Why don’t our forwards go forward?

[jrtiger]

Aloiai needs a rocket and with Blore looking to partner Luch next year in the back row, Garner needs to become a depth option only. start Sammy Mac and Eiso next week Madge, they both fully deserve it. Mikaele was ok but better suited to the bench.

 

[the_third]

Forget the go forward, why don’t they use shoulder when they tackle. Garners effort led to a try and was key in that 1st 20. Great hole runner but that’s not enough

 

[Snake]

To many in the pack are similar... the problem is all flash no substance. . Running good lines blah blah if you can not defend and put the opposition on the ground it’s a mute point.
Nofo is the where the team is at present can score points but can not defend so all the effort is cancelled out .
The pack needs to be cleaned out bringing in some hard ball defenders ..

 

[Andyvee]

I noticed in the last two games, both forward packs of Manly and Souths came out playing high intensity in both attack and defence, whilst our pack had trouble keeping up. As the games went on, it started to even out where fatigue set in and we started to match them. Last 20 or so minutes, both Manly and Souths forwards were spent, whilst our guys started to look better. Not sure if this has been the game plan over the last couple of weeks? It seemed to work.

 

[Tcat]

I noticed in the last two games, both forward packs of Manly and Souths came out playing high intensity in both attack and defence, whilst our pack had trouble keeping up. As the games went on, it started to even out where fatigue set in and we started to match them. Last 20 or so minutes, both Manly and Souths forwards were spent, whilst our guys started to look better. Not sure if this has been the game plan over the last couple of weeks? It seemed to work.

Have to agree. Freddy on ch9 was talking about South's having all the energy in the last 20, but I saw it the total opposite. The momentum and energy was all with us and I was loving the seeing the bunnies players looking at the scoreboard to see how long they had to go. An extra 5 minutes and the game was ours.

 

[jadtiger]

I noticed in the last two games, both forward packs of Manly and Souths came out playing high intensity in both attack and defence, whilst our pack had trouble keeping up. As the games went on, it started to even out where fatigue set in and we started to match them. Last 20 or so minutes, both Manly and Souths forwards were spent, whilst our guys started to look better. Not sure if this has been the game plan over the last couple of weeks? It seemed to work.

Have to agree. Freddy on ch9 was talking about South's having all the energy in the last 20, but I saw it the total opposite. The momentum and energy was all with us and I was loving the seeing the bunnies players looking at the scoreboard to see how long they had to go. An extra 5 minutes and the game was ours.

It could have been ours if our most experienced but completely brain dead player had not kicked it dead on the 2nd tackle going for a miracle play with a few minutes left (which no one expected).

 

[hank37w]

Yeah, that kick absolutely did my head in just as much as Alex Twal's head explosion when he got binned.
Of course the try Souffs scored about 5 seconds before Twal came back on, Benji's brain dead kick and our pathetically slow start cost us the game.
Anyway, good signs for the future because if we ever get some smarts we may be able to win some games.

 

[Guest]

Phil Gould summed it up well in a tweet, we need 4-5 NRL quality forwards to sort out the pack. The starting pack doesn't have any line speed, I'm sure they would cover this in their video review, but if the signings mentioned by The POM come off, our forward pack would look like:

8. Tamou
9. Liddle
10. Twal
11. Lucy
12. Blore
13. McIntyre

14. Mikaele
15. Aloiai
16. Hetherington
17. Musgrove/Stefano

Aloiai has played some good games this year but I maintain he's still more effective off the bench and can play in the middle, giving McIntyre a breather. Mikaele needs another off-season and will be stronger next year once his knee is better and likewise Musgrove and Stefano who both offer genuine size and impact. Hetherington would be very handy, he provides aggression and energy and I reckon this pack holds its own against almost any other pack. Could be a risk starting Blore, but he's another big body who can hit in defence but also offload in attack.

 

[old_man_tiger]

Have done a 180 on Tamou.

Young packs with promise getting owned. Look at the Broncos who would have the best young pack in recent memory but no hardheads.

Not the signing I wanted but I think it is the one we need as our forwards have gone backwards with fatigue and niggles through the season and it has made it painful to watch.

 

[TigerSJ]

There are a few things that need attention, but if you need to start somewhere and since this thread is about the lack of go forward in our pack, then...... it is always going to be a problem for us unless we can defend with more aggression and drive the opposition back or at least control their metres with our D. We also need to take the ball up with more heart and speed up our ptb. Perhaps more variation than half pace one out efforts. There were numerous times in the game when our spine were receiving the ball and looking for runners and I was screaming at the TV “who wants the ball!!” No runners at all!
When you couple our deficiencies in these 2 areas along with errors that hand over possession in our own half, the result is we do not have the resilience in D to hold out any decent attack. Our poor edge defense is then exposed.
Often once the game settles and we have some possession things start to even up but the fact is we are weaker than most teams in the middle and lose the power struggle every week.
We simply must address this next season as the first priority until then we will never be able to compete.

 

[Elderslie_Tiger]

The only forward who shows aggression is McIntyre the rest of the forwards wouldn't bruise a peach we need a mongrel

 

[TigerSJ]

Tamou on his own is not enough. If we can get Hetherington as well and develop McIntyre and Blore we will be in much better shape.

 

[Elderslie_Tiger]

Tamou on his own is not enough. If we can get Hetherington as well and develop McIntyre and Blore we will be in much better shape.

Don't forget Stefano

 

[Telltails]

I noticed in the last two games, both forward packs of Manly and Souths came out playing high intensity in both attack and defence, whilst our pack had trouble keeping up. As the games went on, it started to even out where fatigue set in and we started to match them. Last 20 or so minutes, both Manly and Souths forwards were spent, whilst our guys started to look better. Not sure if this has been the game plan over the last couple of weeks? It seemed to work.

Have to agree. Freddy on ch9 was talking about South's having all the energy in the last 20, but I saw it the total opposite. The momentum and energy was all with us and I was loving the seeing the bunnies players looking at the scoreboard to see how long they had to go. An extra 5 minutes and the game was ours.

I'm sure Freddy most of the time says stuff that he wants to believe rather than anything that is factual.

 

[Hangonaminute]

Garlic Mayo has been very ordinary this season, I'd be looking to shop him before everyone finds out how useless he is.
I just don't think he's good enough, he's a bench player at best but doesn't make my 17.

He can talk the talk though, but unfortunately doesn't walk the walk.
Lot's of Tigers players are great at talking the talk

 

[tonza]

Yeah, that kick absolutely did my head in just as much as Alex Twal's head explosion when he got binned.
Of course the try Souffs scored about 5 seconds before Twal came back on, Benji's brain dead kick and our pathetically slow start cost us the game.
Anyway, good signs for the future because if we ever get some smarts we may be able to win some games.

As well as the cut out pass to a winger who was asleep, a drop ball by L. L. 2 metres from the try line, a centre who threw a intercept to a waiting Gagai, who was always going for the intercept and not the man and the many tries let in by poor reads by the rookie left hand side defence. But I agree it was Benji,s kick that finally sealed our defeat,

 

[Strider]

Garlic Mayo has been very ordinary this season, I'd be looking to shop him before everyone finds out how useless he is.
I just don't think he's good enough, he's a bench player at best but doesn't make my 17.

He can talk the talk though, but unfortunately doesn't walk the walk.
Lot's of Tigers players are great at talking the talk

Haha is that Garner? Or twal? Either wayI agree. Benchy at best. Absoo best. Need better.

 

[Needaname]

That first 25 minutes against Souths was embarrassing. What the heck is going on with our starting forwards? It was the exact same in the previous game against Manly. It's like our middle-third doesn't even exist at the start of games. We're not really missing tackles, but our defenders are being dragged miles.

Until McIntyre and Eisenhuth came on, we were leaking like a sieve. Simply not good enough from Aloiai and Mikaele.

I was having a closer look during that game and noticed so many times our 2nd man in simply isn't in an effective position to help complete the tackle. The first defensive hit is normally ineffective from either a weak, tired or "uncommitted" defender, the 2nd man in either half tackles our own player, has to re-adjust or a 3rd has to come in and hit the legs which gives the attack more post contact metres. Our defense just looks disjointed and like I've said before, it's because we hang back and wait in defense. We need to be dominate and up in their faces, this will allow us to have some control in how the tackle is completed and slow the attack down. We just seem so scrambled and weak in defense.

The problem is, we've already tried that approach and got absolutely hammered!

Interesting, your right we have. It’s not possible to compete that way for 80mins.
It’s about being smart with it.
Against us Penrith weren’t rushing up per say but moving as one and holding a solid line. We went with them for about the first 40-50mins of the game. Then after their 3rd try I think. They had a defensive set against us where we made 20ms. Once then they finally sat us back down. So to speak. That aggressive set, solidify’d the game for them.
Penrith against the Eels both packs were going set to set but the Panthers pack were playing conservatively at first. People mention stats and then talk Tamou and what he does, doesn’t do.
What he did in his first stint was make sure no player got on top of him when defending. He has an ability to hold the runner half from the ground and force them on their side when completing the tackle.
With us I find our forwards continually shift their feet trying to position themselves in the tackle. What we really need to do is stop our movement once we get a good grab and fall to help the defender down. Walking backwards 2-3m doesn’t help. Unfortunately we aren’t doing this because we are trying to slow the play the ball up by getting the player on the back.
I don’t know who to blame in the coaching staff for this but our defensive style is not effective for the size, stamina and strength of our forward pack. And injection of Tamou and a fit and commited Packer fixes this.
Both start for mine next year.

 

[twentyforty]

Our forwards appear to have a mindset of running to the defenders. Plus they aren’t very mobile, Luch is an exception of course. If you want to break a brick with your bare hands (please don’t try this at home) then you need to see your hands passing through the brick.
Woods achieved a lot in his career but he could have achieved so much more given his size, agility and skill.
Other teams like our forwards hitting up because they’re easy targets for the markers. Grant gets the ball wide of the markers most times.

 

[bptiger]

He is the exception, I will give u that, the rest are soft compared to other teams