Unpopular view, but I reckon we are going Ok

G

Goose

New member
At the beginning of the year everyone was saying we were a basket case and would run bottom few.

We havent looked that way at all.

We dont look like winning the comp at this stage, but certainly we have shown some good signs and will win our fair share of games.

We beat Manly and Warriors (and timing helped us here) who dont look too bad, and played some very exciting footy in these games. The Warriors caught lightning for a while which happens, but they got it done.

Against Gold Cost we were terrific for the first 20-30, didnt put enough points on, it happens. We again dropped off, we are still very much a developing side.

Parra, we were well off in attack after about the 30 minute mark. But hung in there for most of the game.

I thought the Cronulla game was a very high quality game and a god side beat us. It happens.

We have issue with consistency and we have issues with discipline.

We have also looked at times very good in attack, and have much improved go forward.

Our structure has improved dramatically in defence and attack.

We are playing and placed like a mid table team, which is probably better than where many thought we were at pre season.

Like all teams, injuries and how we fare in the close ones will determine our season.

We are not world beaters by any stretch (yet I see enough talent to think it possibly), but we are not the train wreck many on here are making it out to be either.
 
I think there is merit in your post. We are not getting flogged and the effort is there. Parra will make the 8 this year and we stuck with them for 80 minutes.

With no injuries and suspensions, we are probably a team that could finish anywhere between 7th and 10th. Unfortunately, as soon as we lose players, depth is found wanting and then the problems start (except at hooker).
 
Every NRL side struggles for consistency and discipline. Every side struggles for depth when they lose key players. What I like this year is that the Tigers have normal club problems.

Compare that to the Cowboys game in 2014 when we had almost an entire first grade side's worth of injuries and conceded 64 points. That was our lowest moment for mine.
 
Until we get some semblance of consistency how can anyone say we are going OK

If you measure our best to our worst its like dropping from Mt Everest to the deepest ocean still

We still have a soft underbelly , many of our "potential" players aren't measuring up and we have little or no depth in most positions

And until we can actually see our salary cap issues easing and some quality signings you can't really even stick positive spin on that

Then add this plan for Wests to give Balmain 10 years to pay off their debt for a 25% stake , which is just ludicrous in my opinion and I think Goose has had a long liquid lunch
 
the trouble is we are going okay!!!and to be a very good side you have to be going a lot better than ok.

Our results have been as you said okay, we have been in the contest and have not had a blow out, but things like our completion rates,discipline and goal kicking are still bottom of the table stuff.

I don't expect miricales but also want to see some real hard evidence we are now making up big ground on the better sides
 
Agreed to some extent. If we were playing appalingly, we would have gotten beaten 40-0 a couple times by now. 4/5 games this year we have actually been leading for more than half the games just manage to not carry on with it which I think is due to our bench being fairly light

We start really really well in games then about that 20 min mark we drop off hugely in intensity when Grant comes off for this to change I reckon have Grant on the bench and start Ava. Bring grant on after 20 mins to give the side an extra lift.

To me we should have finished off Sharks and Titans but it doesn't always work out like that does it. We were never really in the Parra game tho despite the close score line
 
@supercoach said:
the trouble is we are going okay!!!and to be a very good side you have to be going a lot better than ok.

Our results have been as you said okay, we have been in the contest and have not had a blow out, but things like our completion rates,discipline and goal kicking are still bottom of the table stuff.

I don't expect miricales but also want to see some real hard evidence we are now making up big ground on the better sides
Click to expand...

IMO, around him in the future.Take Tedesco out of the first 5 games,…..IMO we lose them all.
Lately. Souths are talked about a lot as a one man team , but we put them in the shade. Tedesco is the one ray of sunshine in a fairly ordinary bunch.
I just hope that we are going to be able to build up some strength around him.
Because our main avenue in attack is him, if he's kept quite, then there's not much of a plan B
 
I agree with Goose.

And to add fuel to the fire, this team smacks of a side that could catch form if confidence builds, and ride an unexpected wave during the season.

They are not as far away as some would believe. The issues are mostly correctable, both with training & naturally. Personal development "above the neck" for a few key players in this team will change those 6-12 point losses to 6-12 point wins.

If they can get the balance right with injuries/bench in the next 5 rounds, watch how they go then.
 
There just isn't an 80 minute effort at the moment. Not even 40 minutes. Warriors game we were great for most of the opening half then did nothing. Manly we had a good 30 or so minutes and then let them back in. Titans opening 15 was good, last 5 was great, in between lousy. Parra we couldn't score a point, defended well. Sharks we looked good from 5th to 35th minute then so so from there on. Some players are going well most of the time. Some are going well some of the time, some are mostly bad. Overall too many basic and untimely errors and a lack of direction. We rely too much on individual skill and knock out plays. Our kicking game isn't good enough especially our 5th tackle plays.
 
@Yossarian said:
There just isn't an 80 minute effort at the moment. Not even 40 minutes. Warriors game we were great for most of the opening half then did nothing. Manly we had a good 30 or so minutes and then let them back in. Titans opening 15 was good, last 5 was great, in between lousy. Parra we couldn't score a point, defended well. Sharks we looked good from 5th to 35th minute then so so from there on. Some players are going well most of the time. Some are going well some of the time, some are mostly bad. Overall too many basic and untimely errors and a lack of direction. We rely too much on individual skill and knock out plays. Our kicking game isn't good enough especially our 5th tackle plays.
Click to expand...

I can agree with a fair bit of that. Yet, not getting blown away.

What does that say? Just a little more mental toughness, which can develop over the course of the season, and where does that put this team?
 
We are not world beaters and I can live with that. We are putting in each week and overall when you consider the fiasco we had towards the end of last year with Farah etc…everyone said we would be a basket case this year and we are not.

If I had one really big gripe with this side - its the stupid stuff they do......the cheap silly penalties that relieve the pressure on the other side ( the flop, stripping the ball, ) normally this occurs after we turn the ball over by pushing the pass or some other stupid error. In the end we end up with very little ball for 10 minutes or so and that leads to a leaking of points.

So far this year we have conceded our greatest amount of points between the 30 minute mark and 45 minute mark ( we have also conceded a try in the last 5 minutes and first 5 minutes either side of halftime in almost every game.....thats just a killer for our side.

I don't know what the answer is but if its not fixed quickly we won't the games we should win this year.

Our bench is a real problem.............bring in new blood, Edwards, Cheekam, Griffiths...whoever.....Buchannan is useless and Cherrington is not required when you already have 2 hookers in the side, either have an impact player, or a hard hitter / ball runner.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
@Chadman's Ghost said:
I agree with Goose.

And to add fuel to the fire, this team smacks of a side that could catch form if confidence builds, and ride an unexpected wave during the season.

They are not as far away as some would believe. The issues are mostly correctable, both with training & naturally. Personal development "above the neck" for a few key players in this team will change those 6-12 point losses to 6-12 point wins.

If they can get the balance right with injuries/bench in the next 5 rounds, watch how they go then.
Click to expand...

I agree with the OP and this post. We have the players to do well right now. I don't see our squad as bad squad. We have one of the best players in the comp in Tedesco and there is plenty of talent around him.
 
@WTDiehard said:
We are not world beaters and I can live with that.
Click to expand...

I disagree. When you get Tedesco running wide and we give him some space to create something we look like world beaters.

@WTDiehard said:
Our bench is a real problem…..........bring in new blood, Edwards, Cheekam, Griffiths...whoever.....Buchannan is useless and Cherrington is not required when you already have 2 hookers in the side, either have an impact player, or a hard hitter / ball runner.
Click to expand...

We need some improvement here. I think our poor discipline is partly due to just running out of gas and that is because our bench just isn't working well.

Still I think our main issue is consistency in our halves. Quality halves playing well could have won us our last 3 games. I still think Brooks and Moses have the ability to be quality players but they aren't playing to a high standard consistently.
 
Agreed stevetiger.

If Brooks & Moses can learn to BUILD consistant pressure, this team will be in much better shape. Still too much 'kill shot' attempts & not enough wearing down the defence.
 
Goose, we play good footy in patches but not for 80 mins
You are looking at the glass half full whilst most here are seeing glass half empty

I wont mind us playing ugly as long as we walk away with the 2 points
 
I agree that we're going ok in the sense that we've been competitive in every match. While I'm happy about that it's still disappointing that:
- Our team selections are letting us down;
- Our use of the interchange is letting us down;
- Our poor discipline is letting us down; and
- Our halves are not generating enough pressure or taking enough good options.

A number of those things should be fairly easy fixes, yet we've been having the same problems the last few weeks. Hopefully we see a better balance on the bench in the team named this week.
 
@Chadman's Ghost said:
Agreed stevetiger.

If Brooks & Moses can learn to BUILD consistant pressure, this team will be in much better shape. Still too much 'kill shot' attempts & not enough wearing down the defence.
Click to expand...

If these two get it together we will be a good team.
 
@gallagher said:
Averaging 24 points scored against every week is not ok. I cant see us improving this either.
Click to expand...

I know that everyone sees this and goes on about our defence needing to improve but I don't think it's the defence that is that bad. The problem is the poor plays when we have the ball as well as giving away penalties.

You have to attack and threaten with the ball. That is a given. You don't have to though go for the hail mary play on the 3rd tackle too often or push a pass that shouldn't be thrown. If we get this part of our game right then we should have more ball and then we should be defending less which will make an impact to the number of points scored against us.
 
@Nelson said:
I agree that we're going ok in the sense that we've been competitive in every match. While I'm happy about that it's still disappointing that:
- Our team selections are letting us down;
- Our use of the interchange is letting us down;
- Our poor discipline is letting us down; and
- Our halves are not generating enough pressure or taking enough good options.

A number of those things should be fairly easy fixes, yet we've been having the same problems the last few weeks. Hopefully we see a better balance on the bench in the team named this week.
Click to expand...

I think the team selected isn't that bad but the bench isn't working. These are the issues though.

The harder issue to fix is the halves but they have shown plenty of ability at times.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 444 (members: 30, guests: 414)
Back
Top