Dragons Post Mortem

[nöyd]

f**k me no wonder Fien went off, check this out for a happy snap (pardon the pun)

 

[mickdo]

No, it wasn't just you. Archer was doing all the caning though. The other ref seemed to give us a fair go of it from what I saw.

 

[Talanexor]

Fact of the matter is, the Dragons strangle you blokes, Great t watch, gripping til the end, but your forwards just couldn't get over the advantage line.

One crticism I will make is Matt Keating. His service was slow. Very slow. I'd almost be tempted to put Robson as the interchange hooker (good defense, good passing game). This would free up Kris Keating to create, and Robson to provide good service. Poore and Shackleton were standouts IMO. Mateo went missing bigtime.

This is the lineup I would go with for next week (injuries aside)

1. Hayne
2. Burt
3. Reddy
4. Tahu
5. Grothe
6. Mortimer
7. K Keating
8. Cayless
9. M Keating
10. Moi Moi
11. Hindmarsh
12. Smith
13. Mateo

14. Robson
15. Poore
16. Mannah
17. Some other forward to fill in for Shackleton

 

[mickdo]

Ouch. Man that looks like a shocking break. He could be gone for most of the season.

 

[BigNormProvan]

Justin who? Justin sh*thouse, thats who. Deadset $375k for this bloke? Easily will be the worse signing this season in terms of value.

He'll play better when your forwards start working as a team and he understands better his role and his team mates. Last season our pack was very business-like and Poore played his role very well. Again tonight we played it well in the forwards, whilst your pigs never got into a groove or a roll on.

Bennett has a rep on not paying stupid money ($375K anyone?) for forwards. Merrin (a no name to you blokes) came on and did a clinical job, then Saffy (another no name to you blokes) came on and rocked the joint with his late impact. Moi Moi was pffft, he is very one trick and the Dragon forwards mopped him up each time. Where was his intensity?, he had the luxury of coming on after the early sting was waining. Too hot and cold, Bennett wouldn't have him for $100,000.

Both sides will figure well this season if injuries are kind. If anyone thinks Bennett will keep playing one dimmentional footy, they are kidding themselves. This is Round 1, myself and most Saints fans expected us to play a tight forward orientated game tonight and most likely for quiet a few more weeks.

Peace;


Big Norm

 

[Schiltzenberger]

Can't believe we only lost by 6. Bugger all possession, a stack of errors, short end of the penalty count thanks to our favourite ref, and a mountain of line defence. We should have lost by a cricket score with those stats but the boys put in big time... nothing to be ashamed of.

Have to agree, the Dragons should've flogged us but they only just got home really.

My thoughts on the game though anyway...

The Dragons started with way more intensity, they were rushing up to put on hits whereas Parra stood back and waited, it looked ominous from early on.
KK wasn't used enough, Robson can tackle but doesn't create much in attack and doesn't offer much of a 5th tackle option. KK will take that spot back soon enough.
Hayne is brilliant with the ball but is still bad at positioning, kicks from tonight and a lot form last year would've been gobbled up by decent fullbacks, but Hayne is nowhere to be seen. Good on Grothe for telling him too. I still want Hayne at fullback but he really needs to work on his positioning and his urgency to get the ball and return it. He can piss fart about when in their half, in our half he needs to just hurry up, get it and return it.
MK had a bad night, a few dumb plays tonight.

Parra still look dangerous though, once that 2nd phase play starts working again we'll be fine, only a matter of time. 2-3 weeks and we'll be humming along.
Grothe was good, only one mistake but he was running hard and forward, making metres.
Tahu looks good.
Moi Moi was stagnated a bit because St.George were on top of us for most of the night, they played well, even though they're boring.
Hindy was his usual self, but I don't think we need him running around as a 5/8th as much. He handled the ball way too much, fair enough if he was running it up to make metres but he was mostly looking for a runner on his outside.

Parra still have a great shot this year. As was mentioned in the commentary...Dragons boring style is easier to pick up and start again with, Parra's will take some time to gel, I'm sure it won't take as long as last year though.

 

[Schiltzenberger]

oops

 

[Schiltzenberger]

Oops

 

[Schiltzenberger]

Sorry for the posts, but they weren't showing up so I posted again etc.

Then came back later and had too many of them.

 

[Fui!!!]

without hayne the eels wont score many points like last year the eels were scoring less points then the sharks and warriors , will be the same as this year

the eels dont have any other option then hayne

I thought Hayne was over rated and not as good as everyone was making out :?

You're flip flopping more than John Kerry in 2004...

 

[Haynzy]

Good game, we certainly looked scratchy but i'm sure we'll improve.

Imo many of our errors tonight were due to the mountains of defence.
I reckon Ando will be looking to improving the descision making when fatigued.

Match fitness played a big role tonight and guys like Mateo, Moimoi and Poore will be playing more mins soon.

It's gonna be tough between Robbo and KK.
When KK gets more mins we'll get a better idea.

Bummer about Shack. He looked great.

Still a bit of tweaking to do for Ando and some timing and combo issues for the boys to sort out but i think theat there are good signs that we are in for an exciting year.

Now, bring on Moanly.

 

[TheParraboy]

when i look at the stats, and discount the two points for the win, im a fairly happy camper....we were entitled to get absolutely murdered on the scoreboard but we hung tight in defence...the real reason we got to last years gf and glad to see we have continued it this year....the combinations will come and our forward pack is massive, will take a few games under the belt to build up the match fitness
parra dragons
0 Field Goals 0
0 Sin Bin 0
0 Send Off 0
324 Tackles 256
997 All run metres 1318
5 Penalties 7
0 Penalty Goal Attempts 4
16 Errors 2
72 Hit-ups 81
14 Offloads 6
4 Line breaks 2
19 Completions 34
43 Possession (%) 57

Cut down the errors a bit , gain more possession, we win this game easily

only 43% of the pill is tough to win against any side , let alone a defensive side like the dragons

once we click into gear, we will get on a nice roll

 

[Gaba]

I thought Hayne was over rated and not as good as everyone was making out :?

You're flip flopping more than John Kerry in 2004...

how was i flipping i always said hayne is the eels main attack and playmaker

the eels dont have other options

 

[Agent Mulder]

I thought the Dragons were average, And we were just rusty, We seemed to get better as the game went on. The Dragons had alot of ball and field postion but only could beat us by 6.

It was still two tries all, You can tell Parra are gonna get better, wait till players like Mateo, Mortimer, Tahu, Poore & Keating K start hitting there straps and everything will fall into place.

As for the Dragons winning the comp, Not if they play that football, Very boring and way too predicatable.

 

[Agent Mulder]

Triple Post

 

[Agent Mulder]

Triple Post

 

[Agent Mulder]

Triple Post

 

[Gronk]

Cut down the errors a bit , gain more possession, we win this game easily

only 43% of the pill is tough to win against any side , let alone a defensive side like the dragons

once we click into gear, we will get on a nice roll

Yep I wonder if any team can will against the Drags with a 97% completion rate. We had no ball and when we did get it they forced it out.

I was dissappointed with how we were dominated in the ruck though, they slowed down our play the balls and that took the zip out of our 6. We seemed to peel off quickly which have them momentum, yet they laid all over us and got away with it. If the game is being reffed that way, we should be able to adapt and play the same way.

It was a good kick up the arse for us.

Props to Benny Smith. Hands down the best on field for us.

 

[Gaba]

I thought Hayne was over rated and not as good as everyone was making out :?

You're flip flopping more than John Kerry in 2004...

how was i flipping i always said hayne is the eels main attack and playmaker

the eels dont have other options and is made look by that fact , he still overrated as the best fullback

 

[Gaba]

As for the Dragons winning the comp, Not if they play that football, Very boring and way too predicatable.

still outscored the eels , the eels weren't threatening either apart from hayne and mateo

the eels struggle to have options outside of hayne