Finals Week 2 vs Souths

[ozbuck]

Because stupidly De Belin got in the line and after that we were forced to run the ball as everyone got flat footed

Hunt noticed we had an overlap and space down that side. Mann had to pass the ball on but instantly stepped inside off his left foot and took the tackle.

We had the space though. In hindsight, hunt should've been first receiver and kicking...but given what happened I believe hunt knew that we had them on that left edge.

 

[Ascalon]

M

I love my team, but you dont have to dikride them when they have nothing going on. There attack was hopeless, they defended with their lives on the line, fifth tackle options, nothing happening. I blame the halfback

He played well. They ran everything at him in attack. At one stage it was 8 tackles to 2 for Mann. Not sure how it ended. He had to stand up and play the role 2 men have been playing this year. All his kicks weren’t crap as you state. We had a good crack and can be proud of the heart they played with including Hunt.

 

[SET2JT]

I think this has been overlooked somewhat: They forced Hunt to make 30 odd tackles, we made Reynolds make about 12. Massive difference in juice left in the final 10mins.
Solid tactics by Siebold.

Easy to run at our 1 half in our team to get his tackles up. Who do we run at? Reynolds, Walker or Cook.

 

[DC_fan]

I suspect that last tackle play was our all or nothing, they had nothing left after some heroic defence and knew they needed something special to get over the line. It didn't come off, the result was likely going to be the same, let's face it we were hardly going to snap a field goal, we had no idea.

We won tonight because we had a good halfback. You lost tonight because you didnt't.

 

[Saints111]

Go t

M

He played well. They ran everything at him in attack. At one stage it was 8 tackles to 2 for Mann. Not sure how it ended. He had to stand up and play the role 2 men have been playing this year. All his kicks weren’t crap as you state. We had a good crack and can be proud of the heart they played with including Hunt.

Go rewatch the game and tell me when he made a good attacking kick.

 

[FlameThrower]

First up well played Dragons overall - down on troops, busted players and we dug deep. I really thought last week was our Grand Final - mentally and physically I was not sure we could repeat it. Proud of the guys and they had a red hot go.

 

[coastiedragon]

We won tonight because we had a good halfback. You lost tonight because you didnt't.

Champ your a f**k wit up u mighty dragons

 

[to_ddeath]

Do we all think McInness is still an upgrade?

That unforced, unnecessary and unforgivable error swung vital momentum in Souths’ favour.

But hey, let’s blame the halves.

You are a complete Merkin. Keep on jizzing over your Titans boy.

 

[rednwhites]

We won tonight because we had a good halfback. You lost tonight because you didnt't.

You guys were pretty average. I think we would have romped home with our captain, five-eight and best forward playing the game.

 

[Jack Deth]

I just watched this game and as a brit i keep and eye on Souths & St George due to both teams having Englishmen in their ranks.I was in two minds as about who to cheer for today.

What i would say is that St George gave it their all and if i was Saints supporter i would of been proud of their effort today and their brilliant performance last week.

It might have been a different result with Widdop playing but them's the breaks.

You have had a pretty decent season, moved up the table and played finals football and you leave it with your heads held high.

 

[Gareth67]

Great effort by all the boys tonight - both young and old and also the injured players that went out there tonight .
They gave their all and I could not ask for anything more than that . We will be a far better team next year for the experience of the last couple of matches .
Cannot wait until 2019 - the year of the Dragon !

 

[ouryears]

My advice to all is just try and not think about that game too much because I know from experience it will absolutely do your head in.

There are some decisions that need to be made at our club the next couple years. I think the last two weeks showed we have some finals credibility, and we are not going out ashamed of our team despite one glaring error.

We do need to be serious about righting this post origin dilemma. I have to hand it to Mary for getting the team up the last two weeks but 4 years straight we've sabotaged our season well before any finals were played. He seems to find a way of saving himself, and I suspect he gets his final year now. Not if I was running the joint.

Yep, if I was running the joint Mary would be gone Monday morning.

6th is not good enough.

Team put in fair enough, but no strategy to win it.

 

[Ascalon]

Watching

Go t

Go rewatch the game and tell me when he made a good attacking kick.

Watching the replay as we speak. I certainly don’t think his kicking game was great but he wasn’t as bad as you make out in your posts. Like it has been pointed out. He had everything thrown at him given he was the only kicker. In addition to that he made 30 tackles as everything was run at him. Like I said I’m proud of the effort they all put in.

 

[rednwhites]

I just watched this game and as a brit i keep and eye on Souths & St George due to both teams having Englishmen in their ranks.I was in two minds as who to cheer for today.

What i would say is that St George gave it their all and if i was Saints supporter i would of been proud of their effort today and their brilliant performance last week.

It might have been different result with Widdop playing but them's breaks.

You have had a pretty decent season and moved up the table and played finals football and leave it heads held high.

Thanks for that mate. Good to get your perspective. Dragons are the proudest club and supporters in the comp. We have extremely high expectations of the team. We have unfortunately faded out after great starts 4 years straight. I''m proud of that effort but frustrated at what's become the culture of the club.

 

[SET2JT]

Relax on the Hunt bashing and glorifying Reynolds. Id kick 5 field goals with the way the Rabbits pack was going. Our defense was great but we had no go forward. We miss Vaughn badly. They Bunnies were making 80m every set towards the end.

 

[ouryears]

Great effort by all the boys tonight - both young and old and also the injured players that went out there tonight .
They gave their all and I could not ask for anything more than that . We will be a far better team next year for the experience of the last couple of matches .
Cannot wait until 2019 - the year of the Dragon !

Gareth, coming 6th is poor. Not good enough. Team may be a bit better next year, but same coach, same ending.

Team put in ok, but did not stick to the game plan.

We need a strategist, a coach with plans, not a dufus.

 

[WA 'S OWN RED V]

Sims stays on we win tonight. As soon as luc came on they got him. exposed him again in d. Same as when we played them earlier in the year. Come on coaches even I knew it was coming and I don't get paid to coach.... In hindsight tonight we would have been better off with host on the edge. But who knew Sims would blow a knee. All in all a huge effort considering the work load the forwards had this year. Heaps to look forward to next year.

Can't blame Mann for last tackle option. he is a ball runner and bloody good at it. He will keep getting g better too. I think even if hunt kicks we probably struggle in ET.
Souths are a pretty dumb side. I still hope they go one and win it. FXXK STORM RORTERS N Sharks.

 

[Dragon for life]

I gotta stick up for Hunt here. He tried his guts out and you ca t blame him entirely for the loss.

Yep it wasnt his best kicking game tonight, but Souffs got a sniff and were up in our faces especially towards the end, and kept us in our half. We switched off and waited for them at the line which gave Reynolds the better field position to pot the 3 field goals.

There was a few dodgy calls that went Souffs way and they were allowed to play grubby by the refs. Inglis is a grub and it was his head that connected with Tariqs knee.

So all in all not entirely Hunts fault, it needs to be shared amongst the rest of the team and refs,

Absolutely gutted as we are probably all feeling right now. Super proud of the effort over the last two weeks and didn’t even expect to be playing this week. Tonights defensive effort was gutsy to keep Souths to one try and whilst we didn’t have a great deal in attack we did fight like caged lions. Super proud.

I’m sure the Ben Hunt running on the last tackle is going to be the headline but if you watch it again if he throws a second man pass we were away and who knows what would have happened. I guess at the end of the day a kick to the corner would have been a better option then the hail mary on the last tackle. In saying that I don’t think we would have been in any position to win the game as Souths were dominating the field position and were likely to kick the winner.

On the positive Mann is a great runner of the ball and looks dangerous everytime he touches it.. He looks good as a running 5/8 or with early ball would make a great centre.

Anyway super proud of the effort from a team that with the bad luck with injuries over the past couple of weeks we shouldn’t have even been in the positions they were.

Here’s to next year. I’d like to see a new coach and feel that Mary probably deserves some coaching gig at the club. Learning from someone more experienced might set him up for another turn later down the track. I feel that he may at least deserves this option if he wants it.

 

[Dragonforlife]

Relax on the Hunt bashing and glorifying Reynolds. Id kick 5 field goals with the way the Rabbits pack was going. Our defense was great but we had no go forward. We miss Vaughn badly. They Bunnies were making 80m every set towards the end.

Cook was the difference in the last 10 minutes. So proud of the boys.

 

[ouryears]

N

Thanks for that mate. Good to get your perspective. Dragons are the proudest club and supporters in the comp. We have extremely high expectations of the team. We have unfortunately faded out after great starts 4 years straight. I''m proud of that effort but frustrated at what's become the culture of the club.

Nothing but top 2 is acceptable, Mary should be gone. He stays.....then prepare yourself for 5th next year.