game chat v roosters

[God-King Dean]

I had Dragons with a 8.5 start. Up the Saints!

The game went pretty much as expected. They had a dig, but when push comes to shove, their forwards are simply better than ours. As has been said a thousand times, we need forwards, & nothing is going to change til we do. Have we signed any forwards for next year? Or is all that money been spent on Marshall. Hope not, because 2015 will be exactly the same as this year.

That Benji kick..... Ugh. We had all the momentum, up by 4 & had another 4 tackles to spare in their territory. It turned the game. I don't get how a Golden Boot winner can be afraid to get tackled, which is exactly what the f**k up (& all his f**k ups over the years) stems from - he hates getting tackled. If he hasn't learnt by now, he never will. I hope McGregor is up front with him about it, & doesn't coddle his ego like Sheens did.

Widdop all round played well, but he deserves criticism as well for his chip kick in our own half. It was precisely what we didn't need. Then we get the ball back & Au Mau throws a bad pass. That 5 minutes cost us the games

Our entire season is riddled with these stupid decisions in tight games. They have to learn to be composed, stop the desperation plays, & contend with a repeat set if nothing is doing.

 

[TheRev]

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

Not really mate! Areas of improvement for sure but overall really enjoying the brand of dragons footy, esp so early in our development cycle.

 

[Dragonbaal]

For the life of me I cannot understand why we struggle with one of the fundamentals of the game-somone backing up the ball carrier-Merrin makes a great break just needed someone on his shoulder and we score under the posts, but time after time this year and for the last two when a break is made by a forward and they are standing there looking to off load, no one in sight most of the time.

It is sooo bloody frustrating!! They know Merrin is capable of that type of play so macgregor should be telling quinlan to support support support!!

Its not rocket science

 

[TheRev]

That 5 minutes cost us the games

Our entire season is riddled with these stupid decisions in tight games. They have to learn to be composed, stop the desperation plays, & contend with a repeat set if nothing is doing.

Yep this is the small things we need to fix, I just dont know if we can get it together fast enough in 2014 unfortunately, its virtually must wins from here, but the sides we face are beatable.

I think the squad get a bit carried away with our new attacking game which has worked so much better under Mary, and I like that they play what is in front of them (im sure thats Marys directive), but the key to beating the top sides is making smarter decisions, and its the early tackle count low % plays that are unfortunately being used too often, and putting us back under the pump again, we dont need to go back to the Bennett days, but we do need to make them defend and tire them out.

 

[Saints Forever]

Was at the game last night and was impressed by the mental attitude last night.

First Jennings try and Guerra tries, were not tries. Cordner knocked on and Guerra put the ball down short of the line.

Steve Clark was video ref so what do you expect.

They were faster at playing the ball and moved up more aggressively in defence than us.

The halves felt the pressure in the second have as we struggled to get out of our own half.

Irrespective of all that we could have won the game if the forwards were good enough.

Disappointed we lost the game, but not in the effort or the mental toughness shown.

DeBelin's defence was excellent. Creagh bent the line as did Thompson and Ah Mau.

Stockwell is improving. Within 12 months he will rise to another level.

Was one of Rein's better games.

Bench selection was wrong. Going with a second hooker was unnecessary and cost us some go forward. Time to give Rory O'Brien a go. He has size and runs hard. Good front on defender.

Duggan needs to play at Full Back. His kick returns are critical if we are to start our six in good field position. Matuatia or Runciman to centre.

 

[Mr Red]

As expected , we beat the hopeless teams, so the players start talking themselves up about finals ... But then are outplayed by a genuine contender.... Oh when will they learn to shut up ...

A good game from Rein, another pathetic effort from Marshall...dud signing of the season .
Pea heart Beale is back, a few times if he put his body on he line instead of arm grabbing things could have been prevented.
Forwards outplayed ...
Overall the team seems to be competing better physically since Mary is coaching but they still lack it mentally to match the big teams... We have a lot of dumb players who can't read the game and react far too slowly as things unfold on the field.
The team still plays in slow motion at times , set plays look like under 7's stuff.
Mary is not the answer..

 

[coast_dragons]

No coach will get the best out of a very average team thats all the Dragons are and will be middle of the road the board won't buy the necessary players so what do you expect.

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

No coach will get the best out of a very average team thats all the Dragons are and will be middle of the road the board won't buy the necessary players so what do you expect.

Fair enough comment.....I guess on the plus side this season is we no longer have Price and I think we have done better than most of us expected .......unfortunately for mine I'm still a long way from being satisfied.....

 

[grouch]

No coach will get the best out of a very average team thats all the Dragons are and will be middle of the road the board won't buy the necessary players so what do you expect.

That's commonly known as "loser talk". No wonder you're satisfied with Mary

 

[saint.nick]

I can't for the life of me figure out why all these saints fans think that Mary is the saviour. Are these people that f**king simple? Seriously? I know for a fact that when Sports clubs listen to their fans re: the coaching role, it can end in disaster. Most fans haven't a clue. They don't look far enough into it.

 

[saint.nick]

As expected , we beat the hopeless teams, so the players start talking themselves up about finals ... But then are outplayed by a genuine contender.... Oh when will they learn to shut up ...

A good game from Rein, another pathetic effort from Marshall...dud signing of the season .
Pea heart Beale is back, a few times if he put his body on he line instead of arm grabbing things could have been prevented.
Forwards outplayed ...
Overall the team seems to be competing better physically since Mary is coaching but they still lack it mentally to match the big teams... We have a lot of dumb players who can't read the game and react far too slowly as things unfold on the field.
The team still plays in slow motion at times , set plays look like under 7's stuff.
Mary is not the answer..

It sounds like you're just desperate to prove that your overwhelming pessimism about Marshall was correct, and will take any opportunity to prove that. He's had decent run of games recently, yet as soon as he has one mixed bag of a game you call him 'dud signing of the season'. He may have made bad options last night, but you're conveniently ignoring how shit Widdop was, and how much better Benji was than Widdop.

 

[Objective View]

No coach will get the best out of a very average team thats all the Dragons are and will be middle of the road the board won't buy the necessary players so what do you expect.

But the very good coaches procure the recruits necessary to compete for the title (as opposed to competing for competing sake) at efficient salaries. The very good coaches are able to assemble quality, balanced rosters - obtaining bang for your buck.

We don't even know if Mary is capable of that, so why is he even under consideration for permanent role?

OV

 

[Mr Red]

It sounds like you're just desperate to prove that your overwhelming pessimism about Marshall was correct, and will take any opportunity to prove that. He's had decent run of games recently, yet as soon as he has one mixed bag of a game you call him 'dud signing of the season'. He may have made bad options last night, but you're conveniently ignoring how shit Widdop was, and how much better Benji was than Widdop.

I don't need to prove Marshall was a dud signing, he's doing a good enough job on his own.
And regardless of whether he was better than widdop last night, at least widdop is young, fit and still has his best football in front of him..and with the right coach can take his game to the next level. Hence a smart signing .

Marshall is older, has had three seasons back to back of average football, overweight and his best years behind him...it was obviously a panic buy by a desperate coach and board.... Hence my reasons for calling him a dud buy...

The odd sporadic good game from Marshall, or bad game from widdop won't change this fact.

 

[rainman44]

no coach will get the best out of a very average team thats all the dragons are and will be middle of the road the board won't buy the necessary players so what do you expect.

100%

 

[coast_dragons]

How funny did i ever mention I support McGregor in my post Grouch I guess you have problems reading poor bastard.

Mr Red your right Marshall is a panic buy and in all honesty he is past his best and for the coin he's on an utter waste of money.

He makes way to many errors and he isn't helping.

 

[saint.nick]

I don't need to prove Marshall was a dud signing, he's doing a good enough job on his own.
And regardless of whether he was better than widdop last night, at least widdop is young, fit and still has his best football in front of him..and with the right coach can take his game to the next level. Hence a smart signing .

Marshall is older, has had three seasons back to back of average football, overweight and his best years behind him...it was obviously a panic buy by a desperate coach and board.... Hence my reasons for calling him a dud buy...

The odd sporadic good game from Marshall, or bad game from widdop won't change this fact.

...And yet he has still proved to be quite handy.

 

[saint.nick]

Sam Williams was a dud signing.

 

[kit66]

Marshall's not the problem. I'm happy to have him in the team and I'm happy with our backline although a back three of Moz, Nightie and Dugan is better than any other combo we could field.
We simply don't have the forwards to match it with the top teams. Look at our bench, just one decent forward in Merrin and our run on props of Creagh and Cooper are barely adequate as starters, Creagh maybe but Cooper is a bench prop at best. We need just two big dominating, metre - eating forwards and we'd be top 4 material I have no doubt. They would give us a roll on and give our halves more time.
I'm also happy to give Mary more time to show what he's got.

 

[pinkmoon]

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.

I've got to be honest, as much as it's water under the bridge and a case of "nothing we can do about it now", I really believe that Soward at 7 and Widdop at 6 would have been perfect. Soward is a little sook, but geez he has a handy kicking game, and is a genuine competitor; the perfect foil for Widdop, who is a great runner of the ball. I don't really think Benji (as much as I am not blaming him for our current predicament) compliments Gareth, as both play an off the cuff style of football. Widdop spend 5 years in Melbourne playing second fiddle to Cronk, and old habits die hard; he is not an organiser.

 

[Get2dachopper!]

Everyone keeps waffling on about needing two more big forwards, but where are we going to get them from? Who is on the market?
I think we need to look in our own backyard first and give a few fowards in the cutters a go.
Just seems to be a reluctance with saints giving young players a go, although Mary seems to be more willing than price ever was.