2020 Charity Shield

[Inisai Toga]

I remember the 1971 gf. So much excitement surrounding that match. Saints v Souths, the great rivalry of the day. It was called the Sydney comp. TV coverage had gone up another gear, player interviews prematch. Big SCG crowd. Great times, apart from the result.

But I think you may have forgotten 1977 and 79. It wasn't all drought.

 

[Inisai Toga]

agree and what a game! We nearly pulled of the impossible thanks to Chang and Smithy (and Gibson)

 

[dragondad]

agree and what a game! We nearly pulled of the impossible thanks to Chang and Smithy (and Gibson)

Balmain’s win in 1969 was considered a huge upset. If Jack Gibson had guided Saints to the 1971 premiership with Changa, Billy Smith and a team of young tradesmen, that would’ve been close to the greatest ever rugby league coaching achievement. It was 11-10 to Souths with not a huge amount of time left on the clock, before their final try.

 

[Inisai Toga]

Balmain’s win in 1969 was considered a huge upset. If Jack Gibson had guided Saints to the 1971 premiership with Changa, Billy Smith and a team of young tradesmen, that would’ve been close to the greatest ever rugby league coaching achievement. It was 11-10 to Souths with not a huge amount of time left on the clock, before their final try.

agree! South’s George Piggins raking the ball in the ruck killed our late comeback momentum. It was also a better game that 69 ‘s four tackle spectacle . This was the first 6 tackle rule Grand Final and the attack and defence was a wonderful exhibition of Rugby League.

 

[Old Timer]

Why is it that even the opposition reserve grade outfits playing the 2nd half of somewhat meaningless trials against us exhibit traits that our teams don’t namely the ability to roll down the field making easy metres play after play coupled with meaningful offloads leading to stylish attack exhibiting game plans and structure.
The style Souths showed in the 2nd half exhibit the weakness in the foundations of our entire coaching system including defence.
We keep talking about Dragons footy and the power game lol we are truly kidding ourselves.
Fully expecting Graham to come out game 1 run at a million miles an hour into the defence, get smashed and go off for concussion and not return.
As I say 2nd grade teams have more skill levels than us.

 

[dragondad]

agree! South’s George Piggins raking the ball in the ruck killed our late comeback momentum. It was also a better game that 69 ‘s four tackle spectacle . This was the first 6 tackle rule Grand Final and it attack and defence was a wonderful exhibition of Rugby League.

And the famous 1-0 scoreline at half time. The one point field goal came in in 1971.

 

[Astrid]

2010 was amazing because the stadium was full of saints fans and i felt like their would've been blood if we lost. My first grand final so I'm told I'm a good luck charm and must always go if we are playing.

 

[Old Timer]

2010 was amazing because the stadium was full of saints fans and i felt like their would've been blood if we lost. My first grand final so I'm told I'm a good luck charm and must always go if we are playing.

I was there 64,65,66 and the great thing was whilst Saints has plenty of fans as did their opponents, the SCG had plenty of supporters from other clubs not involved just hoping to see someone beat us.
You didn’t only get to give it to your opponent on GF day you got to give it to all the other poor sons of bitches as well.

 

[Frank Facer]

Come on FF with a centre pairing of Gasnier and Cooper? Wingers of Morris and Nightingale?
Statistically we did pretty well also.
No doubt our defence was our forte but we were no slouches in attack.

We only had one side of the field to attack under Bennett. When Gasnier came back from Union, he never regained his earlier form. I think that was largely due to playing outside of Soward, who wouldn't go to the line and commit defenders.

We had Boyd at fullback, who hardly scored any tries for a fullback.

 

[Inisai Toga]

We only had one side of the field to attack under Bennett. When Gasnier came back from Union, he never regained his earlier form. I think that was largely due to playing outside of Soward, who wouldn't go to the line and commit defenders.

We had Boyd at fullback, who hardly scored any tries for a fullback.

Yet his try assist were enormous! Both wingers Nightingale and Morris scored a stack of tries that year thanks to Boyd. We haven’t been able to achieve that coehesion since. Dugan was tough but not skilled; Dufty fast but not a great try assist. Hope Lomax can fill this void.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

What happened in 9, 10 and 11? Is that a good indication of how our years panned out?

Seriously?

You must not realise the difference in calibre of coach...Bennett vs McGregor...is a bit of a mismatch.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Few Dragons plays got a pass mark.
Good
Frizell
Fuimaono
Host
Hunt
Luke
Pereira
Vaughan
Williame
Fair
Brittain
Clune
Ford
Lomax
Sailor
Saab

Poor
Aitken- Too small, no impact
Blacker- Underwhelming and cumbersome
Lafai- Too slow, no impact
Lawrie- Too small, poor handling
Norman- Poor passes, runs around in circles
Ravalawa- Too slow, cumbersome, no impact

To sum up, the forwards are over rated and the backs are pedestrian and probably the worst backline in the NRL. Nothing has changed but the pawns and the pathetic excuses. The use of the bench is atrocious.

How doe the likes of Clune, Sailor and Saab get a rating of fair when they were literally on the field for five to 10 minutes?

Blacker is “poor” based on a similar time period? Harsh!

 

[Old Timer]

Re Clune v Hunt
When Hunt is on the field to me at least almost everything seems robotic, cumbersome, slow and not quite timed almost out of cinq
When Clune was on the field everything looks faster, players in motion running into the pass and in general their is more time and space to execute including the cut out pass or kick.
Hunt looks like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders as a punishment (also did that at Brisbane) where Clune looks like he revels in trying to outsmart the opposition withe finesse.
Not saying Clune can continue to do at NRL level but fair to say I see more in him than Hunt.
Just on Hunt there was 1 critical moment when Host was hitting a perfect hole and Hunt could see him but for some unknown didn’t pass it to him and that is not the 1st time that has happened.

 

[Saints Forever]

Sad that the once famous RedV has morphed & look like the Heinz Big Red soup team that constantly dish up slop....
View attachment 36431

Why is it that even the opposition reserve grade outfits playing the 2nd half of somewhat meaningless trials against us exhibit traits that our teams don’t namely the ability to roll down the field making easy metres play after play coupled with meaningful offloads leading to stylish attack exhibiting game plans and structure.
The style Souths showed in the 2nd half exhibit the weakness in the foundations of our entire coaching system including defence.
We keep talking about Dragons footy and the power game lol we are truly kidding ourselves.
Fully expecting Graham to come out game 1 run at a million miles an hour into the defence, get smashed and go off for concussion and not return.
As I say 2nd grade teams have more skill levels than us.

OT, all that defending on our line in the first half took it out of our players.

Then the team relaxed against a very good Souths reggies Group and the rest is history.

As usual McGenius didn’t give various fringe players any meaningful game time to get some rhythm in attack and defence.

End result we get smoked in the second half.

 

[Old Timer]

OT, all that defending on our line in the first half took it out of our players.

Then the team relaxed against a very good Souths reggies Group and the rest is history.

As usual McGenius didn’t give various fringe players any meaningful game time to get some rhythm in attack and defence.

End result we get smoked in the second half.

Then god help us against a 1st grade outfit for 80 minutes.
The simple truth is we don’t play attractive footy and only on a very rare occasion do we dominate a side in the way we are dominated with quick rucks and relentless onslaughts.

 

[Como Connection]

I remember the 1971 gf. So much excitement surrounding that match. Saints v Souths, the great rivalry of the day. It was called the Sydney comp. TV coverage had gone up another gear, player interviews prematch. Big SCG crowd. Great times, apart from the result.

But I think you may have forgotten 1977 and 79. It wasn't all drought.

George Piggins rake back in the play the ball.
CC

 

[True_Believer]

Seriously?

You must not realise the difference in calibre of coach...Bennett vs McGregor...is a bit of a mismatch.

No, I do realise the calibre of coach. What Giboz and I are pointing out, is that the CS is a trial, and you can't use that as an indicator for the rest of the season. This seems to be the point you are struggling with.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

No, I do realise the calibre of coach. What Giboz and I are pointing out, is that the CS is a trial, and you can't use that as an indicator for the rest of the season. This seems to be the point you are struggling with.

It may well be a glorified trial, but it does highlight many shortcomings. For example, lack of depth particularly in the backs and McIdiot’s inability to utilise reserves.

 

[avocado]

No, I do realise the calibre of coach. What Giboz and I are pointing out, is that the CS is a trial, and you can't use that as an indicator for the rest of the season. This seems to be the point you are struggling with.

To be fair we’ve sucked balls in the CS since 2013.

When did Mary take over?

 

[SaintPauli]

I can't help but wonder about this particular fixture every year and why we have managed to lose it 8 years in a row.
I am not sure I have the answers but after today, I have the following questions:
1. Why were we wearing the full red strip today?
Souths home game - they should have been wearing their traditional Myrtle and Green stripes and we should have been wearing our traditional Red V.
What amplified this was the interview with Trent Merrin who told us how passionate he was about pulling on the famous Red V again after so long. WHAT RED V? We looked like a big bunch of tomatoes!
2. It's only a Trial - yes it is, but it is only a trial for Souths as well. McGregor sitting with a smirk on his face watching the second half capitulation really annoyed me to be honest.
I think plenty of players put the effort in but we seem to fall well short year after year.
Whatever happened to pride in the jersey?

McGregor continues to be a boil that needs to be lanced but the constant fades are psychological.

Perhaps the club is to embarrassed to run out with with the red v? Particularly when we dish up that rubbish.

How is it souths juniors come on the second half and rolled us when for the past 4 years we've had very high success in the canterbury cup?

The coach used the 24 players and particularly the juniors abysmally on Saturdays Charity Sheild.