upon to start games in the week in week out grind. There not going to be consistent. Then you have the likes of Fulton and Heightington, loved by Tigers fans, however they are battlers or honest footballlers at best.
I Don't want to sound like i'm being rude to these players. It's still a decent team capable of winning football games. However it's a team when looked at closely, lack pace and strike out wide and lacks stability in the forwards. A very strong squad that has had plenty of holes poked in it since the back 2 months of last season. The current side we are fielding week in week out is over rated a little by the media and fans and should not be starting $1.30 favourites.
After the woeful injury toll at the start of the season we talked about chipping away at 50%, trying to scramble wins in the mean time and gathering ourselves for a tilt in the final 2 months. At 5-5 and in 8th place I think we are still on track to do that. Ok, it's been pretty ugly and there are times where you could question our attitude but there is still time to turn it around. Might sound a little negative but I think we get another 5 wins from 10 starts and get to 10/10 im mighty confident we can win our last 4 and set up our push. Parra, Penrith, Titans and Sharks is a dream last 4 rounds if we have all our troops back.
I just think we are not unlike 13 or 14 other clubs in the NRL. That when we get injuries, we can only bat at 50% or slightly better. In my opinion the current 17 in the NRL is an only slightly above average side talent wise. Injuries to key aspects of our side have blunted our attack and loosened our ruck. People talk about playing a depleated Souths and Penrith, however for mine we are depleated. I think sometimes we just think because Marshall and Farah are there we should be winning all the time. I can see peoples concerns with our attitude. However I think it as much team balance and lack of confidence.
I don't think we will beat the Dragons, however the season is still very much alive and I think we will get better in the second half. We showed last season we had found some spirit and togetherness by winning several close battles.I thibnk the togetherness is still there. We have had some distraction and probably took our eye off the ball. Its not happening at the moment but we will get some key troops back soon and im still confident enough we can do it.
This time last season we were 5-5\. I think ultimately whilst 2006-09 were failures last season the side grew up a bit. We won't fall into that 9th to 11th rut again. I still think we are on the rise, we have learned to win close games an win ugly. We have had a rocky 10 weeks but it's not a disgrace in my opinion.
