Charity Shield 2017

[JDHD]

JDB plays like a cream puff, but I'm sure his stats look good.

What game were you watching? He was easily our best player.

 

[BlackDuckSaint]

Only one word to describe that game - depressing.

Hard to know where to start. The most glaring problem was the way the team stands and waits for the opposition to come to them. So they are continually back-pedalling if the opposing side moves the ball around, which Souths did on a lot of occasions. On the whole our defence was soft. The forwards look clueless and leaderless, and lack enthusiasm. McGregor spoke about playing a "forward power game" this year, it hasn't worked the past few years and nothing in that game gives me any reason to think this year will be any different. Our problems start in the forwards, and because they are so containable the backline struggles to be able to get set and they find they have to run one out to and try and find some composure and structure. All in all - they have no idea what to do when they have the ball except take constant settlers. McGregor presser was a disgrace. The high points and positives he pointed out related to an under 16's schoolboy side, not experienced NRL players, which the vast number of our team are.

I am not blaming any one individual for that woeful showing. They all played like an ill disciplined rabble.

The Bad - Widdop's shocking kicking game. Once more very little second phase play from the forwards , just bash and barge. Lack of commitment in defence. Dugan only passed the ball once that helped realise a try, but did it playing like a centre. His fullback days should be over as far as I'm concerned. Mann and Field looked clueless, but it was not their fault. McCrone is not up to scratch except in a team that might end up coming about 14th in the comp. I'm sick of the wingers being more interested in taking the ball up from dummy half to make a settler,than staying in position to follow up a break if our clueless backline can make one. I consider it a waste of a tackle when Nighty and MCDonald do it so often. JDB plays like a cream puff, but I'm sure his stats look good. Ahmau never creates any second phase, and doesn't ever really bother the defence. There is a bit more but I couldn't be bothered. But finally why was KFL in the team?

The good. - I liked McInnes, thought his service was good and impressed with his defence, Packer really played like he cared and wanted to win. Host is getting better is should be in the 17. Vaughan was strong and could make inroads with the ball. Frizell gave 100%. Individually the backs tried hard, but seemed like they had just met each other.

Once again the main problem is MCGregor. Clueless.

You must have a personal problem with JDB. His performance today has been universally praised....
He had footwork at the line and constantly made it over the advantage line, made plenty of tackles, created second phase play and the 2 back line moves that worked were on the back of him playing at the line like our halves should be doing, So, prey tell, what makes him play like a cream puff?

 

[epDragon62]

There's zero variation to our attack. Our forwards get us in position inside the 20 and that's when it all goes to hell. Because that is when your spine players come to the fore and execute the right plays. Don't just blindly run a scripted move, pass or kick. Actually see what's in front of you, select the right option and use your talent to execute. We have good forwards and centres just crying out for real playmakers to use them properly.

This is why spine players get the big bucks. This is why JT, Cronk, Boyd and Maloney despite being in their 30's are the best players in the game. They play what's in front and execute.

McCrone is a waste of space so its up to Widdop and Duges who frankly just don't have the talent to play this role. Duges if he stays needs to be moved to the centres quick smart, and Widdop should be just shown the door (along with the coach of course).

this why Mann should be in the halves

 

[Dea]

Listening to the radio I heard, "pass to Widdop, runs across field..."
Later in the call they comment that 60 minutes into the game and our centres and wingers haven't been seen. Reason? Poor quality halves.
In the match wrap up the talk was all about the lack of creativity, poor play by the halves, and where will the tries come from?
Plenty of ball to win, just no ability to score tries.

Insanity: Doing the same thing and expecting something different.

Let sanity prevail! MacGregor, Widdop, your time is up.

 

[deansykes]

I'd like to publicly apologise for my naivety in the preseason... that performance was rubbish. I think Vaughan and McInnes were both great signings and proved their worth today, but the team as a whole showed no more than they did last season.

I tried to have faith in Mary turning things around this year and although it is just a trial, I saw very little change to pin my faith upon. He must go.

 

[JDHD]

Unbelievable!!!!!!! This guy is dead set CLUELESS.

You could hear the disbelief in the journos voices.

"We need to fix our goal line D"
"Sorry, how were you going to fix your goal line attack?"
"No, the defense, our goal line defence"

Sweet god why?

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Here's a few of my observations of the game.

JDB, Vaughan, Frizell, Nene and Mcinnes take a bow. Especially JDB, he's really proving his worth and fighting for that contract upgrade. If he continues like this i'd be willing to retain him.
Interesting that the majority of those who played well are our new signings... Perhaps they haven't been sucked into McGregor's mediocrity vortex yet.

I'm convinced that the coach has something against Jai Field. Either that or Widdop is a f**king hog. The kid was dangerous in that second half with the ball in his hands, however Widdop kept shifting the play left and putting dumb grubber kicks in on the 3rd tackle when the wingers weren't even chasing. It was so predictable. I'm also sick of Mary going on about McCrone like he's some sort of established halfback.
"140 game veteran, representative experience". He played 3 games for Country Origin over two years.... When he was much younger.... At another club.... With a different coach... Playing in a completely different position.
Grow some balls at stop playing it safe.

The commentators were absolutely slamming the Dragons today however one thing that they did get spot on was this passing way before the line thing. Not only do our backline plays look sluggish but the players have clearly been coached to pass way too far from the defensive line. It gives the defensive side the opportunity to slide a lot more efficiently and have more time to read the play. If McGregor wants to talk about eliminating this "rigid" style attack, well f**k, that is all I saw today. Rigid, predictable, lack of creativity and confused.
A major reshuffle of the backline is needed, however I feel like any attempt at changes to the side will be in vein with McGregor at the helm.

It's gonna be a long year folks, get comfortable.

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Nighty was far too deep and some times too far in . Shadow of his former self.

Absolutely. Duges is like a button. Good playmakers know when and where to press it. This is why NSW and the Kangaroos use him at centre. Running off Cronk in the 4 nations he was devastating.

But in our dogshit attack, we'd be better served with a 2nd 5/8 like Boyd or Moylan to make up for Widdop being so hopeless.

Again its the combinations that are all wrong, and something we need to get right before Hunt comes.

I wrote a scathing post after last years CS and got howled down by a few posters last year for being negative and was told why get so carried away it was only a trial. By the way I was by no means the only one to suffer this.
I could almost cut and paste it this year.
If todays game plan is what is ahead we will get the spoon with ease.
A few points
1. Our defence coaches have got no idea how to set the backline as the number of overlaps the opposition get is ridiculous. So sick of seeing Nighty coming in off his wing and seeing the opposition score easy tries out wide. The basic positioning and set up is incredibly poor. Again we shifted Nighty to the LW which is exactly what we did last year and it failed miserably. Obviously our coach is worried about a small centre and a small winger side by side (Aitken and Nighty on the RHS). Well pick one and drop the other, but what do we do, we move RHS players to the left hand side which is always thwart with danger and not content to do it with just the winger then we do it with the centre. Square pegs in round holes.
2. People are going to say how great our pack is this year and how other teams will not dominate us. We had 54% of the ball today and yet the Bunnies, who many in here are saying will not be top 8 and maybe even a bottom 4 team, rolled down the field with ease just like teams did last year. The opposition get into attacking positions way too quickly and often with little stress put on them and thats why we are easy to score against.
3. Our forwards when they do make a bust very rarely have someone on their tail to support them. This is just plain poor coaching and shows a lack of positional play. At least Quinlan used to trail Merrin and how we all loved it when it came off.
4. Our coaching staff have got NFI idea where some players best positions are e.g. Simms is not a prop and is a back row impact player, Vaughan is also an impact player but some how we started these blokes in our final trial just crazy.
5. We have trouble working out which is our best combination in the centres and while we do that some people keep paying out on Dugan. For gods sake our coach is an ex international centre and yet our centres are almost as benign as our halves. It is simple if Dugan is at FB you need to have ball playing centres of which we have 2 Mann and Milne.
6. Our halves are diabolical and we don't have a specialist halves coach nor do we bring an expert in to help remedy it. We keep sticking with a failed game plan (if there is such a thing). We can't win games with the current set up or style of play and today was the day to see something new and we got last years blue print.

After all the hype about what we were going to get, if people aren't concerned after todays game then IMO you have rocks in your head.
There is absolutely no hope for us as a club unless they announce the 2018 coach before the season starts and get a recognised interim coach by round 4 regardless of the

I wrote a scathing post after last years CS and got howled down by a few posters last year for being negative and was told why get so carried away it was only a trial. By the way I was by no means the only one to suffer this.
I could almost cut and paste it this year.
If todays game plan is what is ahead we will get the spoon with ease.
A few points
1. Our defence coaches have got no idea how to set the backline as the number of overlaps the opposition get is ridiculous. So sick of seeing Nighty coming in off his wing and seeing the opposition score easy tries out wide. The basic positioning and set up is incredibly poor. Again we shifted Nighty to the LW which is exactly what we did last year and it failed miserably. Obviously our coach is worried about a small centre and a small winger side by side (Aitken and Nighty on the RHS). Well pick one and drop the other, but what do we do, we move RHS players to the left hand side which is always thwart with danger and not content to do it with just the winger then we do it with the centre. Square pegs in round holes.
2. People are going to say how great our pack is this year and how other teams will not dominate us. We had 54% of the ball today and yet the Bunnies, who many in here are saying will not be top 8 and maybe even a bottom 4 team, rolled down the field with ease just like teams did last year. The opposition get into attacking positions way too quickly and often with little stress put on them and thats why we are easy to score against.
3. Our forwards when they do make a bust very rarely have someone on their tail to support them. This is just plain poor coaching and shows a lack of positional play. At least Quinlan used to trail Merrin and how we all loved it when it came off.
4. Our coaching staff have got NFI idea where some players best positions are e.g. Simms is not a prop and is a back row impact player, Vaughan is also an impact player but some how we started these blokes in our final trial just crazy.
5. We have trouble working out which is our best combination in the centres and while we do that some people keep paying out on Dugan. For gods sake our coach is an ex international centre and yet our centres are almost as benign as our halves. It is simple if Dugan is at FB you need to have ball playing centres of which we have 2 Mann and Milne.
6. Our halves are diabolical and we don't have a specialist halves coach nor do we bring an expert in to help remedy it. We keep sticking with a failed game plan (if there is such a thing). We can't win games with the current set up or style of play and today was the day to see something new and we got last years blue print.

After all the hype about what we were going to get, if people aren't concerned after todays game then IMO you have rocks in your head.
There is absolutely no hope for us as a club unless they announce the 2018 coach before the season starts and get a recognised interim coach by round 4 regardless of the cost.

OT SEND TO HQ ASAP....BSE

 

[Saints Forever]

Positives:

JDB
Frizz
Packer
Vaughan
McInnes
McDonald
Milne
McCrone (Did his best to organise the team)
Hopeful Field will be selected in round 1 as super sub, lord knows we need one

Negatives:

Widdop appears unfit and is lacking confidence and enthusiasm

Our tactical genius did not give Mann game time at 7 or 6

Flo tried hard but is not the player he was

Duges is trying to impersonate a ball playing full back, nonetheless he tried very hard

Jai Field needs more time to develop physically, thus Josh McCrone will start at 7

We gave away too many silly penalties

Mary is clearly marking time, his body language is terrible. He is clearly clueless

No material change in strategy apart from Duges attempt to impersonate Darius Boyd

 

[Ted bartolo]

Well nothings changed so far from last year , same block plays with players no friggin ideas to what they are doing . Oh why did they retain McGregor as coach, its plain as the nose on your face he has no idea . Widdop is pathetic at half due to numnuts coaching style, He is making good players look real bad because they are getting into his stupid style of play. Its going to be a long winter, and another miss at the play offs

 

[Gareth67]

I don't know if the new group , Coyne and company , will have any say in the team selections , but if they do , then hopefully they shall instruct McGregor to use Mann , Nona and Field in the five-eighth - half positions . Widdop needs to go from the top grade and bide his time in the Cutters .

I believe that the Dragons have reached that point where the Tigers were a number of seasons ago , when they first introduced Woods and Moses into the top grade . The selectors need to bite the bullet with our own promising youngsters - IMO , they have nothing to lose by doing so .

There will certainly be disappointments along the way , however these blokes will certainly add some much needed spark to the teams attack . The forwards played well today , and as has already been pointed out , starting Packer and Ah Mauh and then introducing Simms and Vaughan of the bench will pay better dividends then the opposite way around . The back line is a bit of a jig-saw puzzle at the moment , the talent is there , however they only need to be placed in their correct positions .
But I believe that we need a real coach to work that one out .

 

[Ted bartolo]

A lot of people are talking up Mcinnis what did he do.From what I have seen he is bog standard. Havilli at least shows a bit of creativity..
​

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Here's a few of my observations of the game.

JDB, Vaughan, Frizell, Nene and Mcinnes take a bow. Especially JDB, he's really proving his worth and fighting for that contract upgrade. If he continues like this i'd be willing to retain him.
Interesting that the majority of those who played well are our new signings... Perhaps they haven't been sucked into McGregor's mediocrity vortex yet.

I'm convinced that the coach has something against Jai Field. Either that or Widdop is a f**king hog. The kid was dangerous in that second half with the ball in his hands, however Widdop kept shifting the play left and putting dumb grubber kicks in on the 3rd tackle when the wingers weren't even chasing. It was so predictable. I'm also sick of Mary going on about McCrone like he's some sort of established halfback.
"140 game veteran, representative experience". He played 3 games for Country Origin over two years.... When he was much younger.... At another club.... With a different coach... Playing in a completely different position.
Grow some balls at stop playing it safe.

The commentators were absolutely slamming the Dragons today however one thing that they did get spot on was this passing way before the line thing. Not only do our backline plays look sluggish but the players have clearly been coached to pass way too far from the defensive line. It gives the defensive side the opportunity to slide a lot more efficiently and have more time to read the play. If McGregor wants to talk about eliminating this "rigid" style attack, well f**k, that is all I saw today. Rigid, predictable, lack of creativity and confused.
A major reshuffle of the backline is needed, however I feel like any attempt at changes to the side will be in vein with McGregor at the helm.

It's gonna be a long year folks, get comfortable.

I'm not comfortable. So far it's the same as last year x2. Forwards making ground, but the ball inevitably going to a 5/8 with the ability to stop an attacking raid stone dead. Backline leaving gaping holes in defence. No defence against kicks because Mary thinks they shouldn't count.

Widdop should be dropped. He must have the negatives from the Christmas party or something, its the only reason he could still be captain and five-eight. Move him to centre for Gods sake if you must have him in the team. At least the attack will get a bit further down the field before going sideways. MacGregor must be sacked. He is coaching a style of play that may of worked when the five metre rule was in place but sure as hell don't work now. These two have proven they dont know how to change and they dont know what's wrong. Whats worse is they dont even know that they dont know. Waiting for this coach and this captain to turn things around is simply an exercise in futility.

 

[Ted bartolo]

I'm a widdop fan but from day one I said he should be in the halves,fullback or centre is his position MacGregor is suckling the life out of this side.
.

 

[hazzbeen]

Really did anyone expect anything more than what we got ? Mary is in a time warp with his coaching , as is the whole club . instead of improving over the last 6 years we are in reverse .....

 

[2010]

Widdop only knows three things
Run sideways
Bomb on 3 or 4th tackle
Midfield bombs don't work if no one knows that he is going to do that

 

[Objective View]

What game were you watching? He was easily our best player.

And I like his haircut.

Straight Shooter

 

[Dragon66]

You must have a personal problem with JDB. His performance today has been universally praised....
He had footwork at the line and constantly made it over the advantage line, made plenty of tackles, created second phase play and the 2 back line moves that worked were on the back of him playing at the line like our halves should be doing, So, prey tell, what makes him play like a cream puff?

BDS, I am a fan of JDB BUT for a player of his size and experience I expect him to have more impact. The fact that Mary puts him into first receiver means he is in the play a lot (which I think is a good thing). But he is just sweeping the ball wide, again a good thing. He did make a few solid runs during the game as he always does.
He also pulls off a lot of tackles as part of a gang tackle, and a few solid one on ones - but he should be smashing players like he did when he first came into grade.

Add that all up and he will always look good on the stats.

But if you compare him to the impact and aggression that Packer added to the game when he came on there is no comparison. That's the cream puff part.

It's not that I think he's bad, just that he should be so much better.

As I said he produces great stats - but I believe he could, and should have a bigger influence on the flow of a game.

 

[Objective View]

can someone please tell me why Lafai is starting and Milne is sitting down Macgregor you have simply no idea...blind freddy can see that the more Milne partners Aitken the better our backline will look.....

And there's a heap of brain dead posters starting with Lafai in their Rd 1 team. Incredible.

Straight Shooter

 

[Ted bartolo]

When MacGregor gets sacked ,Doust gets sacked