Game day V Souths (round 11)

[getsmarty]

Press Conference: Round 11 v South Sydney Rabbitohs

Thu 19th May, 10:30PM A A

St George Illawarra Dragons Head Coach Paul McGregor and co-captain Gareth Widdop discuss the 34-24 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium, Olympic Park on Thursday.


http://www.dragons.com.au/news/2016/05/19/press_conference_rou.af_news.html

 

[Minh]

The thing that's upsetting is that when playing from behind say 8 points and 20 to go we are still happy to grind like WTF.......then it becomes 15 to play and still no second phase play or offloads and support.

 

[Tuddy]

Gareth Widdop and Paul McGregor cost us the match tonight in my lowly opinion. Widdop because he can't kick either in play or for goal and McGregor because he just can't seem to get the best out of his team. I rated Gareth last year but this year it's like he's a different player, he just can't seem to consistently kick well in the opposition twenty. I mean I'm hearing all this talk about grinding wins out but that's just not going to happen if we can't get a grubber into their in goal for a repeat set on the odd occasion.

As for the 'grind' McGregor he was talking about it again tonight, mate I don't want to see it anymore, I want to see some excitement, I want to see some tries, I want to see some line breaks and I want to see some more bloody passing. It's already obvious to pretty much everyone we will be lucky to make the eight this year and even if we do we won't get past the first week.

Maybe it's time to try something new, because if can't be any worse than what we are producing right now, It's not like we don't have some talent.

 

[Get2dachopper!]

Winning a premiership is the ultimate, ask any player. So currently in our squad, we have Flo, Creagh, Widdop and Marshall who have all won premierships. And how many premierships has Mary won?
This senior group need to pull the coach aside and have a very frank conversation with him, something along the lines of; "hey Mary, we have all been part of premiership squads and we know what it takes. And what your preaching is just not working."

 

[Tuddy]

Double post

 

[Dragons 09]

The thing that's upsetting is that when playing from behind say 8 points and 20 to go we are still happy to grind like WTF.......then it becomes 15 to play and still no second phase play or offloads and support.

I feel your pain mate.

 

[Dragons 09]

Double post

At least you doubled your post count with it:lol::lol:

Welcome to the asylum by the way.

 

[thebigredv]

Cowboys next.


Have we not suffered enough?

 

[Tuddy]

At least you doubled your post count with it:lol::lol:

Welcome to the asylum by the way.

I knew somebody would say it! Thanks mate, I've been lurking for While now, you guys can be very entertaining and astute at times.

 

[thebigredv]

Press Conference: Round 11 v South Sydney Rabbitohs

Thu 19th May, 10:30PM A A

St George Illawarra Dragons Head Coach Paul McGregor and co-captain Gareth Widdop discuss the 34-24 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium, Olympic Park on Thursday.


http://www.dragons.com.au/news/2016/05/19/press_conference_rou.af_news.html

Fair enough summary of the game. It is good we haven't dropped the ball in two games. Rest of it is sounding repetitive.

We need to win next week and put this past us. Was a missed opportunity, not helped by the refs or our inability to cover the kicks. Some better attack was on show. Mind you, can't stress enough how bad Souths were. Come to think of it Raiders were hopeless last week and were going to beat us had it not been from Aitken's opportune intercept. Long year ahead if we can't beat understrength Cowboys.

 

[Red V for life]

Many posters have pointed out the form of Widdop last night/this year.

Something has to be going on behind the scenes because the guy is a quality player playing well below his capability on a consistent basis and that just ain't normal.

Does he just not believe in the coaching staff anymore? Has there been a falling out with the playing squad? Is there something outside of football? Has he made the decision to leave and not told many? Is the captaincy too much for him? Is he just trying too hard? Or is he just sh*t out of confidence???

I hope Mary has the answer and more importantly, a solution.

 

[Stdavid]

As a player pointed it out weeks ago, the Dragons are playing like a team trying not to lose rather than trying to win. And as other posters have pointed out, Mary seems preoccupied with completion rates etc ... that is is fine but you still need defence and attack.
The Dragons have next to no attack and our defence is pretty woeful for a team building its game around "grinding out" wins.
Why can't we have some depth and structure in attack so guys like Duges get the ball with some space. I think even Mary would have hated playing for this team with having the opposition tacklers in your face all the time.
And again, I know it has been said earlier, but the quality of the Dragons' games this season has been well below that of most other clashes ... regardless of whether they have won or lost.
Mary needs to take the shackles off ... let's start taking taps instead of penalty kicks when hot on attack. Let's aim to keep adding tries rather than getting 8 points in front and shutting down.
Oh how I miss the Waite days when the Dragons were the entertainers of the NRL.
There was a time when the Dragons the unstoppable force against immoveable objects.
I realise all teams have to go through other phases but this phase doesn't seem to offer light at the end of the tunnel.
BTW: I really feel for Dugan ... that guy puts his body on the line every week and it is obvious it is taking a toll. Pity some of the forwards don't have his commitment.

 

[Objective View]

I hope Mary has the answer and more importantly, a solution.

You hope in vain.

Straight Shooter

#irritatingopinions

 

[Objective View]

Game in a nutshell:

Rabbits were awful. And won.

Every analysis must be viewed through this prism.

Straight Shooter

 

[Mr Red]

Widdop has had any ounce of success or ability coached out of him.

When he first joined he was playing what unfolded in front of him, ad hoc football and took a lot more chances.
Now he's been in the dragons system for a few seasons and it's all gone. Trying to play boring overly structured, grinding football and losing.

He must be hating his football at the moment due to this and it's showing on the field.

 

[Country Dragon]

Widdop has had any ounce of success or ability coached out of him.

When he first joined he was playing what unfolded in front of him, ad hoc football and took a lot more chances.
Now he's been in the dragons system for a few seasons and it's all gone. Trying to play boring overly structured, grinding football and losing.

He must be hating his football at the moment due to this and it's showing on the field.

I think this is spot on!

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Widdop has had any ounce of success or ability coached out of him.

When he first joined he was playing what unfolded in front of him, ad hoc football and took a lot more chances.
Now he's been in the dragons system for a few seasons and it's all gone. Trying to play boring overly structured, grinding football and losing.

He must be hating his football at the moment due to this and it's showing on the field.

Not convinced this is correct. Duges plays like he always has, and other players such as Rein and Benji clearly don't play to any coaches plan.

I think Widdops problems are all Widdop.

 

[Lethal25]

Game in a nutshell:

Rabbits were awful. And won.

Every analysis must be viewed through this prism.

Straight Shooter

Couldn't argue with this. Their completion rate was below par but they still managed six tries!

Lucky we pride ourselves on our D

 

[giboz71]

We completed at 85%, they were 65% and made twice as many errors as we did. Any othe side would have beaten them easily.

The main difference was, at the key moments when they got in our 20, Reynolds and Inglis delivered like their team expect they should. Pinpoint passes and kicks to at least give them a chance of scoring and most came off.

When we get down there, our keys guys deliver squat. Widdop can't even get his kicks behind the line for a repeat set let alone a try. What hope do we have?

 

[SaintPeter]

I like the guy and I know he is a good player, but, jeese its frustrating watching Josh Dugan at the moment when you know (and every body else in Rugby League knows) that he never passes the ball.

Get him and the movement stops every time!

PS
We need some speed.