Definition of a choke?

[Ridders]

Definition of a choke:

Leading 18-2 with 11 minutes to go in a semi final and you already know where this is headed....

Well played

 

[B-Tron 3000]

You don't become minor premiers without being able to perform to a certain level on the field. When that all disappears come finals time and don't have injuries as an excuse, what else is it but a choke?

Finals are different to winning week to week. The teams are better and have been priming themselves for the big games. The footy is different - tougher, better defences. You have to perform to a higher level every week in the Finals - you don't get a Penrith or Roosters to give you a rest.

Saints were good at being consistent. They didn't play too bad against the Eels but then had a tough road trip only 6 days after that tough game in the sun (the eels were a bit off last night too). But they just weren't good enough to beat the better teams in the Finals.


Here's a question - did the Titans choke? Course not. They weren't cut out for Finals footy. People thought that the Dragons were, but there pathetic attack was never good enough.

 

[mickdo]

Who do you think is the favourite for the Eels vs Dogs game? I would be VERY surprised if it was the Dogs, especially given how we played against the Knights.

Dogs should be. Finished 2nd, week off, Noddy supposedly back. Sure we are one one hell of a roll, but there is a reason why no team has won the comp from 5th to 8th...

 

[mickdo]

Definition of a choke:

Leading 18-2 with 11 minutes to go in a semi final and you already know where this is headed....

Yeah, that's one too

 

[mickdo]

You know what Mickdo, me and you tend to disagree on ALOT of things, but i reckon we'd be great mates if we met in real life ;-)

Well f**k you!!!






;-)

 

[ME SO HORNBY!]

dude it's a choke, plan and simple. If we were to loose to you guys next week it wont be a choke as it's expected due toyour position to win, if you loose it will be a choke, not as bad as the Dragons one however.

Look i agree. Im a dragons fan and i think we choked. But if we go by what you're saying then we have only choked in 2005 in recent years yet we have been labelled perennial chokers. 1999 and 2006 people smashed us with the choker tag yet both those years we were beaten by higher placed teams.

 

[mickdo]

Saints were good at being consistent. They didn't play too bad against the Eels but then had a tough road trip only 6 days after that tough game in the sun (the eels were a bit off last night too). But they just weren't good enough to beat the better teams in the Finals.

So how do you explain only winning 1 game out of their last 6? It wasn't just the finals games themselves... it started well prior to that, including two losses to teams that didn't make the 8.

 

[Ridders]

Wearing down at the wrong time?

 

[B-Tron 3000]

So how do you explain only winning 1 game out of their last 6? It wasn't just the finals games themselves... it started well prior to that, including two losses to teams that didn't make the 8.

Well then that is another argument against that fact that they choked, isn't it!

They were in a run of bad form and weren't good enough.


To note - Wayne Bennet has come out and said that maybe they did feel the pressure of finals. But he also said that they were only after consistency this year, and that maybe they peaked too early.

In other words, there are any number of reasons that they bombed out. But people just go for the easiest one - the choke.

 

[mickdo]

Wearing down at the wrong time?

I just don't buy 'wearing down'. They didn't have injuries, they didn't have suspensions, they had the minor premiership wrapped up and won 1 from their last 6 games. The hype got to them and they choked.

 

[ozjet1]

Look i agree. Im a dragons fan and i think we choked. But if we go by what you're saying then we have only choked in 2005 in recent years yet we have been labelled perennial chokers. 1999 and 2006 people smashed us with the choker tag yet both those years we were beaten by higher placed teams.

how can the saints finals performance be labelled as a choke? they've been consistently losing for the last 6 weeks!

the 'choke' label is overused these days. it seems as though simply being expected to win going into a game, and then losing it, constitutes a choke. sorry, but that it is an upset, not a choke. every team starts a game on zero points, every one is equal.

a 'choke' is losing a game from a winning position. when developments cause a team or its personnel to make decisions it wouldnt ordinarily make, or the pressure strangles competitors and they dont take actions they ordinarily would. that's a choke.

 

[mickdo]

Wayne Bennet has come out and said that maybe they did feel the pressure of finals

I rest my case

 

[mickdo]

how can the saints finals performance be labelled as a choke? they've losing consistently losing for the last 6 weeks!

Because 6 weeks ago is when the choke started

 

[Southernsaint]

Yeah, we must've choked - that's the only way two sh*t-house sides like Parra and Brisbane could have beaten us.

Terms like "choke" & "under-rated" are the most misused terms in sport...

 

[B-Tron 3000]

I rest my case

You know what, intentionally cutting out the rest of the post to avoid a proper conversation is just pathetic.

 

[Knightmare]

If the Broncos, leading 24-10 with 10 minutes to go, had lost the match 26-24 with a penalty goal on full-time, that indeed would be a choke.

But going into a match, favorites or not, and never leading on the scoreboard is not a choke. "Not turning up to play" perhaps, but not a choke.

Also, with the exceptions of 2000 and '06, Wayne Bennett coached sides this decade had a tendency to roll out the back door of the semis. But apparently all of a sudden because it's St George it's a "choke". Fairy nuff...

 

[Kiki]

we didn't choke, we just forgot how to play.

 

[mickdo]

You know what

What? ;-)

 

[Hanscholo]

I dont think it was a choke. It didnt appear to me like the pressure got to them. Simply, they had been in 5th gear all year where everyone else was in 4th, when the semi's rolled around the other sides had a couple of gears left in them and the saints didnt. It happens im affraid, RL is cruel game sometimes, but the cream always rises to the top in the end.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

When a team chokes, you could say that the team that beat them fluked the win. When a team flukes a win, you could say that the other team choked. Its a matter of perspective. Because Parra and St George have been labeled as chokers by some, everyone will agree because its fun to tease the fans over it.

Although iv been absolutly giving it to Dragons fans for a week now, I dont believe there is such a thing as a "choke".

When your a coach, you can do all the training in the world, you can prepare your players aswell as possible. You can try and combat their nerves by making them do the most nerve racking things possible.

But those moments (and thats what those 80 minutes are, just moments) there is nothing you can do that will stop the unstopable. You might be the best team of the year (Dragons of 09) or the best team for 30 years (Australia from the 70's to 2008), but there is nothing that can be done when the opposition is just running harder, tackling harder and scoring tries. You just cant help luck or the bounce of the ball.

The Dragons did not choke, they were, for that moment, the 80 minutes, out played. Not even the most successful coach of all time could help that.