Charity Shield (Trial 3) - Dragons vs Rabbitohs: Saturday 2nd March 7:30pm @Mudgee

[Rabbit toes]

Sam trying to get suspended early in the season to free up base points for potential suspensions throughout the season?

 

[Go Bunnies]

Unfortunately some silly penalties led to all of Saints tries as they were marched down the field.

 

[Rabbit toes]

Unfortunately some silly penalties led to all of Saints tries as they were marched down the field.

So the saints literally went marching in

 

[ThingFish]

Sam trying to get suspended early in the season to free up base points for potential suspensions throughout the season?

Amone might be doing the same

 

[Rabbit toes]

Cook getting his kicking game to another level.
Murray killing it too, he should be in Origin this year

 

[Go Bunnies]

Cody and AJ set up another try for Allan.

 

[ThingFish]

Both these teams really need to work on D over the next fortnight

 

[Travitoh]

Cook had 3 runs for 28 metres... is Bennett asking him not to run?

 

[Travitoh]

Cody and AJ set up another try for Allan.

Cody and AJ link up really well together.

 

[Go Bunnies]

Cook had 3 runs for 28 metres... is Bennett asking him not to run?

Running is Cookie’s strength so hopefully just a strategy during the trials.

 

[Travitoh]

Running is Cookie’s strength so hopefully just a strategy during the trials.

Hopefully but i do find it odd that his numbers are so low. It's a big part of the way Souths play.

 

[ThingFish]

After all that they reckon our completion rate was 88%, so that’s not too foul.

I must say last week and tonight Kyle Turner has been my pleasant surprise from the trials. Not saying he’s a world beater, just I didn’t expect much, but he has surprised me. His D has been great and he seems free’er without that car seat under his jersey.

Apart from the rust, not a bad effort at all. Cam Murray is legend, Sam was solid, Tatola has gone to another level, AJ looks good at FB, Graham was impressive. Oh and Tom held the ball.

Just need to tighten up that edge defence. I think Ennis nailed it our 13 are great but it’s our bench that is our worry.

 

[callmack1]

Yaya!! we retain the Charity Shield for the 7th Season in a row!! Overall, pretty happy with that performance as we played a great brand of footy and I think we looked pretty slick, especially with the starting 13 on the field. We looked really good at times in attck with very fluid movements where everyone seemed to know their roles and it was executed to perfection. Defence needs a bit of work, particularly on the edges but I'm sure a bit of the was just rust and the cobwebs needed to be cleaned out. Dicipline was also pretty average in that first stanza but it was great to see us make the adjustment and clean it up in the second half.

My stand outs were Murray, who was absolutely exceptional tonight, Graham, who was heavily involved and scored a lovely try, and Tatola who seems to have upped his game in a big way! Sam looked great as well, AJ chimed in nicely and it was really good to see some of our young guys play good.

All in all, a pretty good performance and I'm happy. Good game, retain the Charity Shield and no injuries!!

 

[callmack1]

Rabbitohs too good for Dragons in Charity Shield points fest: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2...od-for-dragons-in-charity-shield-points-fest/

Bennett unfazed about Burgess' discipline: https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/03/02/bennett-unfazed-about-sam-burgesss-discipline/

 

[ThingFish]

Rabbitohs too good for Dragons in Charity Shield points fest: https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2...od-for-dragons-in-charity-shield-points-fest/

Bennett unfazed about Burgess' discipline: https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/03/02/bennett-unfazed-about-sam-burgesss-discipline/

It very interesting that two reporters can sit in the same press conference, hear the same statement and report completely different stories

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...d/news-story/d138ba32faae12620bd98cbad9a8414d

 

[Travitoh]

Burgess remonstrated with the referees after being pinged in the 37th minute.
“What’s the penalty for mate? He’s f****** five foot tall,” Burgess was heard saying to head referee Ashley Klein.

That's a concerning attitude to me. It doesn't matter if the player is 4, 5 or 8 foot tall, high shots should be penalised.

 

[callmack1]

Overall, Sam was great last night, one of our best. However, I must say, his defence on the edge was a little iffy at times. I noticed that for a few of the tries the Dragons scored on our right edge, that Sam was a little lazy and didn't chase hard enough from the inside to shut down the space and slide effectively. This left Gagai and Graham in two minds and thus, we were caught short.

Hopefully this is just due to Sam adjusting to life in the second row again and he'll improve but I think this is something he needs to work on because if not, other teams will expose it.

 

[This Year?]

Overall, Sam was great last night, one of our best. However, I must say, his defence on the edge was a little iffy at times. I noticed that for a few of the tries the Dragons scored on our right edge, that Sam was a little lazy and didn't chase hard enough from the inside to shut down the space and slide effectively. This left Gagai and Graham in two minds and thus, we were caught short.

Hopefully this is just due to Sam adjusting to life in the second row again and he'll improve but I think this is something he needs to work on because if not, other teams will expose it.

Yeah I thought defence was scratchy from both sides. Nobody wants to pick up an injury while attempting to save a try, but both sets of fans are concerned about softness in areas. I was filthy over the Walker try and Saints sight side defence. Your guys won that game comfortably. In regards to Cook running less it would be more about Wayne giving everyone else a run and to work out their plays.

As for Saints it look pretty much the same and Mary hasn't added any new strings to our bow with a very slow back 5.

Let's see how it changes in the course of the season and I'm excited for our round 2 clash.

 

[Oldmate]

How good was the charity shield! Murray and Graham have shown immense improvement in the finer aspects of their game, Sam had some great moments on the edge, Lowe worked hard when he came on, Tracey looked confident and is very quick. Probably the 3 real standouts for me were Tatola, Burns and surprisingly, Aj. Tatola worked hard and showed he can be a reliable, working class prop. Reminds me of a young Sam Moa. Burns outshone Gagai with limited opportunities in his preferred position and Johnstone, although had his defensive issues was solid under the high ball and had a hand in almost all of our tries

 

[southsport]

How good was the charity shield! Murray and Graham have shown immense improvement in the finer aspects of their game, Sam had some great moments on the edge, Lowe worked hard when he came on, Tracey looked confident and is very quick. Probably the 3 real standouts for me were Tatola, Burns and surprisingly, Aj. Tatola worked hard and showed he can be a reliable, working class prop. Reminds me of a young Sam Moa. Burns outshone Gagai with limited opportunities in his preferred position and Johnstone, although had his defensive issues was solid under the high ball and had a hand in almost all of our tries

Oldmate, I was really impressed with our young blokes in the last 20mins, special mention to McIlwrick who was surprisingly good too I think.