LIVE GAME Live Game Discussion, vs Titans - Rd 1 *Spoilers*

Live Game Discussion
A few changes are required:
- Stains to the right wing, Nofoaluma out
It looks like Maumalo and Talau will be out for some time; in the meantime :
- Kepaoa to the left wing;
- To'a/Feledy to the right centre.

If Blore is out
- Bateman/Matamua -> 11
- Twal out

Laurie
Kepoa
Naden
Feledy/To'a
Stains
Doueihi
Brooks
Utoikamanu
Kurosau
Klemmer
Papalii
Blore
Ofahenagaue

Pole
Matamua/Bateman
Fainu
Smpkin
Curious why you want Nofo out ?
I agree but interested to know if I'm seeing the same things.
 
Yeah I know it’s tough ….. we all of the sudden have this great new side, our forward line is like no other our halves and back line should therefore be firing on all cilinders.
So what happend?

Expectations are always hard to manage and disappointed fans have their usual scapegoats.

Simple fact is that Titans were always going to be a very tough assignment for us …. they always are.
Why? …. because they have more speed, energy and talent in that side then us and “they have our number”.

Our squad played most of that game like they first met each other for the first time …. and guess what …. under actual playing conditions … they did.

What people need to do is is take a deep breath and try and understand that when you have high level of turnover in an organisation and at some time your management strategy takes a radical turn then you can not expect immediate improvement and often you’re just on trial and error fixing path.

We currently have a good core of players who will grow into their roles and with some astute further recruitment this side will move forward so but for goodness sake give the club and players support to achieve what we are all after.
Some good points, and I mostly agree. We definitely need to give this new team composition some time. But at the same time, I think fans would just be hesitant to trust that ‘this is the team’ that we put all of our faith in when the club has proven time and again that there are good reasons we shouldn’t be doing so.

And this hesitation is compounded when you see teams like the Dolphins - every excuse to put in a performance that wasn’t quite up to scratch, but instead they bond instantly and convincingly win against one of the toughest teams in the comp.

Having said that, I do like our recruitment for this season, and the team is looking better than it has in a while with the quality of players available. We can only hope we improve from here. And looking forward to the day where we can shove teams like the Titans back into their mediocre boxes.
 
Our defense and physicality was good. People criticising the forwards, including API and papalii, are off. There were patches when it was really good and we even forced turnovers, something we haven't managed for a long time. If we maintain that physicality, we should win games. Titans have a good forward pack and I thought we were better than them.

We lost because our execution in attack was terrible. The team oozes nervousness, brooks seems to be in two minds even before he gets the ball and there was some terrible line running and confusion out wide.

I'm hopeful that these areas can be improved, I'm not convinced Brooks will be the one to bring about this improvement.
 
Some good points, and I mostly agree. We definitely need to give this new team composition some time. But at the same time, I think fans would just be hesitant to trust that ‘this is the team’ that we put all of our faith in when the club has proven time and again that there are good reasons we shouldn’t be doing so.

And this hesitation is compounded when you see teams like the Dolphins - every excuse to put in a performance that wasn’t quite up to scratch, but instead they bond instantly and convincingly win against one of the toughest teams in the comp.

Having said that, I do like our recruitment for this season, and the team is looking better than it has in a while with the quality of players available. We can only hope we improve from here. And looking forward to the day where we can shove teams like the Titans back into their mediocre boxes.
Recruitment was spot on. Up to coaching now
 
It's not the cattle.

It's the culture. Other clubs simply would not tolerate such failures. We know this as this happens no matter how much we change cattle. This even shifts blame from Brooks, even though it's the culture that tolerates him.
100%, this is sort of performance that the owners think is ok.
 
Had enough ball and field position to win that game easily. Looks just like last year against the Titans - all the field position and couldn't score. They on the other hand made their opportunities count. Nothing will change with this team until they have someone to trust when in an attacking position who can execute what ever they do in training, when it matters in the game.
 
Naden is a tough one...he is our best center by a mile.

But he has been massively error prone his whole career.

Five errors today.

Problem is he will give you those 5 again next week...and most weeks...

It is why other clubs released him.

Problem is he is our best center...so, we are stuck.
NRL stats say he had 1 error today
 
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NRL stats say he had 1 error today
He dropped a ball and had a forward pass, so there is two.

tackled at just above 50%

Regardless...the point is, this is who he is.

hectic, out of control...panthers won 17 straight and still dropped him as most of their errors were linked to him.

Not knocking him...my point is 'he' is our best center, by far.

I.e. why have we not recruited quality centers forever...
 
interesting game. had the bulk of possession and field position and looked considerably flustered and frantic. Brooks and Koroisau clearly need more miles in the legs and Sheens obviously thinks as much given that Koroisau played 50 odd minutes and Brooks did zero long kicking.

as expected, the middles were brilliant. we played flat and fast up on the ad line and that’s the template for the season. i was always wary that the passes wouldn’t stick early in the season and combos would be off, but some of the dropped ball was horrendous. i thought our ability to build pressure was excellent, but far too often we undid our good work through stupid unforced errors. defensively we were fine aside from the Brimson try, that was unforgivable.

this was never going to turn overnight. boys will be better after this one and hopefully the combinations and shapes continue to improve. confident Brooks and Koroisau will fare better after the first hitout. next week will be an intriguing watch.
 

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