Last 20 minutes of charity shield

[BrissyRedV]

If by trying to break the line you mean something like fighting in the tackle then I would have to disagree. A quick play the ball is almost always the priority, the best forwards like the Souths/Roosters forwards everyone mentions can break the line but what makes them really dangerous is that they almost always land on their belly and can get up straight away and get a quick play the ball. Merrin for example fights in every tackle, is easily put on his back and his play the ball is painfully slow.

Your right. The majority of the time he does end up on his back. Occasionally he needs to fight to the ground as the longer he stays on his feet the more numbers that get into the tackle and force him onto his back. And that is also when he gets those pointless offloads away and we lose momentum. If only our forwards would run in numbers and don't advertise who will get the ball to spread the defences.

 

[kit66]

If by trying to break the line you mean something like fighting in the tackle then I would have to disagree. A quick play the ball is almost always the priority, the best forwards like the Souths/Roosters forwards everyone mentions can break the line but what makes them really dangerous is that they almost always land on their belly and can get up straight away and get a quick play the ball. Merrin for example fights in every tackle, is easily put on his back and his play the ball is painfully slow.

No, I mean hitting the line hard and trying to bust through, trying to bend the defence back and still get a quick play the ball. 3 hit ups in a row like that gives a team great momentum and puts the opposition on the back foot. I don't mean hitting the line, being stopped and then fighting in the tackle and trying to get an offload or walk another metre or two, that's more likely to slow things down and don't get me started on the wrestle.
The Warriors showed how it was done on Sunday, 3 tackles and they were getting over the 50 or very close, their backs were running hard and straight too. I'm not looking forward to round 2.

 

[Mr Red]

Correct!

Compare the games of Dan Hunt and Matt Scott at virtually the same weight and height, and get chalk and cheese in terms of performance :shock:

Trevor Gillmeister played at 92kg... enough said!

 

[bottle]

If he can stay on the field I think he could be anything. I could be wrong, but I think being in and out of the team and warming the bench the rest of the time probably caused some of his injuries. He needed game time to season his body but Price never gave him the opportunity to grow and adapt to the physical demands of first grade.

I love this place.
The level of expertise and new and unexplored theories is astounding.
So now sitting on the bench can actually lead to injuries?
Beats the 'It's all Mary's fault' line I suppose.

 

[Mr Red]

Trust me, when you weigh 100kg and the bloke running at you is 110kg there is a huge difference.

not if the 110kg guy is running at half pace which is often the case with the dragons..

 

[watatank]

No, I mean hitting the line hard and trying to bust through, trying to bend the defence back and still get a quick play the ball. 3 hit ups in a row like that gives a team great momentum and puts the opposition on the back foot. I don't mean hitting the line, being stopped and then fighting in the tackle and trying to get an offload or walk another metre or two, that's more likely to slow things down and don't get me started on the wrestle.
The Warriors showed how it was done on Sunday, 3 tackles and they were getting over the 50 or very close, their backs were running hard and straight too. I'm not looking forward to round 2.

That's just stating the obvious. Of course that's what we want our players to do. My point was most players either look to break through the line or get a quick play the ball and it's much better for the latter to happen most of the time. The best ones do both with great effect. Most of our forwards do neither with much effect. Actually, the players that do it best on our team are the wingers, Morris in particular. Merrin is an example of someone who goes too far the other way, hence the example.

 

[TheRev]

That's just stating the obvious. Of course that's what we want our players to do. My point was most players either look to break through the line or get a quick play the ball and it's much better for the latter to happen most of the time. The best ones do both with great effect. Most of our forwards do neither with much effect. Actually, the players that do it best on our team are the wingers, Morris in particular. Merrin is an example of someone who goes too far the other way, hence the example.

I think there are 3 variations of this discussion, im a bit out of my depth but just to keep the discussion going:

o Soward: I mentioned Soward but hes a different case to the Forwards, when I say Soward stopped trying to break the line, I mean he's meant to go around players not through them, and for a few years it was rare for him not to run the length atleast 1 time per game. But once he stopped believing in himself, he would run a telegraphed line and just get swallowed up, his feet werent moving, he wasnt expecting to come through the other side running.

o Forwards in the middle: With the Forwards, I agree that a super quick play of the ball is lethal, it makes extra metres because the defense is back-pedalling.. & it generated broken defensive lines. I dont know what makes some forwards better than average.. id imagine a low centre of gravity, strength and your weight is the key, push through, dont get picked up off the ground and turned, get to your feet quickly, but SBW and Inglis for example arent short.. they still crush defenders, give offloads and quick play the balls, but they also have tremendous speed, strength and skill.. I imagine there are multiple ways of being a great player, and its not something you can purely coach. Like watatank says.. the best players break the line and give quick ball plays.

But thats only part of the discussion imo.. a very 1-dimensional approach to football, and considering the way we struggle to score traditional tries, I think you have to be looking for your forwards (Merrin mostly) to duck their head/arm through and get an offload away to Quinlan and co.. we need to maximise use of Quinlan if hes playing.

o Out Wide / Centres: Its something centres can do too, I used to love watching Creagh & Cooper go left side, smash a defender or 2, get an offload around the corner to Morris (or whoever) and kapow its try time, its one of the advantages we could get if say Thompson was playing out wide.