Concerns

[ebbedfred]

Hi Guys,

Long time supporter and I thought it was about time I signed up and joined in the banter.

No doubt like the rest of you, I am sick to DEATH of the chokers remark everytime we lose a game, will make it all the sweeter when we win a comp, but geez, I want it to happen sooner rather than later!

Saw a few worrying signs the other night despite us having 8 or so regular players out. The most worrying sign is that Penrith dominated us up the middle, rushing off the line and it cost us field position badly. It seemed to take us 65 mins to work out we needed to move the ball wide early and quickly to find the holes in attack. The good thing was despite the Panthers domination in the forwards, it was still 2 tries each, and with a little luck we would have won the game, a LOT of 50/50 calls went Penrith's way, and it hurt us badly.

Canberra have had a big pack over the last few years and we all know our record against them. This "bash em up the middle" tactic proved effective agaisnt us last year for Brisbane in the semi, and although most would say Smith and Costigan will provide us with the mongrel we need, those guys were there last year and it didn't help us. Hopefully this is something they have addressed.

In saying that I have faith our guys will all perform well, but when anything short of a premiership will bring the dreaded chokers label again, puts a lot of pressure on as anything can happen in 80 mins of football, the best team across the year doesn't always win.

Would love to get some thoughts on this.....

Cheers

 

[Doug2234]

this will be interesting.

 

[Spartan - Dragon]

We can't win them all.. we were due for a loss simple as that.
I'm not worried at all

 

[SerbDragon]

Usually i'm devo after a loss. First time in years I can say nup, I'm fine. I'm still very very confident.

Thank you Wayne.

 

[Godz Illa]

Comparisons to last year are pointless - it's a different and superior team this year in so many ways. On top of that, Bennett admitted mistakes were made preparation-wise and training-wise in the back end of last year, and lessons learnt.

But it's worth addressing your concerns in relation to this year.

3 games in which our forwards have been 'conquered' so to speak this season have been the Manly, Warriors and Penrith games.

Offloads have been a key component of our forward pack this year - the common denominator between the Warriors and Manly game and Monday night's were the conditions. In the wet we're a bit too keen to wrap the ball up. However in Auckland we still had Darius, and Soward's kicking game was near perfect. Monday night Soward produced one of his worst ever kicking displays

But we've struggled since the Hunt injury coupled with Weyman's form tapering off with workload. If Weyman can make the most of his rest and bounce back to his strong early season form (that earnt him a Test spot) your concerns should be addressed

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Once our backline returns from Origin things should correct themselves.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

all it proved was theres 2 teams in this comp that wil contest the grand final. itll be a good grand final.

the rest may as well go on holiday now.

except maybe the broncos. they have the best most clutch legend calibre player.

they could do something.

 

[Mr Spock!]

I don't normally post in other team's forums but I am interested in how the Dragons are going. My thoughts on last year were that the Dragons were exhausted physically and mentally by the end of the season. This could be a price for the physical defensive game they played for most of the season which is similar to this years. It will be interesting to see if Wayne can keep your boys fresh over the next couple of months.

 

[Deacon]

Usually i'm devo after a loss. First time in years I can say nup, I'm fine. I'm still very very confident.

Thank you Wayne.

Argee, we have to put our 4 loses in perspective

Storm-cheats say no more
Manly-Players backing up 24 hours later
Canberra-Origin depleted side
Penrith-Origin depleted side

Yes the Manly, Canberra and Penrith sides we also depleted/fatigued but comps arent won with those sides that ran out, so really we havent been beaten properly with a team not effected by origin or other rep games, after this weeks bye the competition will truely start for every team we've just put ourselves in a good position come September and hopefully October

 

[Willow]

Penrith played well enough to win - they took the better advantage of the conditions and the 50/50s. Not worried, we had more players out but that'll happen.

Would have liked to see two full strength teams before drawing any conclusions.

Just one of those games where things didn't go right. We'll get 'em next time.

 

[Ribs]

I'm not usually one to boo every set but on Monday night I did. I haven't seen a team up inside the ten as bad and as often as Penrith were. With a depleted pack and a defensive line in your face in wet conditions like that, we were always going to struggle.

Maxwell is a Sharks juniors referee and I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't a big fan of saints. His performance Monday was disgraceful. On the last tackle, the player pressuring our kicker was at least 2 metres in front of the ref.

Like Willow said though, a couple of 50/50 decisions and we still could have stolen it.

 

[Bring back choc]

I think it's natural for people to 'go to water' after 'a' loss. Afterall there have only been 4 all season so the feeling is no doubt foreign. But in response to your 'concerns' as this is a forum to discuss all things, here'e my answer:

No Weyman
No Smith
No Hunt
No Costigan
No Scott
No Cooper
No Boyd
No Morris.

They also had their best players out but i think the concentration of key areas that we were missing was the difference. For me, players like Green and Greenfield can't really step up when so many people are out. They are ok when they are filling in for an injured player, but when they are the players being relied upon to set a platform.... they diont cut it. The pantherts smashed us in the forwards. Really belted us. I thought it was a pretty ordinary performance from Creagh, Prior and Young. They needed to do a lot more. They look tired. I suspect we will bounce back after the bye.

Am i concerned? Not really. But the concerns and pressure will always be around until we hold the trophy high. Its that simple.

 

[ebbedfred]

Comparisons to last year are pointless - it's a different and superior team this year in so many ways. On top of that, Bennett admitted mistakes were made preparation-wise and training-wise in the back end of last year, and lessons learnt.

I agree last year means little, and I also think we are a better team this year. Boyd has a lot to do with that, offering us so much more in attack. But we have to make sure we've learned from last years mistakes, Bennett has admitted them which is great, means they've been addressed.

It's easy to say, we lost to a cheating Melbourne, we lost to Manly when players backing up etc, but the minute we come up with excuses for our losses and we think we are unbeatable when at full strength and don't have to put in the work we will lose. Wayne is smarter than that though, and the team will listen to whatever he says.

I think Souths will be a big test, a big strong forward pack but a game we should win. I don't think we've been playing as well as we can which is good, I'd rather build form leading into the semis instead of peaking too early like last year..... here's hoping.

 

[Doug2234]

Usually i'm devo after a loss. First time in years I can say nup, I'm fine. I'm still very very confident..

Well said Bob.

 

[dragonfan1]

While yes, in our four losses so far we had fair excuses in terms of rep matches and a cheating team that was still playing for points back then, one thing we still haven't really been able to do is to win by coming from behind well. Obviously time will tell but in the four losses so far we were never ahead points wise in any of those four games so it is definitely a weakness as the dragons rely on building a small lead and strangling the opponents out of the match then piling the points on at the end. If we can show that we can come back from like say at least 10 points down, that's when teams will really be scared, but until then, we just have to put up with the 'choking'.

 

[boxa777]

Penrith have been playing a very similar game to us. Conservative to begin with and grinding victories late in matches. They are playing really well as a team and even with players out, the structure remains the same. They will be hard to beat in the big games.

There was however a touch of last year in that we looked devoid of ideas at times but the absence of Boyd cannot be understated. He is an even better version in 2010 and our attack was poorer for his absence.

And throw Beauy, Nev and Mick W in there and our pack won't be dominated. It is that simple.

With Gaz on the right, we now have everything we need this season. We just have to win it.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

While yes, in our four losses so far we had fair excuses in terms of rep matches and a cheating team that was still playing for points back then, one thing we still haven't really been able to do is to win by coming from behind well. Obviously time will tell but in the four losses so far we were never ahead points wise in any of those four games so it is definitely a weakness as the dragons rely on building a small lead and strangling the opponents out of the match then piling the points on at the end. If we can show that we can come back from like say at least 10 points down, that's when teams will really be scared, but until then, we just have to put up with the 'choking'.

It's pretty hard to "prove" that point wrong when we almost always go into the break leading at half time.

I think we have far more variety in our attack this year and with cattle out we showed enough against the Raiders and Panthers to suggest at full strength we can battle out a win from behind. We lost on Monday by two conversions, considering we had a few tries disallowed the result is nothing to cry over.

 

[dragonfan1]

It's pretty hard to "prove" that point wrong when we almost always go into the break leading at half time.

I think we have far more variety in our attack this year and with cattle out we showed enough against the Raiders and Panthers to suggest at full strength we can battle out a win from behind. We lost on Monday by two conversions, considering we had a few tries disallowed the result is nothing to cry over.

Of course I agree we are usually ahead at half time. That's why we just have to wait come finals time to see if we can go another level like the other teams did to us last year.

 

[Doug2234]

And throw Beauy, Nev and Mick W in there and our pack won't be dominated. It is that simple..

Yeah agreed. We did have a young pack on Monday night who will be better for the experience

J Smith is another that will be handy in the pack come later in the season.

 

[jayjohnsonaus]

rushing off the line and it cost us field position badly.

Rushing up so quickly they were off side most of the time in that first 40 mins

I live in Penrith and Im a keen Dragons Supporter .... keen enough to have them
tattoo'd on my body ..... so you can imagine the sh*t I have been coping over the
last 48 hours. But I have full faith that we will be there at the end of the season.
I think last year was a rehearsal ... this years the Main Event!!!