Was gonna criticise the coach...

[Flippedy]

Its all Taylors coaching imo.

He has stripped it all back to a focus on defence and staying in an arm wrestle for 80 mins. This gives a good chance of beating any opposition and also keeps the pressure off the young halves.
I have no doubt he has reigned in the attacking abilities of the halves and most of the side to keep the pressure off and I'm confident he'll slowly let them loose later in the season.

Its actually something Trent Robinson mentioned with the Roosters post a game they played against us late in the 2013 maybe 2014 season. He said he had held Pearce and Maloney back for the focus on defence and team structures first. Once he was confident his team could rely on that, he gave Pearce and Maloney a bit more leash and that day Pearce started running the ball and he carved us up.

I think Taylor has bought this to the Tigers. Its also about not showing your best attacking plays too early in the season and allowing the opposition teams to get a read on the plays.

I agree its can be boring, but its working and the players and us fans need to have the same patience as the coach.

The bombs are so boring also, but again I think its Taylors directive. It does give our boys plenty of time to chase in a line and to be right on the spot when the ball comes down to start the defensive set. Boring but it works for now.

I'm very happy with Taylor and the obvious improvement in defence being the most satisfying for me.

Good, insightful post, Tooth and nice to see you back here commenting, as well :wink:

 

[cktiger]

One thing that was very noticable was how tired Parramatta were in the last 10 minutes.
Watching some of their players still running back onside two tackles after a kick stood out for me.
Our guys looked fine (and you think they would after that borefest) but, whatever we were doing it was wearing the opposition out.

 

[larrycorowa]

I thought we had a really poor first half with ill discipline handing the eels plenty of attacking sets in our half

 

[Telltails]

Tbf, i don't think the weather helped today, that definitely contributed to the game being a bore fest. We've been in every game so far, including games against last yrs gf's, one of which we should have won. I just hope that tactic of mid field bombs was a horses for courses tactic. Idk how Moses and Brooks will develop if all they're doing is mid field bombs for 90% of the game. They need to kick to corners, and if they can't do that, Farah needs to take the initiative and do it himself.

What made the game a borefest was the referees inability to monitor the 10m. It was short and pushed to the extreme boundaries by both teams (more so the eels of course).

Our halves had no space and no attacking play was able to unfold as a result. Our forwards were also less effective as a result.

It was an eels tactic of course to stop us getting a roll on, the refs did the game no favour what so ever.
Totally agree no space between either team.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[jirskyr]

The thing that has impressed me the most about Taylor is how many players that have improved under his tutelage

I don't think one player has gone backwards

Says a lot really especially seeing it has happened in such a short time

Are we are a better structured team to 2014? We are in the same position to what we were in 2014, plus we have players who are fit and have naturally developed/matured.

Personally, its too early to call, but I like the defence the boys are working through.

The next 6-8 weeks will give us a better picture if Taylor is the difference!

You do make a point, we will still have to see how the season develops.

But I do see a marked difference in the style of the team. Potter had different cattle, running out new players like Brooks, Taupau, Gavet, Halatau. Taylor has the 2014 team, but they are different.

 

[tig_prmz]

IMO, we only won because of the 3 dropped balls at the 60-70 minute mark. Maybe Taylor predicted them to get frustrated? Doubt it.

Yeh, we were in the arm wrestle but tbh eels were starting their sets on the 30 and us on the 10\. They had better field position and cudos to our defense for keeping them out and more importantly denying them any attacking opportunities whatsoever.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[Spartan117]

JT said in the Press conf after the ST G game that he wanted the team to focus on Defense and not scoring 50.

This is a building year, Semi finals or top 4 will be a tremendous bonus.

I heard on the radio that the comp starts in August, Lest hone our skills and discipline till then and see where we end up in sept.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

JTs been saying that all year - no disrespect Spartan

 

[851]

JT said in the Press conf after the ST G game that he wanted the team to focus on Defense and not scoring 50.

This is a building year, Semi finals or top 4 will be a tremendous bonus.

I heard on the radio that the comp starts in August, Lest hone our skills and discipline till then and see where we end up in sept.

That is all well and good,but you need to be in the 8 to play when the comp supposedly starts in august/september.

 

[MacDougall]

It's interesting that people criticise the bombs. Pretty sure two times we didn't bomb it that Parramatta made line breaks on the kick return.

 

[mightymagpie]

I for one am optimistic that JT has a plan and at the moment it's built on solid defence. Great points in this thread about the midfield bombs - I never thought of it that way at the game and we were just getting frustrated with the seemingly poor 5th tackle options.
What I don't understand is why we never grubbered into the in goal when we were close to their line and force a drop out.
It was definitely noticeable Parra were struggling towards the end - whether that was due to our defence or the fact they only had a 3 man bench or a combination of both.
It will be interesting to see how we go against the Warriors

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[barra]

IMO, we only won because of the 3 dropped balls at the 60-70 minute mark. Maybe Taylor predicted them to get frustrated? Doubt it.

Yeh, we were in the arm wrestle but tbh eels were starting their sets on the 30 and us on the 10\. They had better field position and cudos to our defense for keeping them out and more importantly denying them any attacking opportunities whatsoever.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

Yes the fact is that Parra was actually doing more with the possessions they had in terms of metres gained through their possessions.

But we took better advantage of the opportunities that presented in the final minutes, all of which were built through a fairly tough and gritty performance, more completed sets and as you point out, some pretty good defence.

Well done team and coaches.

But to be honest, I didn't think we won the ruck and that took the gloss off it a little for me.

 

[jirskyr]

It's interesting that people criticise the bombs. Pretty sure two times we didn't bomb it that Parramatta made line breaks on the kick return.

Well two things:

1) if you can't kick on the ground and do a decent chase, what sort of footy side are you?

2) 100% one of Parra's first line breaks came off a bomb, their new winger outleapt and ran off downfield, Moses reeled him in.

 

[barra]

It's interesting that people criticise the bombs. Pretty sure two times we didn't bomb it that Parramatta made line breaks on the kick return.

Well two things:

1) if you can't kick on the ground and do a decent chase, what sort of footy side are you?

2) 100% one of Parra's first line breaks came off a bomb, their new winger outleapt and ran off downfield, Moses reeled him in.

100% correct on both counts.

WT website stats have Parra kick return metres ahead of ours, that is directly related to the quality of the kick and the chase. It will definitely hurt us if not addressed.

 

[happy_tiger]

It's interesting that people criticise the bombs. Pretty sure two times we didn't bomb it that Parramatta made line breaks on the kick return.

Well two things:

1) if you can't kick on the ground and do a decent chase, what sort of footy side are you?

2) 100% one of Parra's first line breaks came off a bomb, their new winger outleapt and ran off downfield, Moses reeled him in.

100% correct on both counts.

WT website stats have Parra kick return metres ahead of ours, that is directly related to the quality of the kick and the chase. It will definitely hurt us if not addressed.

At least 3 times Teddy was a whisker from going long on our kick return

2 of Parra back three are far bigger than our back three

 

[diedpretty]

We definitely seem to be in the game to win it at the 80th minute, rather than in years past where we'll string together 60 minutes of unbeatable footy and then concede some cheapies after.
**Also, every team we've played has played poorly, or appears to have been below their standards. Five times in a row is a bit coincidental, can we credit any of this to our defence?**
_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

I have always been a proponent of the adage that you play as well as your opposition allows you - sure there were some unforced errors but generally Parra were just tackled and bustled out of the game - in the end they had nothing left in the tank.

 

[Tigerspirit]

The thing that has impressed me the most about Taylor is how many players that have improved under his tutelage

I don't think one player has gone backwards

Says a lot really especially seeing it has happened in such a short time

Excellent point made

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[cqtiger]

I'm happy that we didn't play our best footy but still won the game. Winning ugly is something that the Wests Tigers are not known for.

Our defense is much improved and as all experts know - defense is all about attitude.

I think this weeks game will be telling. The warriors are big boys all over the park. If we can win this Game over there, I think we are in for a good year. Impressed with JT to this point.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[cunno]

Interesting points made in previous posts. It is becoming apparent that there is no accident in relation to what JT is about, if I didn't know better he has seen this as probably his last chance to coach an NRL team he saw the opportunity coming at the WTs last year with the way the club was going, examined the roster and devised a coaching direction for the team probably based on his successful experience at the Roosters and his long experience in league (I recall him playing Flegg for Wests many years ago and from memory that team was beaten by Balmain in the GF, he's been involved at the top,level,for,a long time). He delivered his plan to our new Board and has gone about implementing it since. I don't suggest all is perfect there will be ups and downs and he will probably have to adjust as the season progresses but nonetheless he looks to me like a bloke who has seized an opportunity and making the most of it which to this point is benefitting those around him especially when compared to where we have been in the past.

 

[Tigermama]

If we become a boring side that wins more games than it loses and has the best defence in the NRL, I think I can cop that - would be a nice change from the 'exciting' ad lib plays that rarely came off and the tissue paper defence of previous years.

Me too Flip. I Love that Winning feeling :slight_smile: