@fred I think we can be more creative without giving away too much ball security when completing sets. We will get away with 4 straight hit ups time after time with the weaker sides but not the good ones. I get the need to dominate in the forwards first and then throw it out but even when we do we don’t look to take advantage out wide. I think Chops is too good a coach so either he has a plan or the players aren’t listening or thinking on their feet. I guess that’s why they call it experience (or lack of it) at this age.

@Balmain_Boy Yes I was. Sharks were very strong and seemed to make very easy metres up the middle rolling forward.

When we took the ball up they seemed to have much better line speed and we struggled to get across the advantage line. They had a couple of very big forwards (one an Australian Schoolboy prop - Franklin Pele(?)) who scored a couple of soft tries barging it up. Not sure if we were taking advantage of the ref the same as they were in defence?

In fairness to our boys we fought back from 20-4 to 20-16 right on half time which I thought showed good character and we were still right in the contest.

Unfortunately in the second half we were camped down in our 22 and just could not seem to get out and in the end we ran out of puff. We just couldn’t stop them and our defence was pretty poor. Our right winger did save a great try coming from far behind in cover to roll over the Sharks player right on the line in what looked like would be a certain score. Whilst we were still in it, after that we struggled and had too many injuries - 2 to concussion, Henry did his knee (not sure how bad but didn’t look good) and then Madden had a problem with his hamstring. I think we ran out of reserves?

My thoughts? We didn’t seem to be up for this game and didn’t have the urgency the Sharks did. Our attack seems to be one out all the time with Madden occasionally turning the ball back inside to runner hitting it up. These tactics seemed strange to me when the Sharks were so big up the middle and we needed to run them around a bit. Running at them time after time while they just waited for us wasn’t working. Whilst ball security early in the tackle count is priority, either a ball playing forward or some more adventurous plays tackles 3 and 4 would be beneficial.On the rare occasion when we did send it our OC scores twice.

I just don’t understand why we can’t get it wide and we don’t even seem to look - Curtis the right edge player very good as is Zac but they don’t always pass it when they should. Basically both wingers are starved of the ball unless they run it out from the red zone. Lee was pretty much MOTM the week before but couldn’t get anywhere near the ball this week unless he went in. Talau seemed to be better at giving it on the right edge when required but of course he was unavailable. Both our centres though have a lot of ability and go well.

My mail which could be incorrect was that 3 players pulled out on Friday night and one of the reserves didn’t turn up to the captain’s run Saturday morning so wasn’t picked. Not sure what is going on - maybe injuries and lack of communication somewhere?

I think the boys were frustrated but they were all doing their best. They did at least fight back but the Sharks are a strong unit and if we don’t turn up and be aggressive we have no chance but they are definitely beatable. There were too many soft tries which if stopped would have had us in there. They did miss a lot of goals so score could have been worse but that’s irrelevant if we man up in defence.

I think there will be changes this week due to performance and injuries. I expect a more enthusiastic showing - we were definitely off last Sunday.

@Balmain_Boy Not sure if it’s a club thing or not but we don’t seem to be able to send the ball out wide (particularly to the right edge) very much/well either not just at CC level but also the Jersey Flegg. The catch, draw and pass skill seems to be lacking? Our backs do have a lot of pace but that’s not much good if they can’t get their hands on the ball.

@willow said in Jersey Flegg dominate Eels to secure third straight win:

Looks like the boys are definitely finding some form now - big test next week against a pretty good Sharks side.

Sharks will be a good indication of where we are but as I’ve said we have a very good side that just gets better and better and will continue to do so.

Both Eels’ tries were ultimately due to some silly penalties which still are a bit of a problem. If we can eliminate some of these we will become a bigger force.

I am impressed with Chops. We sat near the coaching group and I noticed some of his instructions being sent out and they all made good sense.

These kids are a good group and are supporting each other when good and bad things happen. It’s not hard to see they are enjoying their football.

Like anything, if you can get on a roll and see what you can do, the platform is there to build on for the rest of the season regardless of good and bad games.

It was good to get the win up over the Bears on Sunday. I’m not sure I can say it was a game that reached any great heights.

Clearly based on the last 2 games we are not that keen to spread it wide even when quick ball was required when we had excess numbers. A review of tries scored against the Bears in recent games shows that opposing wingers were scoring plenty against them and yet we didn’t get the ball out wide once to ours or even to our edges that much and I can’t figure out why? We had numbers quite a few times but we insisted on barging it up without even looking when all that was required was a simple catch, draw and pass. The new winger Lee-Silva into the side replacing Bradley ran hard from the play the ball and I thought did well with limited opportunities. Our 9 was solid.

Some of our kicks were very good but also there were times that if we were going high we needed to ensure they could be contested.

Mavoni (yes I am a fan and not sure that the tackle was all that illegal but haven’t seen a replay) went well as did Madden (in the main) and we fought back well against a heavy penalty count. I think we need more vision about when to throw it wide (particularly late in the tackle count) and when not to as the better sides will hammer us if we don’t take our opportunities. If we try to play the same against the Sharks in a couple of weeks we might struggle badly.

On a positive note, the boys won the game so well done in that respect and hopefully it is another stepping stone to building a strong unit in this competition. It is a learning curve at this level after all.

Looking at school times last year Scolari has run 10.8 - 11.1s times. He also ran the 200m in 22.3s so he can motor. From Dubbo by the looks.

I share your frustration but not sure about all backs are completely slow? Cini is quick for his size, Madden is quite nippy. Scolari is a former athlete and can run super quick & the others aren’t dawdlers - I have also watched them a bit at training. Their times aren’t slow at all.

Send offs didn’t help but we dropped the ball and got caught too close to the sideline.

There’s no doubt they all played badly - too many errors & I’m sure Chops will make some changes. It was one of those days and at least they fought back albeit too little too late. I’m tipping a completely different result next time we play them - we couldn’t be that bad again. We’ve all had a bad day in footy in our lives - let’s encourage these kids not butcher them particularly so early in the season.

Of course if they don’t perform, hard decisions will need to be made but that’s life also.

Good trial by the Flegg team on Saturday v Dogs. Looks like the new coach has them going well so far with very few name players. I suppose we’ll have to see how they go in the comp. Couple of big boys in there that run hard and defend very well.