3-2-1 v Raiders

[ozbash]

3 CNK
2 Metcalf
1 Capewell

HM to Roger and Niukore..
Felt sorry for Leka, you fellas trying to hard..

 

[Meth]

What do we think about our preset determination to take 2 points when it's on offer? I mean, our defence is better than our attack and I like that we back it, but we lost by 2 tries to 1 tonight and we had 2 opportunities to attack the line and didn't take them.

 

[Blair]

What do we think about our preset determination to take 2 points when it's on offer? I mean, our defence is better than our attack and I like that we back it, but we lost by 2 tries to 1 tonight and we had 2 opportunities to attack the line and didn't take them.

We would've been 16-8 down in that last five minutes. That's deflating.

 

[Meth]

We would've been 16-8 down in that last five minutes. That's deflating.

May have won 18-16

 

[Meth]

I'm not saying it's the wrong thing. I'm just not absolutely sure it's always the right thing

 

[Blair]

May have won 18-16.

Do we always take the two on dry decks? Points were premium tonight. Remember, we only fell behind on the scoreboard when we were down to 12 men, and they got that Pompey gift too.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

What do we think about our preset determination to take 2 points when it's on offer? I mean, our defence is better than our attack and I like that we back it, but we lost by 2 tries to 1 tonight and we had 2 opportunities to attack the line and didn't take them.

I hate it. Particularly in a situation like tonight where we took it after several sets hammering their line.

Even a defence orientated team should be trying to score 3-4 tries a game and that doesn’t align with taking the 2 after 5 minutes of concerted attack.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

03 - Clark. Carted it up all game and got stuck into the grubs Starling, Tapine and Crysborough.
02 - Ford. Having a fine season and will never get any kind of love when he does things right.
01 - RTS. A good performance from Rog tonight. That try is the sort of thing he can do. Would love him at FB.

It was closer than I thought and without our skippers, we did pretty well to contain the Raiders from really opening up.

HM: Capewell, played his heart out there again.

DM: Our backs and halves on attack, except Roger. CNK and DWZ need to sort out their high ball plays. CHT and Metcalf need more variation when in the red zone. TMM offered jack all. I think Boyd needs a shot.

DM: Sky TV, no infographic for time, tackle counts for most of the first half, and atrocious commentary.

 

[Meth]

Do we always take the two on dry decks?

That's my impression.

 

[JJ]

3. Ford
2. Clark
1. Egan

 

[vvvrulz]

Normally I'm not a big fan of taking the 2, but with this team and our halves it's probably the reason we'll win games.

Today we took the 2, but we also had 4-5 shots straight at them and blew them all.

Metcalf hasn't quite developed as a close-range playmaker, CHT has little other than short bombs that hope for the best. Unless it's Metcalf, we don't have the speed for long range tries. If teams shut down our barge-over tries, we don't really have anything. We don't run good lines or engineer backline sweeps, ironically the stuff TMM was doing for fun.

 

[Blair]

Normally I'm not a big fan of taking the 2, but with this team and our halves it's probably the reason we'll win games.

Today we took the 2, but we also had 4-5 shots straight at them and blew them all.

Metcalf hasn't quite developed as a close-range playmaker, CHT has little other than short bombs that hope for the best. Unless it's Metcalf, we don't have the speed for long range tries. If teams shut down our barge-over tries, we don't really have anything. We don't run good lines or engineer backline sweeps, ironically the stuff TMM was doing for fun.

A spot-on reality check.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I thought the biggest DMs were Leka and Laban. It seemed to me like Leka was having a shocker so they took him off, but then Laban was even worse so they had to get Leka back on.

I don’t think they were terrible but they were both off their best. I thought Ali was a touch rusty too.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

Tough watch, but even though we lost I think we redeemed ourselves for Vegas. Fish needs to be better, really needed him out there tonight without Barnett.

3. Clark
2. RTS
1. Niukore

 

[SpaceMonkey]

3- Clark
2- Ford
1- RTS

 

[Grizzman]

3 - Clark
2 -Capewell
1 - Ford

Way too static and flat on attack in the second half especially.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Normally I'm not a big fan of taking the 2, but with this team and our halves it's probably the reason we'll win games.

Today we took the 2, but we also had 4-5 shots straight at them and blew them all.

Metcalf hasn't quite developed as a close-range playmaker, CHT has little other than short bombs that hope for the best. Unless it's Metcalf, we don't have the speed for long range tries. If teams shut down our barge-over tries, we don't really have anything. We don't run good lines or engineer backline sweeps, ironically the stuff TMM was doing for fun.

I agree 100% with this. We have to take 2 points, because our attack isn't good enough.

JFH wouldn't have made any difference tonight, we needed points and creativity in the red zone, which we don't have.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

3. Ford - Now he pads stats? The guy played 57 minutes, outran and tackled just about everyone, with plenty of post contact metres, was (unusually) mistake free & awake to situations. Handing no points is kinda insane.
2. Clark - Hardly any hyperbole's left to say, the usual business and this time with an angry green pack at him
1. CNK - shame about the bin, he was fired up tonight

Can't fault effort all around, nobody phoned it in.

DM to Pompey for that completely brain dead penalty.
DWZ defended fine, but couldn't do anything on attack.

And yes I still stand by a TMM/Metcalf combo - CHT has too much Leuluai in him, a handy player at best with good shoulders.

I wouldn't give Ford 3 (I think I gave him 2) but I agree. His work rate is absolutely mammoth, it allows us to do what we're doing on both sides of the ball. He's right up there in the NRL for average post contact metres per run, but gets no love because he used to be a guy who dropped the ball 3-4 times a game and gave away penalties.

It's not on him that we can't score points.

CNK was unlucky, the Raiders got clear warnings for their flow of penalties but we didn't.

And was Pompey's effort really braindead? Metcalf f**ked around so much, that Pompey's timing got completely off kilter.

DWZ just offers nothing now. We're not going to see the only great part of his game anymore, which is finishing in the corner with space, because we don't have 2023 SJ. He can't read a defense, his carries aren't strong, he's not winning balls in the air, his tackling isn't strong, there's just nothing there anymore.

 

[Izz]

3 - Ford
2 - Clark
1 - RTS

Leka looks tired. Maybe time for a game or two off the bench? He's still only 19, remember
Feel like Laban got caught up in his NSW Cup history with the Raiders and Big Red
Not sure why Vaimauga's only getting 15 minutes per game right now
Last couple seasons, DWZ returned the ball with gusto, which along with his finishing helped take attention off his defense. Right now he's getting absolutely monstered in contact, and not looking for work. Bring TT back!
Feel sorry for Pompey. Metcalf had about 3 false starts for that drop out

Hope Big Red and Tapine get some time off. Absolute grubs. Used to love Tapine. Not so much any more.
Feel like we really missed Barnett. We let the Raiders get under our skin. Don't think he would've allowed that (not so sure on JFH based on last game lol).

TBH, I'm surprised we stayed in it until the end. Apart from that period in the first half, felt like the Raiders were comfortably on top, and there was about 10 minutes in second half where it looked like we were about to completely implode. We didn't though, so that's a positive.

DM - the ref - felt he was pretty atrocious all around

 

[Big Marn]

And was Pompey's effort really braindead? Metcalf f**ked around so much, that Pompey's timing got completely off kilter.

Yes, because he was the only one offside by about 2-3 metres. NRL is just about the mental aspect just as much as it is the physical. If he cant focus for 80mins out of the week he shouldnt be out there. He did it again at the end of the game trying to rake the ball out when 90s on the clock. All he achieved was a set restart. By the time we got the ball back, there was less than 10 seconds left instead of a minute which gave us no chance of a miracle finish. He also did this last year against Broncos in the last seconds of a game taking a player out and wiping out the matchwinner.

So yeah, i wasnt impressed with him last night....