Attacking vs grinding myth

[st.phil]

Dragons made six line breaks to three versus wests...the supposed entertainers.

The roosters made only 3 linebreaks against the titans...but scored some tries from kicks / opportunism.

The dragons conservatism comes from not pushing that last pass and dean young chewing hit-ups (which does grab us a load of metres)

The roosters scored 40 more points than saints in reg season but conceded 200 more points.

If we just back ourselves a bit more than we did against the tigers...it's ours in a canter. If we display the same conservatism...it will be a similar tight game ala the wests clash and will leave us open to last minute carney heroics.

 

[to_ddeath]

We need to play more deeper in attack, too often at times we looked slow & ponderous especially
in the first half...

 

[brokendigit]

We need to play more deeper in attack, too often at times we looked slow & ponderous especially
in the first half...

The week off did us no favours in relation to the fluency of our attack.

 

[RedAndWhiteThommo]

The tigers used an up and in defence out wide which cut down our options and forced errors through decreased thinking time. The roosters have not defended like this in the games I have watched so far, they tend to favour the standard sliding defence and bring the side line into play. It will be interesting to see what they adopt for Sunday.

Agree also that the week off did us no favours - it took 50 minutes to find our rythym. The boys should be better for the run and hopefully be more dominant from the opening minute.

 

[ghostface]

To be fair i thought the tigers played a fantastic game...especially defensively. The really disrupted our attacking game. Their defensive line would race out early and gave our ball players no time to think. I was nervous about the tigers game i was actually worried they might beat us. I'm sure this applies to all saints fans but you just have a feeling when the team is going to go well and this week i have a strong feeling we will really give it to the roosters.

 

[_Johnsy]

I could not give a f**k, I'll happily take a 1-0 win.

 

[st.phil]

roosters were sprinting out of the line against the Titans...given the success of the tigers in stiffling our attack reason says they'll be charging instead of sliding.

However - Brian Smith is chronically guilty of overthinking game plans so...who knows

 

[Cagey Mac]

Others "seem" more entertaining because they do a lot of cross-field running
The Roosters may have use the tactic of up and in too but they don't have Turqiri and Lawrence who executed brilliantly against us and Canberra not do they have Bryce Gibbs who is as good as it gets at cutting off attacks before they get started

 

[TheRev]

Saw a stat in the Tele that over the last 8 weeks, the Roosters have given away less points per game than us, 14.1 vs our 14.8.

So Defensively the Roosters are in better form... honestly if you base it on stats, the Roosters should be favourites with the bookies.

 

[Gaba]

Saw a stat in the Tele that over the last 8 weeks, the Roosters have given away less points per game than us, 14.1 vs our 14.8.

So Defensively the Roosters are in better form... honestly if you base it on stats, the Roosters should be favourites with the bookies.

you look at the opposition the roosters played and the dragons, roosters struggled when teams defended

Every team lifted against the dragons

The dragons played stronger opposition

on stats dragons will win by 13 +

 

[Soliola the Monster]

I love how confident a stain supporter is at this time of year.

 

[saint06]

Stats don't mean a thing come Sunday night. I think both teams will know each others strengths and weaknesses. Its just a matter of who wants it more, committment and of course, the bounce of the ball.

 

[Gaba]

I love how confident a stain supporter is at this time of year.

im always confident in the dragons even if they dont make the finals

 

[Cagey Mac]

Saw a stat in the Tele that over the last 8 weeks, the Roosters have given away less points per game than us, 14.1 vs our 14.8.

So Defensively the Roosters are in better form... honestly if you base it on stats, the Roosters should be favourites with the bookies.

The Roosters let in 12 against an absolutely decimated Panthers
We let in 12 against a red hot Tigers outfit
That's about as close as I can get to a form line
Like for like, we let in zero against Manly who were about as busted as the Panthers

 

[TheRev]

Stats don't mean a thing come Sunday night. I think both teams will know each others strengths and weaknesses. Its just a matter of who wants it more, committment and of course, the bounce of the ball.

Yes exactly.. and in my mind the Dragons will win (not that this means much since im completely bias), but my point is that statistically the Roosters should be favourites, but for some reason its always the Dragons with some ridiculous favouritism.

 

[_Johnsy]

2009 – Dragons 29-0 & 34-12
2010 – Dragons 28-6 & 19-12

Dragons 110 - Roosters 30

Should this equal confidence ?

 

[LatK7]

They have improved. Especially since ANZAC day. I doubt those scores will mean anything come Sunday.

 

[Gaba]

They have improved. Especially since ANZAC day. I doubt those scores will mean anything come Sunday.

i disagree, they still struggled against teams with defence

they lost to the sharks twice, thurstonless cowboys, weaken knights.

after the round 22 clash they lost sharks,titans who had good defence

they struggled against manly in round 25 and werent that impressive against the thurstonless cowboys again 2ndtime around


they got the break against the tigers when the tigers had to reshuffled due to benji's injury


They played a injury ridden panthers team


did well against the titans , but titans didnt offer that much.

but dont mind the roosters getting talked up though

 

[Mr Red]

The tigers used an up and in defence out wide which cut down our options and forced errors through decreased thinking time. .

yeah thats true, they did rush up very quickly... so a good half or five eighth would have done one of the following:

a) stood deeper in attack to give himself and the outside backs more time
b) put through a little grubber or chip kick to put the defence in two minds for future defence
c) turn the ball inside to an inside runner like boyd, or even have morris or nightingale roving down the middle of the field for the inside ball..

but what did soward do?? NOTHING... just stood in the same spot the whole game and took the tackle. it wasnt until the tigers made a mistake in defence that he was able to get the ball to the outside.

this is what concerns me in the big match - the ability to make something out of nothing - the ability to think on your feet and play "what you see in front of you" when its needed. thats what can win the big match..

structure is great, but great players also play what they see unfold in front of them.. this is where Soward really lacks and needs to stand up to be considered one of the games top five eighths.

 

[maestro1]

yeah thats true, they did rush up very quickly... so a good half or five eighth would have done one of the following:

a) stood deeper in attack to give himself and the outside backs more time
b) put through a little grubber or chip kick to put the defence in two minds for future defence
c) turn the ball inside to an inside runner like boyd, or even have morris or nightingale roving down the middle of the field for the inside ball..

but what did soward do?? NOTHING... just stood in the same spot the whole game and took the tackle. it wasnt until the tigers made a mistake in defence that he was able to get the ball to the outside.

this is what concerns me in the big match - the ability to make something out of nothing - the ability to think on your feet and play "what you see in front of you" when its needed. thats what can win the big match..

structure is great, but great players also play what they see unfold in front of them.. this is where Soward really lacks and needs to stand up to be considered one of the games top five eighths.

I was about to write the exact same thing. The trick to stop outside backs racing up is to put a kick through for Gasnier and Nightingale. If you look at the replay, there were numerous opportunities to do this when Lui, Ellis , Lawrence and Tuquiri raced up. The beauty of this is you are a good chance of jagging a try as their complete focus was to race up with speed. Secondly, these guys will think twice about rushing up if you get a try or get close to jagging a try. From then on you've beaten them as they are in two minds for the rest of the game. Soward, Fien, Young and Hornby have to do this if the Roosters employ Tim Sheens tactics.