NZ 3 2 1s

[Valheru]

Poor performance and well beaten by a team who are on fire. Defence wasn't quite good enough in the first half and too many errors when we did get chances meant we never got back in the game.

On a positive, I thought the effort was there the entire way even if execution was lacking and Cords had by far his best game of the season.

Latrell is looking ready for origin.

3 Latrell
2 Cords
1 Teddy

 

[Tommy Smith]

What the f**k was that, seriously?

One of the worst games I've ever seen by a quality Roosters side.

The 1-2 knock out blow was probably SJ being ruled out followed by the easy 3rd min try.

From that moment on the boys were in mental cruise mode expecting an easy win. And once you switch to that mentality it's hard to switch back.

3. Latrell
2. Cordner
1. Radley

On the flip side, Reece Robinson is every bit as average and casual as I remember. He simply can't play again.

And Friend is at crisis point. He can't even pass anymore. Please. No more double pumps!

 

[Valheru]

What the f**k was that, seriously?

One of the worst games I've ever seen by a quality Roosters side.

The 1-2 knock out blow was probably SJ being ruled out followed by the easy 3rd min try.

From that moment on the boys were in mental cruise mode expecting an easy win. And once you switch to that mentality it's hard to switch back.

3. Latrell
2. Cordner
1. Radley

On the flip side, Reece Robinson is every bit as average and casual as I remember. He simply can't play again.

And Friend is at crisis point. He can't even pass anymore. Please. No more double pumps!

Good summation. This is a team who is already waiting for finals and thought they would blitz it yesterday. They would wantto smarten up though because a top 4 finish is far from a guarantee.

Agree re: friend, radley is the best hooker at the club.

 

[Tommy Smith]

And Baptiste might be the 2nd best!

Friend looks cooked to me. He simply has to be spelled for the middle third of the match.

Cronk had a few heated words for him at one point.

Hardly surprising.

Going from Smith to Friend is like going from Gisele Bundchen to Rebel Wilson.

And just on our attitude; ever since I've been a Roosters fan we've always been capable of these shocking limp wristed performances in games we should win. It's almost part of the culture of the club.

We have an easy draw this year, or so it seemed, but you're right we better get our act together or we'll f**k it up.

The only thing keeping me optimistic is that the other two stand out pre season faves in the Storm and Cowboys look just as flawed as we do.

And the only other potential threat, the Dragons, have been March Premiers every year during Mary's reign.

So still lots of hope but we definitely have our concerns.

 

[H.H]

Yeah disappointing performance for sure, but it’s too easy to overlook how outstanding the warriors were. Serious football team that one. No other team would’ve beaten them on the day.

As for friend, I’m always reluctant to criticise him given what he puts his body through for our club but no doubt the quality of his performances are a long way from the 2013/14 halcyon days. Tough one for robbo but it absolutely needs to be looked at.

3 - Lattrell
2 - Radley
1 - Tedesco

 

[Valheru]

I can deal with Friend's lack of creative spark given his defensive work rate and our other attacking pieces but the 2-4 forward passes a game are unsustainable

 

[Headless Chook]

Not much good came out of this one. Piss poor for all but 3 minutes.

3. Radley. The kid can hit. Great technique.
2. Latrell
1. Teddy

 

[Captain Apollo]

Friend's work at dummy half seems to have regressed. As others have said up thread he either double pumps it unnecessarily, or he collects the ball stands upright and then passes - which results in the receiver being smashed by the defence before he can do anything with it or run very far.

He does need to be spelled, but Robbo seems to refuse to recognise it. On Saturday rather than spell him, all he did was send Radley on, have Radley defend in the middle and push Friend to defend outside Cordner. Other than when he came on for Cordner for a HIA, Mitchell Aubusson warmed the bench until the final 20 minutes of the game. Just complete madness.

The Warriors deservedly beat us as they played relatively mistake free football. If anything our side looked like what people used to accuse the Warriors of - namely not having respect for the football in big games.

 

[Bgoodorgoodatit]

Friend has been a concern for me for a while.

First few rounds hes taken it upon himself to kick from dummy half numerous times leaving Cronk standing there with his dick in his hand yielding less than spectacular results. The forward passes are also far too frequent couple with his slow service.

i guess the question we need answered is can we have a 9 that works his ass off in defense but provides very little in the form of a running and kicking game? i know it was enough in 2013 but he's nowhere near that standard at the moment.

i think the other glaring issue is the goal kicking.... come the business end of the season i wouldn't trust Latrells boot to win us a game. seems way too streaky with too much deviation between his best and his worst. Can Cronk or Keary kick?

Onto the game our defense is still very good but no team in the comp can defend completing only 50% of their sets.... as others have said scoring easy early just put us in holiday mode, then Fergo throws it a meter behind SST off the kick off and it was all down hill from there... two forward passes two more dropped balls in the space of about 10 min.. just not good enough

3. Cornder
2. Latrell
1. Teddy

 

[Captain Apollo]

If Latrell is not going to be our goal kicker, the only other experienced goal kicker in the squad is SST. In fact many people thought SST would be the first string kicker.

Begood, Keary is no goal kicker. Has never taken a shot at first grade level. As to Cronk, in his entire first grade career he has had 6 attempts at goal, kicking 1 for a success rate of 16.67%. Hence I would say neither is a viable option. Being a good kicker in general play is vastly different to being a good goal kicker.

 

[Valheru]

To be fair to Latrell he has been fine thus far this season, hasn't missed any shockers and is striking the ball ok.

 

[Bgoodorgoodatit]

true he has been serviceable... I just need to see it under pressure to be convinced... also i'm not sure the kid needs the added responsibility.

In saying that if he's our only option then he's our only option....

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

3. Cornder
2. Latrell
1. Teddy

Anyone else worried about our 'go forward' or lack there of?

 

[Headless Chook]

3. Cornder
2. Latrell
1. Teddy

Anyone else worried about our 'go forward' or lack there of?

I’ll be worried if we cut out the stupid mistakes and the penalties and then don’t win. Then generally it’s the forwards that are the problem.