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Kearney is not the problem

The Engineers Room

First Grade
Messages
8,945
Our attack has improved, but our defence has gotten worse - as you'd expect bringing Chris Sandow into the team.

I can't agree with this. Our attack is pitiful. We are not challenging the defense at all for most of every game. You can't tell me 5 hitups and kick is an improvement. Also, we still use the same "second man play" we have used for the past 10 years with no variation. Add to that the half break or attacking movement followed by the lame hit up or the forwards getting in the way of the play. Then there is the lack of offloads or the one out forward runs.

We get dominated by the defense and this leads to pressured kicks or mistakes which gives the opposition field position and they make us work in defense. That is the reason the defense is so poor, they are always under pressure.
 
Messages
3,741
tumblr_m3y6iryzH21ru5wopo1_1280.jpg
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
95,979
I can't agree with this. Our attack is pitiful. We are not challenging the defense at all for most of every game. You can't tell me 5 hitups and kick is an improvement. Also, we still use the same "second man play" we have used for the past 10 years with no variation. Add to that the half break or attacking movement followed by the lame hit up or the forwards getting in the way of the play. Then there is the lack of offloads or the one out forward runs.

We get dominated by the defense and this leads to pressured kicks or mistakes which gives the opposition field position and they make us work in defense. That is the reason the defense is so poor, they are always under pressure.

We have scored more points per game this year, despite Hayne missing a third of our games.
 

Eels Dude

Coach
Messages
19,065
yeah - we are very lucky other teams clock off when they get 30 to 40 infront

Last year opposing teams only decided to turn up during the last 20 minutes of matches because that's all they had to do to win. This year opposing teams must be taking us more seriously as they're playing for the first 60 minutes then once the game's won only then do they decide to clock off.
 

Runaround Man

Juniors
Messages
421
Our players are good enough to have won at least double the games we have so far. The coach is the main variable that is lacking.

Having said that I still think Kearney has something to offer. But maybe not as the coach of the NRL team. He can assist in some capacity. Someone else needs to take over the reins.
 

oldmancraigy

Coach
Messages
12,070
No coach in the world can rejuvenate players that are physically past it.

If Hindmarsh can play like he did against Penrith, then it suggests that he isn't physically past it.
Poore is definitely NOT past it physically
MoiMoi - hard to tell since he's been playing too many minutes in a new position (that tends to require a different fitness and skillset)


Agreed. But they're still playing off the back of slow play-the-balls.

It's not just about metres though. It's about the speed of the play-the-balls at the end of each run and outside of Mannah and Allgood, ours are far too slow.


Got any stats to back that up? Seems a like a fairly safe excuse to hide behind EXCEPT that slow play the balls again are NOT all the players fault. Are they not discussing and practicing this at training?!?

We certainly have adjusted throughout the season, from employing a shooter at right centre ("Morgan can't read the play!" :crazy: "And now Blair can't read the play!" :crazy:) to moving Sandow to the left side, it is all tinkering to mitigate a weakness.

If you think the worst defensive team in the comp only has one weakness, then I'd have to wonder if you are actually SK ;-)
Sure, Sandow is terrible, but Morgan can't read the play defensively and too often finds himself mid field making tackles he doesn't need to.
Blair developed this habit of rushing up to hit his opponent about a month ago, and what happened on Sunday was bound to happen I suppose.

Our attack has improved, but our defence has gotten worse - as you'd expect bringing Chris Sandow into the team.

You got any stats to back this one up?
There are some pretty easy ones to get a hold of, they are called "points per game".
Last season we scored 16.04 per game
This season we're on 16.8 per game.

Um, sure, it's an improvement, but not much of one...

Considering that 35% of the total points we have scored this year have been in situations where the result of the game is well beyond doubt, I'd suggest our attack is worse this year.
[I'm talking here ONLY about tries scored after the result is impossible to be different. So our try against Souths is NOT part of this calc, but the tries against Manly ARE.]
 

oldmancraigy

Coach
Messages
12,070
Funny how it only happens to us hey?

prove it.



Your posts used to be more intelligent and not just belligerent for the sake of it.

Last season I might have agreed with many of the premises you are using to defend this years team (because they would have been true). But it is impossible to deny that there has been regression; and there is a lack of confidence and trust in the playing group and this probably results from the coach losing confidence in himself, and now being so lost he doesn't know which way to turn.
 
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