Crap

[TheRev]

Any chance Green could play right Centre? Or is he basically waiting his turn until Cooper retires?

There is still Chase Stanley & Vidot though, be interested to see how these guys fit into our first grade squad.

 

[ForestDragon]

Worrying signs at the moment,we seemed to struggle in all facets of the game tonight.Lots to work on and credit to the Dogs who looked hungry.

 

[mickeylane]

Ok where do u start!! I think we are all smart enough and see the obvious signs..

1. Discipline out the door within 2 games of new comp - how else can u explain a side not playing the ball correctly 4 times!!! Never would have happened if Bennet was coaching.
2. Which genius thought of putting Hornby out in the centres to defend?? skinned 3 times for a 2 try result!!
3. Rein must go!!! he is one dimensional and has a poor service from dummy half - please bring in King now!!
4. Hornby, Stanley, Debelin, Fein are way out of depth!! honestly must make hard decisions and drop them now....
5. Price has obviously lost the dressing room already because there in no other way to explain a blowout score in only round 2...no team in the competition leaks that many points so early simply because their intensity is still so high in the first few rounds...
6. Price was supposed to make some subtle changes to bring some change to our play...I have seen nothing but a rusty team out there - not once have we executed the double wrap around move that we were faultless on this year...it looks like a reserve grade team out there..
7 Solution??? The established players have to man up and do what they were doing so well last year and carry the younger players though....discipline, comraderie based around rock iron defence!! 46 points in 2 weeks is intolerable!! bring on the drastic changes..
Vidot, King, Cooper, Marketo for starters!!!!!

 

[j0nesy]

Wow thats a bit dramatic Mickeylane. Next week we shoul have Stanley and Cooper back, that will make a differnce defensively in the centres. I would drop Scott to the bench, however and would consider King for Fien. Other than that Id be drilling them on the fundamentals all week and ask for a no frills, typical grinding display next week.

 

[smacky]

The real test will be how we bounce back next round, hopefully this was a wake up call that just because Bennett is gone they cant drop the attitude. Time will tell.

 

[TheRev]

err not sure if mickey is um taking the mickey, cause if we went with that approach, we would run out of players to sack by the 3rd round.

 

[redvwhite]

Can't agree it is time for drastic changes i.e. dropping a host of players but Price has to do something the right centre defence. Scott doesn't belong there, period.

As for the handling/ball playing, was atrocious again. Almost cost us last week and put us on the back foot from the word go.

Bennett is so far gone it ain't funny.

Come on boys, lift for the Tigers or it will be another 70-10. Hope that was the wake up call they needed. You can guess wildly as what kind of season we will have and whether we are top 8, top 4 material but what you can't deny is that we can be and should be competitive, and a chance to win each and every week.

I didn't see Dragons play tonight. That was not the Dragons.

Congrats to the Bulldogs.

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Our supporters will say it doesnt matter who we have in the side if we cant even play the ball properly and their correct...and yes we have won one and lost one.....but imo the early signs are there that we are nowhere near the side we have been in the last 3 years even without Bennett, Gaz, Boyd etc....sadly tonights effort reminded me of the pre Bennett coached days...we need a quality half back, fullback and centre if we are going to pose a threat in the near future. Yes Im very disappointed & emotional at the moment but Im just being honest.

 

[BigNormProvan]

Mickey, pull yourself together, mate. Jeez.

Give the team a bit of time before you shread it to pieces.

Remember the big build-up to last week, the hype, the fanfare of opening the season, Newcastle up there, our previous coach, half a dozen ex-players etc etc.

We'll shake this off and get on with the season, there has been some pretty serious changes to our club over the off-season, not to mention Youngy's situation and Beau signing mid week, Coops the old pro injured, new combinations etc etc.

Hasler would have known we were ripe, he's no fool. He'd have been in the Dogs ears all week - Saints are vunerable, Saints are vunerable. And we were, we were under the cosh early doors and kept doing ourselves in, Dog's got a bit of the rub of the green, Dog's played bloody well, dirty Dog's, dirty Doggy fans, dirty club fullstop.


Big Norm

 

[redvwhite]

Well said BNP

We are a proud club. We still have a great team which didn't play well today but always next week...

Hope that was the last embarrassment for the season.

 

[saintzrule]

Uno bad game and the world has ended. Welcome to the real world.Pezzimists rule! dumb c's:crazy:

 

[dragon-83]

Cant play like that against the tigers they will lose by 60 lol

 

[mickeylane]

Yeah im sorry......no reason to panic...I over reacted, it will all be ok...just a blimp on the radar, everyone was off this week it will all be ok next week against the premiership favourites...
R U GUYS f**kING DREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a headless team with no direction or style of play period!! no discipline, no defensive shape, players playing out of position and w no confidence!!! Seriosuly just make some hard calls Price.....
move Stanley to 5/8, Soward to half, Nightingale or Morris to FB, bring in Kemp on the wing and bring in Vidot to Centre. Move Scott back to the 2nd row....bring in Marketto to lock for some muscle and starch and lastly bring in KING!!!!!!please.....
This is the team that deserves to be chosen and stuck with.....

 

[blacksafake]

yep .. there will be a bit of that this year.. we simply dont have a team that can score points when needed without boyd and gasnier this season.. if a team gets away on us we will be mistake riddled in trying to play catch up football.
there is also a real lack of attention to detail - not getting the little things right, one of the symptons of losing Bennett..
i have been saying for 18 months that we need to get rid of hornby... nothing against his contribution over the years... but he is well past his best... we need some zip and creativity from our half and he hasnt got either...

could'nt agree more Mr Red,it will be back to the pre bennett day's & boy i have'nt missed them.Lets get kyle into the halves as quick as possible( he sure ain't a fullback).Why sign vidot, chase & kemp & then persist with a slow second rower out in the centres? where is the logic.Rein must be punished for two schoolboy penalties in our own half which led to tries & i'd like to see marketo given a go he has guts,footwork & can pass which we need around the ruck.

 

[blacksafake]

Yeah im sorry......no reason to panic...I over reacted, it will all be ok...just a blimp on the radar, everyone was off this week it will all be ok next week against the premiership favourites...
R U GUYS f**kING DREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a headless team with no direction or style of play period!! no discipline, no defensive shape, players playing out of position and w no confidence!!! Seriosuly just make some hard calls Price.....
move Stanley to 5/8, Soward to half, Nightingale or Morris to FB, bring in Kemp on the wing and bring in Vidot to Centre. Move Scott back to the 2nd row....bring in Marketto to lock for some muscle and starch and lastly bring in KING!!!!!!please.....
This is the team that deserves to be chosen and stuck with.....

x2

 

[TheRev]

What about Ah Mau's Shoulder charge, it was a genuine shoulder-charge, it sounded like he was penalised because in theory he might have used an elbow.. which he didnt.. very confused.. didnt think it was possible to deliberately hit someone high with a shoulder.

 

[redvwhite]

Let's be honest, we won't win the comp with Hornby at half. He's served us well but should be on stand by for players who might be the future of our club's halves. It is now urgently time to give someone else a go, be it Kyle or another. This year should have been about giving these young blokes a shot like Manly did last year. Not sure why we didn't recruit in the halves if we were going to persist with Stanley at the back.

Price has his work cut out for him if his head is going to stay off the chopping block because tonight we played like wooden spooners.

 

[Drain the Dragon]

Our attack is awful.

You can read it a mile away. 2 hit-ups on one side of the field, spread it out wide with 2 decoys. Opposition defence know all they have to do is slide & we have nothing.

Agree. The other 15 clubs have us worked out.

And if we don't play with 100% intensity the result is what happened tonight.

The other sides know they only have to get to an early lead and we can't come back.

 

[hardbaby]

I was at the game (shame about the result, great atmosphere) and haven't seen the replay. But my gut instinct tells me that we were so poor it is probably a one-off. Every team has a bad game and the difference between the best and the worst is so narrow that there will be plenty of disappointed supporters this year. We won't play that badly again. I expect to beat the Tigers next week.

That said I do have a concern. I read somewhere that the Dragons management had sat down some of the senior players at the start of the season and said that the pressure was on to perform. I looked at Hornby's defence tonight (and last week) and was worried. I am absolutely anti-Fien. And I have concerns about Young.

We didn't lose tonight because of those guys. The Dogs were far, far better than us. They played with spirit. They were aggressive. They were clever. And they played with luck. We were none of those things. But in times like this you need to look at the senior players. And I am far from convinced. I think their best days are behind them. Bummer.

 

[Petebix]

We can indirectly blame Merrin for those play the ball penalties tonight. I watched him play 3 shockers within 5 minutes early in the 2nd half last week which stood out like a sore thumb and all should have been pinged. Obviously Bill Harrigan spotted them too and had the refs on special assignment tonight