Dragons v Titans Round 2, 2023

[jodragon40]

I'm not being personal merely pointing out what a collective thought and I posted my response to that.

This place abounds with negativity relating to something 5 minutes ago or to things from bygone era's.

For instance the BBQ is in the time of Vaughan, Norman, Dufty etc all polarising figures and all long gone but people keep trying to find ways to make it relative.

Those still with the team that did attend are now being influenced and guided by a totally different group of staff and players so that is what is relative not the loose cannons that left.

Just in this last wee period people eluding there are 2 camps with inferences that 1 is Hunt and the other Lomax yet no thought to the fact that Hunt & Lomax were 2 of only 3 that went to presentation night.

We as a group can find ways to bag out our players, staff, admin for the best of reasons but far too often for the silliest of reasons.

Lomax copping it because of the Frizz thing FFS a stupid action but from some time ago and has long been dealt with and then the "so called fight" with Amone FFS meaningless in the scope of things but how poor the memory is of the fellow with the "douche bag" attitude when he visited the little girl in the hospital and then held her hand on game day as he ran onto the field.

Time for us to

Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between
No, don't mess with Mr. In-Between

You gotta spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. All these things create a culture. It is exactly like any workplace the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. Our club and team culture presently was initiated by these incidents. I believe that it affects our on field performances but that's just my opinion

 

[BLM01]

Just on a sidenote and a change to the output on this thread.
Has anyone got concerns about the way Lomax is striking the ball in his goal kicks
I do
He may have changed his style a little bit and following on from last year appears to not follow-through enough and not as fluent
Just all looks so dicey and not as solid as 2 years ago

 

[Old Timer]

Just on a sidenote and a change to the output on this thread.
Has anyone got concerns about the way Lomax is striking the ball in his goal kicks
I do
He may have changed his style a little bit and following on from last year appears to not follow-through enough and not as fluent
Just all looks so dicey and not as solid as 2 years ago

I think yesterday was a little different due to the wind factor.

A bit like golf on a windy day when you change to playing knock down shots trying to keep things down as low as possible and under the wind lurking high up.

The Titans certainly found out the hard way but then again maybe they didn't actually work it out at all.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Great win by the boys yesterday. The ref really tried hard to give the GC as many penalties as possible and the boys still maintained their composure. As soon as I saw him I new Saints would have it tough with the officials. Saints record with him is pretty poor.

What a difference Liddle made. He was brilliant. All the boys played well. A few errors were made but it was the Saints 1st NRL game of the season so you expect a bit of rust. The attack has improved in leaps and bounds due to having some speed around the ruck and to see back up runners was awesome. Most forwards made over 100 mtrs. When was the last time we saw that? Great effort. Only sad note was Couchman getting HIA. Hope he is ok. Great debut from the young man. BMM was pretty impressive as well.

So glad to see Rava have a cracker. I thought he was on the down since he got all those suspensions but started exceptional yesterday. The backline is set now no changes needed. The halves are fine as they are as well. Amone will just need to bide his time like Bud had to. Make him realise what he had was special and he screwed it up with a really dumb action. Having Liddle and Mbye share the duties was also good to. The spine is 100% set.

It was also good to see Josh Kerr have a good game. We could all see this guy was capable and hopefully he proves us right.

I often heard the players say it was good hearing a new voice in training so it looks like the Assistants are doing a fine job. They really need to work on goal line defence which I am sure they will.

I am not fussed how they finish as long as the coaching staff stick with this group throughout the season and we see them come out each week as they will only get better. Next week will be a huge test as I think the Bronco's have been the most impressive so far in the 2 rounds.

 

[BLM01]

I think yesterday was a little different due to the wind factor.

A bit like golf on a windy day when you change to playing knock down shots trying to keep things down as low as possible and under the wind lurking high up.

The Titans certainly found out the hard way but then again maybe they didn't actually work it all.

Yes I thought if that but this little dance he does after he strikes reminds me of golf when you’re anxious about where the ball is going and you look up before you need to willing it to go in the right direction
I don’t know just does not look like it will hold him under pressure

 

[redv13]

Just on a sidenote and a change to the output on this thread.
Has anyone got concerns about the way Lomax is striking the ball in his goal kicks
I do
He may have changed his style a little bit and following on from last year appears to not follow-through enough and not as fluent
Just all looks so dicey and not as solid as 2 years ago

6/8 plus there was a decent breeze last night. He’ll be fine

 

[Dragon David]

Just on a sidenote and a change to the output on this thread.
Has anyone got concerns about the way Lomax is striking the ball in his goal kicks
I do
He may have changed his style a little bit and following on from last year appears to not follow-through enough and not as fluent
Just all looks so dicey and not as solid as 2 years ago

He did miss a reasonably simple one as far as goal kicking standards go. It was to convert Ben Hunt's try which more or less was scored about 8 metres from touch. Lomax conversion attempt went to the left of the uprights. He seemed to have changed his follow through.

As our goal kicker, he needs to iron out some issues and maybe get back to practising more.

 

[Wolfgang90]

Giving a shout out to all the coaches, you could see the assistants fingerprints on that gameplan with targeting Fifita & bullying him into ineffectiveness. The attack on the ruck with smart dummy half runs, turning the ball inside with our forwards running on an angle & using their footwork. Bird playing that link role in the middle commanding the ball & providing width to our attack.

Hook playing to his strengths by giving simple messages & leaving strategy to the assistants. Kerr for Molo as a late change was spot on too. He demanded multiple titans players to tackle him which he exposed with a crucial offload leading to a try. Couchman was amazing in the middle with good carriers but more important staunch defence.

 

[Jim Dragons]

Ok, had some time to digest

- ref was abysmal and gave the titans a huge legup
- we let in 3 soft tries. Concerning tbh, but can be easily fixed
- the team felt brutal on the edges, and that made more room in the middle. I’ve said I’m worried about BMM’s lateral defence, but tonight made me feel a lot better. He was a beast.
- Liddle made a huge difference in so many ways.
- Blake is seriously come a long way in last 12 months. Frankie had his best game in a long time, and Kerr has proven he should be in the 17


so many positives, it’s only a start, and against a team likely to be in the bottom 4, but I loved that win.

yeah - agreed...
we just need to continue to encourage players to control the ball - but ALSO use the ball when momentum calls for it. Hold the footy and your missed tackles drops remarkably.

 

[Jim Dragons]

6/8 plus there was a decent breeze last night. He’ll be fine

and one he missed dropped short at the black dot (or red dot)

 

[Gomarchin]

That ref does my head in. Some of those penalties in the first half were very dodgy indeed - so we did well to beat the Titans and the ref.

 

[dragon thomo]

I have not seen earlier posts, but what do you all think about how Bird runs a lot side ways. The concern is that it seems to crowd our attack at times. We seemed to run a lot straighter when he was rested.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Just on a sidenote and a change to the output on this thread.
Has anyone got concerns about the way Lomax is striking the ball in his goal kicks
I do
He may have changed his style a little bit and following on from last year appears to not follow-through enough and not as fluent
Just all looks so dicey and not as solid as 2 years ago

I noticed it at the StHelens match, when they came on the field for warm up's and he was practicing his goal kicking it was different, hopefully it works out..

 

[chewbacca]

I noticed it at the StHelens match, when they came on the field for warm up's and he was practicing his goal kicking it was different, hopefully it works out..

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but one of the upsides of having Sullivan in the team instead of MC Hammer is Sully's kicking game. It takes a lot of pressure off BH. It was only game one of BH/JS combo but it looks like it could really develop.
Hammer could have been a blessing in disguise....

 

[SEAT 1A]

Great win and got to give it to the boys and Hook. Saw more attack in one game than the last few years.

Was disappointed by the start however, watching it on the tele, they were still belting the Titians and Wolf was barking orders all game. Liddle was mammoth, changed the game but agreed with Mybe starting for defence and the forwards played as one and Big Ben worked all game. Benny Hunt, great pass and worth every cent.

Foran was busted, we got lucky with their kicks, their number 7 lost his mind and the ref was crap but who cares, we smashed them.

 

[jodragon40]

Great win and got to give it to the boys and Hook. Saw more attack in one game than the last few years.

Was disappointed by the start however, watching it on the tele, they were still belting the Titians and Wolf was barking orders all game. Liddle was mammoth, changed the game but agreed with Mybe starting for defence and the forwards played as one and Big Ben worked all game. Benny Hunt, great pass and worth every cent.

Foran was busted, we got lucky with their kicks, their number 7 lost his mind and the ref was crap but who cares, we smashed them.

Agree, you could see that their playmaker was playing busted. Forwards went actually forwards and Hunt had a picnic

 

[Dragon David]

Agree, you could see that their playmaker was playing busted. Forwards went actually forwards and Hunt had a picnic

Hunt’s Red V heroics​

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Hunt made a sweeping declaration his side wouldn’t win the wooden spoon this season and with a big win over the Titans, he could be right. The 32-year-old was in everything for the Dragons and scored a try, broke four tackles and set up another four-pointer to steer his team to a 32-18 victory."

Just a bit from Foxsports News.

 

[jodragon40]

Hunt’s Red V heroics​

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Hunt made a sweeping declaration his side wouldn’t win the wooden spoon this season and with a big win over the Titans, he could be right. The 32-year-old was in everything for the Dragons and scored a try, broke four tackles and set up another four-pointer to steer his team to a 32-18 victory."

Just a bit from Foxsports News.

We were never wooden spoon contenders unfortunately on the other side of the coin this week will show us if we can actually play semi finals football this year

 

[The Villain]

Ben Hunt says we won’t win the spoon. Jesus. Let’s celebrate then.

 

[Lovemedragons]

That ref does my head in. Some of those penalties in the first half were very dodgy indeed - so we did well to beat the Titans and the ref.

He was making shit up just to give the Titans the ball. I have never seen a player, injured or not, drop the ball in the course of a tackle and subsequently be allowed to play the ball! Never happened before. When they bundled the fullback out into touch and he penalises the tacklers! Ridiculous ruling. Also the 2 tacklers/stripped ball missed penalty and Id even argue Lomax pass to Feagai for the try was lineball - if it were Reynolds/Ponga/Mitchell passing it.