Grinding out a win

[stevetiger]

Like you Im not convinced it was necessary but I must say Moses and (to a lesser extent) Brooks look far more complete footballers than 12 months ago.

Honestly I think it was so dumb it isn't funny and one of the reasons we are winning more games is because that style of play has disappeared. I think that if anything that style of play halted these guys learning process.

I do give JT credit though for dropping that style of footy.

It hasn't stopped. Thats what your missing. We now revert to it depending upon how the game is flowing. We no longer rely on momentum and trick shots to win us games.

I never thought we relied on trick shots. I think playing attacking footy is a skill.

 

[southerntiger]

Like you Im not convinced it was necessary but I must say Moses and (to a lesser extent) Brooks look far more complete footballers than 12 months ago.

Honestly I think it was so dumb it isn't funny and one of the reasons we are winning more games is because that style of play has disappeared. I think that if anything that style of play halted these guys learning process.

I do give JT credit though for dropping that style of footy.

It hasn't stopped. Thats what your missing. We now revert to it depending upon how the game is flowing. We no longer rely on momentum and trick shots to win us games.

I never thought we relied on trick shots. I think playing attacking footy is a skill.

We definitely did and when they didnt work, our game fell apart.

 

[TYGA]

I don't agree. I thought we were to tentative and allowed Parramatta to stay in the game. We were playing against an Eels outfit with Foran, Norman, Radradra, Ma'u, Scott, Jennings, Peats and Paulo out of the lineup. This is following up from beating a dreadful STGI. Our form has dropped off from beating the Panthers & Rabbits a month or so ago and we need to sort out the hooker. But a win is a win.

Farah's days are gone but if he goes down injured surely Lidlle or Cherro can play hooker.
Halatau is good for about 25 minutes.

 

[innsaneink]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

Like developing players, it was and is all about developing a team and an attitude, in its beginnings it's not pretty….. But the attitude and maturity in our young players has grown immensely. It's so much more than results, it's an on field culture.

 

[gallagher]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

Like developing players, it was and is all about developing a team and an attitude, in its beginnings it's not pretty….. But the attitude and maturity in our young players has grown immensely. It's so much more than results, it's an on field culture.

Good posts guys. Our trouble as a club has been that it always had to be about immediate results.
It seems we're finally planning.

 

[Nelson]

I don't agree. I thought we were to tentative and allowed Parramatta to stay in the game. We were playing against an Eels outfit with Foran, Norman, Radradra, Ma'u, Scott, Jennings, Peats and Paulo out of the lineup. This is following up from beating a dreadful STGI. Our form has dropped off from beating the Panthers & Rabbits a month or so ago and we need to sort out the hooker. But a win is a win.

Farah's days are gone but if he goes down injured surely Lidlle or Cherro can play hooker.
Halatau is good for about 25 minutes.

That dreadful St George team just turned around and gave the Bulldogs a massive scare. The Knights have given both the Storm and Raiders huge scares over the last month. No win is easy in this competition. It probably doesn't hurt them to be pushed in these games, it might stop them getting ahead of themselves.

 

[southerntiger]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

Like developing players, it was and is all about developing a team and an attitude, in its beginnings it's not pretty….. But the attitude and maturity in our young players has grown immensely. It's so much more than results, it's an on field culture.

Yep. This is how I see it and why I have constantly said that the next coach will benefit from Taylor's efforts over the past 2 years.

 

[newtiger]

I still can't see why the Tigers had those 2 penalty kick when Parra were out on their feet.

 

[southerntiger]

I still can't see why the Tigers had those 2 penalty kick when Parra were out on their feet.

I would have gone for the try on both of them. But I suspect that also if we had gone for them and not come up trumps it may have had a negative impact for us.

 

[rialto]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

Like developing players, it was and is all about developing a team and an attitude, in its beginnings it's not pretty….. But the attitude and maturity in our young players has grown immensely. It's so much more than results, it's an on field culture.

Good posts guys. Our trouble as a club has been that it always had to be about immediate results.
It seems we're finally planning.

X10\. "It's so much more than results, it's an ON FIELD CULTURE "

 

[Tiger_Tim]

Just back from the game and had a look at NRL.COM's report of the game. They mentioned the defensive resolve of the Tigers. Yes, the Tigers only let 1 try in but we were playing a side without Michael Jennings, Semi Radradra, Corey Norman, Kieran Foran, Nathan Peats, Junior Paulo, Manu Ma'u and Beau Scott. Last week we played the Dragons who have trouble scoring so until we come up against a team with any form of attack i think we need wait to judge if our defence has improved.

My observation of the game was that Lovett needs to go, we need a fulltime hooker as when Rankin was in dummy half there was an overlap and the ball went to his wing where Lovett was standing like a shag on a rock and i was really impressed with Aloiai both in attack and defence. I can see him being a star for us next year with a good off season under his belt.

All in all, a win is a win so its a good night.

 

[VonMiller58]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

Like developing players, it was and is all about developing a team and an attitude, in its beginnings it's not pretty….. But the attitude and maturity in our young players has grown immensely. It's so much more than results, it's an on field culture.

Good posts guys. Our trouble as a club has been that it always had to be about immediate results.
It seems we're finally planning.

X10\. "It's so much more than results, it's an ON FIELD CULTURE "

X1000.Its so obvious to see our youngsters are really growing into leaders.

 

[Needaname]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

Like developing players, it was and is all about developing a team and an attitude, in its beginnings it's not pretty….. But the attitude and maturity in our young players has grown immensely. It's so much more than results, it's an on field culture.

Good posts guys. Our trouble as a club has been that it always had to be about immediate results.
It seems we're finally planning.

Well summarized,
No point convincing Steve, he just doesn't comprehend the intricacies of rugby league.
Taylorball was 1 step back to move 2 steps forward, the whole team is benefiting from being coached about the importance of control of possession and when and where to use the football. In lasts years case, ball movement was only allowed in the other teams half. The focus was moving the ball up the field as quickly as possible until we were in a position acceptable to attack from. Most of the time this was on the back of penalties or forcing errors from the other team in their half.
The team was also coached on working for one another in defence, keeping a solid line creating a defenceive wall, more importantly to shooting out of the line and understanding how when one player makes an error it impacts the whole team.
When we played 'attacking footy' as you so articulatley put it Steve last year, it most of the time led to turn overs and resulted in a tries against the run of play because the team wasnt prepared to scamble and defend the chance a play didn't come off.
They came into grade with the mindset of scoring on every play.

 

[stevied]

I thought it was a very good win in terms of, once again, getting in the grind and coming out on top. Parramatta are very disciplined and they came out to play. We didn't win pretty but, to a large extent, the Eels didn't let us.
Regarding so called 'Taylorball', I think JT went over the top with his conservatism last year because a totally impotent attack leads to a lot of tackling and the inevitable leaking of points. His intention to temper Brooks and Moses' impetuosity was correct but his game plans were far too simple and had the effect of holding back their attacking development. Right now he seems to have the correct balance because the teams' ball control has improved immeasurably.

 

[newtiger]

I loved the players reaction when Jessie Sue scored his try, just showed how much he is liked and respected by his teammates.

 

[pHyR3]

Yes Taylorball was dumb from the perspective of winning each game. I saw it as lessons in game control for young halves, and I stated that at the time. From my perspective, those lessons are now paying off. Call it a mistake if you choose. I don't think so.

yeah 100% agreed

it was about putting structures in place for us to fall back to when things get tough

exactly what happened last night, because parra were prepared to play bloody tough.

but everytime i say that, several anti taylor posters say im an idiot - good to see someone is sane

 

[ricksen]

A few things -
* the eels drag teams into a slog/grind. They may be undermanned but they're a very tough and brittle unit, and are no pushovers.
* we were basically playing with no half for 60 odd mins after Brooks went down, and a good portion of that time with no hooker, with Halatau off the field.
* the attitude of the squad is unreal and the best it's been in recent memory. The #winasone stuff is clearly a lot more than empty rhetoric.
* we need a proper hooker in the team moving forward. Even if it's Cherrington off the bench, we need someone there to split time with Halatau. Rankin's service was consistently terrible, and it puts the entire attack out of whack with the changes around the left hand side.
* we've left a lot of points on the table in recent weeks, I doubt we'll be able to do that and win over the next month.

 

[beachtiger]

I've got 2 things to say about our win this week…

1\. I've been a Tigers fan for nearly 30 years and I get quite sad that even after a win we come on "our" forum and instead of celebrating a win so many fans still want to bag our club, we are equal 8th, I know I would have taken that at the start of the year! And before people start talking about accepting mediocrity let's put our past couple of seasons into perspective, we are in a good position and will only get better in the coming years.

2\. People are talking about an Eels team missing Foran, Jennings etc and that we shouldn't get carried away beating them under strength, last time I heard they lost most of their points due to rorting the cap!! At full strength they are an illegitimate team in our competition so in actual fact we probably only beat a team on the same level as us, let's just enjoy the win.

 

[Nelson]

I've got 2 things to say about our win this week…

1\. I've been a Tigers fan for nearly 30 years and I get quite sad that even after a win we come on "our" forum and instead of celebrating a win so many fans still want to bag our club, we are equal 8th, I know I would have taken that at the start of the year! And before people start talking about accepting mediocrity let's put our past couple of seasons into perspective, we are in a good position and will only get better in the coming years.

2\. People are talking about an Eels team missing Foran, Jennings etc and that we shouldn't get carried away beating them under strength, last time I heard they lost most of their points due to rorting the cap!! At full strength they are an illegitimate team in our competition so in actual fact we probably only beat a team on the same level as us, let's just enjoy the win.

Yeah you're right, there should be more positivity after any win because few have come easily in recent years. I think it's great that I actually expected us to win the last two games rather than just thinking that we should win them on paper.

The Parra team was severely depleted though - Foran, Norman, Semi, Jennings, Peats, Beau Scott, Manu Ma'u and Junior Paulo all gone/out…plus Ryan Morgan...Still 17 blokes took to the field looking to beat us and we took the points. Gotta be happy with that.

 

[jirskyr]

It was a 23-8 win over an NRL side. I will be happy with that any week of any year, I don't care who the opposition is.

Sure we have plenty of room for improvement, but whilst not being a great display of dynamic football, it was a fairly smart and low-error game.

I find it amazing how a significant number of people are unimpressed with the manner of the win, as if you have to blow away undermanned sides for a win to be a good one.

Having seen WT lose to teams like Baby Broncos and Newcastle several times, I am totally happy that we never really looked that troubled against Parra - that makes two weeks in a row where despite not playing great we were fairly dominant over 80.