What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Rumours and Stuff

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,145
But that was when we had Ma'u and Edwards on the edges, two old school 'inside centres'. Interestingly, on Twitter Gould said we need several improvements to our roster, including 'two genuine edge forwards'. Not sure if it was just a knock on Lane or on both of them. I reckon Matterson is a great defensive edge forward, and in attack he has all the skills. But there's no going past the fact he missed out on Origin.
Just a thought on Matto. Although he did have a few weeks off there were times throughout the season where he looked genuinely fatigued. Slow off the ground not closing gaps in D not backing up. Could it be that given our compressed defence, our edges are called upon for greater defensive responsibility? He generally had pretty big numbers which probably effected his A and his ability to impress.
Selectors are fickle bastards. A player can be gash/average throughout the season then he has a couple of huge games and all of a sudden hes a superstar. Papali, A Crighton etc. Then theres others who would need to commit murder to be dropped. Both Turbos etc. All in all I didnt think Matto deserved to be dropped.
Potentially if used correctly we have close to the best edge pairing in the comp. Its our back up middles and 9 where we struggled. I also reckon we should have used Kafusi and Alvaro a lot more and driven Jane Evans to Bourke and dropped him off without money to get home. So glad that oxygen theif has gone. Poor Worriers.
 
Last edited:

TheRam

Coach
Messages
13,461
that’s not really correct, the players / coach has said the team can play what they see....and aren’t restricted.

And it’s pretty much supported by our offloading....Paulo is no. 1 for offloads while Matterson is 4th. Additionally we also have Nrown/Evans/Lane in the top 12 (That’s 5 players, the most of any side).

Thats not really a sign the coach is restricted the players creativity........it’s probably an indication of the freedom to play what they see....

Offloading isn't our problem, in fact it has probably become a negative influence for our coach. We are so good at it that if has allowed him to ignore almost all the other attacking options. When offloading is your main and almost only option in attack, you are in trouble.

If you take out our over reliance on the offload we offer very little in the offensive side of the game. Shouldn't that be of great concern to all our coaching staff? To think that all is well and it is an easy fix is delusional. As we saw the better teams can and will defend that over the course of a whole game. Then frustration will set in and riskier plays and offloads will start to be made.

Confidence will start to be eaten away. The bash and barge power game that gave us such an advantage and momentum in the first half of the season can not be maintained for the entire season. It is not humanly possible unless we had 4 bench players that were of almost equal quality as our top 6 in the pack, which we didn't by a long shot and even then you have to hope big time that injuries don't take them out or hamper their abilities.

So when the inevitable happened and we started to falter up front and those exceptional metres started to dry up, we had no plan B. Our attack just relied on offloads. which wasn't enough and as the season progressed we then also saw our defense start to be affected too. That is what happens when you are a one trick pony and don't use the talents in your roster as the footy Gods intended.

Power game and offloads, that's all we had. When we lost the power, all we had then were the offloads and that my friends was never going to beat the best teams in the comp, especially since we lost our confidence in defense.

The coach and no one but the coach is to blame for the way we played this year. The good and the bad. He need to see and understand that we need more then power and offloads and then find someone that can help him achieve the necessary steps needed to add the lethal variety to our attack that is so desperately needed. You need to build this from the ground up. It can't be manufactured during the season in a few training sessions. You need to work on this the whole offseason and then forever more.

I think I have the perfect candidate for that. But what do I know? The coach obviously knows better.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,145
We had the same coach last year when we had the third best attack in the comp. We had the same halfback too but this year he was way down on form. Maybe Arthur was down on form too?
Was Moses form any better last year if you remove his outstanding kicking game from last season? Why was his and Drowns short kicking games so bad season last compared to 2019. Solve that and we probably win the comp.
 

Hindmarshisgod2

Juniors
Messages
953
We had the same coach last year when we had the third best attack in the comp. We had the same halfback too but this year he was way down on form. Maybe Arthur was down on form too?
Why does no one recognise that we had pretty easy draws the last 2 seasons, hence the top5 and 3 finish. This made arthur look good and made some of the players look good. The fact we bowed out so easily proves we weren't a top 8 team.
 

oldmancraigy

Coach
Messages
11,295
What is the issue with the minutes played by Brown Paulo and RCG?

They were dominant against Souths through the middle. Did not look exhausted. The problem was that all 3 were off at the same time (when Souths made their run).

Perhaps staggering it so 2 of the 3 are always on the field? When you have 3 middles close to Origin level, there will be some drop off when they have a rest, and we struggled with Evans effectiveness late in the season.
No problem with them being effective and playing 60ish minutes each. But one of them could probably start from the bench?
 

IFR33K

Coach
Messages
17,002
What is the issue with the minutes played by Brown Paulo and RCG?

They were dominant against Souths through the middle. Did not look exhausted. The problem was that all 3 were off at the same time (when Souths made their run).

Perhaps staggering it so 2 of the 3 are always on the field? When you have 3 middles close to Origin level, there will be some drop off when they have a rest, and we struggled with Evans effectiveness late in the season.
No problem with them being effective and playing 60ish minutes each. But one of them could probably start from the bench?


The coach played them huge minutes straight in the season proper. In the semi he played them, off memory 30 minutes straight and interchanged them all at once. He went away from what was working or they were burnt out. Choose 1.
 
Last edited:

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
Why does no one recognise that we had pretty easy draws the last 2 seasons, hence the top5 and 3 finish. This made arthur look good and made some of the players look good. The fact we bowed out so easily proves we weren't a top 8 team.
We bowed out easily because of losing players during the game (vs Melbourne) and in the week leading up to the game (vs Souths).

Personally I think we overachieved by finishing third, which is a sign of good leadership. We're a top six side, as I stated at the start of the year. Turns out we were in the final six teams in the finals.
 

Hindmarshisgod2

Juniors
Messages
953
This is in the grand final of least intelligent things I have ever read.

And that includes all of hindy11111s dribble.
Its not about intelligence. Its fact. We have had the luxury of easy draws the last 2 seasons.

Also some very very favourable decisions in games.

Only an imbecile will dispute that.
 

Haynzy

First Grade
Messages
8,613
In my opinion the mental impact of COVID, was a more significant factor in our late season form than people are willing to acknowledge. The fact that Penrith are perhaps a bit more isolated and Melbourne have had their Sunny Coast holiday camp have quite likely made it easier for them to be less impacted by restrictions around the bubbles. Or maybe their players are just more mentally resilient.
I also think we had injuries to key players at in-opportune times that hampered our ability to properly rest players, and the coaching staff probably messed up the resting and rotation of players to the point where were mentally done, which makes it harder to lift physically.
 
Messages
19,104
Its not about intelligence. Its fact. We have had the luxury of easy draws the last 2 seasons.

Also some very very favourable decisions in games.

Only an imbecile will dispute that.

I reckon OMC's point was that we were, by definition, a Top 8 team. Every year (since they started not playing all teams twice) some teams get harder or easier draws. You play what is in front of you, and you plan your season around the known draw.
 

TheRam

Coach
Messages
13,461
We had the same coach last year when we had the third best attack in the comp. We had the same halfback too but this year he was way down on form. Maybe Arthur was down on form too?

The reason for his and our teams overall yoyo form is because they haven't worked on the fundamentals from ground up.
 

Latest posts

Top