In the (cold) air of the next day..

[Tiger_heart]

I got the feeling that, even allowing for the Saints missing a few players, there was something different about how we played, eg Brooks had the best game I've seen for years; Luciano looked dangerous wit the ball; even Luke Garner hit the line straight and hard. However, and I put it to the better football brains in this forum, do you think that during the week there were things during training that were worked on, that were different on the field last night? Or is it just a case that we are on the week when we are "on" and next week we'll be back to "off"? I'd like to think that small changes were made, but then again, I live in (eternal) hope!

 

[Dallas]

I got the feeling that, even allowing for the Saints missing a few players, there was something different about how we played, eg Brooks had the best game I've seen for years; Luciano looked dangerous wit the ball; even Luke Garner hit the line straight and hard. However, and I put it to the better football brains in this forum, do you think that during the week there were things during training that were worked on, that were different on the field last night? Or is it just a case that we are on the week when we are "on" and next week we'll be back to "off"? I'd like to think that small changes were made, but then again, I live in (eternal) hope!

Cold next week to the baby panthers

 

[barra]

I'm not one of the better football brains here but even I could see that was one of our better performances in recent times.
For once, everyone seemed to do their job.
We played direct and hard for most of the game up the middle.
We defended with energy and organisation and EFFORT (lost some line speed later in the game and this allowed for a momentum shift IMO).
We actually did some smart things (still a few really dumb things though, our senior players should net be getting dragged over the sideline for instance).
Spine played really well together in attack.
Forwards had a real dig.
No wonder Madge finally cracked a smile after the game, let's hope he can next week.

 

[aturkey]

Our defence was pretty similar. We played a really bad, depleted Dragons team we know we can beat. It was so predictable that I wouldn't chalk it up to anything really 'changing' other than the fact we played the Dragons and not any other team. They've yet to surprise me with a win all year.

 

[Tiger5150]

Our defence was pretty similar. We played a really bad, depleted Dragons team we know we can beat. It was so predictable that I wouldn't chalk it up to anything really 'changing' other than the fact we played the Dragons and not any other team. They've yet to surprise me with a win all year.

IMO our defence was very different to all year. For the first time our defence was "up and in" with the outside racing up to shut down options rather than sliding flat. Looked great, just head scratching why its taken this long.

 

[cktiger]

Our defence was pretty similar. We played a really bad, depleted Dragons team we know we can beat. It was so predictable that I wouldn't chalk it up to anything really 'changing' other than the fact we played the Dragons and not any other team. They've yet to surprise me with a win all year.


IMO our defence was very different to all year. For the first time our defence was "up and in" with the outside racing up to shut down options rather than sliding flat. Looked great, just head scratching why its taken this long.

Our defence looked a lot better but, realistically, the Dragons were down on troops and pathetic.
Even then we let them score easy tries near the death that they didn't deserve.
Always enjoy a win but it needs to be looked at in perspective... hopefully we can keep it up against the stronger teams.

 

[TillLindemann]

do you think that during the week there were things during training that were worked on, that were different on the field last night?

The post-match player interviews suggested they had tried some pretty big defensive changes at training this week.

 

[cochise]

Our defence was pretty similar. We played a really bad, depleted Dragons team we know we can beat. It was so predictable that I wouldn't chalk it up to anything really 'changing' other than the fact we played the Dragons and not any other team. They've yet to surprise me with a win all year.


IMO our defence was very different to all year. For the first time our defence was "up and in" with the outside racing up to shut down options rather than sliding flat. Looked great, just head scratching why its taken this long.

Our defence looked a lot better but, realistically, the Dragons were down on troops and pathetic.
Even then we let them score easy tries near the death that they didn't deserve.
Always enjoy a win but it needs to be looked at in perspective... hopefully we can keep it up against the stronger teams.

We have been very passive in defence all year. Saints went in with a game plan of using a very flat attack to take advantage of that. We surprised them by being more aggressive in defence and they took too long to make adjustments to the game plan.

 

[tbones10]

The next few weeks are crucial, not just for the teams finals aspirations, but to see what they are made off, at present we have a bit of a "Flat Track Bully" thing going on. I hope I'm wrong

 

[Fraze23]

Don't be fooled, Saints are an average side and were missing a fair chunk of their top squad. Every other side in the comp with the exception of Brisbane and Canterbury would have put at least 30 on St. George tonight.

 

[rihannafan1]

St George were hopeless. But we certainly played with some structure and stuck to a plan eg. the bombs on 5th. I've only rewatched the first half but it was clear on replay that we were drilled in what we did. It's encouraging. It shows some unity and some belief in the coaching staff from the players.

 

[TillLindemann]

Don't be fooled, Saints are an average side and were missing a fair chunk of their top squad. Every other side in the comp with the exception of Brisbane and Canterbury would have put at least 30 on St. George tonight.

And yet they're still ahead of us on the ladder.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

I got the feeling that, even allowing for the Saints missing a few players, there was something different about how we played, eg Brooks had the best game I've seen for years; Luciano looked dangerous wit the ball; even Luke Garner hit the line straight and hard. However, and I put it to the better football brains in this forum, do you think that during the week there were things during training that were worked on, that were different on the field last night? Or is it just a case that we are on the week when we are "on" and next week we'll be back to "off"? I'd like to think that small changes were made, but then again, I live in (eternal) hope!

Garner hasn't looked back since he switched back to the left where he always had a good combination with Brooks.

 

[Moh]

In all honesty, nothing surprised me about our performance.

We have a capable team.

They just don't do it every week.

 

[Geo]

Don't be fooled, Saints are an average side and were missing a fair chunk of their top squad. Every other side in the comp with the exception of Brisbane and Canterbury would have put at least 30 on St. George tonight.

Same team week before less Sims got beaten by a point v Sharkies..

 

[Newtown]

Our defence was pretty similar. We played a really bad, depleted Dragons team we know we can beat. It was so predictable that I wouldn't chalk it up to anything really 'changing' other than the fact we played the Dragons and not any other team. They've yet to surprise me with a win all year.


IMO our defence was very different to all year. For the first time our defence was "up and in" with the outside racing up to shut down options rather than sliding flat. Looked great, just head scratching why its taken this long.

I think it is all about confidence. The big tests is whether the team can produce a similiar effort and I underline the word "Effort" against the higher ranked teams. An effort like the team provided against Souths earlier in the season would be pleasing.

 

[tig_prmz]

Two things:
1. let's back it up
2. forget about our opposition, focus on ourselves. We usually seem to play one notch above or below our opposition (With a sprinkle of really back 20 minute periods).

 

[Yossarian]

We looked good last night but let’s face facts, we’ve been two different teams for the entire season to date and the last two wins the other lot had major injury issues. Saints struggled to do much in attack.

On the upside the forwards looked good and Daine Laurie looks better every week.

 

[larry2005]

it would be nice to win two weeks in a row

 

[Needaname]

It’s funny such a perspective can be.
I saw the game at the ground and then saw the first half again on TV.
All year I’ve noticed how our third and forth man into the tackle (and thus not at marker for the next play) don’t push back into the correct side of the defensive line ie we’d put and extra number on the blind and leave the open one shorter or visa versa and thus this leaves our edges short, it was noticeably again on Friday night but what was promising was there was a lot more talk across the line, players were calling there inside man out and pushing their outside man out, the scramble was also really good it seems as though they were making an extra effort to get into the right position. Towards the back end of the game, it looked like the proactive approach to defence left the players due to the physical and mental fatigue so it looked a lot more like they were reacting on the run. As a result the defence in that last quarter was fairly poor.
We are still yet to move in one motion like the really strong defensive teams, but we are obviously improving and a heap of focus is going into this area.
On TV there appeared to be extra effort from our edge players to rush up and pressure the shift but viewing it on the ground our defence still looked out of sorts.
Comparatively the dragons were noticeably moving much better in defence across the line.
Ironically we made all the line breaks so a good effort against a pretty good defensive team.
Side note noticed Joe Offa defending behind the line a couple of times and pushing across and plugging holes like a second fullback.
Is that common for the lock to do?