2016 Round 9 Vs Souths

[madunit]

Nofoaluma does it as well madunit.

They didn't have to depend on Teddy in the 2nd half as well. I'd also add that Lovett's defensive effort was very good.

I know he does, but he is the last defender on the edge so it is only marginally more acceptable. Naiqama does it when the defence is already stretched thin. It means poor defenders like Brooks have to work as cover defenders, which is just plain stupid.

I can understand wingers doing it (Rankin does it a fair bit as well) and it makes sense when they rush up because its their best chance to avoid being beaten in a 2 on 1 situation.

But that's not a situation a centre faces in a properly functioning sliding defensive line

 

[madunit]

Brooks has played 2 games without Moses in the halves with him.

His debut against the Dragons and tonight

 

[magpie4ever]

How about no bagging of players at least until next Monday.

Full credit to these guys for turning around that hiding last week, showed heart, courage and magpie/tigers spirit.

 

[Ron's_Mate]

Some good signs & some worrying ones.
Goal kicking a big problem.
Poor defence on the edges, incl Kev rushing out of the line
Still with the mental fade outs either side of half time
Positives were how they adapted to Moses & Teddy pulling out
Some great scrambling defence second half
Team spirit looks good

3 Lawrence
2 Brooks
1 Farah who tackled his arse off

 

[Vic Mackey]

Really hard to give a 3/2/1 here. I don't think we had a bad player. Even guys like Siro, Lovett, halatau were great. It's probably the toughest I've ever seen a Wests Tigers side play. Lose 2 starting props, 5/8 and then fullback and best player at halftime.

Despite his two horrible mistakes I thought nofo was close to our best. He got every set off to a great start in that first 20 mins which set the tone for the forwards. Ave and Sue great. The starting back rowers all ran and tackled hard! That's all we ask we do every week!

Chris Lawrence is just about our best player these days. It's such a shame his move to the back row was 2 years 2 late because I fail to see how he would have been any worse then Luke Lewis. It's probably cost him some origin jerseys (really he should just about be picked anyway, but no lets go with josh Jackson and Boyd cordner again).

For once the bench didn't let us down. They still weren't great but all did a job.

So happy with the effort, well done to all involved.

 

[madunit]

Because Lawrence has become a good defender, it was no surprise to see our defensive line work with some unity and cohesion tonight with him defending at five-eighth.

Obviously Moses is a better 6 than Lawrence, but if our defence can show that level of improvement with the change tonight, it makes it damn hard to want to change that.

Brooks loves being the main man, yet for some reason he has to share that duty with Moses. When Moses is out, Brooks really takes control and plays brilliantly. He was even more committed in defence.

When Moses comes back, I'd be tempted to have him come off the bench. Brooks loves having a genuine ball runner at five-eighth as it gives him an extra option and Simona and Lawrence run the best lines in our side.

 

[Tiger05]

Naiqama rushing up and in tackling fresh air is fast becoming a major issue. He never times it right and leaves massive gaps in our defensive line. f**king sick of it!

I reckon Naiqama is great but this is an issue isn't it.

 

[Tiger05]

3. Rankin
2. Brooks
1. Farah

It was a good effort out there.

 

[The Rosco]

Naiqama rushing up and in tackling fresh air is fast becoming a major issue. He never times it right and leaves massive gaps in our defensive line. f**king sick of it!

After you brought it up recently MU, I kept an eye out for it. LOL. Never really noticed it previously.
You know how when you are thinking of buying a car . . . say a Mazda cx7 . . . all you notice on the roads for the next week are Mazda cx7's ? . . . well, it was like that !.
FMD, he does love to rush up and swing at air.

 

[madunit]

I reckon Naiqama is great but this is an issue isn't it.

In the last 10 games he has played he truly has learnt how to run good lines.

But he has the worst timing when rushing up and in defensively. He rarely ever runs to a player, instead running at a gap and usually too early which just causes a huge gap

 

[Eddie Lab]

As soon as Moses was out and Chris was playing 5/8th I thought that our defence would be largely improved. I think there was a possible rabbits try that if Moses was in Chris's shoes, I would've had no confidence that moses could make the same tackle.

Tin foil hat time, what if this was JT's plan all along? Rabbits would have game planned to run 80% of the traffic right at Moses and then a last minute reshuffle puts one of our better defenders right in that path?




Yeah silly.

 

[madunit]

After you brought it up recently MU, I kept an eye out for it. LOL. Never really noticed it previously.
You know how when you are thinking of buying a car . . . say a Mazda cx7 . . . all you notice on the roads for the next week are Mazda cx7's ? . . . well, it was like that !.
FMD, he does love to rush up and swing at air.

lol yeah.

It's a facet of his game that was acceptable when he was on the wing, he's the last defender on the line and when outnumbered it's a genuinely decent option.

But you cannot do it at centre.

 

[Tigerted]

3 Rowdy
2 Farah
1 Brooks

Special mention to Aloai - great carry's by the young kid in a very difficult position for his 1st yr in NRL.He could be anything & glad to c he committed for another yr.

Also the injury to the extroverted Moses was a massive turning point for us coz the introverted brooks had his best game in an eternity.

 

[madunit]

As soon as Moses was out and Chris was playing 5/8th I thought that our defence would be largely improved. I think there was a possible rabbits try that if Moses was in Chris's shoes, I would've had no confidence that moses could make the same tackle.

Tin foil hat time, what if this was JT's plan all along? Rabbits would have game planned to run 80% of the traffic right at Moses and then a last minute reshuffle puts one of our better defenders right in that path?




Yeah silly.

Interesting theory. I have one too. Brooks wants to stay at the Tigers. Moses wants money.

Moses has been given free reign to play his natural game. If as you say, Taylor decided to hook Moses, it could be his way of saying "You've had 8 weeks doing what you want and it's got us here. Now it's my turn"

 

[Vic Mackey]

Because Lawrence has become a good defender, it was no surprise to see our defensive line work with some unity and cohesion tonight with him defending at five-eighth.

Obviously Moses is a better 6 than Lawrence, but if our defence can show that level of improvement with the change tonight, it makes it damn hard to want to change that.

Brooks loves being the main man, yet for some reason he has to share that duty with Moses. When Moses is out, Brooks really takes control and plays brilliantly. He was even more committed in defence.

When Moses comes back, I'd be tempted to have him come off the bench. Brooks loves having a genuine ball runner at five-eighth as it gives him an extra option and Simona and Lawrence run the best lines in our side.

Yeah Good call with brooks. He seems to like being able to roam around the field and tonight was on the right a bit. We also saw the short kicks for teddy/rankin which we haven't seen all year.

Even though Anasta was useless really brooks probably played his best footy at the start of 2014 when braith was there standing around impersonating a 5/8. Brooks had total control.

Moses nearly needs to be a second fullback now. Brooks first pass off the ruck both sides. Moses 2 wide on the right, teddy 2 wide on the left.

 

[madunit]

Yeah Good call with brooks. He seems to like being able to roam around the field and tonight was on the right a bit. We also saw the short kicks for teddy/rankin which we haven't seen all year.

Even though Anasta was useless really brooks probably played his best footy at the start of 2014 when braith was there standing around impersonating a 5/8. Brooks had total control.

Moses nearly needs to be a second fullback now. Brooks first pass off the ruck both sides. Moses 2 wide on the right, teddy 2 wide on the left.

This would be f**king magic. Have Simona/Naiqama outside Moses and Teddy and Lawrence and Sironen on their inside. Give all three players those option runners on good lines would really strengthen our attack and wouldn't require hail mary plays.

Brooks has amazing speed off his first 4 steps, he gets around most outside backs with it. Why he has not been allowed to play his natural game until tonight is baffling.

 

[Tigerted]

I like ur thinking Eddie lab.It'd indicate Taylor has grown some cahoonas.

That injury to Moses was a godsend !

What brooks did tonite should be used as a benchmark for his future performances.

 

[Tiger05]

I like ur thinking Eddie lab.It'd indicate Taylor has grown some cahoonas.

That injury to Moses was a godsend !

What brooks did tonite should be used as a benchmark for his future performances.

Taylor didn't plan that at all. I think it did help us though because both of them are targets when we are defending plus Moses hasn't been running it at all. Lawrence was just another forward or us out there. His defence was great and he belted it up again all game. I really hope they keep Lawrence and he keeps playing as he has been because he is awesome.

 

[Clifferd]

Also how much have we missed Simona. It's not a surprise we have a 60% winning record when he plays

Only conceded 1 try down his side in that game and that was when he rammed a souffs player into rankin. Previous weeks with Milone in our side we would concede 3-4 tries down that side. His communication and strong defensive reads also get my respect, very very solid player

 

[madunit]

Some telling stats from the game
Our spine having all the try assists
Tedesco 1
Farah and Brooks 2 each

Naiqama - 6 missed tackles

Nofoaluma 186 metres, Simona 117m, Rankin 138m - Massive metres by 3 of our 4 outside backs, which is exactly what was needed to get our momentum going at the very start of the sets.

It allowed for our props to follow suit
Ava 153m, Sue 138m

Farah 2 line break assists

We conceded just 5 penalties, however 4 of them came in the space of about 3 minutes just before halftime. That sort of rubbish is still in dire need of attention.

We stuck to more one-on-one tackles tonight too.

Of our 18 kicks in general play last week, Brooks made just 6. Of the 27 we made tonight, Brooks made 22.