Well if we do win the next two games, and I do give us a hope after watching the Titans and Warriors this weekend, we might have a chance to make some inroads this year because I think stringing wins together might give the team the belief required to go on with the job. Starting with a strong loss is not ideal though. Inexperienced players are less resilient when it comes to confidence and our team is very inexperienced. If we are 2-1 at round 3 anything is possible. If were 0-3 at round 3 we're in a world of trouble.
In saying that I do think that the areas we lost that game in are fixable. We didn't lose it through lack of talent, we lost it because we went away from what was working when the Dragons had some luck and got on the board.
Like I mentioned last night when I said that we lose the plot in defense when the play breaks down through panic, the same can be said for when the other team gets a bit of momentum, we panic and ditch the structure that works for us. Farah and Anasta should be very disappointed in their performances last night for this reason as they were key in altering the game plan on the run through panic and that is not a good thing to see from the experienced players.
The Dragons scored a try when Fulton got cleaned up by Tedesco and it was like a different team ball in hand after that. Brooks saw less of the ball because Farah and Anasta started trying to put their old man stank all over it, the outside men were getting less clean ball as a result and the forwards to their credit all got too involved, which is the opposite of our usual problems. We have a new pack and they all want to contribute to bettering our cause, probably all felt like they needed to establish early that we weren't the pushover Tigers of years past, but they were standing on top of each other at times trying to get ball when they should have been stacking along the backline running tough lines while Brooks and the backline ran plays.
So when we lose because of brain explosions from the senior players and overenthusiasm from a pack of young hungry forwards, there are worse signs for the future. All Farah and Anasta need to do is give Brooks the call in the pivotal moments more often than not. It all snowballed from there. Brooks lost his voice, Farah and Anasta went tunnel vision and the forwards lost guidance. I think the key moment of the game was when Sue and Woods got in each other's way and we lost possession inside our own ten. It looked horrible in a bubble but when we're losing because of overenthusiasm you can see the coach is having an effect.
Farah needs to get back to being the guy who takes the play when he's not expected to. The guy who puts in the perfect 40/20 on the fourth when nobody sees it coming. To get back there he has to basically reset his game. He needs to go back to basics and rediscover his touch. I want to see some seriously simple games from Farah in the next couple of weeks. Brooks has the goods, you could see it in the first 20\. He showed more than Miller ever did. That chip and chase was audacious and almost came off. Anasta, well he either needs to go or really take a back seat and rather than force himself onto the play, needs to take the reigns when Brooks actively defers to him. To be honest though I think he just needs to go.
Sorry about the lengthy post.
