Let me get this right…Moltzen, Groat, Heighington, Fulton, Farah, Ayshford, Blair, Ryan & Lawrence cop bagging the week we get thumped.
Benji, Moors, Woods & Humble are excused.
And the team gets 1000 times better once Ellis & Miller are brought in?
Yep, another typical week after a loss around here.
Tigers look rusty, while both the Dragons & Manly looked like they were up for it the weeks we played them. Some teams hit the ground running, some don't. This is not the first time we've seen the Tigers look like they can't compete with more aggressive teams. The Dragons were certainly more aggressive. For whatever reason though, the Tigers seem to be a 'slow burn' team that finds it's aggression as the season goes on. If they are playing like this in Round 10- we have a problem.
A combination of young forwards, injuries & new players into the squad has the team looking disjointed at this point. They always look better with Ellis on the field, and Galloway's direction appears to be missing right now.
Some of the critisism of Moltzen is very much "angry Tigers supporter" stuff- not really well thought out. Comparing him to guys like Wallace, Hornby etc is innacurate because VERY few teams have their #2 playmaker playing at Hooker the way the Tigers do. Moltzen is option #3\. The guys you want to compare him to are option #2- they obviously are more involved.
We are in a unique situation at the Tigers in that we have a Hooker that is as creative as most halfbacks in the NRL.
All that being said- you'll find the playmakers will look much better once the forwards at least match the opposition. If they are dominated, the Tigers flowing style of play becomes disjointed & our creative players essentially become targets as the opposition defense swarms to them.
