round two...sensible discussion..

TrueTiger

Well-known member
We are all awaiting the return of Api and Bulla to our team..
we did ok in the trials although we had a heap of youth to educate how NRL works..
Lets now look at this team /squad moving into rnd 2 of the NRL comp.
We appear to have our strongest 17 on the paddock,they have had a preseason together and they seem to have bonded well over that period of time.
Can Benji and the leaders of this group work out the wrongs and the rights of that first round game against the Knights..
If we are being honest those that played in rnd 1 should have had their arses smacked but the scramble saved them..55 missed tackles in the NRL is appalling.
I know we have youth and new faces,but Benji is our COACH,what he teaches and delivers on game day week in week out will be the catalist of this team,I dont care who we recruit.Idont care who leads, WE need winning results..Benji is a WTs icon,however he needs to show the NRL world that he can coach,lead and develop an NRL standard team that can be FINALS bound in the next year or so,otherwise step down and let a real NRL seasoned coach take over.
We need to step up and be a force in the NRL,for to long we have been a laughing stock,bascket case and it has to end NOW...3 spoons and a heap of contoversy over our history has to end ...time to shine and be competative...this is a proffessional sport not a charity...

END OF RANT ...BRING ON 2025 WITH SUCCESS...
 
Lets face it the defence was bad against the knights but still the scramble was better than last year. There is little toughness like dragging the opposition backwards so I think that that it will be a similar year to last year sorry to say,
 
Id love to see them ask a bit more of the defense in the 20m zone...very frustrating watching the opposition just absorbing our possesion and waiting for the inevitable error

We shouldnt have to scramble as much as last week so Id hope we keep the opposition to a similar scoreline the knights managed

Last week was Luais first game in our colours and hes lumped with the captaincy as well in front of a home crowd with huge expectations....hoping Sunday hes relieved of some of that prerssure
 
Round 2 and we have Api and Bula back on deck. Luai has had a hit out and his combination with Galvin will benefit from it. As hard as Hope and TDS tried they don't provide the time and space that Api will for our forwards and halves.

Api providing that additional space should enable us to speed up the PTB and get on the front foot. Galvin should so less crabbing and Bula will provide a bit of confidence at the back.

Our first game was not the disaster that some are making out. We made some mistakes but they are all fixable. Benji and the coaching staff have a plan and I trust that they stick to it, at least for the first five or six rounds barring injury. That will give Galvin and Luai time to gel, our forwards to develop their pack mentality and our backs to get their defensive game in order.

There were a few effort area issues that cost us the first game; if we can pick them out as fans you can guarantee that the coaching staff are on it too.

This is close to our best 17 - less LAtu who should be gettign developed in KoE. Time to pick and stick for the time being!
 
We have so much more to play for than the Eels. We have our best team in so anything apart from a very good performance will be a failure.

However, with our defence, anything is possible.
 
Lets face it the defence was bad against the knights but still the scramble was better than last year. There is little toughness like dragging the opposition backwards so I think that that it will be a similar year to last year sorry to say,
Disagree ! It wasn’t bad . Someone pointed out a fairly good point in that the reason for the bulk missed tackles was guys getting their body in a position to disrupt the run , with the aim of not just making the tackle but disrupting long enough to have someone else effect a tackle .
So whilst the initial breaks probably shouldn’t have happened , to hold anyone to 10 points in an nrl game , you have to be doing something right . In saying that , to rest on this being some sort of North Star would be silly , as it was filled plenty of mistakes .
There are plenty of ingredients for a good defensive team , we definitely need to polish this up though !
Reminds me of the Cleary tigers . If many will remember this getting your body in the way type of defence was also statistically bad in regards to missed tackles .
I guess we will see the fruits of their labour this week .
 
Round 2 and we have Api and Bula back on deck. Luai has had a hit out and his combination with Galvin will benefit from it. As hard as Hope and TDS tried they don't provide the time and space that Api will for our forwards and halves.

Api providing that additional space should enable us to speed up the PTB and get on the front foot. Galvin should so less crabbing and Bula will provide a bit of confidence at the back.

Our first game was not the disaster that some are making out. We made some mistakes but they are all fixable. Benji and the coaching staff have a plan and I trust that they stick to it, at least for the first five or six rounds barring injury. That will give Galvin and Luai time to gel, our forwards to develop their pack mentality and our backs to get their defensive game in order.

There were a few effort area issues that cost us the first game; if we can pick them out as fans you can guarantee that the coaching staff are on it too.

This is close to our best 17 - less LAtu who should be gettign developed in KoE. Time to pick and stick for the time being!
Always enjoy your analysis, go W-Tiges 👍
 
lol at those suggesting our defence wasn’t bad against Knights.
Our missed tackle count is the worst in the comp, our ineffective tackle count is 6th worst in the comp.

The reason the scores were close is because some of the new guys showed desperation and the opposition were pretty shit. Newcastle have the worst completion rate in the comp, the most amount of errors, second most penalties against them and the most ineffective tackles. They are laughing that they were so bad and still won.
 
Will be interesting to see how the Knights perform against the Dolphins at home tonight.

Will they make the errors they made against us again or will they convert their attacking raids into points this week.

Either way, it should be an interesting game, both teams have speed which is something we don't have much of.
 
lol at those suggesting our defence wasn’t bad against Knights.
Our missed tackle count is the worst in the comp, our ineffective tackle count is 6th worst in the comp.

The reason the scores were close is because some of the new guys showed desperation and the opposition were pretty shit. Newcastle have the worst completion rate in the comp, the most amount of errors, second most penalties against them and the most ineffective tackles. They are laughing that they were so bad and still won.
Being an observer at the game, both teams felt like they could play a lot better than what they did, but the key difference was Ponga. Having a player that can pull a rabbit out of a hat despite being fairly scrappy is only something we can dream of
 
Disagree ! It wasn’t bad . Someone pointed out a fairly good point in that the reason for the bulk missed tackles was guys getting their body in a position to disrupt the run , with the aim of not just making the tackle but disrupting long enough to have someone else effect a tackle .
So whilst the initial breaks probably shouldn’t have happened , to hold anyone to 10 points in an nrl game , you have to be doing something right . In saying that , to rest on this being some sort of North Star would be silly , as it was filled plenty of mistakes .
There are plenty of ingredients for a good defensive team , we definitely need to polish this up though !
Reminds me of the Cleary tigers . If many will remember this getting your body in the way type of defence was also statistically bad in regards to missed tackles .
I guess we will see the fruits of their labour this week .
Are you suggesting calling some of those 51 missed tackles “ineffective tackles”?
We clocked up 21 of those already.
There’s no sugar coating it here, almost at the rate of 1 per minute we failed to nail the ball carrier. We need to do much better.
But we did manage to get to the ball carrier. That’s a start.
 
Are you suggesting calling some of those 51 missed tackles “ineffective tackles”?
We clocked up 21 of those already.
There’s no sugar coating it here, almost at the rate of 1 per minute we failed to nail the ball carrier. We need to do much better.
But we did manage to get to the ball carrier. That’s a start.
Yes we need to take out the ball carrier.

I just remember Robbie Roccow playing for us and he would make a stack of missed/almost tacles. This disrupted the oppositions flow but did not stop them. Perhaps it can rattle some teams but the top teams will just ignore it.
 
I think we are expecting a bit much from Bula straight up. I hope im wrong but he hasn't played since Rnd 23 last year and had a very disruptive off season. First run of the year i'm expecting him to just do the basics
If he is just going to do the basics, why is he picked in first grade?
 
Back
Top