Jolls
Well-known member
Most of the good and bad points from the game have been raised already. I agree with most of what has been raised on the attacking side of the house. While I agree that AD had a good game in attack his lateral defence is still an issue and while he may help us score a few he will probably cost us just as many, if not more.
The big turn around for me was the improvement of Galvin and Latu’s involvement, less of one and more of the other. They worked well together and were able to slide into first receiver on either side of the ruck to maintain the edge combination, subtle but good to see.
Twal/Bird may be the combination going forward. Twal tried to ball play a little at 13 as well; unfortunately, it is not his natural game so he got a little sideways but it is fair to say that he had a reasonable game and plugged the middle well. Bird fresh against tired opposition is an attacking weapon. Interesting to see how this pans out.
On the other side of the pill our line speed has definitely improved on 2024. This is a good sign. On the negative side of the slate our up an in defence in the red zone was caught out again and is something we need to focus on. It is an aggressive defence that attacks the rhythm of the opposition by reducing time and space to put pressure on the ball carrier and break up the momentum. While it is very effective when done right teams look inept when it goes wrong, as we have the last two weeks.
The good teams read this type of defence quickly and go hard at disrupting it by taking advantage of the gaps created in the line depth, strip us for numbers or kick shallow to turn us around. While our play reads have been good on most occasions and we are staying tight we have been stripped on the outside a couple of times. We have lacked the cover/scramble required to execute this higher-risk defensive strategy well. Neither side in the trials really tested us by kicking short in behind the line either; this will also be a problem for us if we don’t address the defensive shortfall.
I’m not at the point to say we should scrap it as it is working well in the middle third of the field; we need to have a few Kelpies out the back of the line to cover the swing plays when we get closer to our line. It also requires a different tackling technique. Cover defence is not the time to be trying to wrap the ball unless you are there in numbers; the player with the ball in hand needs to be axed and the troops arriving afterwards left to deal with slowing the play or the quick play the ball that follows.
The cover should be arriving in numbers; in most cases when we were stripped for numbers the only thing the opposition had to contend with was daylight.
If we want to climb the ladder we need to fix this fast or change our defensive structure in our own red zone.
The big turn around for me was the improvement of Galvin and Latu’s involvement, less of one and more of the other. They worked well together and were able to slide into first receiver on either side of the ruck to maintain the edge combination, subtle but good to see.
Twal/Bird may be the combination going forward. Twal tried to ball play a little at 13 as well; unfortunately, it is not his natural game so he got a little sideways but it is fair to say that he had a reasonable game and plugged the middle well. Bird fresh against tired opposition is an attacking weapon. Interesting to see how this pans out.
On the other side of the pill our line speed has definitely improved on 2024. This is a good sign. On the negative side of the slate our up an in defence in the red zone was caught out again and is something we need to focus on. It is an aggressive defence that attacks the rhythm of the opposition by reducing time and space to put pressure on the ball carrier and break up the momentum. While it is very effective when done right teams look inept when it goes wrong, as we have the last two weeks.
The good teams read this type of defence quickly and go hard at disrupting it by taking advantage of the gaps created in the line depth, strip us for numbers or kick shallow to turn us around. While our play reads have been good on most occasions and we are staying tight we have been stripped on the outside a couple of times. We have lacked the cover/scramble required to execute this higher-risk defensive strategy well. Neither side in the trials really tested us by kicking short in behind the line either; this will also be a problem for us if we don’t address the defensive shortfall.
I’m not at the point to say we should scrap it as it is working well in the middle third of the field; we need to have a few Kelpies out the back of the line to cover the swing plays when we get closer to our line. It also requires a different tackling technique. Cover defence is not the time to be trying to wrap the ball unless you are there in numbers; the player with the ball in hand needs to be axed and the troops arriving afterwards left to deal with slowing the play or the quick play the ball that follows.
The cover should be arriving in numbers; in most cases when we were stripped for numbers the only thing the opposition had to contend with was daylight.
If we want to climb the ladder we need to fix this fast or change our defensive structure in our own red zone.
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