The Defensive Myth

[zowieben]

GNR4LIFE wrote:
Looking at the table, i was surprised to see that we aren't ranked 2nd last like a lot like to claim. There are several teams who have conceded more points than us. Besides our right edge, our defence gets a really bad rap imo.

End of year we have conceded 607 points, 2nd worst defence in the league. Last year, which was deemed unacceptable by Taylor, we conceded 562 points when we finished equal last on points. So how is this an improvement, with 3 SOO players, 2 internationals (Taylor & Lawrence) and a budding superstar (Moses) in the team?

 

[Sco77y]

I'm not sure that there's much that any coach can do about the defence. Having watched how it's gone down for a long time, coaching staff changes, defensive focus plans, etc, I have a nagging suspicion that the problem is deeper. Tigers may have a promotion/recruitment blind spot. Is it possible that the club, for one reason or another, is placing other attributes as a priority and neglects defensive ability? If you end up, season after season with too many players who either can't defend, or aren't hungry tacklers, there's really not much you can do, short of going back to square one and doing nothing but tackling/defence at training all season… and with some players, even that won't do it. Once you get to the age and level that these guys are at and you haven't developed good defensive attributes, it's too late. Perhaps the club needs to put defence of prospective players on a higher priority, even if flashy attacking skills takes a back seat? At least until the pattern is broken and the culture changes?

I think we MUST make defense our priority… They say defense is all about attitude... We need to become a club that prides itself on stopping tries.... Not being a club that can sometimes score 6 when they score 4
We need to have a goal of conceding no more than 1 try per half.... Much easier to score 3 when you keep them to two

This is what I'd love to see our team become. Strong defensive teams are often admired for being the best teams in the comp, it gives that impression because it shows that a team is working well together, and frustrates teams to no end when the try line is impenetrable. As a supporter it would be so much more satisfying to see our team keep turning away the opposition every time they attempt to score a try.

The Tigers have been built on the foundation of attack for the last decade - it's about time we brought in some balance and became clinical in all facets of the game. Hopefully this is the focus during the off season and beyond.

 

[cktiger]

I'm not sure that there's much that any coach can do about the defence. Having watched how it's gone down for a long time, coaching staff changes, defensive focus plans, etc, I have a nagging suspicion that the problem is deeper. Tigers may have a promotion/recruitment blind spot. Is it possible that the club, for one reason or another, is placing other attributes as a priority and neglects defensive ability? If you end up, season after season with too many players who either can't defend, or aren't hungry tacklers, there's really not much you can do, short of going back to square one and doing nothing but tackling/defence at training all season… and with some players, even that won't do it. Once you get to the age and level that these guys are at and you haven't developed good defensive attributes, it's too late. Perhaps the club needs to put defence of prospective players on a higher priority, even if flashy attacking skills takes a back seat? At least until the pattern is broken and the culture changes?

I think we MUST make defense our priority… They say defense is all about attitude... We need to become a club that prides itself on stopping tries.... Not being a club that can sometimes score 6 when they score 4
We need to have a goal of conceding no more than 1 try per half.... Much easier to score 3 when you keep them to two

This is what I'd love to see our team become. Strong defensive teams are often admired for being the best teams in the comp, it gives that impression because it shows that a team is working well together, and frustrates teams to no end when the try line is impenetrable. As a supporter it would be so much more satisfying to see our team keep turning away the opposition every time they attempt to score a try.

The Tigers have been built on the foundation of attack for the last decade - it's about time we brought in some balance and became clinical in all facets of the game. **Hopefully this is the focus during the off season and beyond.[**/quote]

Defence has been Taylor's focus for the past 2 years - somethings not working.

 

[stevetiger]

I'm not sure that there's much that any coach can do about the defence. Having watched how it's gone down for a long time, coaching staff changes, defensive focus plans, etc, I have a nagging suspicion that the problem is deeper. Tigers may have a promotion/recruitment blind spot. Is it possible that the club, for one reason or another, is placing other attributes as a priority and neglects defensive ability? If you end up, season after season with too many players who either can't defend, or aren't hungry tacklers, there's really not much you can do, short of going back to square one and doing nothing but tackling/defence at training all season… and with some players, even that won't do it. Once you get to the age and level that these guys are at and you haven't developed good defensive attributes, it's too late. Perhaps the club needs to put defence of prospective players on a higher priority, even if flashy attacking skills takes a back seat? At least until the pattern is broken and the culture changes?

I think we MUST make defense our priority… They say defense is all about attitude... We need to become a club that prides itself on stopping tries.... Not being a club that can sometimes score 6 when they score 4
We need to have a goal of conceding no more than 1 try per half.... Much easier to score 3 when you keep them to two

The problem is that it's not this simple. You need to focus on both sides of the game.

When you focus just on defence and neglect attack you get a year like we had last year. Another point that needs to be noted is that despite that talk about teaching the team defence it didn't actually work.

There are no simple answers to how to create a winning team from the squad that we have available. I think though we have a really good squad and with some luck and good coaching we can make the 8 easily next year.

 

[stevetiger]

I'm not sure that there's much that any coach can do about the defence. Having watched how it's gone down for a long time, coaching staff changes, defensive focus plans, etc, I have a nagging suspicion that the problem is deeper. Tigers may have a promotion/recruitment blind spot. Is it possible that the club, for one reason or another, is placing other attributes as a priority and neglects defensive ability? If you end up, season after season with too many players who either can't defend, or aren't hungry tacklers, there's really not much you can do, short of going back to square one and doing nothing but tackling/defence at training all season… and with some players, even that won't do it. Once you get to the age and level that these guys are at and you haven't developed good defensive attributes, it's too late. Perhaps the club needs to put defence of prospective players on a higher priority, even if flashy attacking skills takes a back seat? At least until the pattern is broken and the culture changes?

I think we MUST make defense our priority… They say defense is all about attitude... We need to become a club that prides itself on stopping tries.... Not being a club that can sometimes score 6 when they score 4
We need to have a goal of conceding no more than 1 try per half.... Much easier to score 3 when you keep them to two

Rubbish we should have won 58-56 yesterday…*In before steve..

I would have been happy with that.

 

[stryker]

I think we MUST make defense our priority… They say defense is all about attitude... We need to become a club that prides itself on stopping tries.... Not being a club that can sometimes score 6 when they score 4
We need to have a goal of conceding no more than 1 try per half.... Much easier to score 3 when you keep them to two

Bingo.

 

[otho]

I'm not sure that there's much that any coach can do about the defence. Having watched how it's gone down for a long time, coaching staff changes, defensive focus plans, etc, I have a nagging suspicion that the problem is deeper. Tigers may have a promotion/recruitment blind spot. Is it possible that the club, for one reason or another, is placing other attributes as a priority and neglects defensive ability? If you end up, season after season with too many players who either can't defend, or aren't hungry tacklers, there's really not much you can do, short of going back to square one and doing nothing but tackling/defence at training all season… and with some players, even that won't do it. Once you get to the age and level that these guys are at and you haven't developed good defensive attributes, it's too late. Perhaps the club needs to put defence of prospective players on a higher priority, even if flashy attacking skills takes a back seat? At least until the pattern is broken and the culture changes?

I think we MUST make defense our priority… They say defense is all about attitude... We need to become a club that prides itself on stopping tries.... Not being a club that can sometimes score 6 when they score 4
We need to have a goal of conceding no more than 1 try per half.... Much easier to score 3 when you keep them to two

100% agreed, Ink. You can get away with one, or maybe 2 players who are lacking, but… the rest of the team have to be absolute machines to cover for them. When you're carrying 3, 4 or more, it doesn't matter how good the rest of the team is... there's just gonna be too many holes, too many arm grabs. The Tigers haven't had an overall tackling beast team for a long time. Mediocre to adequate just won't cut it. When was the last time we had a defensive specialist? Liam Fulton? Maybe I'm crazy, or desperate... but something radical has to be done. The Tigers have always sucked at the "wrestle". Give it up. Do something different. Go back to old school defence, one on one. or two or one tackles, bend your back, hit them hard and put them down fast. Don't worry about slowing down the play and offloads. The fewer guys in the tackle, the fewer guys need to reset for the next one. Less fatigue involved for the team, also. What the hell have we got to lose? We're not even making the 8 anyway. Do something old, yet new, and shake things up a bit. We just might blindside the opposition for a season, before they figure out a countermeasure.

 

[TCL]

Defense is not just attitude, they are well paid and are professionals so the attitude should already be there.

Defence is about individual technique, team cohesion (you defend as a unit) and line speed. Most importantly you must have confidence in your inside and outside defenders and the style the coach sets for the team your playing against. ( up and in, slide etc…)

If you don't play as a unit then holes appear or you get isolated - good teams like canberra will go straight through you if don't works as a unit.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

Probably the same thing you usually do.

Your posts are sometimes are a bit strange , but I have no idea what you are talking about this time
I thought that you'd be at Mad Monday , to help your mate if any of the team decide to snot him :smiley:

You're loving it aren't you

Here's hoping you follow Robbie to Souths

Geez you have got the Bears head on today!
Sorry to disappoint you, but you aren't the only supporter here.
I wanted the team to win, but could hardly be too emotional when we didn't, we've seen it all before, so , as I didn't think that we had a chance against the Raiders, I wasn't surprised at the result.just angry
And until we can get a coach that can get consistency into the team , and get the team to tackle a lot better than they do now, we won't get in amongst the top teams.

Just for your info. We not only have the second worst defence this year, but also Tenth worst in attack.(and only three of our wins were against the top eight(out of 13 games)
I don't think anyone here wants us to lose, but we half expect it when it matters , as it's usually what we do.
Living in denial about our defence helps no one.
We're the same as always , Excluding Teddy, who is a level above the restof our players
One day we might get the players and Coach that is needed, but we are a long way away from that at the moment. And throwing away 3/4 of a million is not the way to start getting there.

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

I am not sure if you anti-Taylor brigade even support the team. You delight in their failures. Wow!

No, just being realistic, unlike some of the Taylor lovers , Who worship the spin doctor and believe the BS that flows from him so often.
He tried to reinvent the wheel and was exposed against the harder teams .