Steve Price Post Match

[Cagey Mac]

Price seems to be unable to identify the obvious and for that matter so does Doust
They played like poorly coached under 9's last night and I echo Minh's comments
Next week I would play
1. Dugan
2 Morris
3 Vidot
4 Cooper if available or Runciman
5 Nightingale
6 Soward
7 Drinkwater
8 Hunt or Stockwell
9 Fein
10 Weyman if he's fit which is questionable
11 Prior
12 Creagh
13 Merrin
14 King
15 Stockwell or Hunt
16 De Belin
17 Frizzel

Fein is below par as a halfback but an above average rake. Rein lacks deception and has no kicking game at all which means he's entirely predictable. It means also that we only have one kicker (Fein) at the line as Soward is usually well behind play and that is making us the easiest team to read in defence in the game.

Rein needs to go back to NSW cup and learn some skills in a less competitive environment
Stanley is too slow and too small, Vidot is far from perfect but IMO and needs to work on his defensive reads but with Prior and Nighty would be okay and certainly is a better DH runner and more dangerous in attack especially off kicks into opposition red zones

Harrison is out of his league on current form. Prior is a quality back rower, more penetrative and with better ball skills. He's also a lot bigger and a better one on one defender.

Price's persistence with Fein at half is weakening both 7 and 9 spots at the moment. It cost us the match against an average opponent last night and afforded us an embarrassing performance for the 2nd week in a row

 

[FlameThrower]

Gould made a valid point about Soward, he stated in 2009/2010/2011 he would be further 10 meters back and have plenty of time to put in attacking kicks, but that's now stopped, most times he gets ball with opposition forwards breathing down his neck and kicks just to get the ball away, why can' t Price look to rejig this? Slip in one of the young guns to cover Fien as half. If Drinkwater is good enough then now is the time to shine?

 

[FlameThrower]

Price seems to be unable to identify the obvious and for that matter so does Doust
They played like poorly coached under 9's last night and I echo Minh's comments
Next week I would play
1. Dugan
2 Morris
3 Vidot
4 Cooper if available or Runciman
5 Nightingale
6 Soward
7 Drinkwater
8 Hunt or Stockwell
9 Fein
10 Weyman if he's fit which is questionable
11 Prior
12 Creagh
13 Merrin
14 King
15 Stockwell or Hunt
16 De Belin
17 Frizzel

Fein is below par as a halfback but an above average rake. Rein lacks deception and has no kicking game at all which means he's entirely predictable. It means also that we only have one kicker (Fein) at the line as Soward is usually well behind play and that is making us the easiest team to read in defence in the game.

Rein needs to go back to NSW cup and learn some skills in a less competitive environment
Stanley is too slow and too small, Vidot is far from perfect but IMO and needs to work on his defensive reads but with Prior and Nighty would be okay and certainly is a better DH runner and more dangerous in attack especially off kicks into opposition red zones

Harrison is out of his league on current form. Prior is a quality back rower, more penetrative and with better ball skills. He's also a lot bigger and a better one on one defender.

Price's persistence with Fein at half is weakening both 7 and 9 spots at the moment. It cost us the match against an average opponent last night and afforded us an embarrassing performance for the 2nd week in a row

Agree with this, quick email Doust/Young and Price.....

 

[flea]

What a disgraceful thing to say re not looking to finals. Its like he's just given up. Has he also given up on trying to fix our woeful attack or given up on maybe trying something positive for the remainder of the year, like trying some new combinations or giving young players a go? That kind of statement is not acceptable from a first-grade coach. But Price isn't a first-grade coach so maybe the Dragons hierarchy are happy to accept that kind of mediocrity from him in statements as well as deeds.

 

[TheRev]

What a disgraceful thing to say re not looking to finals. Its like he's just given up. Has he also given up on trying to fix our woeful attack or given up on maybe trying something positive for the remainder of the year, like trying some new combinations or giving young players a go? That kind of statement is not acceptable from a first-grade coach. But Price isn't a first-grade coach so maybe the Dragons hierarchy are happy to accept that kind of mediocrity from him in statements as well as deeds.

I understand what he meant, hes playing 1 game at a time and not focussed on longterm objectives like that.

But its super frustrating that we dont 'appear' to be experimenting each week, it appears to be the same stuff.. take some risks, nothing to lose, the brand of football we play is dead boring.

 

[kit66]

I didn't stick around for the post match stuff but I heard a short, maybe 3 minute interview with Debby Spillane (?) on ABC radio in the car this morning where Price managed to say 3 or 4 times "It's silly mistakes and penalties that are costing us" and "If we can cut out the silly mistakes and penalties we'd be alright". If he truly thinks that's the bulk of our problem there then we're pretty much f*@#ed. If his game plan only succeeds with a very low mistake rate and penalty count then it might be time for plan B. A passing game, some depth in attack and a few personnel changes might help.

 

[Old_Timer]

Good analogy kit but the chances of it happening without the intervention from our Club Board are practically zero.

 

[Gomarchin]

Does Price read off a script at the after game pressers? It's always the same old cliche response. Not every good assistant coach or lower grade coach can make it as a first grade coach. Why can't Doust and the board see this?? He is not capable and why the re-signed him for a further 2 years is beyond me.

 

[TheRev]

Does Price read off a script at the after game pressers? It's always the same old cliche response. Not every good assistant coach or lower grade coach can make it as a first grade coach. Why can't Doust and the board see this?? He is not capable and why the re-signed him for a further 2 years is beyond me.

If he was successful on the field he might get away with 'playing the media game', but most of us just want to hear him communicate that he is capable of original thought.

 

[Saint George of Lydda]

If he meant "we are not thinking about the finals at the moment because we are taking it one game at a time and focusing on the basics" then I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

BUT...

if he means "we are not aiming for the finals because we know we suck so we are focusing on building for next year" than he should be sacked immediately. No coach should ever give off the impression to his players that anything less than the absolute premium result is acceptable. "Shoot for the stars and see where you land" is the only acceptable attitude in professional sport.

 

[Black Forest Dragon]

Just watched the press conference, I' m not sure Price meant that We are not Finals contenders, he meant to say, need to focus on basics, play week in week out, then worry about Finals, that's if we make it, while not the best PR for the team, more concerning is that he saw lots of positives. The rubbish, about trained well during the week, is also fluff, as I've never heard anyone say, "training was terrible"...
I really don' t know what to expect anymore , as we are in holding pattern team wise, and everyone on here seems to have an opinion or suggestion, but as Ray Warren stated today on 2MMM, As soon as Dragons get to the opposition try line , we freeze and don't seem to have any Plan B or C?

I think you are right. In fairness to Steve Price, the 'not thinking finals' comment by him is out of context - it was to back up his take for the problems on the field, i.e. that the team needs to erradicate penalties and mistakes.

ALL the commentators however, say the problem is the way we play.

That Gus Gould high-lighted the fact that in a winning dragons side Jamie Soward stood much deeper for down-town kicks is an example of how the current system/coaching/game-plan (call it what you like) does NOT take advantage of player's individual strengths - we could do that because Soward can kick the ball so far - with the defence line so far in front of him there was a great chance they would nab the winger or full back in goal, as we did once last night.

Not having the structure / passing game to get the ball to Dugan (or to BMoz or Nightinggale for that matter) at speed is another example of not playing to our strengths.

That is the WAY we play.

Again, ALL the commentators say the problem is the way we play.

Yeah, we just want our coach to be expert enough to see what everyone else sees.

 

[saints4ever]

Ill say this for Price he is f**king stubborn and determined.

Id imagine him as the captain of the Titanic as it's going down. People would be screaming at him to abandon ship, man the pumps, ready the life boats, prioritize women and children, seal off decks etc

But there he would be, standing on the bridge saying everything will be alright because they have trained for this, the crew has to just work hard for each other.

There is a difference between being a calming influence and not a knee jerker to being blinded by sheer ignorance.

FFS the ship is sinking Pricey!

 

[Creaghzy dragon]

Price is like devon, full of crap

 

[RedVee]

So when is Price going to unveil the brand new attack that they spent all off season on?

 

[watatank]

If he meant "we are not thinking about the finals at the moment because we are taking it one game at a time and focusing on the basics" then I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

BUT...

if he means "we are not aiming for the finals because we know we suck so we are focusing on building for next year" than he should be sacked immediately. No coach should ever give off the impression to his players that anything less than the absolute premium result is acceptable. "Shoot for the stars and see where you land" is the only acceptable attitude in professional sport.

Did you see the presser? That's almost exactly what he said.

 

[bottle]

Price is like devon, full of crap

I'm partial to a Devon sanger.
Source?
Tomato, of course.

 

[Father Ted]

So when is Price going to unveil the brand new attack that they spent all off season on?

He already has..

 

[possm]

Price lovers stop the spin. Price has offered nothing since being appointed and his contract extension can in no way be justified.

The 2013 season is shaping up to be a reapeat of 2012. The Dragons are playing the same way and making the same errors as they did in 2012, They have shown they have the skills to do the job but it's obvious that the game plan for each game is very poor and shows no consideration of our players strengths and weaknesses or the oppositions strengths and weaknesses.

Price should show some dignity and resign.

Members should demand a cleanout of those in charge.

 

[Coffs dragon]

I expect an end of season sale for our HALF PRICE coach. He has bought massive reductions in all departments , attack, defence, skill, confidence, development and team selections.

 

[saints4ever]

Price lovers stop the spin. Price has offered nothing since being appointed and his contract extension can in no way be justified.

The 2013 season is shaping up to be a reapeat of 2012. The Dragons are playing the same way and making the same errors as they did in 2012, They have shown they have the skills to do the job but it's obvious that the game plan for each game is very poor and shows no consideration of our players strengths and weaknesses or the oppositions strengths and weaknesses.

Price should show some dignity and resign.

Members should demand a cleanout of those in charge.

please tell us how you think we should demand this.

march on the Taj? mass protest at our next home game? get the ol skywriter booked again? bombard the club with emails?

if someone can come up with a reasonably good idea, then fine. until then all this kind of talk is pissing in the wind