Are the 2024 Warriors better than the 2023 Warriors? Can we go all the way?

[Penrose Warrior]

Picking guys on the basis of potential injury, I wonder if that is backed up by statistical evidence as to its necessity. As I said, last weekend was crazy - 3 guys playing 30 minutes between them, and one of those played 20. To be fair, Webster has changed the make up this week

And I agree with MV, you can rightly say those guys are big minute players but surely they're more effective in shorter stints - not only in-game but over the course of a season.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

I'd say we can call the season after that one.
Will be lucky to make the 8 and our defense inside the 20m is so poor if we do we will get rolled fast.

 

[JJ]

Not sure about the season yet, but the answer atm is clearly “no”

 

[nswarrior]

Not looking great atm, I still have faith. We need a few more players back.

We are also missing Metcalf more then I ever imagined

 

[Blair]

Not looking great atm, I still have faith. We need a few more players back.

We are also missing Metcalf more then I ever imagined

The Johnson-Metcalf leftside attack is gone.

 

[Leber]

No.

/end thread.

 

[Nealo 12]

Lol, what would Floodwaters be thinking if he was still around ... lolz

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I'd say we can call the season after that one.
Will be lucky to make the 8 and our defense inside the 20m is so poor if we do we will get rolled fast.

Nah, we can't call the season. At weekend's end, we will still likely be 1 point outside the 8.

That's the most disappointing thing...our attack is struggling, it's predictable it's all that, but our defense has been shit at times in the last two weeks.

And are we better than 2023? No, not at the moment. It looks to me like teams are really comfortable scouting on us, and we're predictable. It seems to me like good coaches are able to formulate game plans to shut us out. Last year, I guess they had limited knowledge of how we played, but now there's very few secrets and we are following the same script.

 

[Philip_Smith007]

Nah, we can't call the season. At weekend's end, we will still likely be 1 point outside the 8.

That's the most disappointing thing...our attack is struggling, it's predictable it's all that, but our defense has been shit at times in the last two weeks.

And are we better than 2023? No, not at the moment. It looks to me like teams are really comfortable scouting on us, and we're predictable. It seems to me like good coaches are able to formulate game plans to shut us out. Last year, I guess they had limited knowledge of how we played, but now there's very few secrets and we are following the same script.

I can't see how we get out of this?
Where do we get some speed from?
Our 6 is offering nothing.
We can't defend our 20m.
Dragons and Titans winnable games we lost.
How can we add RTS and get worse on attack?
The list goes on.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I can't see how we get out of this?
Where do we get some speed from?
Our 6 is offering nothing.
We can't defend our 20m.
Dragons and Titans winnable games we lost.
How can we add RTS and get worse on attack?
The list goes on.

Webster needs to coach better, I think is the main improvement. I'm not saying he's mud (I'm not that kneejerk) but clearly his game plan and his teams are not up to scratch. He is a bloody intelligent guy, and as I said in the FO thread (love it, incidentally) I believe he is willing to learn and get better.

Is speed an issue? The only slow(ish) player in our back five is Montoya and yeah, he should be dropped. He was OK yesterday but he's just bog average. Does nothing that well.

You're 100% right, TMM offers zilch. CHT is injured, Metcalf we now realise we miss a lot. Don't have a solution there, and I am sure it isn't Walker.

Our defense should, and will improve. I dunno what it is at the moment, I think part of it is lack of confidence but guys like Berry I think are still learning. Obviously our structure needs more work. Hopefully time will improve that.

RTS is still working out his role, and I think he's getting a fair chunk of average ball and wants to go searching for it. I bet he'd love to be our No.1, but CNK is going too well. Hopefully again, time improves this.

I honestly think this side has enough quality and desire to get better. I think we will. This is not Warriors of 2012-22 with sub par coaches, attitude problems and overpaid, overhyped talent. I back our guys to get better - we're in a funk, and it happens. We probably got sucked into thinking we were better than we were, when really we rode a confidence wave last year, and also were basically injury free. Having said that, I don't blame injuries, we're not missing enough to suggest we should be battling.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

I can't see how we get out of this?
Where do we get some speed from?
Our 6 is offering nothing.
We can't defend our 20m.
Dragons and Titans winnable games we lost.
How can we add RTS and get worse on attack?
The list goes on.

origin is still a nice time for the Warriors to make a move mate, they’ll hang in the fight and they will get some wins and see where momentum takes them

Pre season I had them missing the 8, based on having a dream draw last year, and the season was very kind to them with injuries and guys playing in career best form possibly being hard to replicate. I saw enough in the first few efforts though to completely change my mind on that though

Was also on my mind how Souths, Cowboys and Eels all went from Top 4 in 2022 to missing the 8 in 2023

 

[nswarrior]

There are a lot of injuries at the moment
Capewell, Bunty, Jazz, Niukore, Metcalf, CHT, Sifakula.

We now have a 10 day break and hopefully turn the season around with a couple of wins and players then starting to come back from injury

 

[Rich102]

No. No.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Up until 3 weeks ago we were the best defensive side. We need to work on our attack and errors. Defense is shit because we got too many A players out and a very predictable attack. Someone whisper in SJ ear about kicking bombs, grubbers and varying his sides to put the opposition in 2 minds.

 

[ozenzud]

I've recovered enough to read the forum.....don't think I can say anything just yet but. f**k that was disappointing and this is turning out to be a farrking disappointing season. And we've had a few.

 

[Big Marn]

Kicking religiously to the corner and then shortening the opponents yardage with good D is a Penrith thing right? So why are we not getting similar results in terms of offence? Not enough variation? SJ being injured? Horses?

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Kicking religiously to the corner and then shortening the opponents yardage with good D is a Penrith thing right? So why are we not getting similar results in terms of offence? Not enough variation? SJ being injured? Horses?

May be reading too much into this but I think our defensive issues is hurting our attack.

Could certainly do with more variation and SJ's injury likely plays a part in that. As someone else has already mentioned, it'd be tricky to rep new shapes during the week when his training load is limited.

But when the lads are fresh they look sharp on attack, even with the existing structures and they've scored early in each of the last two games.

Problem is that each of those early leads were followed by a defensive lapse - either a one-on-one miss or a bad read - or poor discipline, which snowballs as we start losing the ruck, and the other guys build momentum. In both games we've let in 5 tries before scoring our next.

But I think the defensive load during that period is what's really hindering our attack because we're left in poor field position and we're gassed. That's enough to throw out timing, and when so much of our attacking threat involves quick play the balls and the right people running the right lines at the right time for for Egan and SJ to pick targets, the final result is the clunky execution we're seeing.

IMO if we can fix the defensive and discipline issues, the attack will improve off that, even without having to rewrite the attacking playbook.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Oh and I could add - one of the other reasons we're gassed is the extra load being imposed on the starters due to the bench makeup.

I know bench options are limited with so many key players out, but I don't think we can afford the luxury of carrying someone like Roache 'just in case' any more. For better or worse, gonna have to trust the young forwards a bit more I think.

 

[Campion]

I think our attack is fine. 24 is enough to win any game. The issue in the last few weeks has been defence and that is because we have lots of cattle out -- it will take a while for new players to gel.