oldmancraigy
Coach
- Messages
- 11,949
Perhaps I'm going over the top here - but I want to give a big wrap to Daniel Anderson for winning that game with his astute coaching.
He had it ALL OVER Bennett on the day.
For one - Bennett picked a team with Nightingale on the bench - on a blisteringly hot day he chose to keep a back on the bench as a reserve.... interesting decision. Combining that with only selecting 1 prop on the bench (on a hot day) - oh my.
Anderson made sure he picked 4 props (Gulavao played exclusively at prop) - then managed to ONLY use 2 interchanges in the entire first half.
Matt Keating was playing really well, so he had the option of not bringing Kingston on at ALL and simply using the interchanges to rotate the forwards (10 times) in the second half.
Kept Mateo on the bench the entire first 40 - a completely fresh man to throw into the fray in the second dig - and with Kingston we suddenly had 2 completely fresh guys on there to lift the tempo and get the team moving again.
However, when Mateo had that brain explosion (trying to offload 20m out from our own line on the 2nd tackle while up 18-8 in the 69th minute) - Anderson quickly hooked him. The completely fresh playing (only played 21m) being taken off? Great decision because it was for the benefit of the team.
And the defensive tactics on Morris (bring Grothe up and in to shut down Cooper and the passing lane; and have Reddy, Robson and Hayne cover the cornerpost) were absolutely outstanding - and of course resulted in Grothe snaffling the intercept and racing away for the game winner.
There's a reason this guy has won so much at ESL level - he prepared the team SO WELL for that game - I've got full confidence that he'll have them totally prepared for the next week(s) too!!
He had it ALL OVER Bennett on the day.
For one - Bennett picked a team with Nightingale on the bench - on a blisteringly hot day he chose to keep a back on the bench as a reserve.... interesting decision. Combining that with only selecting 1 prop on the bench (on a hot day) - oh my.
Anderson made sure he picked 4 props (Gulavao played exclusively at prop) - then managed to ONLY use 2 interchanges in the entire first half.
Matt Keating was playing really well, so he had the option of not bringing Kingston on at ALL and simply using the interchanges to rotate the forwards (10 times) in the second half.
Kept Mateo on the bench the entire first 40 - a completely fresh man to throw into the fray in the second dig - and with Kingston we suddenly had 2 completely fresh guys on there to lift the tempo and get the team moving again.
However, when Mateo had that brain explosion (trying to offload 20m out from our own line on the 2nd tackle while up 18-8 in the 69th minute) - Anderson quickly hooked him. The completely fresh playing (only played 21m) being taken off? Great decision because it was for the benefit of the team.
And the defensive tactics on Morris (bring Grothe up and in to shut down Cooper and the passing lane; and have Reddy, Robson and Hayne cover the cornerpost) were absolutely outstanding - and of course resulted in Grothe snaffling the intercept and racing away for the game winner.
There's a reason this guy has won so much at ESL level - he prepared the team SO WELL for that game - I've got full confidence that he'll have them totally prepared for the next week(s) too!!
