I think you're all focusing on errors and attacking threat which means that Staines and Bateman are being criticised. I'm not saying they were great, but I don't think they're the issue at the moment.
The key focus MUST be physicality and ability in defense. We're not doing anything if we can't control ruck speed and tackle properly. I think both Bateman and Staines are good defensively and you don't replace defensively sound players in our team at the moment.
Raiders ruck speed was ridiculous in the first 15 minutes, we couldn't control it and as a consequence we couldn't get the ball. There's just no point in focusing on anything else until that's fixed. I believe the big problems are as follows:
Seyfarth: simply a poor defender and understrength as well. Canberra targeted him and in the first try he had a poor effort in the preceding tackle and couldn't get into position at marker and then went on to miss Strange as he charged through as a consequence of the speed of the play the ball. He is so poor defensively that he is unplayable. This was obvious before this game, maybe he's a decent link man, but what the hell were they thinking? Obviously they made a mistake because they hooked him after 15 minutes and it cost us any chance of winning the match in playing him. Big big mistake. And an obvious one.
Papalii: I thought he was okay defensively last year. He looks weaker this year. He gets pushed back a lot in defense and has become one of those players who is falling off the tackle and having to scramble back to get into the defensive line after attackers have run through him. He's not a strong 1 on 1 tackler. I'm not sure what you do here. He's obviously one of our better players and physically capable, he just seems really down on confidence, like so many of the players.
Sullivan: One of those defenders who flails around helplessly. Just a weak tackler and doesn't seem to like getting his shoulder in. He's erratic in attack, but my concern is his defense, and I would play Sezer, despite his age and limitations, because he is much tougher.
To'a: Unacceptable lack of physicality out wide. He is always pushed back and sloppy in his technique. It's always hard for centres when they're on the back foot but he often contributes to this momentum early in the set by getting driven back. Terrible effort.
When Pole replaced Seyfarth that made a huge difference to our defense. They didn't look dominant again until Seyfarth came back on in the last 5 minutes and we again started to struggle with the physicality of Canberra. I get Canberra drifted mentally after going up so easily played a part in all that, but it was actually impressive how well the Tigers recouped after they hooked Seyfarth, given the momentum Canberra had. I think Olam will be a better defender than To'a, at least in physicality, and Sezer is a much better defender than Sullivan. And I liked both the Fainu brothers defensively in the trial and Samuela here, so I think there are easy replacements for Seyfarth either starting or on the bench. Samuela was pushed back on a few ocassions but was mostly excellent. We have to stick with Papalii, I just hope he can lift because we need him hitting players.
This is the reason why I'm not looking at Bateman and Staines. I'm also a fan of Twal and Klemmer, two players who seem in the firing line here, because I think they're good defenders who, while not always dominant, do enough to tackle well and ensure at least a regular play the ball speed. They're good defensive players who are willing. This is exactly what we lack at the moment.
Until we fix the physicality and defense our attack is pointless. At least there are signs yesterday that when team selection is okay we can at least avoid embarrassment. I guess that's what we have to look forward to this year.
