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Round 19 v Titans

Datramp

Juniors
Messages
1,007
for me the Lafai and Aitken years were our worst backline in living memory
Aitkens winger never got the ball

surprise surprise during the McPeanut years
the real surprise wasnt that he was such a sh!t coach but how as an international and SOO centre he had no ability to coach or improve these 2 . Says it all I guess

I am hopeful with some young ones coming thru things will improve

I know Aitken was injured but wasnt setting the world on fire at the warriors and Lafai , well how's park footy going?
Atkin and Lafai are better than Ramsey and Beale. At least Aitkin could run the ball out of the trouble, or run strong to score a try. Beale is slow as shit and Ramsey will be ragdolled all day long. Lafai when he wasn't injured had a nice pass and step. Granted Aitken's defence sucked, but I am not sure Beale and Ramsey will offer more.
 

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
7,377
Atkin and Lafai are better than Ramsey and Beale. At least Aitkin could run the ball out of the trouble, or run strong to score a try. Beale is slow as shit and Ramsey will be ragdolled all day long. Lafai when he wasn't injured had a nice pass and step. Granted Aitken's defence sucked, but I am not sure Beale and Ramsey will offer more.
I would agree with you Datramp. I'd like us to get that kid from the north to be one centre in our side - Treymain Spry. He is big, strong and fast. Lomax normally would be the other centre. So Ramsey and Beale maybe reserves.
 

Inisai Toga

Juniors
Messages
1,427
I know from my own experience, if a mate at work gets made redundant I’m definitely not happy about it. Vaughan would have had a lot of close mates amongst the playing group so it’s only natural that there’s some anger. It’s upto Hook to prove his worth & pull the team together. GC are very beatable we just have to be on our game.
It will be temporary….things move on; be forgotten in a couple of weeks.
 

kit66

Bench
Messages
3,576
Only 6 of the starting 13 are in their usual positions with an all new backline 2 to 6. We've got some with something to prove this week and some with a rare opportunity to impress. Good luck to them.
I don't think the Titans forwards are as good as Manlys, especially in defence. They've got big Dave and Tino but if we can handle them we might be in with a chance. Attack them through the middle, hard and fast over and over then give it to Bud and Hunt to weave some magic. Our backs will be busy tackling - Tits like to spread it wide to big Sami & Co. My big concern is Fifita vs Bird as I said before, I really expected Hook to put Kerr back out there but no, maybe he thinks Bird can trouble Dave more than Dave can trouble Bird.
The refs have been absolute sh*t so far this week so anything could happen.
 
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Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
7,377
Only 6 of the starting 13 are in their usual positions with an all new backline 2 to 6. We've got some with something to prove this week and some with a rare opportunity to impress. Good luck to them.
I don't think the Titans forwards are as good as Manlys, especially in defence. They've got big Dave and Tino but if we can handle them we might be in with a chance. Attack them through the middle, hard and fast over and over then give it to Bud and Hunt to weave some magic Our backs will be busy tackling - Tits like to spread it wide to big Sami & Co. ) . My big concern is Fifita vs Bird as I said before, I really expected Hook to put Kerr back out there but no, maybe he thinks Bird can trouble Dave more the Dave can trouble Bird.
The refs have been absolute sh*t so far this week so anything could happen.
Our win rate over the Titans over the years has been quite good. We have played them 16 times, winning 11 and losing 5. The thing is though, we probably didn't have as many players out during those win games and possibly we had a stronger squad of players.

Justin Holbrook is a quality coach so the game tomorrow and the outcome will be very interesting indeed.
 

mightydragon

Juniors
Messages
902
Only 6 of the starting 13 are in their usual positions with an all new backline 2 to 6. We've got some with something to prove this week and some with a rare opportunity to impress. Good luck to them.
I don't think the Titans forwards are as good as Manlys, especially in defence. They've got big Dave and Tino but if we can handle them we might be in with a chance. Attack them through the middle, hard and fast over and over then give it to Bud and Hunt to weave some magic Our backs will be busy tackling - Tits like to spread it wide to big Sami & Co. ) . My big concern is Fifita vs Bird as I said before, I really expected Hook to put Kerr back out there but no, maybe he thinks Bird can trouble Dave more the Dave can trouble Bird.
The refs have been absolute sh*t so far this week so anything could happen.
We have Atkins this week so are already up against it.
 

SAP58

Juniors
Messages
1,788
Missed tackles will be the key again today if we miss 30-40 + as in previous weeks it will be a tough afternoon. This starts from our lack of discipline with repeat six again and dropped balls building presssure on ourselves. Stating the obvious I suppose but hopefully an improvement overall in these areas will be a big positive this afternoon IMO.
 
Messages
688
Missed tackles will be the key again today if we miss 30-40 + as in previous weeks it will be a tough afternoon. This starts from our lack of discipline with repeat six again and dropped balls building presssure on ourselves. Stating the obvious I suppose but hopefully an improvement overall in these areas will be a big positive this afternoon IMO.
It almost feels like giving away set restarts is accepted by Hook and is not addressed at training. No urgency to do the right thing at critical moments of games.
 

BLM01

First Grade
Messages
8,938
It almost feels like giving away set restarts is accepted by Hook and is not addressed at training. No urgency to do the right thing at critical moments of games.
Point 1. Rubbish you just don’t hear him bag the team too much publicly
Point 2. Comes down to individuals decision making. I look across our squad and some of the more experienced players have let us down in that dept. eg Norman, McGuire with penalties, Kerr and even Sims st times.
I did not mention Bird, Dufty and Hunty as I know they too have made many errors between em but have kept us alive with setting up tries and good passing at the right time
Suspensions too more than injury have caused upheaval to the squad

Of course some young ones have made critical mistakes too but they can be excused as we have had a lot of inexperienced members in our squad.. like today as a prime example

I keep saying changing of just about everything that was needed football related takes time and there will be more bumps and hurdles ahead. Just hoping they start to slowly become fewer.
But hey we are still 7th
 
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Crush

Coach
Messages
10,411
It almost feels like giving away set restarts is accepted by Hook and is not addressed at training. No urgency to do the right thing at critical moments of games.
I don’t know that it’s accepted by Hook but a good coach would coach it out of them quick smart. Hook hasn’t done this, they STILL are the worst team in the comp for giving away 6 agains.
It’s either a fitness thing or they are just plain dumb, perhaps a combination of both.
 

Spazer

Juniors
Messages
417
good teams give away set restarts intentionally after a scrum or early on when defending the try line but the dragons seem to do it on the 3rd or 4th tackle to give the opposition a free ride up the field. It's lazy and it does my head in. I remember our trial against eels was exactly the same, we just aren't a smart football team.
 

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
7,377
good teams give away set restarts intentionally after a scrum or early on when defending the try line but the dragons seem to do it on the 3rd or 4th tackle to give the opposition a free ride up the field. It's lazy and it does my head in. I remember our trial against eels was exactly the same, we just aren't a smart football team.
Good teams just don't give 6 again restarts but if they do they make sure that they can defend no matter where the 6 again occurs on the field.

We are known to give a lot of restarts and this means more defence which ultimately tires the players which leads to all sorts of things - tries, penalties, sin bins, mistakes etc.

We win if we don't give any restarts, but that is asking a lot from our players, who as you say Spazer, are just not smart. The players go through with their drills at training but I'm wondering if the coaches and captain addresses them after their sessions and remind them of the pitfalls of making mistakes, giving away penalties and restarts.
 
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