Match Discussion: Round 21 vs Titans @ Cbus Super Stadium

[axl rose]

Tedesco was always going to Easts - he's wanted to play for them forever.
.

Wont be playing long term the way things are going. Absolutely smashed high at least half a dozen times a year. Im not one to side usually with doctors and lawyers (who want to sue the game out of existence) but the long term health of these players is extremely concerning. Teddy has been targeted and the NRL have done absolutely nothing about it.

 

[Tiger05]

Personally I think the Turd should be targeted a lot more than he is. Now I love seeing us win a game but seeing the Turd get smashed is pretty fun as well.

 

[BrotherJim05]

I'm in two minds about that game. The positive side was that our defence was miles better than it has been in a long time, and if you look at our last handful of games we have actually been very competitive. I'm glad I snuck a cheeky $20 on WT win outright.

What has been killing us is our halves. Brooks and Lolohea really seem clueless at times and we lose all the hard work done by our forwards. However I do like what I see when Lolo runs the ball. If he can make the switch to FB with a full off season under IC he could be very dangerous in open space. Brooks on the other hand...im worried. I just can't see him steering the ship and I don't see Reynolds helping Brooks keep a cool head. The 5th tackle options today were very poor, we are lucky Titans were worse than us. 2018 will definitely be sink or swim for Brooks.

 

[Tigerm]

The non leaking of the customary try 5 mins each side is fantastic. The goal line defence has been very un-tigers like. We have matched it with top teams all year, so we arnt too far off the pace, considering we are turfing the doughbangers and bringing in some guns next year.

Turd is looking more like dugan every week. Can set up tries, but only for himself. Refuses to pass to anyone. Im not sad to see him go, hopefully the end of the me, me, me culture leaves with him

Though to be fair, he did find the space and gave the last pass for Marsters try.
I am thinking with him in our side next year we could have possibly got deep into the top 8.
But he isn't there & I just hope we finish in front of Chooks, Dogs & Eels next year to prove the point.

 

[The Charlatan]

Defensive effort was immense yesterday.

Brooks only shortcoming was his short kicking game. Really needs to work on that. Otherwise, his long kicking, running game and defence was very good.

Woods had a dig yesterday, first time in a long time he routinely ran at the line and didn't spin every hit up. I don't know where this has been all year...

Marsters is an exciting prospect, great runner and strong as an ox, he'll come along nicely as a second rower.

 

[The Charlatan]

Thought MWZ went ok - nothing flashy but solid...

Will be great depth for inevitable injuries next year...

Nofoaluma was better today but I don't see him being an automatic selection on current form and with new players coming...

Marsters looks the goods..

Eiso went well... Get him signed up pronto.. I prefer my number 13 having some size and playing like a third prop...

Grant had a good game too.., they probably should re-sign him but I wish he was consistent.

Thought the hooker MM went Ok... Am I right in saying he played the 80 minutes?

Didn't notice my mate JLJ on the field....

JLJ came on with a handful of minutes to go. A waste of a bench spot which would have better been served with Ava or Aloiai there.

Sue was impressive yesterday, ran hard, tackled hard.

 

[The Charlatan]

The non leaking of the customary try 5 mins each side is fantastic. The goal line defence has been very un-tigers like. We have matched it with top teams all year, so we arnt too far off the pace, considering we are turfing the doughbangers and bringing in some guns next year.

Turd is looking more like dugan every week. Can set up tries, but only for himself. Refuses to pass to anyone. Im not sad to see him go, hopefully the end of the me, me, me culture leaves with him

I've thought our goal line defence has been one of our strengths this year, even earlier on in the year.

It's our ability to defend out wide in our own half that's been suspect as f**k. They defended really well as a unit yesterday, even Nofo was able to come in off his wing and close down the ball carrier without negative impact.

 

[macnaz]

Oh yeah, best all round game I have seen from the team all season.

We played a team that had to win to still make the 8, they had plenty to play for. The Tigers had plenty to play for as well, pride and to keep the gap on Newcastle for example but the Titans really did have more.

It was going to be case at half time that the Titans would come out and put 20 on us, they didn't. The Tigers in general tackled well. Their attack still lacks polish and finish but hey, they still scored 5 today though.

The Tigers have been improving and finally won a game, so happy for those guys, they all did well.

I like the fact that IC is getting more minutes out of Woods, regardless what many say of him, I believe that his presence is helping the newbies. Twal looks good and will improve over the summer learning from the new and experienced forwards.

Defensive effort was immense yesterday.

Brooks only shortcoming was his short kicking game. Really needs to work on that. Otherwise, his long kicking, running game and defence was very good.

Woods had a dig yesterday, first time in a long time he routinely ran at the line and didn't spin every hit up. I don't know where this has been all year...

Marsters is an exciting prospect, great runner and strong as an ox, he'll come along nicely as a second rower.

I totally agree on your coment regarding Brooks , 90% of his game is very good its just his last play options have turned to shit lately . Im fairly confident that with a near new side around him next year and an off season to work on things he will rectify a lot of those plays.

 

[Clifferd]

It's not that he doesn't have a short kicking game, it's just his decision making. He put up 3 nothing bombs to their winger who caught them fairly easily then finally realised it wasn't working so chose to stab a little grubber kick and finally got a repeat set

 

[Tigerm]

Yes, just watched the replay, I thought Brooks was OK, couple of nothing kicks near there line, but otherwise a good effort. Will certainly have some stuff to work on with his new team, but I don't think nothing that can't be improved.

 

[Shredder]

Just throwing this out there; but perhaps Brookes' last play mind farts are due to him not having a great deal of confidence in the players around him?

I mean, if you had crap options, you wouldnt take them either.

Not sure this is right, but maybe?

I reckon having Grub here next year will help with our last tackle options and I if anything, we are improving, Im actually seeing some repeat sets not, whereas we never went for repeat sets before.....

 

[Tiger05]

I think Brooks was good. He is a tough one to judge because so much of his game is really good but he isn't consistent throughout the game.

If he gets his act together he could be great for us.

 

[Vozzy]

Thing I have noticed the last 4 weeks is teams whether in form or not when playing us seem to play at our level giving us a chance to beat them.

Ok the Knights are bad but we beat them I think 33-12 but all their other games(recently) have been competitive against dragons twice and broncos.

Then we had Manly who we were leading 16-8 with 20 to go (at brookie) and didn't know how to close out the game. Manly were poor from 10th min to 60th. Since this game manly have been flogged twice now.

Then we had parra who have now won 5 in a row including the broncos but we gave them their hardest win. This was a game we could have won had Lolahea kicked his conversion or didn't throw stupid passes when in fg range.

Then we had titans who were also really shit against us but this is the same team who just beat sharks 30-10 2 weeks ago.

Seems like teams are taking us to easy or playing the tigers makes teams drop to their level. Yesterday I think we have put in better performances say even against the Roosters even though we were beaten 40-18 but still won yesterday.

 

[Radical Rat]

While Brooks doesn't get all his 5th tackle options right, no half backs do.

We seem to expect so much from Brooks that he's so heavily criticized every single time he puts in an ineffectual kick. Watch other half backs with the same level of scrutiny and you'll see just as much inconsistency with most of them. You can't get a positive result every time.

I'm happy with Brooks the last few weeks. His confidence seems to be returning. He's talking the line on, making breaks, defending well. A few little tweaks in the off season and I'm more than comfortable he's the man for the job.

 

[The Charlatan]

While Brooks doesn't get all his 5th tackle options right, no half backs do.

We seem to expect so much from Brooks that he's so heavily criticized every single time he puts in an ineffectual kick. Watch other half backs with the same level of scrutiny and you'll see just as much inconsistency with most of them. You can't get a positive result every time.

I'm happy with Brooks the last few weeks. His confidence seems to be returning. He's talking the line on, making breaks, defending well. A few little tweaks in the off season and I'm more than comfortable he's the man for the job.

I agree, he fixes up his decision making for 5th tackle options and he will immediately be in the top 6 half backs. I find that for a half back everything else he does quite well.

Maybe it's a work in progress with Ivan. He's plugging that many holes at the moment maybe he's looking to work at improving the team as a whole first before working on individual deficiencies, might be an off season project. Brooks has shown in the past he is a very capable footballer who can steer the team around. I don't know what has come around for him to regress so much in parts of his game, but he's working his way back.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Brooks hasn't just come into First Grade recently.. He has been playing there for about 4 years now and is closing in on a 100 games... He isn't inexperienced anymore, although that doesn't mean he can't improve some aspects of his game..

His short kicking game is poor... Sorry but I think if people were being honest they would admit this...

I would have thought that it is a skill that can be learnt...after training each night put in a 100 grubbers into the in goal....get it to stay in the field of play instead of over the deadball or into the defenders legs..

What about Ashley Taylor's short kicking game yesterday? That sweet little kick over the top to their winger that should have led to a try.. Can't imagine Brooks with that finesse at the moment..

On another point, his confidence can be low unless like the 2-3 times a season like yesterday that they are front runners... I want to see that when they are behind with 5 to go and looking for the match winner..not when they are cruising to a win..

Not sure this confidence issue can be overcome at this stage of his career..

 

[BrotherJim05]

What annoys me about Brooks is that his short kicking game has completely disappeared. In his Rookie year I would have to say it was one of his best qualities. That sneaky grubber he used to do looking in the opposite direction that completely fooled everyone and setup a number of Tedesco tries.

I feel like pressure and inept coaching from JT has completely shattered his ability. I hope he can get back to his best next year but if he can't then we need to find a new halfback

 

[Tiger Ted]

What annoys me about Brooks is that his short kicking game has completely disappeared. In his Rookie year I would have to say it was one of his best qualities. That sneaky grubber he used to do looking in the opposite direction that completely fooled everyone and setup a number of Tedesco tries.

I feel like pressure and inept coaching from JT has completely shattered his ability. I hope he can get back to his best next year but if he can't then we need to find a new halfback

We can't afford to carry a dodgy steering wheel when the rest of the car has been reconditioned to a high quality !

I don't get the luv for him y'day against a shithouse & depleted Titans when his game was riddled with 5th tackle errors in passing & kicking.Additionally as per usual a poor defensive read by him contributed to the Titans try.

The positive rebuild for next season will all go to waste if Brooks doesn't improve out of sight.How anybody can b confident after 4 yrs of braindead decision-making beggars belief.

 

[macnaz]

Watch some others halves Ted .. same shit mate . There isnt a lot of perfect 7's around unfortunately . Better off with one with ability and heart trying to change then another with neither .
Seriously play him at the Sharks for instance and he would be a different player. I just think he doesnt have many options at times so ends up doing nothing with it .
Can i just mention also , he used to link with Tedesco perfectly with his kicks and offloads but that has disappeared totally for some reason ? Almost like he has been told not to ..or he or Ted doesnt want to
So thats one less option he has

 

[Clifferd]

Lack of quality halves is a nsw thing imo.

You go to Queensland, they already have Cronk/JT as the top tier halves...then you have Milford/Hunt/DCE/Taylor/Munster etc waiting in the wings

Who do we have in NSW? we have Maloney then...I guess Cleary? (I don't rate Pearce at all)