Nofo Must Do His Time
- Thread starter stevied
- Start date
stevied
Well-known member
Hopefully his ISP form translates to NRL….
king_sirro
Well-known member
Nofo has completely outplayed Fonua in every ISP game. Fonua has a long way to go. Lolo would be a better wing option.
happy_tiger
Well-known member
@ said:
Lolo too slo slo for the wing
WestsBenTigers
New member
1\. Thompson
2\. Naiqama
3\. Marsters
4\. Lolohea/MCK
5\. Fonua
2\. Naiqama
3\. Marsters
4\. Lolohea/MCK
5\. Fonua
tig_prmz
Well-known member
the space is created on the inside and noffa's issue is he is very stationary in defnese, in all tries you'll just see him strolling until he absolutely has to move, he's always chasing and never puts himself in the position to defend if his winger gets the ball.
however,
sio's tries:
1st try: benji's fault
2nd and 3rd try: not much noffa could've done but he needs to position himself better
however,
sio's tries:
1st try: benji's fault
2nd and 3rd try: not much noffa could've done but he needs to position himself better
jirskyr
Well-known member
Tough one. Certainly the RHS made some defensive errors tonight as a team, and Nofo was on the receiving end with his man crossing 3 times.
I would say, regardless of decision making, if a guy like Ken Sio scores 3 tries on you, you've had a bad night.
Thing about Nofo, he's the common thread in a tendency to have poor RHS matches. Knights clearly targeted our RHS, even in their last set, they went to their left over and over, then Buhrer's kick to their right shows our left edge has been dragged right in by the previous tackles.
So for how long as the RHS been a major defensive issue of ours? Quite some time. Has it been a consistent problem this year? No. But Marsters only debuted last year and Benji hasn't been here for some seasons; the previous RHS centres were Simona, Frozone and Idris. Moses obviously causing drama on that side for several years as well.
But a common denominator is certainly Nofo.
It's not just that he follows his centre in, because most wingers do, but he has little to no ability to recover when his side is stretched. The other week he managed to push someone into touch in a good effort, but very often he's left scrambling madly because it's not only about making the best decision where to be, but how you react once it's clear you are in a bad position.
Sio's 3rd try, Nofo knows he's beaten by the cutout pass, but rather than turn to face Sio and try and drive him into the corner, he puts his head down and puffs his cheeks and tries to get back to the sideline. By this stage Sio has stepped back inside and now beaten Nofo on his inside shoulder.
In other words, Sio's last try involved getting the ball on the outside of Nofo, then stepping back inside him to stroll over. Not good, even if the lead up involved defensive mistakes from other players.
I would say, regardless of decision making, if a guy like Ken Sio scores 3 tries on you, you've had a bad night.
Thing about Nofo, he's the common thread in a tendency to have poor RHS matches. Knights clearly targeted our RHS, even in their last set, they went to their left over and over, then Buhrer's kick to their right shows our left edge has been dragged right in by the previous tackles.
So for how long as the RHS been a major defensive issue of ours? Quite some time. Has it been a consistent problem this year? No. But Marsters only debuted last year and Benji hasn't been here for some seasons; the previous RHS centres were Simona, Frozone and Idris. Moses obviously causing drama on that side for several years as well.
But a common denominator is certainly Nofo.
It's not just that he follows his centre in, because most wingers do, but he has little to no ability to recover when his side is stretched. The other week he managed to push someone into touch in a good effort, but very often he's left scrambling madly because it's not only about making the best decision where to be, but how you react once it's clear you are in a bad position.
Sio's 3rd try, Nofo knows he's beaten by the cutout pass, but rather than turn to face Sio and try and drive him into the corner, he puts his head down and puffs his cheeks and tries to get back to the sideline. By this stage Sio has stepped back inside and now beaten Nofo on his inside shoulder.
In other words, Sio's last try involved getting the ball on the outside of Nofo, then stepping back inside him to stroll over. Not good, even if the lead up involved defensive mistakes from other players.
jirskyr
Well-known member
Let's have a look at these tries then, rather than trying to remember.
#1
#1
jirskyr
Well-known member
#2
jirskyr
Well-known member
#3
jirskyr
Well-known member
So I'd say in review:
#1 Benji commits to the dummy, forces Marsters to come in on Ponga, Nofo burst out for Ross and Ponga picks it. Perhaps Nofo can stay out and let the cover take the centre. So I'd say Benji causes the main problem but Marsters and Nofo manage to take nobody, i.e. you need to be faster if you are going to cut players off.
#2 Benji again I reckon, comes in too hard on Pearce, but nobody is sliding… I thought Tigers were a sliding team in 2018 rather than an up-in edge defence? If Benji backs off, Rochow covers the inside and Nofo isn't caught so far inside his sideline. I will say however I feel Nofo is still over-committed here, he doesn't need to be 10 m inside, there's no chance he'll get to his winger if they cut-out. Marsters needs some opportunity to turn and chance, but he'll never reach the winger. Any surprise both these tries are rapid cut-outs, like Knights know Nofo will come in?
#3 Short side, we had the numbers and though Benji gets clipped I don't think he makes a mistake here. Marsters focuses on Pearce (?) but fails to cover it and Nofo only has eyes for Ross. I'm still pretty annoyed that Nofo gets beaten on the inside because he doesn't look at his winger at any time, even in the scramble.
So overall is Nofo just to blame? Certainly not. Problem is for me, the inside defenders are often likely to make a defensive error, because whenever teams run these plays they have an overlap. Thompson on play #3 goes into the line for exactly that reason, because if they pull in the FB or stack some backrowers then you are short-manned. But Nofo turns like the Queen Mary, so even if his inside guys make some tough / wrong reads, he has very little ability to recover, because he comes in too hard.
The cover is rarely going to reach the winger, you need to come up and then slide if you see the have the numbers. Again, we seemed to be playing a lot of up-and-in defence on RHS this evening, which I thought we had started to move away from in 2018.
#1 Benji commits to the dummy, forces Marsters to come in on Ponga, Nofo burst out for Ross and Ponga picks it. Perhaps Nofo can stay out and let the cover take the centre. So I'd say Benji causes the main problem but Marsters and Nofo manage to take nobody, i.e. you need to be faster if you are going to cut players off.
#2 Benji again I reckon, comes in too hard on Pearce, but nobody is sliding… I thought Tigers were a sliding team in 2018 rather than an up-in edge defence? If Benji backs off, Rochow covers the inside and Nofo isn't caught so far inside his sideline. I will say however I feel Nofo is still over-committed here, he doesn't need to be 10 m inside, there's no chance he'll get to his winger if they cut-out. Marsters needs some opportunity to turn and chance, but he'll never reach the winger. Any surprise both these tries are rapid cut-outs, like Knights know Nofo will come in?
#3 Short side, we had the numbers and though Benji gets clipped I don't think he makes a mistake here. Marsters focuses on Pearce (?) but fails to cover it and Nofo only has eyes for Ross. I'm still pretty annoyed that Nofo gets beaten on the inside because he doesn't look at his winger at any time, even in the scramble.
So overall is Nofo just to blame? Certainly not. Problem is for me, the inside defenders are often likely to make a defensive error, because whenever teams run these plays they have an overlap. Thompson on play #3 goes into the line for exactly that reason, because if they pull in the FB or stack some backrowers then you are short-manned. But Nofo turns like the Queen Mary, so even if his inside guys make some tough / wrong reads, he has very little ability to recover, because he comes in too hard.
The cover is rarely going to reach the winger, you need to come up and then slide if you see the have the numbers. Again, we seemed to be playing a lot of up-and-in defence on RHS this evening, which I thought we had started to move away from in 2018.
stevied
Well-known member
@ said:
Ah, yes, but we are talking about defensive performance in the NRL. Did Nofo outperform Fonua in defense? I doubt it.
Wow…thanks for the gifs.....Nofoauma should be like a puppy on a leash tethered to the sideline so there can be a 10m gap between him and his inside man for 2 of those TRIES so the opposition back rower or centre to strole through that is obvious ..the other one was a very poor effort on his behalf letting his opposite through....
Once again is he totally faultless NO..but blaming individuals for defensive errors is often the soft way out the pictures tell the story...perhaps that whole right hand side needs to be dropped so they can work on their defensive deficiencies as a UNIT....
Once again is he totally faultless NO..but blaming individuals for defensive errors is often the soft way out the pictures tell the story...perhaps that whole right hand side needs to be dropped so they can work on their defensive deficiencies as a UNIT....
The_Patriot
Well-known member
@ said:
I saw Benji as the issue as well.
In other games he has been coming up out of the line and getting away with it, Brown might have done a job on him here.
larrycorowa
New member
If you blame the winger for a loss when the team missing 50+ tackles I think you are missing the point. I thought we look vulnerable on both edges which I think was a function of losing the ruck and struggling in the middle.
They will need to work out what went wrong. We lost the forward battle…,was it selections, rotations? Probably a bit of both.
They will need to work out what went wrong. We lost the forward battle…,was it selections, rotations? Probably a bit of both.
larrycorowa
New member
@ said:
Spot on geo…. the way I see it if he doesn’t come in on the first two tries, the outside centre strolls in. Benji looks like he has decided to turn in rather than trust the inside defence. Thought he has a very ordinary game apart from flashes of brilliance. In hindsight we were outplayed all over the park and were lucky to have a chance to win. Lessons to be learnt and if our current crop can’t learn them find some that can for 2019.
larrycorowa
New member
It’s what crap, dishonesty best teams do….drop the winger after a loss.
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