Assessment

[bigsiro]

Morning All,
Firstly, there is no denying how disappointing we have been. From our non-commitment in defense to our fitness levels in attack. Potter should be hard-lined and send a message to the players that good performances will get you playing regularly but consistently under-performing is not tolerated at all. We need tough, enthusiastic and skilled players and should not settle for those that are just "good enough". I thought we had a great game against Melbourne and fully expected us to take that attitude into this week's game against the Dragons. Oh well, big shame, because mentally we were not up for the game.
Anyway here goes:

Moltzen is THE WORST fullback in the NRL. I honestly can't understand why the rest of the team has the added obligation of carrying this liability. He adds nothing in attack and his defense is embarrassing. Tedesco is far far better and has to replace him. And replace him Now. Moltzen to the bench as a utility is the best option IMO.

Lawrence - should be given a rollicking and an ultimatum. He has great potential but absolutely no form and is easily the most overrated and over-hyped player in our team. Why is he still an automatic selection? He has been at a below average standard for quite a while now and while his tackling has improved, he only barely warrants a spot in first grade. I liken him a bit to Collis - we had a lot of hope for him, but it was never realized.

Blair - there are no words to express the utter crap this guy puts out every week. He has actually become synonymous with a waste of money in today's culture, e.g. I paid good money for a bad purchase the other night and someone said that I got "Blair'd".

Woods, Farah, Tedesco, Koro, BMM, Pettybourne, Buchanan, Bell can all hold their heads high. Anasta is still finding his groove (had a good game against Melbourne) and Benji has been good without being spectacular. Benji is vital to the team but just has too much responsibility and this may continue if we don't develop a confident halfback. Miller coming back might be the tonic, but he needs to perform straight away because the jury is out. I said at the beginning of the year that we need patience with Miller but clearly this evaporates when times are tough. The rest of our players are average - or are playing average at the moment.

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

I must be the only one on here who enjoyed how we played yesterday. In two successive weeks I have supported a Wests team with a dominant forward pack. Have not had that experience since the 1990's. The side-to-side rubbish of the Sheens era is slowly but surely fading away.

Yes, we were a tad pedestrian in their 20m area, however if you can compete or dominate up the middle, you will always be a chance of winning. We just did not execute well in the final 10 minutes, losing your halfback does that to you. However, if we continue to play in this manner where we look to dominate through the middle third of the field, we have the best hooker in the competition to take full advantage.

There are a couple of positional issues as raised in the initial post, but the major issue is the left side defence. Tedesco is inexperienced on the wing and Lawrence is down on confidence. Potter can either persevere and allow Tedesco to gain experience or make the change. How long is a piece of string.

Regardless, the foundation is being set. We have a solid forward pack and we competed and eventually dominated a pack yesterday with several rep players. We just need to continue to dominate through the middle and eventually, the backs will sort themselves.

For years this forum complained how Sheens picked skinny backrowers to play in the front row and when we were being smashed through the middle and at the play-the-ball, we threw it out wide. Our game plan and structure is changing and I am loving it.

 

[pHyR3]

Dominant forward pack…?? We conceded almost 200m more metres than we gained. Our average is about that and its the worst in the NRL. Maybe with Galloway and Bodene we can hold our own but right now we seem to be just scraping by.

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

Dominant forward pack…?? We conceded almost 200m more metres than we gained. Our average is about that and its the worst in the NRL. Maybe with Galloway and Bodene we can hold our own but right now we seem to be just scraping by.

Looking at the total stats for the match, the difference between the two forward packs was about 100m. I would argue that difference occurred in the final 10 minutes of the match.

We are just not playing for 80 minutes. Just like the Storm match, we had the Dragons forwards on toast with about 15 minutes left and were making yards at will. Farah was ripping them to shreds. Unfortunately, Anasta succumbed to injury and we lacked composure (again) to finish them off.

 

[old_man_tiger]

I have to agree with Gary

I think our forwards are not the weakness they once were, we are doing better than I thought considering the loss of Ellis.

Looks like outside is our biggest problem. We spend long amounts of time camped on goal lines and our backs look impotent, they stand still way too much and usually stuff up their lines - hence a few tries pulled up for obstruction.

Cohesiveness in halves/fullback will come if the right 2 or 3 players are selected and stuck too. I would be willing to let the two incumbent centres stick around until the playmaking is sorted, although would understand if one of them is punted.

I'm very happy with Potter so far in 3 regards:
- selections
- defence in the middle third
- directness of attack in middle third

I'm concerned about A&D on edges, and if I had to drop a centre it would be Lawrence due to his continual lack of trust in inside men leading to an isolated winger.

 

[stevetiger]

I must be the only one on here who enjoyed how we played yesterday. In two successive weeks I have supported a Wests team with a dominant forward pack. Have not had that experience since the 1990's. The side-to-side rubbish of the Sheens era is slowly but surely fading away.

Yes, we were a tad pedestrian in their 20m area, however if you can compete or dominate up the middle, you will always be a chance of winning. We just did not execute well in the final 10 minutes, losing your halfback does that to you. However, if we continue to play in this manner where we look to dominate through the middle third of the field, we have the best hooker in the competition to take full advantage.

There are a couple of positional issues as raised in the initial post, but the major issue is the left side defence. Tedesco is inexperienced on the wing and Lawrence is down on confidence. Potter can either persevere and allow Tedesco to gain experience or make the change. How long is a piece of string.

Regardless, the foundation is being set. We have a solid forward pack and we competed and eventually dominated a pack yesterday with several rep players. We just need to continue to dominate through the middle and eventually, the backs will sort themselves.

For years this forum complained how Sheens picked skinny backrowers to play in the front row and when we were being smashed through the middle and at the play-the-ball, we threw it out wide. Our game plan and structure is changing and I am loving it.

I agree. I'm reasonably happy with the performances so far. We need to do better and we need some spark but I think we are heading in the right direction.