Game vs Parra

[Country Dragon]

Set up a try? I must admit, I tuned out after Rara**** (whatever the f**k the women beaters name is) 4th. Any tries after that were meaningless.



I don't hate Widdop a bit. Not at all. You tell me, whose f**king job is it to be creative??????? You know, like the enemies half back and budget 5/8 were?


Holly Makarov! Stop the presses! fully expect BrissyRedV, the trippy old dude and other to lose their minds over that!


Oh, okay........ Now it all makes sense! Now I finally understand. I am for sure a clueless idiot, not BrissyRedV, or I have been smoking that which the trippy old dude smokes daily. Widdop is not a playmaker, despite the current and former coach referring to him as a "marquee playmaker", Widdop is a running half. That's great. I don't suppose you could tell me the games where he has displayed that ability over the last 3 (yes 3!!!!!) f**king nightmarish years? You know, like other running 5/8s such as Morgan or Milford (who are probably both on less than Widdop for now) display on a regular basis.

That's enough Vas!

 

[Country Dragon]

Oh, ok. Got it now. McIdiot has told Widdop: "Don't even try to be creative. That is my job." And as for McCrone, it was just by chance that he was calling for the ball every kick and the dummy half was passing him the ball for every kick because our marquee playmaker has shown for 3 years and 2 rounds he is a really great long and short kicker..........

That's enough Vas!

 

[giboz71]

Against the Panthers, we had total forward domination. This was an example of a game where our forwards were nullified. Eels were up in our faces all game. We weren't completely dominated, Sims, Ah Mau and Vaughan had some good charges. But Parra were up for this game.

The big difference was their big guns delivered. Norman, Jennings and Semi all delivered when it mattered. It's the same formula for most teams. Have your gun players fire and you'll win most weeks.

This has been our problem for a long time now. Duges and Widdop will have a good game here and there but they are too few and far between.

Hence I think we need another big name signing before Hunt gets here to deliver in the big moments.

 

[BrissyRedV]

Against the Panthers, we had total forward domination. This was an example of a game where our forwards were nullified. Eels were up in our faces all game. We weren't completely dominated, Sims, Ah Mau and Vaughan had some good charges. But Parra were up for this game.

The big difference was their big guns delivered. Norman, Jennings and Semi all delivered when it mattered. It's the same formula for most teams. Have your gun players fire and you'll win most weeks.

This has been our problem for a long time now. Duges and Widdop will have a good game here and there but they are too few and far between.

Hence I think we need another big name signing before Hunt gets here to deliver in the big moments.

I think that big signing needs to be a coach...
In reality, we were outplayed last night. The Eels dominated the territory game and their halves played off the back of that. They got numbers in the ruck and slowed our ball down. They also utilised shooters who pushed the limits of the 10m line and shut down our "power" game. This could have been fixed in game running in numbers, short passes and offloads but none of that eventuate. The Eels were well drilled and the biggest difference between the teams is the coach.

On the occasion we had quick ball, we made some gains, but just not enough. Poor ball handling also killed any momentum we started to gain. The insistence to always go to the right must have been identified pre-game otherwise why would the team persist in going to that side?

On a side note, I have really been impressed with McInnes the last 2 weeks. Always puts his body on the line against much bigger opposition and his service from dummy half is a marked improvement on what Rein provided.

 

[Lovemedragons]

I am no football technical guru so can anyone explain to me why the hell Aitken played such a poor game yesterday? He was really out of sorts for some reason, perhaps the bad haircut?

 

[Old Timer]

Week 1 JDB ran straight and hard and eye balled the defender and ran into him, past him or over him.
Week 2 JDB started to ball play and again introduced the stop, turn his back to the defence in a half arsed attempt of a very slow, well telegraphed run a round.
Old ugly habits (like the defence on their heels sliding and waiting for the opposition) that were not visible in Rd1 were evident in Rd 2 and were either the coaches alternate game plan or introduced by the players as they got it in their head that after 1 win they could do as they like.
Our discipline and consistency lasted all of 1 game.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

I am no football technical guru so can anyone explain to me why the hell Aitken played such a poor game yesterday? He was really out of sorts for some reason, perhaps the bad haircut?

I think Aitken has always been suspect in defence and Parra did their homework. Great game plan from a great coach.

 

[Old Timer]

I am no football technical guru so can anyone explain to me why the hell Aitken played such a poor game yesterday? He was really out of sorts for some reason, perhaps the bad haircut?

Simple he played against a guy who has great footwork and skill.
As Jennings isn't a battering ram player Aitken was forced to make decisions and he didn't cope with that aspect of the game.
It is obvious that lateral movement is not his strong point nor his confidence in the players around him as he keeps running up out of the line or cutting in field trying to stop the play getting to his one on one opponent.
You can't teach people what should come naturally such as simple head counting which is how 3 on 2's are created.
This problem was there last year and not addressed properly by the defence coaches.

 

[possm]

For some reason our second row did not hammer the Eels haves who had a field day. Also our defensive line sat back and waited for most of the game.

When it was clear that the Eels were stacking the centre of the field our forwards should have targeted the edges until gaps appeared in the middle. It was up to our halves to direct the forwards to the edges.

For this game we needed to do something different because the opposition were told that we would do the same.

Our backline was not as slick as our forwards the week before so even though it was a winning 17 against Penrith, Mary should have made obvious changes to the backline;
Aitken out Milne in,
Lafai out Mann in,
Nightingale out Dufty in,
Leilua on the bench.

Unfortunately we do not have a halfback ready for first grade but now that McCrone has failed, Field should be given the job for the next 3 games and Widdop should be tasked with organising the play.

 

[Dragonslayer]

I am no football technical guru so can anyone explain to me why the hell Aitken played such a poor game yesterday? He was really out of sorts for some reason, perhaps the bad haircut?

He's been playing like that for some time now, it just was covered up by other issues going on in the team and I'm talking about last year here. After such a win in round 1, teams have now been able to expose his weaknesses which, unfortunately yesterday, stood out like a beacon on a dark night.

 

[Lovemedragons]

Simple he played against a guy who has great footwork and skill.
As Jennings isn't a battering ram player Aitken was forced to make decisions and he didn't cope with that aspect of the game.
It is obvious that lateral movement is not his strong point nor his confidence in the players around him as he keeps running up out of the line or cutting in field trying to stop the play getting to his one on one opponent.
You can't teach people what should come naturally such as simple head counting which is how 3 on 2's are created.
This problem was there last year and not addressed properly by the defence coaches.

So for a smart coach this is a simple one - put the lad back to reserves to learn his defensive techniques (and explaining this logic to him), replace him with one of the many centre options they seem to have. I wonder if that will happen?

 

[kit66]

Lovemedragons said: ↑
I am no football technical guru so can anyone explain to me why the hell Aitken played such a poor game yesterday? He was really out of sorts for some reason, perhaps the bad haircut?

I think Aitken has always been suspect in defence and Parra did their homework. Great game plan from a great coach.

He's certainly capable of the occasional bad game and some coaches have figured out how to target him.
He gifted Penrith a try last week with a bad read.

Yes, did their homework and came up with a good game-plan. A good coach though would have nullified that after about Radradra's second try would have moved a noted defender out to help the hapless Aitken. In fact Mary had every right to collar Aitken off and give Mann a shot but no, not Mary.

 

[Old Timer]

So for a smart coach this is a simple one - put the lad back to reserves to learn his defensive techniques (and explaining this logic to him), replace him with one of the many centre options they seem to have. I wonder if that will happen?

Your suggestion is far too logical a solution.
He will probably move Aitken to LC drop Lafai and promote Milne to RC and then wonder why the bandaid didn't stop the haemorrhaging.

 

[merahputih]

I think we need to be careful when compressing the left side defence. Last week I notice the Panthers made good ground on the left side. I also noticed Nightingale and Lafai were very slow in sliding and positioning themselves out wide.

 

[merahputih]

Well picked in hindsight, given the result. This has been a problem for several seasons now and the better teams exploit it all the time.A good coach would have fixed this long ago.

 

[gonz]

Kevin Walters said on the sideline heard Norman just running the show all game ! Directing with confidence

 

[Crush]

For some reason our second row did not hammer the Eels haves who had a field day. Also our defensive line sat back and waited for most of the game.

When it was clear that the Eels were stacking the centre of the field our forwards should have targeted the edges until gaps appeared in the middle. It was up to our halves to direct the forwards to the edges.

For this game we needed to do something different because the opposition were told that we would do the same.

Our backline was not as slick as our forwards the week before so even though it was a winning 17 against Penrith, Mary should have made obvious changes to the backline;
Aitken out Milne in,
Lafai out Mann in,
Nightingale out Dufty in,
Leilua on the bench.

Unfortunately we do not have a halfback ready for first grade but now that McCrone has failed, Field should be given the job for the next 3 games and Widdop should be tasked with organising the play.

Possm, cmon. Now that McCrone has failed? It is round 2. He played very well round 1. Give the guy a few weeks at least.
He isn't a flash halfback but unfortunately he is the best option for now. Lets hope that he plays like he did round 1 next week otherwise we have big problems.

 

[Dragsters]

Possm, cmon. Now that McCrone has failed? It is round 2. He played very well round 1. Give the guy a few weeks at least.
He isn't a flash halfback but unfortunately he is the best option for now. Lets hope that he plays like he did round 1 next week otherwise we have big problems.

Mary at least must fix the centres issue.

In the charity shield bad defensive reads by Aitken and lafai were responsible for 3 tries that night as well.

Must fix now.

 

[Miller was a legend]

If you look at what the Sharks did to raiders right edge, you better fix the centre issue real fast

 

[Miller was a legend]

Possm, cmon. Now that McCrone has failed? It is round 2. He played very well round 1. Give the guy a few weeks at least.
He isn't a flash halfback but unfortunately he is the best option for now. Lets hope that he plays like he did round 1 next week otherwise we have big problems.

He was dead set horrible yesterday