TieDye
Well-known member
Last paragraph highlights my issue with our trial form…
LIVE GAME Trial 2 vs. Dragons
- Thread starter KingRobbie
- Start date
Live Game Discussion
Tucker
Well-known member
I agree.
Tedesco didn’t learn to ball play properly until he was at the Roosters.
The first thing Bula should work on is backing up through the middle. That’s where we will get immediate results from him.
I’ll defend Bula on this one. He’s constantly sniffing around the middle looking for second phase opportunities, we very rarely if ever offload the ball, that’s another big issue.
Kaito
Well-known member
No, but it was mandated to get through sets, get
some km's in the legs. Not play razzle dazzle and
give teams too much tape on our offence (could
have been better, and intensity was poor). He chimed
in more when we were down on the scoreboard. You're
usually a fair minded poster Vicious, your dislike
for Bula and his skill-set is a bit off though imo lol
Tucker
Well-known member
So what is the point you are trying to make?
We will definitely run last again if we continue to play a boring style of attack as we are not good enough defensively to restrict opposing teams to a maximum of 2-3 tries per game.
weststigers
Well-known member
Does Sheens have a son? Are you his son? Reveal yourself
You're giving everyone else a free pass to learn on the run,
Why can't they?
Pole is about 30 games in - Skipped Flegg and Ressies for the most part...
And about our only forward with footwork.
He could be anything!!
If he doesn't develop some ball playing,
You can be guaranteed it won't be because he didn't do the work.
Tucker
Well-known member
It’s a weird take considering he is talking about potentially our most talented player.
Can he improve parts of his game? You bet.
Should he be moved from the fullback position? Under no circumstances.
Tucker
Well-known member
I agree we need to go all out attack.
Pole can help with this.
Bula can help with this.
Name their proposed replacements that will help us more.
I’m stating we need either a 13 or a 1 who is capable of assisting with the playmaking.
If we continue to play with a 13 and a 1 that neither can assist with any playmaking, we will continue to look terrible in attack and we will run last again, mark my words.
If Bula was at the Panthers it would not be an issue as Yeo is highly involved in the playmaking which regularly gives his halves more time to play and allows them to play a fullback with no playmaking ability.
None within our roster, we need to recruit and fast.
It’s not dislike. His style of play is very Dylan Edwards like sniffing around the ruck for offloads and opportunities to run at tired defenders.
It’s not his fault, but we do not currently have the players around him make that style of fullback play work.
And unfortunately I do not see a quick fix to get our current players to offload much more often before and after the line as not many of them possess that quality. Samuela Fainu looks likely, but he’s only 19 and still learning the ropes himself. Should have bought Keppie when we had the chance. He’s no world beater and has a few errors in his game, but his late offloads would have been great for someone like Bula.
Tucker
Well-known member
Too late now. Far too late.
To get us attacking like demons, the squad firstly needs to understand how Api plays. He is an asset we have that most sides, including Penrith and Brisbane dont have. We currently don’t have a ballplaying 13 and 1. That can be worked on as the year progresses. I’m sure it is already being worked on.
Until then, Bateman and the halves can back Api up and go with him. Sezer loves to keep alive with hands up. Sullivan has some X factor and Bula is a weapon in space.
We use what we’ve got and evolve.
WesternSuburbsBoy
Well-known member
@Vicious you seem to have some pre determined bias against Bula & I just can't understand why. I'd agree with everything you're saying if he was a 100 game first grader but he played 18 first grade games last season... not even 20. The fact is, he is playing on a team that has finished in last place for 2 seasons straight & was playing with a new halves pairing every game last season. He's played two trial games with a brand new halves combo who are still working on perfecting their combinations & a team as a whole who have a brand new coaching staff & an inexperienced one at that other then Morris. Give the guy a little time & patience & actually give him a chance to develop.
Eca
Well-known member
I have looked at Bula solely 1st trial 1st half.. 80% of the time he is sniffing behind ball carrier..same as 2nd trial, no offloads tho.. unlike Laurie who was never anywhere near the ball and just joins the backline
No bias, no dislike it’s purely his style of fullback play is not working from an attacking point of view in conjunction with the style of play we are currently dishing up, which is the same style of attacking play we were dishing up late last season when we did not win a game.
So it’s either we demand our team take more risks in looking to offload much more often which would no doubt play to Bula’s strengths and bring him bit the game, or if this is not possible we would need to look at finding and playing a 13 or 1 who can assist with the playmaking to create opportunities for us to strip opposing teams for numbers, something I have not seen us do for a very long time.
So it’s not Bula’s fault at all, he’s a victim of the inability of our team as a whole.
We do not have a genuine NRL ready playmaking 13 option, why didn’t we sign Nathan Brown when we had the chance ?
The other option is the run harder and tackle harder than the opposition from player 1-17. We done that once against the Cowboys at Leichhardt and that turned out ok.
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Tucker
Well-known member
Is he positioning himself well? Is he screaming for the ball? Are the forwards good enough to get the ball away? - the fact most of them are test standard players indicates to me the answer to my third question is yes.
The fact he is there or thereabouts is a great start.
We need to work on this aspect between the pigs and him.
There is a lot of potential for line breaks here.
When attacking the opponents goal line he’s rarely touching the ball. Being our best and most dangerous ball runner, we need him heavily involved when these opportunities occur.
The answer to 13 is in the club . His name is AD. AD just needs to realise this and work on his contact and tackling . Not saying it will happen , but IMO it’s right there for all to see , highlighted , bolded and underlined . We just have to make a hypothetical into a reality
