ANZAC day game against the Roosters

[Willow]

Willow since Rob didn't reply... It was from an article in the SMH, someone else posted it in another thread title something like interesting read about Steve price ...
It says Brown got Price into coaching when he was working on the wharves..

I was more curious about what he has against wharfies. Brown used to work behind a bar, does either occupation make any difference to their coaching? It sounds like snobbery to me.

I fully understand questioning the coach's tactics but sometimes the bagging gets a tad silly.

 

[nrlnrl]

The Dragons have the best 3 in the comp yet they were hardly seen today.

It was a combo of smart kicking by the Roosters that didn't allow any of the 3 to make good kick returns ( caused by Dragons poor defence that allowed the Roosters to get into better field position before kicking ). Also, no rhythm in attack caused by poor handling early in sets, plus standing too flat with no support runners. Then there was the passing - either slow, badly directed ( a few went to nobody ) or bad decisions to pass to someone in a worst position than the ball carrier.

When they supported each other with some shorter passes they looked very good ( once led to the Creagh try ).

 

[hazzbeen]

Price will never axe Hunt.

Priceless hunt

 

[blacksafake]

I am not necessarily a supporter of Price and I do question his selections from time to time but to blame him for the teams demise since Bennett is way off the mark. We have all talked about the Roster he inherited and we all know we are short a good prop or 2 and now a centre. Half is still a concern as well.

Price has done no worse than what Bennett did as in the last 14 games we won just 4 with Bennett! I've attached a pic if you wish to check the results. I'm not sure if the way Bennett coached has left us with a hangover of methods that no longer work. As you can see with Newcastle he had a good 1st and 2nd year and now they are struggling.

We need to win the wrestle in the ruck to improve our marker defense and slow the ruck down, then we can be back onside early to create better line speed. Then we are not back pedaling and chewing up juice and the actual tackling will be more effective.

Our kicking game today was atrocious!

We have very few decoy runners in attack!

We crowd our wingers more since Dugan has been back so he needs to learn to straighten up the attack and run angles. I'd like to see Widdop play Dugan at the line a bit more and Duges to run from outside in or trail inside like Slater.

I think Widdop might do better as a captain with the Refs then Creagh.

I watched all of the contentious calls today frame by frame and the Roosters faired much better than us which happens every week. I also think that the refs are putting us out of the game in the 1st 10-20mins every week being too tough on slowing the ruck down then seem to relax on it, they are destroying the game from the start. However our errors were the icing on the cake today.

I still believe we can come good if we start by fixing the ruck

And 90% of the problems you mention are created by the culture the coach sets & are also supposed to be corrected by him as well. Since price has taken over from Bennett it has not improved one iota.You say we are short in some positions which are true & the lack of discipline as well as the attack,these are the things price is in charge of.He states he now has his team so the buck stops with him.

 

[DUB888]

And 90% of the problems you mention are created by the culture the coach sets & are also supposed to be corrected by him as well. Since price has taken over from Bennett it has not improved one iota.You say we are short in some positions which are true & the lack of discipline as well as the attack,these are the things price is in charge of.He states he now has his team so the buck stops with him.

Agree 100% , He has absolutely nothing to offer a First Grade NRL Team.

 

[jenninga]

I think the forwards are too small. When you have Hunt as your starting forward . That's your first problem right there.

We are a backrower in the Proctor mould short and a prop in the James Graham mould short of being a couple of steps up from where we are.
Big part of Price's problem is he is too loyal to certain players

 

[kit66]

I haven't read everyone's opinions on the game yet but I will.
For me, we looked lost and rudderless again at times during the game with no-one seemingly capable of playing what was in front of them and taking opportunities. A lot of players waiting for someone else to do it or waiting for the set play. Make Widdop Co - Captain.
We also need a better kicking game and should have persisted with Williams. He may be a little erratic but his kicking game is the best we have and can be dangerous as well as get us out of trouble when we're coming out of our red zone. A good coach would have stuck with Williams and worked with him, he has heaps more potential than Witt.

The game - The Roosters look a class above us, all bigger, stronger, more confident and determined. Looked dangerous with the ball, every time. However their defence isn't that great, we could've scored more with some smarter plays and better kicking options. We weren't up to it, even if the ref's weren't against us we still would have lost. When Dugan got tackled on their line and was stripped I thought cool, another set, we'll score here - the ref call's "lost in the tackle". Aaanyway.
Green played alright, saved a try. BMoz needs more ball and some space. Quinlan on the bench would have been a smarter selection than.....take your pick. Overall, not impressed, we were poor bordering on embarrassing at times.

 

[Inspector Gadget]

Except for the half back saga and now a center spot whilst farrell in hurt, we have a very classy, backline, that IMO can match it with anyone. As we all know the problems lies within the fowards and their lack of size and at times mobility. Until we have those two elusive big boppers in our possession, nothing much is going to change.

 

[hazzbeen]

we are a backrower in the proctor mould short and a prop in the james graham mould short of being a couple of steps up from where we are.
Big part of price's problem is he is too loyal to certain players

as said before he favours certain players. Its a boys club mates coaching mates.we need outside influence. Nothing will change until price and co step down.they win a couple of games and everyone forgets how bad they really are.

 

[GT0007]

And 90% of the problems you mention are created by the culture the coach sets & are also supposed to be corrected by him as well. Since price has taken over from Bennett it has not improved one iota.You say we are short in some positions which are true & the lack of discipline as well as the attack,these are the things price is in charge of.He states he now has his team so the buck stops with him.

I agree its Prices responsibility but I do wonder if Price still uses some of Bennett's ideas which I don't think work in the game anymore. The areas we are struggling In are caused by some fundermentals and snowball. I really don't understand why they haven't been rectified as Price or any coach can see the issues. I'd be pointing the finger at the coaching staff as a whole. My point has also been that Bennett didnt do any better in his last 14 games he only won 4 so something is wrong with more than just Price. Maybe time for a coach that hasn't been a Bennett understudy

 

[jenninga]

Except for the half back saga and now a center spot whilst farrell in hurt, we have a very classy, backline, that IMO can match it with anyone. As we all know the problems lies within the fowards and their lack of size and at times mobility. Until we have those two elusive big boppers in our possession, nothing much is going to change.

Again,if we complete our sets and discipline is better we are in the contest.We beat the Warriors twice through discipline and sets completion,against Souffs and yesterday we give them the possession and get steamrolled eventually.
We do need a bit more mongrel in our pack but atm Price needs to address the discipline.

 

[possm]

In early 2011 the Dragons were on top of the ladder and odds on favourites to win back to back GF. Then Bennett announced his move to the Knights, several of our key players were selected in SOO and Gas announced his intention to retire.

My feeling is that Bennett actually handed over a lot of the responsibility to Price in the second half of 2011 and that the dropped their heads once it was official that Bennett was moving to the Knights.

However, what happened in the last 14 games of 2011 is not the issue today. We had the full on experience of the Price coaching system in 2012, 2013 and again in 2014. Nothing has really changed; even the excuses are much the same.

The only way for the Dragons to dig their way out of this mess is to change the coaching staff. Bring in a top level experienced coach and I am very confident that things will turn around.

 

[getsmarty]

Again,if we complete our sets and discipline is better we are in the contest.We beat the Warriors twice through discipline and sets completion,against Souffs and yesterday we give them the possession and get steamrolled eventually.
We do need a bit more mongrel in our pack but atm Price needs to address the discipline.

We had a lot of luck against the warriors the second time. Nielson had a shocker..could have scored at least 2 tries if he held the ball....the right edge defense is a problem....Price constantly experimenting with halfbacks hasn't helped...+ losing Farrell will hurt. Green tries hard but is too slow in attack and lateral defense movement is poor.

Price knows he is under pressure so, experiments every week without a long term plan. IMHO he should have stuck with Williams and given him time to develop. If Price remains at the helm , we have little hope for the rest of the season. We may scrape into the 8 ( I personally doubt it) but we cannot compete with sides with bigger packs.

People on this forum have been screaming out this issue since 2011....how is it that the fans can see the problem and the coach has no idea???? The mind boggles....ALL I WANT IS A TEAM THAT WILL GO OUT AND COMPETE WEEK TO WEEK FOR 80 MINS AND LOOK LIKE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?????

 

[Mr Red]

I was more curious about what he has against wharfies. Brown used to work behind a bar, does either occupation make any difference to their coaching? It sounds like snobbery to me.

I fully understand questioning the coach's tactics but sometimes the bagging gets a tad silly.

Can't answer that one mate, just trying to help....

 

[Dezziedc]

This is it here. And the play the ball. We just can't stop the roll up the middle. We get 3 in the tackle - great. But when they play the ball, we have 1 at marker and 2 still getting up from the tackle. It is hopeless.

26 fast play the balls for the Roosters compared to our 8. This is where the problem is. We just can't slow it down.

 

[Dezziedc]

100% correct and I've been saying it for weeks. We are losing the wrestle in the tackle and end up on the ground. That is the source of nearly all our problems. That is why the other teams get a free hit from DH which has us backpedaling and then we have no line speed, just to get on side is an achievement. Then you start running out of petrol when you are putting that much pressure on your D. Then you start missing tackles through fatigue. We need better value from a wrestling coach for not only when we are defending but also when we have the ball to get to our feet quicker with the opposition underneath

This is it. We fix the ruck, stop the stupid penalties and we have a more competitive team. Our D is pretty good I think (it shows when we are on the line because we don't have to get back the 10).

 

[dragonreddy]

100% correct and I've been saying it for weeks. We are losing the wrestle in the tackle and end up on the ground. That is the source of nearly all our problems. That is why the other teams get a free hit from DH which has us backpedaling and then we have no line speed, just to get on side is an achievement. Then you start running out of petrol when you are putting that much pressure on your D. Then you start missing tackles through fatigue. We need better value from a wrestling coach for not only when we are defending but also when we have the ball to get to our feet quicker with the opposition underneath

Fitness levels must come into play as well ,with the corners that we paint ourselves into we need to be the fittest in the comp , i dont think we are, so the strength and conditioning coach and wrestling coach need to be looked at as well.This isnt something that can be fixed overnight. Hickmans is one of the best in the business and i reckon our levels have dropped since Bennett left.Makes a huge difference Broncos have got Alex Corvo who is very good anfd it shows they are in every game up to their eyeballs whereas last year they ran out gas at the back end of games , which seems to happen to us.

 

[St Tangles]

Was at the game yesterday and found the effort more disappointing than our other losses. We just dont have the pack to match the better sides. You can't blame Rein Witt or anyone else if our forwards are getting dominated.

 

[FlameThrower]

Forwards big or small - big deal !!! Hold the ball, don't give way stupid penalties, don't try crazy offloads in our red zone, it's a mental thing and our boys don't have it. Basic stuff rugby League 101!!!
Creagh is the Marcel Marceau of onfield captains, says nothing and when we need him to lead the pack or fire the boys up , starts counting crass blades instead.

 

[saints4me]

Actually I thought Creagh had one of his better games yesterday. Not sure of his stats but he took it to them all game. We need to make Widdop captain. No offence to Ben but I think he's a natural organiser and talker. Leave Ben to just hitting the line hard. Also thought Nathan Green played well also. After 15 minutes in I knew what we were in for. We got behind on the scoreboard (again) and tried to play catch-up. Was never going to happen - not against a side like the Rooters. When are we going to get smart and cheat on the salary cap like they do?