Do you want Brad Arthur as coach

[Avenger]

His extension was announced five days after starring in our round two win over the Storm. 17 runs, 164m, a line break, six tackle breaks and two tries. Why wouldn't you extend him?

It’s mental with him.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

For mine, what hasn't changed is our style of play which is designed to suit our roster. What did change was our attitude to play to that style.

Absolutely. What I suspect about this form reversal is that maybe the merkins who suggested we might be training too hard during the season were correct. But we'll never know for sure, because we don't know how hard the team trains in any given week.

Arthur's is spot on about effort areas and collision chasing, but even he would know words aren't enough. Something must've changed for our effort to suddenly go through the roof. I'm thinking about his comments after the Manly game when he said he would give them some time off.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I reckon we won it because we denied Storm field position. A whole lot of things go in to achieving that, but the team completed 90% and folllowsped the game plan perfectly.

Kicked early to turn them around as well, which is a tactic merkins were criticising a few weeks ago when they were desperate to blame it on our game plan.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

All our tries except the last one, we had many decoys making the storm make bad decisions. This is how you attack. Not hit up after hit up. Even Drown looked dangerous and I don’t recall him having a great deal of runs.

This is where you show your lack of understanding. Our attack looked good because we fatigued Melbourne's defence, and we did that by controlling the ball and smashing them up the middle. The reason the decoys suddenly looked effective is because the defence was on the back foot.

 

[lucablight]

Absolutely. What I suspect about this form reversal is that maybe the merkins who suggested we might be training too hard during the season were correct. But we'll never know for sure, because we don't know how hard the team trains in any given week.

Arthur's is spot on about effort areas and collision chasing, but even he would know words aren't enough. Something must've changed for our effort to suddenly go through the roof. I'm thinking about his comments after the Manly game when he said he would give them some time off.

You could be right but I noticed Arthur also said he noticed the boys were switched on and intense at training. Intensity would mean they trained pretty hard no?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Moses kicking game was outstanding, kicked them to death while the Storms was pretty poor.

Melbourne's kicking game is probably the weakest aspect of their team. They rely on their kickers having plenty of time to execute and their kick chase being on point.

On the other hand, Moses consistently lands 40m bombs a metre from the tryline with microseconds to get his kick away. Maybe even nanoseconds.

 

[Gary Gutful]

We finished third last season and we dropped a lot of games we should have won that would have had us finish top 4 again. We were one of two teams to beat Penrith last season and if Moses kicks the goal we beat them again this season. Was Melbourne off their game both times we played them or did we overpower them and not allow them to play their best?

We also went out in straight sets in the finals last year.

You can’t ignore the ‘losses that we should have won’ but include the ‘wins that we didn’t expect’. You have to take the good with the bad and on balance I believe we are slightly behind two other tiers at the moment:

1. Melbourne and Penrith
2. Souths, Roosters and Manly

That said, we can beat any of these teams on our day but if we were to play them 10 times in a row I doubt we’d win more 5 times.

As for whether we made Melbourne play bad or they did it themselves? A bit of both to be honest. The important thing though is that they have to play below their best and we have to be at our best to get a sniff.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Our roster isn’t meant to be as good as the other top sides. Does that mean us beating Melbourne both times this season was a fluke?

Well two games is a small sample. Look at the season as a whole. We have the fifth best points differential and will probably be in fifth place at the end of this round. We are 3 from 9 against the other top six sides.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

If our best is consistently good enough to beat the best

We are 3 from 9 against those sides, which is a more reliable sample than the two Melbourne games. Don't forget we have beaten them in 3 of our past 4 encounters. Probably no coincidence that the sole loss was in the finals.

That said, I think we can beat them in the finals, but the chance is less than 50%, possibly a lot less. They have so much more big game experience than we do, but we have more than we did last year. Our club is steadily building. It's very exciting.

 

[lucablight]

We also went out in straight sets in the finals last year.

You can’t ignore the ‘losses that we should have won’ but include the ‘wins that we didn’t expect’. You have to take the good with the bad and on balance I believe we are slightly behind two other tiers at the moment:

1. Melbourne and Penrith
2. Souths, Roosters and Manly

That said, we can beat any of these teams on our day but if we were to play them 10 times in a row I doubt we’d win more 5 times.

As for whether we made Melbourne play bad or they did it themselves? A bit of both to be honest. The important thing though is that they have to play below their best and we have to be at our best to get a sniff.

I’d rate our roster better than the injury ravaged Roosters, Souths and Manly so I’d say we should be finishing above them. If they don’t go out in straight sets neither should we.

 

[emjaycee]

Well two games is a small sample. Look at the season as a whole. We have the fifth best points differential and will probably be in fifth place at the end of this round. We are 3 from 9 against the other top six sides.

Agree you need to look at the whole season.
The way the draw is done, there is no 'balanced' view until the end of the season when all teams have played all teams and even then, when you don't play some teams twice, the balance is out.

 

[lucablight]

Well two games is a small sample. Look at the season as a whole. We have the fifth best points differential and will probably be in fifth place at the end of this round. We are 3 from 9 against the other top six sides.

I’m more concerned about the finals record.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I’d rate our roster better than the injury ravaged Roosters, Souths and Manly so I’d say we should be finishing above them. If they don’t go out in straight sets neither should we.

They have better experience and leadership than us. Less likely to shit themselves under pressure. Hopefully we turn a corner in this years finals.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Lussick was the player who flew under the radar. He always engages the markers giving more space out wide. Watch how clever he was setting up his own try. Very strong defense and not a spot player. Hard to read which way he is going to pass.

I think you'll find we've won most of our games whilst Lussich was starting

Sure, but half of those games were against bottom four sides. Lussick is 1 from 3 (a small sample) against top six sides, which is the same win rate (33%) as the team's against the same five opponents.

 

[Gazzamatta]

This is where you show your lack of understanding. Our attack looked good because we fatigued Melbourne's defence, and we did that by controlling the ball and smashing them up the middle. The reason the decoys suddenly looked effective is because the defence was on the back foot.

I thought the decoys looked effective from minute 1. They ran with purpose and looked a genuine option to get the ball. Huge difference.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Were they off their game - or did we get in their faces, bash then with relentless aggression for 80 minutes, and make it look that way?

I think a bit of both

For me, seeing the senior Storm players trying to milk every single decision, illustrates to me that they were rattled, well and truly.

Agreed. But I do think they were mentally underdone going into this game. With the finals coming up and us being out of form and the weight of the winning streak record hanging over them it wouldn't have been good for their preparation.

 

[lucablight]

They have better experience and leadership than us. Less likely to shit themselves under pressure. Hopefully we turn a corner in this years finals.

Our pack is better than theirs. Our halfback and fullback have origin experience and our hooker would have played this season if not for injury. We should be more than competitive with them. Experience is helpful but even all time greats had to win without it at some time. I don’t know how they have better leadership than us. Pray tell?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

You’re saying you can’t have a valid opinion without being in the inner circle. Can’t disagree more. We all watch the same game when the players take the field. Don’t need to be part of the set up to see that.

No, but deciding what is the cause of what happens on the field is a lot more complicated than the simpletons watching it could ever understand. I don't understand it either. The difference between us is that at least I'm aware of this.

 

[lucablight]

No, but deciding what is the cause of what happens on the field is a lot more complicated than the simpletons watching it could ever understand. I don't understand it either. The difference between us is that at least I'm aware of this.

If you work in any industry then you should know that there are a lot of people out there who are bad at their jobs. Even clients/customers who don’t work in your industry would be able to recognise it if it was blatant enough. You don’t have to be an expert.

 

[hindy111]

I think BA grew another hair last night, that's 2 now

On his ball bag