LIVE GAME Round 16 v Raiders

[BirchgroveTigers]

hard for me to judge the game as I only watched the second half but we played very well in the second half I thought. Latu looks an extremely talented player, fingers crossed his injuries worries are behind him

 

[Vicious]

Tallyn is not a rookie. His youthful exuberance would have been handy against a clearly tired Raiders group.

Talyn played an important part in a few of our wins earlier in the season and has not stepped a foot on the field during our 5 straight losses.
Maybe that should give Benji a hint on whether or not he’s up to it ?

 

[Telltails]

Tallyn is not a rookie. His youthful exuberance would have been handy against a clearly tired Raiders group.

And Api is the team captain and competes on everything 4 points the difference - not too difficult to understand why he backs his captain for more than one reason and especially if Talyn has got one foot out the door.

 

[Vicious]

And Api is the team captain and competes on everything 4 points the difference - not too difficult to understand why he backs his captain for more than one reason and especially if Talyn has got one foot out the door.

Api very rarely if ever played a full 80mins when at the Panthers or at his previous clubs.
This is not because he is not a quality player, it’s because all his other coaches had concerns that his lack of size defending in the middle caused fatigue and played him reduced minutes lessen the fatigue related concerns.
So now all of a sudden at the back end of his career Benji thinks he knows better than all Api’s previous coaches ???

 

[crazycat]

What on earth Tigers.

Who told Bula to kick on tackle 1! (looking at Benji with dirty eyes.)
He does it in our own 20m goaline with Canberra right in front, it gives them the ball, then he does it again. HUH!

Otherwise I can't fault Bula's game, Skelton not picking up the ball on the tryline is entirely him... he clearly claimed it.

I also get Seyfarth having to tackle Papalii. He is just such a unit.

 

[Charred]

Saw this in CODE Sports

Despite tries in the 48th and 53rd minutes for the Tigers, the home side hung on to consolidate second place on the NRL ladder.

So I guess Campbelltown is a home ground for the raiders, or maybe any team who plays us for that matter. Then again when I’ve been to Campbelltown I have a 50% win percentage so maybe I should head out again.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

That’s how it looks, but I don’t think that’s the problem.
To give an example Terrell went out of his way to have a good chat with Talyn while he was off the field tonight and you could see they were getting along just fine.
I’m convinced it’s Benji’s arrogance that is the problem, I don’t think his ego allows him to have proper conversations with any players that are unhappy or disillusioned with his decisions and anyone who’s coached teams in any sport at any level or managed teams or people in a workplace would know this is a big problem.

Everything we know about Marshall suggests he is an excellent player manager.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

There was a lot to admire about Latu Fainu. He clearly is one of the best young halves in the game and a superior player to Galvin. I thought I could hear buyer's remorse in Gould's voice while commentating on Fainu. Without the ball Fainu is just as damaging because his urgency in defence is noticeable and I still believe the hardest hit on the young Raiders' prop was from Fainu.

 

[bbobb]

We didn't get smashed by any means.

Discipline let us down and a few bad calls, or things overlooked like the 40/20 where Jed took the ball outside the line.

We're building something here...
Few more things to fall into place and we'll be looking more likely.

- Like to see Taylan May in the team, sooner rather than later, probably pushing AD out.
- KPP into our pack next year, likely pushing Seyfarth to bench... can't wait for this.
- Top 30 continually overhauled.

I think we are close as well.

Think we are missing a good ball playing lock with speed. Cam Murray type. Maybe Kit but I don’t know if he has the ball playing ability I think but Romey and Latu are bettter wider if the ruck. I was hoping Jack Bird could have been the player who may have added creativity to the middle but he seems to be a smaller frame that tries to bash and barge.

AD had his best game for a while but I am not sure if that is his preferred side of the field as he likes cut back to the other side. I think Taylan will probably offer more in attack.

With KPP coming, that should move Seyfarth to a bench rotational player. I believe he is best suited there.

Mason looks like he is worth developing but like many rookies has defensive issues. I will watch Reserve grade closely today as I have been impress with Christian Mapalungi. I think he could be a six if Luai or Latu go down.

 

[Terry T.Nuts]

Yes and I said it a few months ago.
Galvin, TDS and likely others live outside the brash “look at me” big chain, diamond earring loud hip hop or rap type culture that many in the team embrace. You can see it in Mays vlogs.. Most of the team talk like illiterate street trash yet quite a few shun the spotlight.
It’s all good, but if you are going to create a culture, it has to be inclusive.

Or shock horror maybe they just aren't as good as the other players. If you think Api is worse than TDS you are on crack and Latu is a far superior player than Galvin.

 

[Tiger_claws]

Just watched a replay and if Latu starts I don’t think we concede those 3 tries. What I didn’t notice watching live was when Samuela had his try disallowed for the forward pass we actually had 4 on 2. If Romey goes to Sam or Ad we score. An origin half needs to nail those moments. Skelton giving away a penalty whilst in possession shows such a lack of discipline that isn’t Nrl standard, not to mention his fumble that they scored from. Bula had a terrible game (I hate being harsh on him) but he failed to nail his sweep plays and made some costly errors. How many times have we only used 16 players? It’s critical to get that right. So many really poor moments that cost us. Some really poor decisions by the coaching staff before & during the game. We desperately need a lock that can create in the middle not just tackle. In nearly every game this year we have competed really well for 60 odd minutes but in those other 15-20 minutes when we are off we really are off and concede so easily. I also thought last night was a great opportunity for the club to offer cheaper GA tickets but they seem to like not being able to attract crowds.

 

[Ron Brodrick's Spirit]

I get a lot of flak for this, but Bula continues to be very overrated by our supporters.
5 handling errors and 3 penalties, at this stage he still doesn't have the game awareness to be a top fullback.
In the big moments he isn't clutch.

 

[Ron Brodrick's Spirit]

Just watched a replay and if Latu starts I don’t think we concede those 3 tries. What I didn’t notice watching live was when Samuela had his try disallowed for the forward pass we actually had 4 on 2. If Romey goes to Sam or Ad we score. An origin half needs to nail those moments. Skelton giving away a penalty whilst in possession shows such a lack of discipline that isn’t Nrl standard, not to mention his fumble that they scored from. Bula had a terrible game (I hate being harsh on him) but he failed to nail his sweep plays and made some costly errors. How many times have we only used 16 players? It’s critical to get that right. So many really poor moments that cost us. Some really poor decisions by the coaching staff before & during the game. We desperately need a lock that can create in the middle not just tackle. In nearly every game this year we have competed really well for 60 odd minutes but in those other 15-20 minutes when we are off we really are off and concede so easily. I also thought last night was a great opportunity for the club to offer cheaper GA tickets but they seem to like not being able to attract crowds.

The previous crowds at Campbo this year were good.
It seems that if you announce in the media you're deserting Campbo then Campbo might desert you first.

 

[Halbrowne61]

The previous crowds at Campbo this year were good.
It seems that if you announce in the media you're deserting Campbo then Campbo might desert you first.

Forget the crowds, we just can’t win there!
Don’t know why, but it’s a fact.

 

[BalmainBoy67]

I get a lot of flak for this, but Bula continues to be very overrated by our supporters.
5 handling errors and 3 penalties, at this stage he still doesn't have the game awareness to be a top fullback.
In the big moments he isn't clutch.

You won't get no flak from me... he was a pedestrian last night...

 

[Ron Brodrick's Spirit]

Forget the crowds, we just can’t win there!
Don’t know why, but it’s a fact.

Last night hurt.
I was very confident we'd pull the upset and had my biggest bet of the year on us at the line.
Unfortunately I had to give some of that back as I also backed us for a small amount for the straight win.
I'm filthy on a couple of underperformers.

 

[BBTF]

We are just missing a few key players in running positions. The class in the spine is probably there, but there have been notable times this year we have been camped in the oppositions 20m and barely come away with points (including games we won like sharks vs knights). We just don't have running threats who can break the line, particularly on the edges. KPP will help, but we need a few more across the park as it seems our only play is to hit Bula out the back.

 

[weststigerman]

With Benji, I have put this question out there a few times and have not gotten one taker, so I’ll try again. Is there one player, just one, who has improved under him?

I’m far from convinced about Benji’s coaching skills but I’ll give you 2 - Sione Fainu, Starford To’a.

Both are having their best ever seasons.

 

[weststigerman]

I get a lot of flak for this, but Bula continues to be very overrated by our supporters.
5 handling errors and 3 penalties, at this stage he still doesn't have the game awareness to be a top fullback.
In the big moments he isn't clutch.

He had a bad game last night, but that doesn’t make him overrated.

 

[Telltails]

Api very rarely if ever played a full 80mins when at the Panthers or at his previous clubs.
This is not because he is not a quality player, it’s because all his other coaches had concerns that his lack of size defending in the middle caused fatigue and played him reduced minutes lessen the fatigue related concerns.
So now all of a sudden at the back end of his career Benji thinks he knows better than all Api’s previous coaches ???

Out of any of the decisions Benji made as a losing coach in that game that leave him open to criticism - leaving Api on given the circumstances around TDS and the last time we played with young a star with his foot out the door at Campbelltown, I get why he decided to back Api in a close game.
Did it cost us the game - depends on how you view things and which way you want to swing it - we are all wiser after the fact.