What went wrong?

[Gaba]

Not executing the game plan good enough was the problem

 

[evil_p091280]

I am as gutted as everyone else on this thread, and I don't want to be a whinging fan who blames the ref for every loss but i have a few comments to make which I would like some feedback on:-
- Why did the video ref look at Morris' try in the corner about 6 times when after one look you could tell it was a try? Was he looking for a no try?
- Why wasn't the vid ref called on for both the Broncos tries in the second half? Channel 9 didn't like to show the replay more than once but Hodges stuck a hand up for it and hit it forward into Yow Yeh's hands. This has always been a knock-on in previous years. The onside of both these tries is also increibly doubtful. I just don't understand why in the fourth most important nrl match of the year, no video ref is used for one team but is for the other team. Just pi$$ed me off is all.
- Back to the video ref thing, Cooper (stupid hogging) at the end there, fair enough check it to see if he got it down (which he didn't but was a better grounding than Jamie Lyon's a few months ago and they were awarded), but seeing as he didn't get it down, and the reason for that was number 16, who was a mile offside, why wasn't the result a penalty to the Dragons? Just seemed like a bad decision.

At the end of the day the Dragons form has slumped, but fair dinkum, the consistency of last nights officials should be questioned.

Just like Friday nights match, which you knew the NRL wanted the Eels to win, based on the 5-2 penalty count to the Eels in the first half (4 of those which were just bias offside penalties against the Titans) it seemed to me after the Broncos got the 'high' shot penalty in the first set of six (after a high shot on Soward ignored on the Dragsons first set of six), we were in for a non-rub of the green.

Anyway, all out of my system.

Go the U20's team!!! Keep up the good work boys and if they do make it to the big one, let's all get there in our red and white and have more support there for a U20s team than any team in the big one.

 

[Spot On]

The dragons played to their potential nearly every week this year, including the semis. Fact is the other "contenders" have all stepped up a gear now and can play at a level the Dragons can not. Not this season anyway. Oh, and consistently kicking to the corner for a bloke that can jump doesn't provide too much in attack either.

 

[adams10ella]

Dragons: What went wrong?

What went right all season? Improve that, work on the wrong.

Why were the broncos at 30mins totally exhausted, physically shattered, yet the dragons were pumped, fresh and ready to play.

The answer to the thread is this: If you aint exhausted and totally spent at half time, you just haven't worked hard enough or don't want it badly enough. That is the upshot of the whole game. Forget the errors, apart from appalling decision to kick for goal, forget the refs. There are no excuses in finals time. Finals football, not just a game, it's a gruesome battering ordeal.

Get that mentality and culture, you will win soon. You got everything else, plus a great coach.


Dragons were great this year, Bennett will deliver a final for you no doubt.

Me a bronco, tipped St. George to make the GF, sorry to you, but happy for me.

 

[Dragon_Taylor6]

The dragons played to their potential nearly every week this year, including the semis. Fact is the other "contenders" have all stepped up a gear now and can play at a level the Dragons can not. Not this season anyway. Oh, and consistently kicking to the corner for a bloke that can jump doesn't provide too much in attack either.

:roll: Could not possibly disagree more. The dragons did not play to their potential in the semis, or for the last six weeks.

If you think the dragons played to their potential last night you did not pay very much attentian. While I'm not saying that the broncos were not good, the dragons were woeful.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

1. Smith came out of the line and tackled no one, leaving the wing exposed. 6 nil.

2. Prior didn't cover the inside, Hunt got through. 12 nil

3. Dragons decide to run on the last in their own half and get tackled giving the Broncos excellent field position. 18 nil

I think Setu was off side when he scored the try, ref didn't go to the video ref,

Yow yeh scored from a knock on from Hodges, again the ref didn't go to the video ref.

Cooper decides to go himself when Saints had a massive backline after a break. Cooper loses the ball,

Soward looks for Dell after making a break when he had Fien on the inside, ball goes over the side line.

Saints keep kicking the ball to Israel's wing, the best player in the air.

Not to mention knocking the ball on half the time.

I reckon that's what went wrong.

f**k we're hopeless

 

[TheRev]

The dragons played to their potential nearly every week this year, including the semis. Fact is the other "contenders" have all stepped up a gear now and can play at a level the Dragons can not. Not this season anyway. Oh, and consistently kicking to the corner for a bloke that can jump doesn't provide too much in attack either.

I actually agree with this completely.. I think we got found out towards the back end of the season, however I still think we could have won the last 2 games if we had been in better form... Brisbane & Parra werent as good as people make out, Parra won due to our imaginative attack, we were all over them, and did not even test them... and Brisbane wilted hard after 20 minutes... but when they were right for the picking, our forwards just kep coughing it up (lost the game right there).

We really need some more athletisism in the backline, the right side winger and centre are the 2 positions we most need to work on for 2010.

 

[Slackboy72]

Well now that my depression has abated somewhat and I'm resigned to this years premiers being from a selection of unworthy or arsehole clubs I can think rationally about this.

We won enough territory to win this. Even with Poore playing a very ordinary game our forward pack held their end of the bargain up and gave us field position. They did the same last week.

1. Lack of playmakers:
- Hornby was hurt in the Melbourne game and it seems he's been playing injured because I haven't seen him do much since. His one pet play of putting Creagh into a hole has been easily read and covered by opposing teams. Would be interesting to look back and see if their is a correlation between Creagh scoring and us winning. Plus he is often first try-scorer.
- Only NRL grade recognised halfback at the club, Matt Head, is playing for Shellharbour (I think).
- Our success inside the opposition 20 is almost the worst in the comp. We don't have a single dangerous player who can take on the line like a Thurston, Inglis, Hodges, cutie, Sutton or Hayne.
2. Lack of grubbers and repeat sets:
- So often we would get to 40-30 out and on the 6th we would bomb away and hope. Our execution of the bomb has been bad all year. Jamie Soward very rarely grubbers his kicks with the express intention of getting repeat sets. That has to change.
3. Players out of position:
- Young is not a dummy-half.
- Hornby is not a half-back.
- Boyd is not a fullback.
- Scott is not a center.
4. Decline in fitness:
- It's no surprise that we had a dip towards the latter half of the year. Wayne Bennett's teams have always started strong then had a dip which many, rightly or wrongly, attribute to origin. I personally think that it's hard to play with the sort of intensity he gets out of teams for 22 weeks let alone the 26 week regular season we had. Look at the souffs game and you can see the way they ran out on the field they just didn't look up to it.
5. Decline in skills:
- With the decline in fitness comes the decline in skills. We won games by completing sets and sweating on turnovers. We lost them by giving cheap possession and field position away.
6. Add up all of the above:
- While other teams were gearing up and stepping up their intensity we were falling away.
- We played our best for a good part of the year but that best couldn't match it with Brisbane or Parra when they stepped up their intensity to semi-finals level.

Overall I'm happy with the season but I still would have liked us to make a prelim.
But it wasn't to be.

As for next year... well that's another thread and we have a long off-season to discuss it.

 

[Thirty Plus Years]

A few of the old heads in this team need to go. Ben Hornby and Matt Cooper are prime examples. They carry the burden of the past and know deep down that Brisbane were always going to win. After that Parra loss it was in the back of his head (hear we go again) Once Brisbane get a roll on, these guys worry, and by then its catch up footy. I have been to enough games to see the reaction after a loss, especially after an eels or bulldogs loss. Unfortunately I hope his disease does not spread throught to our new recruits - I hope it is not too late for Jamie Soward - he has had a taste of the Ben Hornby mental fatigue illness.
In saying all of this the team did show promise through out the year, and we will only weed out the negativity through astute player retention and buying. The same heads were on Trent Barrett and Jason Ryles.:roll::sarcasm::crazy:

 

[Thirty Plus Years]

A few of the old heads in this team need to go. Ben Hornby and Matt Cooper are prime examples. They carry the burden of the past and know deep down that Brisbane were always going to win. After that Parra loss it was in the back of his head (hear we go again) Once Brisbane get a roll on, these guys worry, and by then its catch up footy. I have been to enough games to see the reaction after a loss, especially after an eels or bulldogs loss. Unfortunately I hope his disease does not spread throught to our new recruits - I hope it is not too late for Jamie Soward - he has had a taste of the Ben Hornby mental fatigue illness.
In saying all of this the team did show promise through out the year, and we will only weed out the negativity through astute player retention and buying. The same heads were on Trent Barrett and Jason Ryles.:roll::sarcasm::crazy:

 

[Thirty Plus Years]

Sorry about the double up

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

what went wrong?

well. id say that you got beat up down in canberra, and from there played kinda soft.

as a result soward didn't have the space or time do do the good stuff. ya's didnt score points and that was it.

you also couldn't have dropped the ball more if you tried.

the season is long. probs ran out of steam a bit as well.

 

[Aristidis]

Your team is mentally not ready for finals footy. All the choking talk got to Soward and the mob. But i'm pretty sure you will give the title a shake next year with a little more experience and having had a taste of finals footy.

 

[Slackboy72]

what went wrong?

well. id say that you got beat up down in canberra, and from there played kinda soft.

as a result soward didn't have the space or time do do the good stuff. ya's didnt score points and that was it.

you also couldn't have dropped the ball more if you tried.

the season is long. probs ran out of steam a bit as well.

We ran out of steam after beating Melbourne. You could also see the writing on the wall against the Panthers.

 

[Southernsaint]

what went wrong?

well. id say that you got beat up down in canberra, and from there played kinda soft.

as a result soward didn't have the space or time do do the good stuff. ya's didnt score points and that was it.

you also couldn't have dropped the ball more if you tried.

the season is long. probs ran out of steam a bit as well.

Spot on about lacking time and space. Soward was crowded and pressured constantly in attack.

Quicker service from dummy half is needed...

 

[Spot On]

:roll: Could not possibly disagree more. The dragons did not play to their potential in the semis, or for the last six weeks.

If you think the dragons played to their potential last night you did not pay very much attentian. While I'm not saying that the broncos were not good, the dragons were woeful.

No I saw exactly what happened. They didn't step up. Nick Kenny bashed the sh*t out of Poore and Weyman. Now ask yourself this - at the start of the season did you know who Nick Kenny was? A nobody! Yes the Drags dropped too much ball but that was due to pressure. Pressure they failed to apply to Brisbane. Quite frankly, it's hard to remember a more dominant performance by a pack over an 80 minute period. I for one laughed at that Broncos pack at the start of the year and mid season but they were outstanding and totally dominant last night. They certainly stepped up.

 

[Efresh]

We ran out of steam after beating Melbourne. You could also see the writing on the wall against the Panthers.

No doubt. I was at that Melbourne game and the whole crowd seemed to think winning the premiership after that was going to be a breeze. I confess, watching that performance I felt pretty confident about it too.

The build up before and the mental let down after that game got to the players I think. The effort was never there again until maybe round 26, and disappeared again after that.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

haha. Great thread. What went wrong.
If you aint first you're last!

 

[hindy111]

I tell you what happend-Ok basicaly bennet didnt change his game plan from round one.And when this happens teams work you out.I think dragons played a physical type of game and by the end of year they where worn out.
Against Brisbane i thought dragons where in game at 12-6 yet they came out in first 10 mins and paniced.Dragons lack what i call the X - factor-the hayne the inglis the slater the lockyer.Gasnier in the team this year and i think maybe title is yours

 

[LL3]

When we dominated the competition Poore and Weyman were absolutely menacing. Towards the end of the season teams had the game plan to really try and nullify this and unfortunately were successful. Teams really wanted to come in and bash them. This directly affected Soward's game as did not have as much space as he did earlier in the year.

teams were offside and refs turned a blind eye to it and bought the telecrap propaganda