McGregor: We Lost The Ground

[Objective View]

The last 3 premiers have had their attacking structure devised by an assistant coach.

:roll:

Straight Shooter

 

[BrissyRedV]

:roll:

Straight Shooter

Translation, "wait, that point does not suit my argument and proves me completely wrong. I will just post a meaningless smiley as a retort."

 

[Vasilevsky]

Translation, "wait, that point does not suit my argument and proves me completely wrong. I will just post a meaningless smiley as a retort."

I think you homies need to cease fire. Both of you are correct. the attacking coach is responsible for the attack but the head coach certainly has a lot to do with it.

Not sure why all the doom and gloom. I want the Dragons to win every competitive game whether the CS, the 9s or a competition game. Dugan, Frizzell and Thompson are 3 of the main attacking weapons.

If Benji continues to throw balls like the one where Aitken came up just short or the one where Matthews was pulled down just before Mann try and Widdop also does it on the other side. With Dugan, Frizell and Thompson hitting the holes and Mann coming through from the back. Packer and JDB continuing to make good metres creating the room to allow Benji and Widdop to do that, I'm optimistic. It looked to me like the game meant much more to Souffs. They were getting off the line much faster.

Reins dummy half passing is still a problem. Maybe McCrone and Havili is the answer. Or Marketo needs to develop that ability.

 

[Saints Forever]

Have to say I agree with Vas.

When our first choice halves play I expect we will be move cohesive.

Am wondering if the players heavy training schedule has impacted on their speed. Mann indicated his legs felt heavy.

May take a couple of weeks for the players to freshen up.

 

[BrissyRedV]

Have to say I agree with Vas.

When our first choice halves play I expect we will be move cohesive.

Am wondering if the players heavy training schedule has impacted on their speed. Mann indicated his legs felt heavy.

May take a couple of weeks for the players to freshen up.

I'd suggest the hot conditions didn't help either. Man, I remember playing Rugby in Darwin and being stuffed after 5 minutes and then coming down south and feeling I could run for days.

 

[BrissyRedV]

I think you homies need to cease fire. Both of you are correct. the attacking coach is responsible for the attack but the head coach certainly has a lot to do with it.

Not sure why all the doom and gloom. I want the Dragons to win every competitive game whether the CS, the 9s or a competition game. Dugan, Frizzell and Thompson are 3 of the main attacking weapons.

If Benji continues to throw balls like the one where Aitken came up just short or the one where Matthews was pulled down just before Mann try and Widdop also does it on the other side. With Dugan, Frizell and Thompson hitting the holes and Mann coming through from the back. Packer and JDB continuing to make good metres creating the room to allow Benji and Widdop to do that, I'm optimistic. It looked to me like the game meant much more to Souffs. They were getting off the line much faster.

Reins dummy half passing is still a problem. Maybe McCrone and Havili is the answer. Or Marketo needs to develop that ability.

Vas, you need to stop this. I find it very disturbing that I agree with everything you say here.

Rein certainly killed much of our momentum yesterday. A few dummy half runs he made were telegraphed and that kick he put dead in goal just as were getting on a roll killed us. Add his poor showing along with the stupid drop ball and the enthusiasm of a young Souths side, you just cannot do that on hot days. It then proved nigh on impossible for the team to go on the front foot and test structures and combinations.

 

[Saints Forever]

Vas, you need to stop this. I find it very disturbing that I agree with everything you say here.

Rein certainly killed much of our momentum yesterday. A few dummy half runs he made were telegraphed and that kick he put dead in goal just as were getting on a roll killed us. Add his poor showing along with the stupid drop ball and the enthusiasm of a young Souths side, you just cannot do that on hot days. It then proved nigh on impossible for the team to go on the front foot and test structures and combinations.

Poor Ol Mitch

His passing wasn't that bad in the CS.

He is suddenly almost completely responsible for an ordinary performance of maybe 20 of the 24 players trialling.

Perhaps he is a Jew and this is 1933 ?

People he is not the best hooker in the comp but he is not the worst. Just middle of the road, no more, no less.

If a much better hooker becomes available am sure the club will go for it.

Same applies to the half back position. At least Benji is a better half than Mitch is a hooker.

 

[BrissyRedV]

Poor Ol Mitch

His passing wasn't that bad in the CS.

He is suddenly almost completely responsible for an ordinary performance of maybe 20 of the 24 players trialling.

Perhaps he is a Jew and this is 1933 ?

People he is not the best hooker in the comp but he is not the worst. Just middle of the road, no more, no less.

If a much better hooker becomes available am sure the club will go for it.

Same applies to the half back position. At least Benji is a better half than Mitch is a hooker.

Hardly blaming him. Just highlighting his poor game and some poor options he took. Havili had a decent game and Rein will have to better next trial.

 

[coast_dragons]

Havili will be a good foil but I wouldn't be banking on him being the solution long term.

Imo Sam Coster is just as good as Havili not as strong but a good passing game and a good thinker.

 

[Forster Dragon]

Coaches do have a lot of work to do with the whole team.Cs shield performance poor and we lacked in all areas.No wonder Paul McGregor was flat at interview.

 

[Saints Forever]

Coaches do have a lot of work to do with the whole team.Cs shield performance poor and we lacked in all areas.No wonder Paul McGregor was flat at interview.

Am sure Mary will give them a polite serve at training this week.

If they are poor collectively against the Warriors, coaching staff will need to review how they approached the pre-season

 

[BennyV]

:roll:

Straight Shooter

Sorry, didn't mean to crush your argument so quickly...

 

[bottle]

Sorry, didn't mean to crush your argument so quickly...

Yes you did.;-)

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Have to say I agree with Vas.

When our first choice halves play I expect we will be move cohesive.

Am wondering if the players heavy training schedule has impacted on their speed. Mann indicated his legs felt heavy.

May take a couple of weeks for the players to freshen up.

I think it was probably more the heat on the day that slowed a lot of blokes, and yes your right when our regular halves play there will be more structure to our game....their all pretty fit I feel at this stage but match conditions are very different....bit like golf you can smack them down the middle with your driver at the driving range but on comp day you actually feel like you've just hit a 7 iron...well that's my story anyway

 

[Cagey Mac]

I think that there is cause for very great concern
I'm agreeing with Vas too
This is not the way things are meant to be.

 

[giboz71]

Intensity was definitely down, not sure what to make of that? The only excuse I can think of is that we played most of our regulars whilst Souths played a lot of their fringe guys so you can argue they had a bit more to play for.

I remember the first 2.5 games of last year we looked just as flat. Then we came out firing the 2nd half of the Raiders game and went on that winning streak. It was like Mary turned a switch on.

Hope he finds that same switch this year.

 

[Lethal25]

Poor Ol Mitch

His passing wasn't that bad in the CS.

He is suddenly almost completely responsible for an ordinary performance of maybe 20 of the 24 players trialling.

Perhaps he is a Jew and this is 1933 ?

People he is not the best hooker in the comp but he is not the worst. Just middle of the road, no more, no less.

If a much better hooker becomes available am sure the club will go for it.

Same applies to the half back position. At least Benji is a better half than Mitch is a hooker.

I've only watched the first 30 mins or so and have to say I agree that Rein wasn't to blame with respect to his dummy half work. He dropped a ball and kicked dead but his passing was fine.

Maybe it falls off the cliff after this point but it certainly feels there is disproportionate blame being directed at Rein.

Wonder what will transpire on this forum if Farah is injured and Rein gets a call up for Origin.

 

[Vasilevsky]

Intensity was definitely down, not sure what to make of that? The only excuse I can think of is that we played most of our regulars whilst Souths played a lot of their fringe guys so you can argue they had a bit more to play for.

I remember the first 2.5 games of last year we looked just as flat. Then we came out firing the 2nd half of the Raiders game and went on that winning streak. It was like Mary turned a switch on.

Hope he finds that same switch this year.

It looked to me like they were ambushed in the opening quarter of the game. They didn't expect Souffs to take it so seriously. That ref mistake calling for a drop out rather than a 20min tap in the opening few minutes was really bad. To force a team to do so much defending so early on such a hot day can go a long to way to setting the stage for the rest of the game.

My basic position is that the positives outweigh the negatives. Packer was outstanding and Mann maybe did enough to suggest he will be a capable fullback. Havili surprised me. Based on that he is a certainty for the 17. The online defense was good. To be honest, I can't remember exactly but at least in the first half every time they were attacking Souffs line, they at least went very close to scoring.

Negatives were Lafai (I hate to remind you homies, I have been consistent in calling him a depth signing who won't force Aitken out). The lack of intensity compared to Souffs (this is just an attitude problem probably related to the heat and the fact it was a trial game). The 'other winger'. KFFL and Matautai look to me to be simply not fast enough to play wing. If there was speed to burn elsewhere in the backline it wouldn't be a problem but alas...... And of course, Mitch Rein. He wasn't 'bad' but his dummy half ball work seemingly hasn't improved. I was reading this and once again thinking of how the Dragons can take advantage of the situation at the Tigers.

 

[Vasilevsky]

Wonder what will transpire on this forum if Farah is injured and Rein gets a call up for Origin.

It would require at very least Farah, Ennis and Peats being injured for Rein to even be considered.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Intensity was definitely down, not sure what to make of that? The only excuse I can think of is that we played most of our regulars whilst Souths played a lot of their fringe guys so you can argue they had a bit more to play for.

I remember the first 2.5 games of last year we looked just as flat. Then we came out firing the 2nd half of the Raiders game and went on that winning streak. It was like Mary turned a switch on.

Hope he finds that same switch this year.

From memory "the switch" was replacing Rein with L'Estrange, and Trent Merrin coming on for I forget who. L'Estrange straightened the whole attack in the centre of the field, which created space on the edge of the ruck AND out on the wings. All of a sudden the attack was unpredictable. St George scored tries on the edge of the ruck, the middle of the ruck and out on the wings and ended up with an unexpected come-from-behind win. To his credit Mitch Rein came back late in the second half and scored the try through the middle of the ruck, which started all that rot in the newspapers about a potential State of Origin run.

We haven't got L'Estrange or Merrin this year, but maybe Havili & Thompson can do the job.