game chat v roosters

[coast_dragons]

He does when at fullback.

 

[Mickthedragon]

Refs gave us all the calls in the first 20 then that was it.
Very rare that saints get those bullshit try calls but what can you do.pretty sure widdop was taken out a few times after grubbering through but we always knew they would get the better deal with the 50-50s.

 

[grouch]

Mary has inherited Price and Dousts mess.

Here come the shitty excuses

 

[Mickthedragon]

Mez was through and I thought he would just barnstorm his way over but instead he looked for support around and had zip.Very disappointing to watch,should of just gone hard for it.

 

[Joey_dragons]

Benji and his brain explosions....

 

[saint.nick]

Yet everyone ignores Widdop's brain explosions...

 

[Jubileeboy]

Yet everyone ignores Widdop's brain explosions...

Now, now.....Just a sneaky suspicion.....but I'm sure Sir Gareth was severely belted/ taken out on quite a few 'unseen' tackles. Probably would seem like a 'brain explosion' to most
TBH, they bashed us in the forwards and well and truly muscled up and stifled our attack, targeting Sir Gareth.

On a side note, we were outclassed.

 

[dino2170]

shulman a 19 post man or woman NOW THAT IS BORING

 

[dino2170]

Mary shouldnt be the coach period
we should get rid of the forwards except creagh and rein
and yeah get rid of green

 

[Damo!]

Mary shouldnt be the coach period
we should get rid of the forwards except creagh and rein
and yeah get rid of green

So you'd get rid of Mez, Cooper, Bomber and KEEP Rein? Nice work, let's make you coach.

Also. Green didn't play, lay off the kid. Asshat.

 

[TheRev]

My thoughts:

o We're at least 3 months behind in our preparation due to Pricey staying on so long, compared with other clubs which had a full pre-season and 2014 season.. it just shows in our combinations and decision making at critical times.. its a couple of decisions per game, but its enough to cost us close games like tonights, that takes time to develop as a squad.

o I still think were missing 1-2 superstar forwards but apart from that, I think were doing very well with our roster (which I think is one of the weakest overall), Widdop/Benji the keys.

o We definitely compete though which is great (that Guera reaching try was amazing and sunk us), but our squad is nearly at full strength, blokes hitting form individually, were not completely out of it but we need to put wins on the board from now, its actually a simpler position to be in mentally.

o Ive mentioned this a few weeks now, but Widdops natural reaction is to kick every time, I rly wish he wouldnt do it on early tackles though, because he rarely gets the ball to pull up (its always too deep), Benji also had that 1 similar mistake tonight, I can hack that, but I still wish they could find a better combination of attack and maintaining-pressure and some field position.

o There is almost noone not performing in the 17, thats phenomenal (well done Mary), rly enjoyed some of Reins work tonight (thats a first), Ah Mau had one of his best too.

o I've been a supporter of Quinlan from the start, but hes not playing the role which I actually liked watching anymore.. hes not trailing the forwards looking for offloads, but then were not really pushing many offloads either.. I suspect this is a change in gameplan from Mary (under Price, we didnt really have other attacking options), and overall the change is working, our attack is hard to read, less pushed passes.. but its nullifying Quinlans biggest weapon and sort of defeats the point of him being in the side. Having said that with Farrell being injured anyway, I dont think its worth messing up our right side combination so close to finals, we either make it or we dont with this squad, and id like to look back end of season and get a better picture for 2015, I think Quinlan is still finding a style that works, and its a steep learning curve.

 

[pinkmoon]

There is no point having decoy runners if they are not going to attract defenders...occasionally there will be the odd obstruction call go against us, but when you have the lions share of possession as we did tonight, you need to come up with something better. The set plays are done in slow motion with the decoy runners scared to commit defenders and everything happening before the line, rather than at the line. Same old shit I am afraid.

 

[gypsy]

Said a lot there, without really saying anything.
Well done, Rev

 

[possm]

We all know there is a problem with our right side defence.

Most believe we are short a couple of props that can bend/break the line and off load.

I assume Mary is also aware of these observations however, little has been done to solve these problems.

My suggestions are:

a. For the remainder of this year, move Merrin back to prop and field a prop rotation of Creagh, Merrin, Cooper and Stockwell with instructions and advice on bending the line and offloading the ball.

b. Switch Widdop and Marshall with instructions to (on most occasions) run direct making room for the outside backs or their edge forwards. By making this switch Mary would go a long way in addressing our right side defensive problems. Marshall's combination with Thompson and Beale and Dugan/Mata' Utia's combination with Widdop would plug some of the holes that we are now seeing down the right. I still believe Ah Mau needs to geatly improve is lateral defensive skills; he just does not cover the right edge well enough. If this problem can't be addressed, consideration should be given to using Mathews on the right edge; he has shown great improvement over the past few months.

c. Drop Quinlan for Mata' Utia and develop a plan to switch Dugan and Mata' Uia between fullback and right centre at set times during a game.

d. One of the Dragon's greatest strengths is the strike power of Nightingale and Morris, yet they rarely are given the ball with room to move. Crowding of our wingers and Dugan are one of our biggest problems in attack.

e. In the closing minutes of the game we saw what we all knew should be our greatest attacking weapon; Marshall to Dugan in clear space. If only we saw some of this in the early quarter of the game when we had over 65% of possession.

f. Unplanned short kicks should be kept for special plays when chasers know they are on. Our outside backs are some of the best in the competition when it comes to contesting the high ball in attack and yet we saw very little of this last night.

For me, Dugan should be at fullback unless we recruit or promote someone who can do better in that position; he is one of the better fullbacks in the game and right now is not given enough room to move when playing at centre. Quinlan at this stage in his career is not up to the task.

We are short one top line centre and two good props for 2015. Cooper will be gone for 2016 and Merrin prefers to play at lock and is our best forward when playing in this position. My suggestion is to blood O'Brien and recruit Kasiano. O'Brien and Stockwell could take turns in being the junior member of the prop rotation in 2015 and if successful form our prop rotation with Creagh and Kasiano when Cooper returns to England.

In my opinion, Mary is doing a much better job than Price however, I think he would benefit greatly as an assistant to an experienced top line coach for a 2-3 year period. Having said that, I believe that Doust and the Board are likely to stick with their old boy policy and appoint Mary as head coach. Hopefully they will find a good and experienced assistant to work with him.

 

[nrlnrl]

Quinlan isn't doing the things he can do well - backing up half breaks or chiming into the backline, time to give Runciman a go in the centres so Dugan can play fullback.

As others have said, it would also help with the ball that Nightingale would get - currently being crowded on our right by Dugan's lack of experience playing centre ( plus he's not a natural passer )

 

[FlameThrower]

Quinlan, has shown he can be quick in bursts. But we never see that his kick returns are still way to slow and is giving up easy meters. Agreed our best weapons Dugan, Morris, Nightingale not getting enough ball and when they do it's inches from sideline.
Agreed to have Dugan slot back into Fullback at certain stages, his kick returns are greatly missed.
Finally from today, no more short kicks on last tackle, all we do is give the opposition a leg up of 20 or 30 metres and our guys end up back pedalling....makes no sense to me.

 

[watatank]

@ theRev...you seem to have a lot of criticism for players that aren't not performing

 

[watatank]

There is no point having decoy runners if they are not going to attract defenders...occasionally there will be the odd obstruction call go against us, but when you have the lions share of possession as we did tonight, you need to come up with something better. The set plays are done in slow motion with the decoy runners scared to commit defenders and everything happening before the line, rather than at the line. Same old shit I am afraid.

Yep its same old, only difference is that the players seem to have more enthusiasm but thats not enough

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Yep its same old, only difference is that the players seem to have more enthusiasm but thats not enough

Yep you've pretty well nailed it with this statement......and to add put Dugan back to fullback and Runciman in the centres for the remainder of the year...for mine even though he tries hard Quinlan isn't our fullback option long term.....until we get some big boppers up front it will continue to be the same old same old in 2015 and beyond Im afraid and that's with or without a new coach

 

[Get2dachopper!]

We miss sowie who could control the tempo of the game with his kicking. And if sowie was caught short, then fein would kick from dummy half.
Marshall and widdop aren't natural long range kickers. Ideally we should have a hooker that can kick, but rein can't kick either.
Plenty of suggestions of how we can jig the team around, but at round 21, it's far too late to be making changes now.