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Round 14 V Dogs

Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer

First Grade
Messages
7,697
Interesting, but also very smart.
Seibold is going to start Farrah at hooker and have Cook come on from the bench. GI has been rested.
Yeah, yeah some will say because its 2 days since Origin but there are 2 points to make here. 1. If it was McGregor he would back up all of them without hesitation 2. Seibold sees the value in (a) trusting his reserves, and (b) looking at player care for the future.
Hunt, JDB and Friz (wbo copped a knee in the sternum) should be rested and got right for future games. However, unlike Seibold, McGregor will keep flogging the dead horse. Very unfortunate for us, the team and especially the players.
 
ouryears

ouryears

Bench
Messages
3,195
Crush said:
Its NRL. We won't be putting 40 on everyone and charging into the minor premiership. We will win most, lose some, stumble at times, blow teams away at times, lose to teams that we shouldn't at times.
As long as we are maintaining that top 4 spot and being competitive in every game I'll be confident.
I don't need to win these next 3 rounds by 40 to feel comfortable.
Click to expand...

Crush we should be beating the worst teams in the comp by 30 each.

Good teams do that you know.

Scraping over the line or losing to teams well under us, no decent top 4 team does that.

Maybe once a year is acceptable, but 3 times out of 4 we should put these teams to the sword.
 
D

Drag Queen

Bench
Messages
2,981
Dragonslayer said:
Interesting, but also very smart.
Seibold is going to start Farrah at hooker and have Cook come on from the bench. GI has been rested.
Yeah, yeah some will say because its 2 days since Origin but there are 2 points to make here. 1. If it was McGregor he would back up all of them without hesitation 2. Seibold sees the value in (a) trusting his reserves, and (b) looking at player care for the future.
Hunt, JDB and Friz (wbo copped a knee in the sternum) should be rested and got right for future games. However, unlike Seibold, McGregor will keep flogging the dead horse. Very unfortunate for us, the team and especially the players.
Click to expand...
JDB stated last night he was definitely going to be playing the Dogs.
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
grahanj-180406-gp-60.jpg



BULLDOGS


Bulldogs muscle up for Graham reunion
Author
Alicia Newton
Timestamp
Thu 7 Jun 2018, 06:01 PM

James Graham has enjoyed a career by riding his emotions and Canterbury expect their former skipper to be at his intense best in the first appearance against his old club after being forced out last season.

While the Englishman's numbers have been down in 2018 in comparison to his consistent career at Belmore, his Dragons are leading the Telstra Premiership with a finals appearance all but locked in assuming they can get through the busy representative period.

Graham's departure at Belmore for the arrival of Aaron Woods has left Bulldogs fans with mixed opinions at the halfway mark of the season with their team languishing in 15th position.

His former teammates are expecting Graham to make things more difficult for his old club in the Queen's birthday clash on Monday.

"Bupa [Graham] played a big role and part here at Canterbury," centre Will Hopoate said.

"It's exciting we're coming up against our former fearless captain and leader. I've got used to it now; in the first couple of rounds it was a bit weird [seeing him] in red and white."

Hopoate excited for clash with Graham

Graham continues to dine with his former teammates, recently catching up with back-rower Rhyse Martin, halfback Matt Frawley and forward Aiden Tolman in Cronulla – a trend that has occurred regularly despite the veteran prop's departure last September.

"He's honest, tough and a very passionate player and no matter who he plays for he'll give 110%, maybe 120 against us," Martin said.

"He'll want to prove a point and put on a show physically. I'm excited about that, he's supported me a lot since I've been here."

The Bulldogs have scored the first try in nine of their 12 games but have struggled to build any momentum to record just three wins.

Although their attack has continued to struggle, defensively the side are ranked ninth – with six losses by a margin of six points or less.

"If we had the answer I would tell you but it's hard to put a finger on it," Hopoate said.

"We just can't put the icing on the cake. It's something we are trying to figure as a team and be more ruthless towards the end of the game instead of going into our shell.

"I think we've got strike power to finish off games. I think it's more making the right decisions under fatigue and communicating clearer towards the end of games when everyone doesn't feel like talking.

"The little things will play a big part in us finishing games stronger."


https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2018/06/08/bulldogs-muscle-up-for-graham-reunion/
 
T

The Damo

Juniors
Messages
1,991
L
ouryears said:
Crush we should be beating the worst teams in the comp by 30 each.

Good teams do that you know.

Scraping over the line or losing to teams well under us, no decent top 4 team does that.

Maybe once a year is acceptable, but 3 times out of 4 we should put these teams to the sword.
Click to expand...
Like how the storm beat the cows by 1 and lost to Manly by 20 and only beat the titans by 14? Clearly not a decent top 4 team then?
 
Life's Good

Life's Good

Coach
Messages
13,971
1 win in our last 12 vs. the Dogs.That win was in 15 with Graham & Klemmer out after their Good Friday antics. Anyway, it’s terrible stat that is Raiders hoodoo territory. It shows form is out the window and this will be a tight game. There’s no reason for them to win other than our own attitude which has been generally strong all year. Go Saints.
 
ouryears

ouryears

Bench
Messages
3,195
The Damo said:
L

Like how the storm beat the cows by 1 and lost to Manly by 20 and only beat the titans by 14? Clearly not a decent top 4 team then?
Click to expand...
Damo I don't compare our goals with the performances of other teams. Storm well and truly may not make the top 4.

They are no benchmark.

Otherwise let's complete only 65% of our sets... because storm only achieved 60% in 3 games this year.

Should we compare ourselves to Panthers, Souths.....

The point is we need to win, and not just scrape in.

I guess it depends on your goals, standards and expectations.
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs vs St George Illawarra Dragons: Lineups, previews and prediction
ANZ Stadium, Monday 11th June, 4:00pm AEST.

by Daniel Szabo Jun 08, 2018Jun 08, 2018
Overview
The final game in round 14 of the NRL shapes up as something of a mismatch as the lowly and financially crippled Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs take on the second-placed St George Illawarra Dragons.

Both sides had players involved with State of Origin, with the Dragons contributing forwards Tyson Frizell, Jack De Belin and Paul Vaughan for New South Wales, and halfback Ben Hunt for Queensland whilst the Bulldogs only had bookend David Klemmer involved for the Blues.

However, the lengthy turnaround means that all those involved with Origin are expected to turn out for their respective club sides in this game. In addition, with both teams coming off the bye in round 13, one would expect that all those named to play in this game will be fresh and raring to go.

Recent meetings
2017 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 26 def. St George Illawarra Dragons 20 at ANZ Stadium

2017 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 16 def. St George Illawarra Dragons 2 at ANZ Stadium

2016 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 13 def. St George Illawarra Dragons 10 at ANZ Stadium

2016 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 36 def. St George Illawarra Dragons 16 at ANZ Stadium

2015 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 29 def. St George Illawarra Dragons 16 at ANZ Stadium

The Bulldogs have proven themselves to be a bogey team for the Dragons in recent times.

In their last meeting in round 26 last year, St George Illawarra were expected to dispose of their less-fancied opposition and cement their spot in the top 8. However, the Bulldogs were able scrape home with a tight 1-try win, thus ending the Dragons’ season.


The facts that matter
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

The Bulldogs may have had the wood over the Dragons in recent years. But the fact remains that right now they are running second-last, and are facing the very real possibility of not being competitive for a number of years due to the shape that Des Hasler and the previous board left the club’s salary cap in.

A prime example of this is the fact that the Bulldogs are paying a part of their former captain turned Dragons’ front rower James Graham’s salary this year. With speculation mounting that star player Moses Mbye and new recruit Aaron Woods could both be on the move before June 30 in order to clear salary cap space, one could forgive the Bulldogs players if the last thing they had on their mind was football.

Rookie coach Dean Pay spoke about a return to the “Dogs of War” mentality that was highly prevalent in the successful Bulldogs team of the mid-90s, of which he was a part. It’s fair to say that this hasn’t yet been sighted in 2018. But with their backs against the wall, this would be the time to bring it out. It’s now or never for the Bulldogs.

Michael Lichaa’s return to the NRL side after several weeks in the Intrust Super Cup means that the Bulldogs will likely focus their attack around his dummy-half running game. If Klemmer and Woods are able to set him a good enough platform, he is quick and dangerous enough to make the best forwards in the competition look silly.

St George Illawarra Dragons

It was only a month ago that the Dragons were considered by many to be the competition’s benchmark after convincingly beating last year’s premiers Melbourne. Since then, their consistency has wavered somewhat, losing to Souths, beating Canberra and losing to Penrith.

Souths and Penrith are both undoubtedly serious premiership contenders this year, and in terms of effort, the Dragons hardly disgraced themselves in either of those losses. But their once all-conquering attack did seem to become quite predictable against these top teams.

The Rabbitohs and Panthers were able to shut down the Dragons’ attack by simply rushing them and reducing the amount of time Hunt and Widdop had to play football. Are the Bulldogs good enough to employ the same tactic? They need to be if they want to win this game.

For the Dragons, this is a must-win game. They had a great start to the season, and have now entered the difficult Origin period. If they want to cement their status as premiership contenders, it starts with beating lowly teams like the Bulldogs.

Prediction
The Dragons may have been inconsistent in the last month. But the way the Bulldogs have played this season, they are almost unbackable.

In addition to their poor form, the Bulldogs are missing star half Kieran Foran. Instead they will be directed around the park by inexperienced halves pairing Jeremy Marshall-King and Matt Frawley.

The Dragons’ NSW players will be fired up after a big win on Wednesday night, while Ben Hunt too will look to continue his fine form after being one of QLD’s best.

St George Illawarra by 13+ in one.

https://realsport101.com/news/sport...arra-dragons-lineups-previews-and-prediction/
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
St George Illawarra Dragons focused on positives ahead of Canterbury Bulldogs clash
  • Local Sport
    r0_19_1176_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

    Riding high: The Dragons enjoyed one of their best wins under Paul McGregor against Melbourne at Kogarah. Picture: John Veage


  • For Paul McGregor, St George Illawarra’s loss to Penrith came at the worst possible time.

    A 16-day break between the Panthers loss and the Dragons’ clash with Canterbury on Monday afternoon left a lot of time to dwell.

    Their State of Origin quartet – Ben Hunt, Tyson Frizell, Jack de Belin and Paul Vaughan – won’t return to the club until Thursday, limiting their own preparation to face the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium should they get through Origin I unscathed.

    But it has also given McGregor the chance to reflect on the Dragons’ excellent start to the season.

    St George Illawarra share first place with Penrith midway through the regular season and play three of the NRL’s bottom four clubs in the next three weeks. After the Bulldogs, St George Illawarra host struggling Manly and Parramatta in Wollongong.

    “It would have been really good to go into a bye with a win and staying on top of the competition like we have been since round one. Now we’re equal first. It bloody hurts,” McGregor said.

    “In saying that the boys have played some really good footy over the first half of the year. They’ve been consistently good, they’ve maintained their standards from round one.

    “I think our consistency [has pleased me most]. It was something we weren’t very good at last year at different stages. I feel that our consistency, what we do week to week, our best and our worst isn’t too far apart which is really pleasing.

    “We’ve won games in different ways this year, coming from behind, we’ve led. I think we’ve won in ways we haven’t in the past.

    “The pleasing thing is we’ve kept healthy. Even though it has been difficult at stages with a lot of guys playing with needles at the moment. And when you want to do your contact through the week and your defence and you’ve got a lot of players missing because of the rigors of week to week footy. However, come game day, they’ve delivered.

    “Nothing of one thing stands out. But I just feel that maintaining our standards on a week to week basis and playing with a lot more consistency helps. I feel the players who’ve come into our squad have complemented other players in our team.

    “We’re trying to build a strong culture at Dragons around team first.”

    A number of Dragons players were given the week off leading into St George Illawarra’s bye on the weekend to refresh. McGregor and his coaching staff also took a couple of days off to regroup as the Dragons begin their charge for the finals in the second half of the campaign.

    Such is the depth of St George Illawarra’s squad, first grade squad players Hame Sele, Jacob Host, Blake Lawrie, Luciano Leilua, Reece Robson and Jai Field all played in the club’s Intrust Super Premiership win over North Sydney on Saturday.

    They could be called upon in first grade this week pending how the Dragons’ Origin stars recover from Wednesday night.

    McGregor said maintaining their excellent start to the season was their next challenge after a disastrous mid-season fade out saw them miss the finals last year.

    “It’s something you don’t speak too much about because you don’t want your processes and standards to drop. But certainly if we look at the start of the year when we gathered a lot of experts had us between the eighth and 12th position,” he said.

    “We always wanted to be a top four side, we are that at the moment. We’ve led the competition since round one. I’m proud of the character of the players we have.”

  • https://www.theleader.com.au/story/5445921/dragons-focused-on-positives-ahead-of-bulldogs/
 
possm

possm

Coach
Messages
15,591
Saint_JimmyG said:
I'll hold you that. Personally, I believe SGI could down as far as sixth.

Time will tell.
Click to expand...

If we win we will be in with a great chance of making the top 4. I hope we have had our bad run and now all but 4 of our players have had a good rest. It's time to put our foot to the metal and smash the Dogs on Monday.
 
G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Ousted Dogs with point to prove against Dragons new guard
ST GEORGE Illawarra’s NSW contingent represent the Blues new guard and coming up against some of the men they ousted is an intriguing factor in Monday’s clash with Canterbury.

Bulldogs forwards Aaron Woods and Josg Jackson were mainstays for the Blues throughout Laurie Daley’s tenure but were overlooked by new coach Brad Fittler for this year’s series.

Paul Vaughan and Jack de Belin were given Origin debuts in their place while Tariq Sims was Fittler’s 18th man. It could certainly add some spice to Monday’s showdown at ANZ Stadium and Sims said he’s expecting the entire Bulldogs pack to have a point to prove.

“I’m excited to go up against Josh Jackson because, for one, I’ve played a fair bit of Country rugby league with him and everyone knows he’s as tough as nails,” Sims said.

“They’re seasoned superstars. They’ve been at the highest level of football for so many years and I don’t expect anything less than their best game on the weekend.”


https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5456708/dogs-with-point-to-prove/?cs=302
 
T

The Damo

Juniors
Messages
1,991
ouryears said:
Damo I don't compare our goals with the performances of other teams. Storm well and truly may not make the top 4.

They are no benchmark.

Otherwise let's complete only 65% of our sets... because storm only achieved 60% in 3 games this year.

Should we compare ourselves to Panthers, Souths.....

The point is we need to win, and not just scrape in.

I guess it depends on your goals, standards and expectations.
Click to expand...
Hey, I agree - we should win well, not just scrape in.
But, and I’m not having a go, I just don’t get the argument that we shouldn’t compare our goals and performance of other teams. Those are the ONLY thing they need to be compared to, because they are our competition. Any other standard is not going to be as useful as other teams because it’ll be based on arbitrary terms like “we’ve gotta beat them by 30 or we’re not serious”. Comparing to other teams gives you a baseline from actual objective reality.
Saying that - let’s compare to the panthers vs bottom 4 teams.
Beat parra by 10
Lost to dogs by 2
Beat parra by 6
Beat Dogs by 8
Lost to cows by 6

The lowest ranked team we played was titans (who are above those 3 teams) and we beat them by 46. Almost double the margin Penrith managed combining their win vs dogs and both vs parra.

I guess I base my goals, standards and expectations on observable reality :wink:
 
J

jeffdragon

Bench
Messages
3,546
Souths and penrith wont keep playing like this for the rest of the year.
We should beat the dogs but part of me says it will be tough.but it shouldn't if we arre in the right mood and have the attitude. They won playing crap we will play crap and get done
 
Last edited:
Crush

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,518
ouryears said:
Damo I don't compare our goals with the performances of other teams. Storm well and truly may not make the top 4.

They are no benchmark.

Otherwise let's complete only 65% of our sets... because storm only achieved 60% in 3 games this year.

Should we compare ourselves to Panthers, Souths.....

The point is we need to win, and not just scrape in.

I guess it depends on your goals, standards and expectations.
Click to expand...
OK lets compare ourselves to the competition leaders and put your theory to the test.

Penrith have played Bulldogs(15th) two times-
Beat them once by 8 and lost to them in the other game

Penrith have played Parramatta (16th) twice-
Beat them by 10 and by 6 (not really a smashing?)

Penrith have played Cowboys (14th) once-
Lost that game.....

In fact, the competition leaders have not put a score of 30 on anyone (closest was Dragons lol)
But you expect the Dragons to put 30 on the dogs, 30 on Manly, 30 on the eels???

Cmon mate, pull your head in champ.
 
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