Early tip: Sandow won't see out his contract

[Poupou Escobar]

Us being dominated in the ruck time and time again is our main problem imo. If we can't improve on that, we will keep seeing the same shit.

This times a thousand.

You must be the biggest f**kwit on the board to agree with me.

 

[Chipmunk]

The game was much slower back then, and playmakers had plenty more time to execute.

BullS^&t, the defence was twice as close under the 5 metre rule, meaning less time to execute

 

[Maroubra Eel]

BullS^&t, the defence was twice as close under the 5 metre rule, meaning less time to execute

They ran slower.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

You would think that if we cannot control the ruck and it is very much a work in progress, then you would think that a team would concentrate on making the most of their opportunities when they are presented to them.

No, I would think we would work on improving our control of the ruck - this is the key to everything in this game, over the entire 100m length of the field.

At the moment not only are we the worse team at controlling the ruck, we are also one of the worst teams, if not the worst, at coming up with something resembling an attack that is going to get a result when we are inside the oppositions 20 metre area.

How could we know when we don't control the ruck to start with?

In my opinion we are either not working on this at training or the players on the field are incapabable of executing the plays.

In my opinion it all comes back to the ruck. That gives you your time to organise your attack, and in defence it allows you to move up in a straight line.

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

This times a thousand.

You must be the biggest f**kwit on the board to agree with me.

:lol:

I feel all dirty.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I am of the firm belief that 90% of our current squad are not capable of winning the ruck area and until we have replaced 90% of our current squad we are going to continue to be rubbish.

This is the key question. How many of these losers do we need to replace to slow the opposition, and give our own attack some breathing room?

I think Lussick and Allgood both wrestle well, in both attack and defence. Fui is quick (for a prop) and Mannah has great leg drive, both neither of them wrestles well in defence. Who knows how Mossop will go?

Keating is a great tackler (how many linebreaks did he shut down against Manly) and a good wrestler (for a little bloke), but he is still a little bloke (like most hookers) and his replacement is unlikely to defend as well as him.

The edge forwards are key to creating space on the edges, especially on the opposition tryline. Reni is a good wide runner (like Horo) but doesn't tie up inside defenders as a decoy, and doesn't get quick play-the-balls when used as the short option. At his best Tanginoa is much better but he's still a kid and still has plenty of shit games to get out of his system. I hope we don't have to rely on him for 20+ games next year. We've also got Hock coming next year, who looks awesome in the Super League, but that's not close to NRL standard.

And obviously out wide the wrestle isn't such an issue. Our problem out there is tackling, but if we can slow the opposition ruck, our edge defenders will stop getting isolated so often.

 

[The Engineers Room]

And getting repeat sets involves a grubber into the in-goal, which is easy when your forwards are sucking defenders in and getting quick play-the-balls. We rarely get this, especially from our edge forwards (which is the key position close to the tryline). No matter where we are on the field our halves have no time with the ball and no space to place it for their chasers/supports.

You can't suck in defenders and get quick play the balls by one out hit ups. So the issue is the lack of second phase or direction in attack and that is the halves (on field) and coaches (on the training paddock) job to get players into position and put on the plays.

Why don't we ever get decoy runners or some running a support line for a forward. And when we do offload it is so rare most players aren't paying attention. Our team is physically able to be competitive but they are missing the stuff between the ears.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

we all know the issue at hand isnt easy to solve, and sandow isnt that one and only issue.

Doesnt mean he isnt part of the problem. Its a big circle of shit that starts with a forward pack that cant dominate the ruck, and cant be replaced because of no depth.

Sandow might as well be playing in the NSW cup, with a forward pack that can most likely match it with other teams. This will help him get his confidence back up.

I agree.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

They ran slower.

They ran a lot slower, and because there was f**k-all wrestle, play-the-balls were a lot quicker meaning there were a lot more broken defensive lines.

This meant slower moving defences, as they tried to get their line straight before moving up.

 

[IFR33K]

If you get dominated in the ruck then you will lose field position and possession. That makes it very hard to get to the other end of the field because your team is tired. It also puts a lot of pressure on the team to make the most of the very few opportunities that you do get in the attacking zone.

If a team dominates the ruck then they dominate field position and have more time with the ball. This means that they have more opportunities to score which means they are more likely to win.

Teams that dominate the ruck win football matches.

Teams with the better halfback often lose matches.

If we fix our efforts in the ruck we will win more matches than we will by dicking around with our halves.

No doubting sandow has some talent. I just don't think he has enough to be warranting a half mill year contract. His biggest downfall seems to be he lacks footballing smarts. A pretty big downfall to have for a half.

When in the opposition half how many repeat sets has he managed??

That has nothing to do with winning the ruck. When we do win a few repeat sets, maybe the opposition will tire, enabling us to at least compete.

Renoylds I believe has forced the most drop outs, across all the halves in the nrl. Putting his forwards in a great position to win the ruck week in week out.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

No doubting sandow has some talent. I just don't think he has enough to be warranting a half mill year contract. His biggest downfall seems to be he lacks footballing smarts. A pretty big downfall to have for a half.

When in the opposition half how many repeat sets has he managed??

That has nothing to do with winning the ruck. When we do win a few repeat sets, maybe the opposition will tire, enabling us to at least compete.

Renoylds I believe has forced the most drop outs, across all the halves in the nrl. Putting his forwards in a great position to win the ruck week in week out.

It's got everything to do with winning the ruck.

Grubbering into the in-goal is a lot easier when you receive the ball moving forward against a defensive line that is struggling to count numbers, let alone move up. Guys like Reynolds are only two or three metres from the tryline when they place their grubbers, with big gaps between the defenders.

Our kickers receive the ball with a straight, fast-moving defence coming at them, and therefore have to execute their grubbers quickly from 10 metres out. There are no options putting the defence in two minds because all of the options are shut down by the time the halfback even gets the ball.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

You can't suck in defenders and get quick play the balls by one out hit ups. So the issue is the lack of second phase or direction in attack and that is the halves (on field) and coaches (on the training paddock) job to get players into position and put on the plays.

Why don't we ever get decoy runners or some running a support line for a forward. And when we do offload it is so rare most players aren't paying attention. Our team is physically able to be competitive but they are missing the stuff between the ears.

We definitely need more movement off the ball, and Peni Terepo has added plenty of that.

But when players lack confidence they don't make those extra efforts (such as running support lines), instead saving their energy for when they think they will 'really need it'.

We know this because sometimes we do have a lot of movement off the ball and sometimes we don't.

But you're right that we need more of it, and it would improve all facets of our game, including winning the ruck.

 

[Gary Gutful]

No doubting sandow has some talent. I just don't think he has enough to be warranting a half mill year contract. His biggest downfall seems to be he lacks footballing smarts. A pretty big downfall to have for a half.

When in the opposition half how many repeat sets has he managed??

That has nothing to do with winning the ruck. When we do win a few repeat sets, maybe the opposition will tire, enabling us to at least compete.

Renoylds I believe has forced the most drop outs, across all the halves in the nrl. Putting his forwards in a great position to win the ruck week in week out.

I am pretty sure that I have seen a stat that shows that the roosters of all teams are the worst at getting repeat sets. Parramatta were on the bottom quarter somewhere. I thought it was on The Matty Johns Show on Mon night but I couldn't find the stats when I searched.

Regardless, this isn't about me saying that Sandow is a gun. There are obvious weaknesses in his game, including his ability to take the right last play options. However, I believe that his ability to do this is compromised compared to other halfbacks because he is on the back foot.

The main reason I commented this morning was Sterlo's "he needs to get involved more" comment. No-one can explain what more a halfback can do when his forwards are getting belted other than to a) yell at them or b) take your own hit ups.

Regardless, Sandow's weaknesses are not as big a problem as us losing the ruck. Every commentator talks about the key to winning football matches being winning the ruck, they don't say "they need to win the battle of the repeat sets". It doesn't seem to be hurting the Roosters!

Other than scoring more points, do you think there is anything more important than winning the ruck?

 

[Gary Gutful]

I found the article which shows the Roosters have forced less repeat sets than any other team.

http://www.nrl.com/roosters-failing-the-pressure-test/tabid/11149/newsid/73293/default.aspx

Getting repeat sets has not been the reason that the Roosters are winning football matches. Their ability to control the ruck is more likely the key to their success.

 

[Maroubra Eel]

The Roosters aren't getting repeat sets because they're scoring meat pies.

Trys also help win matches.

 

[IFR33K]

The Roosters aren't getting repeat sets because they're scoring meat pies.

Trys also help win matches.

Lol.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Other than scoring more points, do you think there is anything more important than winning the ruck?

Trys also help win matches.

Looks like we are in wild agreement!

Lol.

Other than scoring more points, do you think there is anything more important than winning the ruck?

 

[Chipmunk]

Other than scoring more points, do you think there is anything more important than winning the ruck?

Stopping your opponent from scoring more points than you

 

[Gary Gutful]

Stopping your opponent from scoring more points than you

Wouldn't you be doing that by scoring more points than your opponent?;-)

 

[Chipmunk]

Wouldn't you be doing that by scoring more points than your opponent?;-)

Well your previous comment made no mention of scoring more points than your opponent.