**Live game thread**

[jadtiger]

I think the jury is still out on Liddle. I'm not convinced he can step up, all along ive been concerned he was too "fragile' both in strength, also just being bounced around too much by bigger opponents and tackling problems. I hope I am wrong but I think for insurance I'd like to see WT have a third back up hooker to Farah- just in case.

I'd personally like to see a back up hooker to Liddle and Farah to retire.

Too slow and 80% of his passes go to Benji instead of Brooks even though he calls for the ball.

I am glad i am not the only one who can see this happening.Have been a supporter of Robbie for many years but he has 2 faults which just dont change(overplaying his hand and selectively passing to Benji).His primary target should be Luke

 

[larrycorowa]

I think the jury is still out on Liddle. I'm not convinced he can step up, all along ive been concerned he was too "fragile' both in strength, also just being bounced around too much by bigger opponents and tackling problems. I hope I am wrong but I think for insurance I'd like to see WT have a third back up hooker to Farah- just in case.

I'd personally like to see a back up hooker to Liddle and Farah to retire.

Too slow and 80% of his passes go to Benji instead of Brooks even though he calls for the ball.

Why does Farah go to second reciever? Does he think he is Darren Lockyer?

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

Notice a few weeks ago how Brooks had a handful of grubbers for the line and they were read like a book - last night the old master hugs the try line, slow as a snail on crutches but still gets a beaut kick in for brilliant Lawrence try. The difference is that Farah is smart and strong near the line diving over so they must crowd him - the closer they are the easier it is to part their legs with the ball. And Brooks may have diverted attention on the other side of the paddock.

 

[tigerap]

when we were up 22-8 i just felt they would come back…we just cant put teams away,,,,

 

[innsaneink]

Brooks cant even hold onto the ball…..guess he can be a backseat driver

He did win us the game when he took over at start of second half

I thought Farah re-ignited us with his grubber - and when he went off our defence weakened. His lack of speed strongly points to retirement but he still gets the job done one way or another.

His dummy half kick for lawrence try was very smart as tom had chased brooks on the other side of the field.

So Brooks Farah and Rowdy all. Played their parts…. Not individuals as some would have us believe... Team sport

 

[innsaneink]

Brooks cant even hold onto the ball…..guess he can be a backseat driver

He did win us the game when he took over at start of second half

I thought Farah re-ignited us with his grubber - and when he went off our defence weakened. His lack of speed strongly points to retirement but he still gets the job done one way or another.

His dummy half kick for lawrence try was very smart as tom had chased brooks on the other side of the field.

So Brooks Farah and Rowdy all. Played their parts…. Not individuals as some would have us believe... Team sport

 

[Russell]

Not me.

Nor me.

deservers more time, perhaps whole 2nd half

I love his good work but am afraid he will leak too many easy tries. At least M Moses was fooled when he looked like an idiot and let tries get scored near him unimpeded. I don't know the game sufficiently to know if LIddle had an excuse for being on light duties and let that try in - the guy next to him was certainly awake. We heard how Jacob has created records with 70 tackles a game??? I got concussion getting run over stopping tries by big guys and that was for no pay. give Jacob a pair of sunglasses and a banana chair on the sideline.

I'd give Liddle the sunglasses and banana chair but Farah already has a mortgage on them for next year.

When he made that break in the first few minutes it took me awhile to realise he wasn't running backwards.

 

[Juro]

How many times have we beaten Manly twice in a season?

2018\. That is all.

 

[jirskyr]

Just sick of this. Every damn game is an arm wrestle or a heavy loss. We're going to be nothing unless this stops.

Over-reaction.

Comp is close, we need to expect to be in constant arm-wrestles and win them. Only 3 "heavy" losses (>=18 points) all year which is better than ever. In fact our worst losses this year (in order) are by 36, 22, 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2.

Look at Cronulla this year by comparison - 14 wins, 8 losses; 2 defeats >=18 points. Defeats margins: 20, 18, 8, 6, 4, 4, 2, 1.

We are actually superior to Cronulla in close matches - we've won 5/9 decided by 2 points or less (as you noted earlier) vs 2/4 for Cronulla, and 7/11 games decided by 4 points or less vs 6/10 for Cronulla.

It's not the arm-wrestles or heavy losses that are our problem, it's the middle-road games where we lose by a modest margin. I.e. games we aren't beaten heavily but arguably beaten comfortably.

Despite our good defensive record - 3rd-best in the comp and lowest in our history, our average losing margin in 2018 is 11.64 points. For Sharks, even though they are slightly worse than us in overall defence, their average losing margin is 7.88 points. In other words, we defend better than Sharks on average, but they score more points and get closer to their opponents even if they lose. They put themselves closer in more matches, even though they are not as good as Tigers at winning the really really tight matches.

So we have too many games where lost by 8-18 points, not just a few bigger losses. You are to expect the odd big loss and ~50% wins in close losses in a season. But we don't score enough points. We have too many matches where we defend ok but fall some 8-18 points short in attack, and that's the difference this year between teams like us and the Sharks.

Forget the close losses to Newcastle, Eels, Brisbane - Cronulla did the same against Brisbane, Manly; beat Parra by 2 points and Titans by 1 pt. We are as good as Sharks against the best sides in the comp.

No, I believe the games that hurt us this year were the middle-road matches, where we couldn't sustain our intensity to keep the game close - 14 point loss to Panthers, 18 pt loss to Titans, 22 pt loss to Warriors, 12 pt loss to Dogs, 10 pt loss to St George, 8 pt loss to Sharks.

 

[Yossarian]

Just sick of this. Every damn game is an arm wrestle or a heavy loss. We're going to be nothing unless this stops.

Over-reaction.

Comp is close, we need to expect to be in constant arm-wrestles and win them. Only 3 "heavy" losses (>=18 points) all year which is better than ever. In fact our worst losses this year (in order) are by 36, 22, 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2.

Look at Cronulla this year by comparison - 14 wins, 8 losses; 2 defeats >=18 points. Defeats margins: 20, 18, 8, 6, 4, 4, 2, 1.

We are actually superior to Cronulla in close matches - we've won 5/9 decided by 2 points or less (as you noted earlier) vs 2/4 for Cronulla, and 7/11 games decided by 4 points or less vs 6/10 for Cronulla.

It's not the arm-wrestles or heavy losses that are our problem, it's the middle-road games where we lose by a modest margin. I.e. games we aren't beaten heavily but arguably beaten comfortably.

Despite our good defensive record - 3rd-best in the comp and lowest in our history, our average losing margin in 2018 is 11.64 points. For Sharks, even though they are slightly worse than us in overall defence, their average losing margin is 7.88 points. In other words, we defend better than Sharks on average, but they score more points and get closer to their opponents even if they lose. They put themselves closer in more matches, even though they are not as good as Tigers at winning the really really tight matches.

So we have too many games where lost by 8-18 points, not just a few bigger losses. You are to expect the odd big loss and ~50% wins in close losses in a season. But we don't score enough points. We have too many matches where we defend ok but fall some 8-18 points short in attack, and that's the difference this year between teams like us and the Sharks.

Forget the close losses to Newcastle, Eels, Brisbane - Cronulla did the same against Brisbane, Manly; beat Parra by 2 points and Titans by 1 pt. We are as good as Sharks against the best sides in the comp.

No, I believe the games that hurt us this year were the middle-road matches, where we couldn't sustain our intensity to keep the game close - 14 point loss to Panthers, 18 pt loss to Titans, 22 pt loss to Warriors, 12 pt loss to Dogs, 10 pt loss to St George, 8 pt loss to Sharks.

It's both though. I don't think it's an overreaction at all. I don't mind winning by 2 points in a close contest like say Melbourne or Roosters. But we've established decent leads on a few occasions in the second half and given them up. They're the opportunities to even up the losses you mention. We're going to lose games by the margins you discussed. You play badly you expect to leak points. Most of the teams you refer to are in the top 8\. Penrith and St George have been in or around the top 4 all year. Losing those games by 10 points or so isn't unexpected. But leading Newcastle, Manly etc by double figure margins and then falling in isn't acceptable as a regular occurence and that's why our for and against is always terrible.

 

[jirskyr]

It's both though. I don't think it's an overreaction at all. I don't mind winning by 2 points in a close contest like say Melbourne or Roosters. But we've established decent leads on a few occasions in the second half and given them up. They're the opportunities to even up the losses you mention. **We're going to lose games by the margins you discussed**. You play badly you expect to leak points. Most of the teams you refer to are in the top 8\. Penrith and St George have been in or around the top 4 all year. Losing those games by 10 points or so isn't unexpected. But leading Newcastle, Manly etc by double figure margins and then falling in isn't acceptable as a regular occurence and that's why our for and against is always terrible.

The part in bold above - expecting losses in the margin of 8+ points, with some regularity, is exactly the problem as I see it. Yes if you play badly you will leak points, but we are talking about the difference between teams just above and just below the 8th position. Teams that play badly and leak points with any regularity aren't in that conversation.

We should not expect to lose by margins of ~10 points to teams around the Top 4\. We should expect to be closer than that, more like 6 points. That's how you play finals football, being consistently close to good sides. If you beat all the bottom teams and lose easily to the top teams, then you aren't going to make much of a dent in the finals either.

As I noted earlier, Sharks average loss in 2018 is 7.8 points, ours is 11.7 points - might not seem like much, but that is what has given them 14/22 wins vs 12/23 wins for us. Sharks are no better at handling heavy losses or very close arm-wrestles than us (in fact worse in close games 0-4 points) - but they stay in touch with more opponents.

I believe a few big losses is inevitable - every team in the Top 8 has at least 1-2 heavy losses, because there are some games that get away from you.

Winning half your close games is also reasonable - it's what most good sides do. In fact Tigers have done it better than 50%, so I wish all matches in 2018 were close arm-wrestles, because we end up ~60% wins.

I'm also not overly concerned with "giving up leads". Thinking a game should be won simply because you are 10-12 points ahead after 50 minutes ("and should go on with it" as they say) is like thinking you are playing finals footy because you are 5th at Round 16\. Games go for 80 mins, they ebb and flow over 80 mins, and a snapshot at some 50% or 75% mark isn't necessarily a true indicator of the match.

I don't think I've ever seen a Tigers team with such resolve to win close games, even if some of those close games were not as close with 20 mins to go. We don't capitulate matches so often - Parra and Newcastle yes, but the losses against Roosters and Broncos were close because we fought back late.

Our F/A is inferior because we don't score enough points in total, not because we give up leads. The defence is good, in fact it's way better than good - 3rd in the comp for Tigers is unheralded, and least ever points per game in our history.

 

[gallagher]

Just sick of this. Every damn game is an arm wrestle or a heavy loss. We're going to be nothing unless this stops.

Over-reaction.

Comp is close, we need to expect to be in constant arm-wrestles and win them. Only 3 "heavy" losses (>=18 points) all year which is better than ever. In fact our worst losses this year (in order) are by 36, 22, 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2.

Look at Cronulla this year by comparison - 14 wins, 8 losses; 2 defeats >=18 points. Defeats margins: 20, 18, 8, 6, 4, 4, 2, 1.

We are actually superior to Cronulla in close matches - we've won 5/9 decided by 2 points or less (as you noted earlier) vs 2/4 for Cronulla, and 7/11 games decided by 4 points or less vs 6/10 for Cronulla.

It's not the arm-wrestles or heavy losses that are our problem, it's the middle-road games where we lose by a modest margin. I.e. games we aren't beaten heavily but arguably beaten comfortably.

Despite our good defensive record - 3rd-best in the comp and lowest in our history, our average losing margin in 2018 is 11.64 points. For Sharks, even though they are slightly worse than us in overall defence, their average losing margin is 7.88 points. In other words, we defend better than Sharks on average, but they score more points and get closer to their opponents even if they lose. They put themselves closer in more matches, even though they are not as good as Tigers at winning the really really tight matches.

So we have too many games where lost by 8-18 points, not just a few bigger losses. You are to expect the odd big loss and ~50% wins in close losses in a season. But we don't score enough points. We have too many matches where we defend ok but fall some 8-18 points short in attack, and that's the difference this year between teams like us and the Sharks.

Forget the close losses to Newcastle, Eels, Brisbane - Cronulla did the same against Brisbane, Manly; beat Parra by 2 points and Titans by 1 pt. We are as good as Sharks against the best sides in the comp.

No, I believe the games that hurt us this year were the middle-road matches, where we couldn't sustain our intensity to keep the game close - 14 point loss to Panthers, 18 pt loss to Titans, 22 pt loss to Warriors, 12 pt loss to Dogs, 10 pt loss to St George, 8 pt loss to Sharks.

It's both though. I don't think it's an overreaction at all. I don't mind winning by 2 points in a close contest like say Melbourne or Roosters. But we've established decent leads on a few occasions in the second half and given them up. They're the opportunities to even up the losses you mention. We're going to lose games by the margins you discussed. You play badly you expect to leak points. Most of the teams you refer to are in the top 8\. Penrith and St George have been in or around the top 4 all year. Losing those games by 10 points or so isn't unexpected. But leading Newcastle, Manly etc by double figure margins and then falling in isn't acceptable as a regular occurence and that's why our for and against is always terrible.

Great post Yoss. This has never been improved.

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

Nor me.

deservers more time, perhaps whole 2nd half

I love his good work but am afraid he will leak too many easy tries. At least M Moses was fooled when he looked like an idiot and let tries get scored near him unimpeded. I don't know the game sufficiently to know if LIddle had an excuse for being on light duties and let that try in - the guy next to him was certainly awake. We heard how Jacob has created records with 70 tackles a game??? I got concussion getting run over stopping tries by big guys and that was for no pay. give Jacob a pair of sunglasses and a banana chair on the sideline.

I'd give Liddle the sunglasses and banana chair but Farah already has a mortgage on them for next year.

When he made that break in the first few minutes it took me awhile to realise he wasn't running backwards.

that's deliberate because in Titans game he went so fast there was no receiver when he played the ball - it could have hatched balut.

(Balut is a developing bird embryo (usually a duck) that is boiled and eaten from the shell. It originated from and is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines.)

 

[851]

Just sick of this. Every damn game is an arm wrestle or a heavy loss. We're going to be nothing unless this stops.

Over-reaction.

Comp is close, we need to expect to be in constant arm-wrestles and win them. Only 3 "heavy" losses (>=18 points) all year which is better than ever. In fact our worst losses this year (in order) are by 36, 22, 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2.

Look at Cronulla this year by comparison - 14 wins, 8 losses; 2 defeats >=18 points. Defeats margins: 20, 18, 8, 6, 4, 4, 2, 1.

We are actually superior to Cronulla in close matches - we've won 5/9 decided by 2 points or less (as you noted earlier) vs 2/4 for Cronulla, and 7/11 games decided by 4 points or less vs 6/10 for Cronulla.

It's not the arm-wrestles or heavy losses that are our problem, it's the middle-road games where we lose by a modest margin. I.e. games we aren't beaten heavily but arguably beaten comfortably.

Despite our good defensive record - 3rd-best in the comp and lowest in our history, our average losing margin in 2018 is 11.64 points. For Sharks, even though they are slightly worse than us in overall defence, their average losing margin is 7.88 points. In other words, we defend better than Sharks on average, but they score more points and get closer to their opponents even if they lose. They put themselves closer in more matches, even though they are not as good as Tigers at winning the really really tight matches.

So we have too many games where lost by 8-18 points, not just a few bigger losses. You are to expect the odd big loss and ~50% wins in close losses in a season. But we don't score enough points. We have too many matches where we defend ok but fall some 8-18 points short in attack, and that's the difference this year between teams like us and the Sharks.

Forget the close losses to Newcastle, Eels, Brisbane - Cronulla did the same against Brisbane, Manly; beat Parra by 2 points and Titans by 1 pt. We are as good as Sharks against the best sides in the comp.

No, I believe the games that hurt us this year were the middle-road matches, where we couldn't sustain our intensity to keep the game close - 14 point loss to Panthers, 18 pt loss to Titans, 22 pt loss to Warriors, 12 pt loss to Dogs, 10 pt loss to St George, 8 pt loss to Sharks.

It's both though. I don't think it's an overreaction at all. I don't mind winning by 2 points in a close contest like say Melbourne or Roosters. But we've established decent leads on a few occasions in the second half and given them up. They're the opportunities to even up the losses you mention. We're going to lose games by the margins you discussed. You play badly you expect to leak points. Most of the teams you refer to are in the top 8\. Penrith and St George have been in or around the top 4 all year. Losing those games by 10 points or so isn't unexpected. But leading Newcastle, Manly etc by double figure margins and then falling in isn't acceptable as a regular occurence and that's why our for and against is always terrible.

That is it in a nutshell Yoss, we get a decent lead, then we somehow manage to not only kick on and win well, we for the most part end up losing the game, or on the odd occasion hang on for a narrow win.
I have been saying this all year, we have no game managers in our spine, until we get one it will keep happening, that alone was why I was hoping for Cleary junior, now it looks like I will have to hang my hat on Reynolds being this guy.

 

[weststigers]

I believe that we give up big leads because we don’t have a game plan to suit.

For instance, if you look at our games this year, the ones where we’ve copped plenty of points are the ones where the opposing team plays an up tempo game out of dummy half.

We tend to hit the lead and try to “manage the game” by slowing everything down. All we end up doing is making no yardage and absorbing heaps of pressure from a team that’s woken up in the game.

We need to increase the intensity when we hit the front to fight off any chance of a comeback.

 

[happy_tiger]

Question all , taped the game on the IQ 3 last night

Watched it when I got home from work and it was glitchy as all hell

Was it the same during the live game ??

 

[Byron_Bay_Fan]

Question all , taped the game on the IQ 3 last night

Watched it when I got home from work and it was glitchy as all hell

Was it the same during the live game ??

I have found that common on Ch 9 whether at home or at club. I thought was due to wind on antennas but may be mistaken

 

[wonka]

Question all , taped the game on the IQ 3 last night

Watched it when I got home from work and it was glitchy as all hell

Was it the same during the live game ??

I have found that common on Ch 9 whether at home or at club. I thought was due to wind on antennas but may be mistaken

Crystal clear in Sydney

 

[happy_tiger]

Question all , taped the game on the IQ 3 last night

Watched it when I got home from work and it was glitchy as all hell

Was it the same during the live game ??

I have found that common on Ch 9 whether at home or at club. I thought was due to wind on antennas but may be mistaken

Watched it on Fox BBF

 

[hobbo]

Question all , taped the game on the IQ 3 last night

Watched it when I got home from work and it was glitchy as all hell

Was it the same during the live game ??

Yes it was glitchy !
Pixelating….
I thought it was because I hadn’t paid my bill :laughing: