Round 22 v Tigers @ Pepper Stadium

[OldPanther]

Just re-watching the game. I've noticed in this and the Dogs game they went for attacking kicks until something went wrong and started running. Cleary might be getting a bit rattled with his kicking game.

 

[OldPanther]

His defence or lack thereof is a little concerning. I've certainly noticed his line speed has been very poor which leaves him flat footed more often than not. I'd like to see him just trust his inside man and allow the opposition to press toward the sideline as opposed to just waiting for them to come to him.

Peachey is a great footballer. Is he a centre, no. Is he better than a fit and firing Whare....No. However, given whare has been a little rough of late and lacking game time where he is producing quality then peachey can stay at centre. If Whare has to come back in he deserves the bench spot over Katoa and Co. As we know he can be very damaging at the back end of halves and is too good to leave out.

I get that a lot of people dont rate Browne but I must be seeing things a little differently. I find he attracts two/three defenders and solidifies the middle of the park. We used to have McKendry for this but hes not on the park. The need to carry big bodies into the finals will see him retain his spot. He can certainly look pedestrian in his running and carry speed but he is strong and shows good line speed in defence. He is making plenty of tackles and missing nearly none in the short time he is on the field. I think he averages 33-40 minutes but is making over 100m, 20-30 tackles with little to no errors or missed tackles. If we talk about effectiveness on the field I think he adds value.

I don't think we were given a fair go in the ruck this week. They did everything to slow the ruck and it worked. Come the finals we know the Roosters, Cows, Sharks and Storm will all get away with slowing the ruck down so we need to get better at moving them around the park which I feel we did well yesterday. I'd like to see more 4th tackle kicks. Turn the defence around and just play with some patience.

Hopefully we wont just be making the numbers and actually give the finals a shake.

Browne averages 72 metres a game and moslty only beats players who haven't played an entire season for us in total run metres. He had 5 missed tackles against the Tigers and 20 for the season.

 

[mxlegend99]

I get that a lot of people dont rate Browne but I must be seeing things a little differently. I find he attracts two/three defenders and solidifies the middle of the park. We used to have McKendry for this but hes not on the park. The need to carry big bodies into the finals will see him retain his spot. He can certainly look pedestrian in his running and carry speed but he is strong and shows good line speed in defence. He is making plenty of tackles and missing nearly none in the short time he is on the field. I think he averages 33-40 minutes but is making over 100m, 20-30 tackles with little to no errors or missed tackles. If we talk about effectiveness on the field I think he adds value.
.

Nrl.com has his actual numbers. No need for guess work.

This week:
17 tackles for 5 missed
54m gained
Responsible for a disallowed try (not a stat, but stopping in the opposition line is stupid and lazy)

His averages:
30 mins per game
20 tackles for 1.3 missed
72.9m per game (has only ran for 100+ in 4 out of 15 games... has ran for less than 60m in 5 games)
0 try assists
0 linebreaks
1 offload (all season)
5 tacklebreaks (all season)
http://m.nrl.com/telstrapremiership...ubid/10/playerid/800/seasonid/45/default.aspx


He's the least threatening player in our team. No risk that his runs lead to anything. His post contact metres are probably in the negative. No offloads or assists. 5 tackle breaks in 110 runs.

We beed a wrecking ball who can change momentum. RCG is the only front rower we have who regularly bends the line. Tamou is shit. Barely better than Browne to be honest.

Were paying Tamou more than any of his teammates for 11 hitups and 110m per game. 26 tackles and 1.6 missed per game.

Browne is no doubt better value then him. But you cant expect our backline to carry these nuffies every week.

 

[Exsilium]

Nrl.com has his actual numbers. No need for guess work.

This week:
17 tackles for 5 missed
54m gained
Responsible for a disallowed try (not a stat, but stopping in the opposition line is stupid and lazy)

His averages:
30 mins per game
20 tackles for 1.3 missed
72.9m per game (has only ran for 100+ in 4 out of 15 games... has ran for less than 60m in 5 games)
0 try assists
0 linebreaks
1 offload (all season)
5 tacklebreaks (all season)
http://m.nrl.com/telstrapremiership...ubid/10/playerid/800/seasonid/45/default.aspx


He's the least threatening player in our team. No risk that his runs lead to anything. His post contact metres are probably in the negative. No offloads or assists. 5 tackle breaks in 110 runs.

We beed a wrecking ball who can change momentum. RCG is the only front rower we have who regularly bends the line. Tamou is shit. Barely better than Browne to be honest.

Were paying Tamou more than any of his teammates for 11 hitups and 110m per game. 26 tackles and 1.6 missed per game.

Browne is no doubt better value then him. But you cant expect our backline to carry these nuffies every week.

To be fair I think you just proved my point better than I did. Here we have a player in the middle third absorbing 20 tackles a game, missing an average of 1.3 and makes 72.9m on average in the 15 games he's played this season. Those numbers are not that bad when given a little context, especially of late when hes started.

Browne starts, absorbs the opposition attack, makes the tackles and sets a platform for his bench rotation to be the impact player. This IMO is allowing players like RCG to have the impact because the opposition starting forwards are nearing their rotations when he comes on.

The need for a "wrecking ball that can change momentum" is why we now start RCG off the bench. He avoids the softening up period and can actually come in and do some damage. When he started hed often be flammed on here for being ineffective. How many times has he been manhandled. I'm sure @chrisD has a notepad with those stats written down. Plenty of teams start with props who just do the tough stuff. Cowboys use Bolton, Bulldogs have Tolman, Warriors have Lillyman etc.

As for his stats this week, he was danced around by Tedesco and Nofolouma. Most of our pack missed tackles for that reason alone.

Considering we didn't win the forward battle till late in the second half I think his 54m is relative to the Tigers throwing the kitchen sink at us.We also dropped a lot of ball.

This season weve been comprehensively beaten in the forwards MANY times which make his and most of our forward packs stats looks average as f**k.

I am in no way a massive supporter of Browne but I certainly think he plays a role which helps our bench forwards come in and do their jobs.

I accept my figures were out but lets not make out like the real ones are definitive because if so we'd have dropped half the team throughout the year.

 

[Exsilium]

Comparison: RCG // Browne (Averages)

Average Minutes: 50.5 // 30.27
All run metres: 120.6 // 72.87
Tackles: 25.65 // 20
Tackle Breaks: 1.15 // 0.33

Actual figures.

Average Minutes: 1010 // 454
All run metres: 231 //110
Hit ups: 181 // 89
Tackles: 513 // 300
Missed tackles: 65 // 20
Offloads: 7 // 1
Tackle Breaks: 23 // 5

For a guy who plays a lot less minutes he isn't too bad.

 

[OldPanther]

Comparison: RCG // Browne (Averages)

Average Minutes: 50.5 // 30.27
All run metres: 120.6 // 72.87
Tackles: 25.65 // 20
Tackle Breaks: 1.15 // 0.33

Actual figures.

Average Minutes: 1010 // 454
All run metres: 231 //110
Hit ups: 181 // 89
Tackles: 513 // 300
Missed tackles: 65 // 20
Offloads: 7 // 1
Tackle Breaks: 23 // 5

For a guy who plays a lot less minutes he isn't too bad.

RCG has 2412 to Browne's 1093 at about the averages you mentioned. I don't mind him filling the role. Our problem is we have him and Tamou. We can only afford 1 plodder.

 

[mxlegend99]

Whos saying RCG is great? Hes our best but thats the problem... none of our front rowers are great. Tamou was supposed to be the solution to fixing our front row. But hes average at best.

Browne is the worst front rower picked. He offers the least. Yoy take his 'contributions' away and what are you losing? You can get far more out of a player like Akauolo or Kikau if you give them the minutes.

RCG is the only front rower we have who runs with energy and tries to hit hard. That's pathetic. We struggle against the better teams because their packs destroy ours. Our backs are carrying a lazy underperforming front row. But they cant do that against the top teams. We need our forwards to match them.

Tamou. Browne. RCG.... thats not an intimidating front row.

 

[chrisD]

Starting a game with "absorption" is up there with running it on the last instead of kicking it in attacking territory for stupid Griffin ploys that need to die. Our middle just doesn't play football, under orders one assumes, and we are waiting 25mins to half an hour before we as a team start playing football.

Our front row is not strong enough to play one out effectively, but there's some skill in there and the players around them are skilful, that is how we have to go.

 

[umina panther]

Starting a game with "absorption" is up there with running it on the last instead of kicking it in attacking territory for stupid Griffin ploys that need to die. Our middle just doesn't play football, under orders one assumes, and we are waiting 25mins to half an hour before we as a team start playing football.

Our front row is not strong enough to play one out effectively, but there's some skill in there and the players around them are skilful, that is how we have to go.

Im sure we can wait till the second half to play some footy against Melbourne in the finals. What could go wrong.......

 

[OldPanther]

Whos saying RCG is great? Hes our best but thats the problem... none of our front rowers are great. Tamou was supposed to be the solution to fixing our front row. But hes average at best.

Browne is the worst front rower picked. He offers the least. Yoy take his 'contributions' away and what are you losing? You can get far more out of a player like Akauolo or Kikau if you give them the minutes.

RCG is the only front rower we have who runs with energy and tries to hit hard. That's pathetic. We struggle against the better teams because their packs destroy ours. Our backs are carrying a lazy underperforming front row. But they cant do that against the top teams. We need our forwards to match them.

Tamou. Browne. RCG.... thats not an intimidating front row.

A forward pack of Merrin, RCG, Kikau, Akauolo, Cartwright would be fine by me. CHN/Yeo as the second row with a few back ups just in case. Won't happen obviously.

 

[mxlegend99]

Really not sure why Akauolo was axed this year.

He has made 0 errors in 7 games. Missed only 4 tackles in 7 games. He made shit all metres as a whole but was lucky to get even 15 minutes.

He averaged 10+ metres per run in every game he played aside from 1. Hell im not sure the stats are correct, but they have him making 76 metres from 7 runs in 12 minutes in Round 4. 62m from 6 runs in 15 minutes in Round 11.

He runs hard and hits hard. He can change a game with or without the ball. He was a huge part of our finals charge last year. He fired up the rest of the forwards with his intensity.

RCG is our only prop trying to do that.

 

[kinghippo]

Our forwards are barely used for hit ups at all compared to other teams so their meters made stats are almost irrelevant.
At least 2 of every set is wingers and backs hitting it up, and it works for us.
What we should be looking at is which forwards are not putting other players on their back or offering effective defence.
I agree with you mx and have always thought Akaoula was great, he has an aggressive streak that we have missed this year in the team. When he and JFH were defending together some of the shots were brutal.

 

[Clifferd]

Really not sure why Akauolo was axed this year.

He has made 0 errors in 7 games. Missed only 4 tackles in 7 games. He made shit all metres as a whole but was lucky to get even 15 minutes.

He averaged 10+ metres per run in every game he played aside from 1. Hell im not sure the stats are correct, but they have him making 76 metres from 7 runs in 12 minutes in Round 4. 62m from 6 runs in 15 minutes in Round 11.

He runs hard and hits hard. He can change a game with or without the ball. He was a huge part of our finals charge last year. He fired up the rest of the forwards with his intensity.

RCG is our only prop trying to do that.

Possibly discipline. At the tigers he was pretty ill-disciplined

 

[Westernised Panther]

Really not sure why Akauolo was axed this year.

He has made 0 errors in 7 games. Missed only 4 tackles in 7 games. He made shit all metres as a whole but was lucky to get even 15 minutes.

He averaged 10+ metres per run in every game he played aside from 1. Hell im not sure the stats are correct, but they have him making 76 metres from 7 runs in 12 minutes in Round 4. 62m from 6 runs in 15 minutes in Round 11.

He runs hard and hits hard. He can change a game with or without the ball. He was a huge part of our finals charge last year. He fired up the rest of the forwards with his intensity.

RCG is our only prop trying to do that.

Matagi was in the same mould. We could have done with his intensity and aggression this year.

 

[OldPanther]

The simple fact is if we complete at above 70% and fix our attacking kicks we are a top 5 or 6 team easily with the current roster. Top 4 if we have Kikau and Akauolo in my opinion. The stats might prove me wrong but I think they would offer as much as Tamou/Brown but with more intensity.

 

[betcats]

So the fact Mansour gets no ball is fine with you? Mansour is our best back still and gets no ball. That 2nd try of DWZ was prefect to show the understanding he and Blake have. The same can't be said for our left. If Whare can't play left then he should not be picked but regardless that side needs help

Mansour wouldn't get anymore ball playing outside waqa they both only pass it when they have to. Peachey is the best option there's no way you can spin it to convince me otherwise.

 

[betcats]

Cleary gets a lot of wraps. Moses gets bagged a lot.
Moses is 3 yrs older but is so far ahead of Cleary at this stage. So much more composed. Reads the game better.
Some of Clearys choices yesterday on the last was borderline disgrace. People talk about him for origin. I mean seriously? The kid looks the goods but is very inconsistent. Surely you all can see that?

Are you on drugs merkin lol it took Moses 3 years to find some consistency and compusure that Cleary has had since day 1. What a ridiculous comment. Moses playing with a rookie half was an absolute disaster, Cleary has led us to 4 wins without Moylan in a row with some very good performances playing with a two rookies in the spine. Moses still couldn't lead this team the way Cleary has under those circumstances.

 

[franklin2323]

Mansour wouldn't get anymore ball playing outside waqa they both only pass it when they have to. Peachey is the best option there's no way you can spin it to convince me otherwise.

Best option but not a good centre. You watch other centres in the comp those in the 8 anyway. They catch the ball while facing straight to have options. Peachey is always facing from where the pass came from. that is the start of it really winger can rush in and we can be taken easily.

 

[franklin2323]

Those of you bagging our props. Would you rather them take more hitups or Peachey, Mansour and co? We have a strong backline easily make 10+m a tackle off our line. If we have a set where both wingers and both centres have scoots we are over the halfway on the 4th.

 

[Clifferd]

Are you on drugs merkin lol it took Moses 3 years to find some consistency and compusure that Cleary has had since day 1. What a ridiculous comment. Moses playing with a rookie half was an absolute disaster, Cleary has led us to 4 wins without Moylan in a row with some very good performances playing with a two rookies in the spine. Moses still couldn't lead this team the way Cleary has under those circumstances.

Parra fans are under the illusion Moses is the literal messiah. As a Tigers supporting watching this absolute dog merkin "play" football for about 4 years it won't take long before they start calling for his head. During the good times, they'll love him but during the bad he is really bad, there is no in between

And as a tigers supporter..trust me, I know. Unless BA has miracously turned Moses around well then I'd take Cleary over him any day. More consistent and Moses needs to continue playing at this level for a full season before I'm convinced