watersider
Well-known member
While the Tigers were sloppy last night, there is no need to panic. The side struggled for possession and came up with some classic round 1 errors such as sloppy penalties, fatigue induced errors and a kick off out on the full. If this continues all season we won't win a game, but you have to expect that these areas will improve, or at least are improvable. I liked our shape in attack, our forwards made solid metres (particularly Galloway late in the sets) and we looked good in the first 20 minutes.
I am particularly surprised at the level of anger surrounding the performance of Moltzen, Lawrence and Anasta. Anasta looked to be a capable defender with a good ability to slow the play the ball down, and he runs intelligent lines which will cause problems. Moltzen has improved his support play and looked solid at the back. While Lawrence just simply didn't have a chance in attack and played alright in defense. In a side which had very little possession there was very little opportunity for any player to perform well. Why target these players?
The key issues the tigers need to address is their ability to slow the play the ball. This has always been the achilles heel of the tigers squad. I don't think that necessitates a total squad revamp, but their defensive structure needs work. Again, if you go back and watch the tackles Anasta made, very few of his tackles allowed quick play the balls. Murdoch-Masilla and Bell on the other hand struggled a bit in slowing the attacking momentum down.
The other concern is last tackle kicks. Marshall's kicking game was poor, but hopefully he is just rusty. Plus, Miller is a new halfback and it is always difficult incorporating a new half into a side.
Anyway, I just think that the forum has a tendency to call for everyone's head and write off the season a little too quickly and, in reality, the game was simply a classic example of bad luck, sloppy penalties and tired errors compounding to create a lopsided scoreline. Games like this happen and I'm waiting until round five before I start thinking about making changes. Changing a side based on one rusty performance only creates greater uncertainties. Be more patient and let the side that trained together all off-season develop in the regular season.
I am particularly surprised at the level of anger surrounding the performance of Moltzen, Lawrence and Anasta. Anasta looked to be a capable defender with a good ability to slow the play the ball down, and he runs intelligent lines which will cause problems. Moltzen has improved his support play and looked solid at the back. While Lawrence just simply didn't have a chance in attack and played alright in defense. In a side which had very little possession there was very little opportunity for any player to perform well. Why target these players?
The key issues the tigers need to address is their ability to slow the play the ball. This has always been the achilles heel of the tigers squad. I don't think that necessitates a total squad revamp, but their defensive structure needs work. Again, if you go back and watch the tackles Anasta made, very few of his tackles allowed quick play the balls. Murdoch-Masilla and Bell on the other hand struggled a bit in slowing the attacking momentum down.
The other concern is last tackle kicks. Marshall's kicking game was poor, but hopefully he is just rusty. Plus, Miller is a new halfback and it is always difficult incorporating a new half into a side.
Anyway, I just think that the forum has a tendency to call for everyone's head and write off the season a little too quickly and, in reality, the game was simply a classic example of bad luck, sloppy penalties and tired errors compounding to create a lopsided scoreline. Games like this happen and I'm waiting until round five before I start thinking about making changes. Changing a side based on one rusty performance only creates greater uncertainties. Be more patient and let the side that trained together all off-season develop in the regular season.
