Game Day vs Raider

[Bob Scott]

My thoughts from NZ , first game so we were rusty and i expect improvement across the field .

Kennedy - Good and bad , needs to find the same intensity in defence that he shows on attack .
Wingers - solid without being exceptional , not sure Ikavalu is a centre .
Centres - Ronnie tries hard but maybe a better winger than centre .
- Ramien , happy to see him move on at end of contract , has brought nothing since his first season and return from knights , too many brain farts and defensive errors . We need to find a rising star , at least one .
Halves - First game together and a little disjointed but there were signs , happy to give them more time , Moylan has played very little football and nit with a player of Hynes capabilities , so happy to give this combo more time . Trindall doesn't bring anything more IMO . Work needs to be done on the short kicking game .
Finucane - Started like we expected , led from the front and will drag the rest with him .
Wilton - MOM for mine , A star on the rise , fearless in defence and running the ball , must start , Love what Wade has done for this club but he has been overtaken by this young man .
Nikora - I see a young guy who is trying real hard to improve , done a lot of good things last night , still a little loose on defence but good to see more desire from him , if he can keep improving we will have a great second row .
Brailey - Strong game especially in defence and tried to run more , a couple of bad options going short side when the game is on the other side , can see him being a major part of any success this season .
Props - Too many but first game and maybe expected fitness would be exposed , but when Hunt only gets 12 mins that suggests we carried 1 too many , a speed player later in the game would have been a big assist . BHU fell off too many tackles first half , Fifita showed that he still has a roll to play , has realised his strength is now running straight and hard with less of the flash . Tolman , ah , the kind of player i think i would have been but i just don't see a roll for him , far to slow , no leg speed when getting the ball with no lateral movement makes him an easy target , a no brainer for the defence , he constantly got the ball on the 4/5th tackle when on a attack , very frustrating , very much a desperate backup IMO .

Overall a big pass mark , the Raiders are no easy beats in the home town and we made it easy for them the first half , i'm sure Fitzy will have learnt a lot from this game . My biggest beef , seeing Hannay with the radio in the coaches box , hoped i would never see that again .

Cheers from sunny NZ .

 

[Bob Scott]

Another thing , Hudson Youngs try to win the game , is it just me or did he promote the ball , i always thought once your ball carrying arm hit the ground if it slid over the try line with momentum it was a try but once the arm comes off the ground and moves forward in then becomes a second movement . For mine it definitely hit the ground came back up and moved forward , promoting the ball , no try .
I know in rugby now and for the last 3/4 years the shit they let them away with when scoring because they think fans want to see more points ,i.e. finger nails scrapping the ball constituting downward pressure , makes the game a farce .
Maybe it's just my eyes but i watched it a few times .

 

[Weaponhead]

It looked to me like Young bounced over with momentum. Ball comes off the ground after landing but it wasn't promoted, it was tucked. Finucane's hands are desperately trying to get under it to stop it though.

It was a bad play for us. Hynes made an ineffective legs tackle allowing the offload and Nikora had dropped off not covering the inside. Kennedy then misses Young and that's the game. If Hynes goes high to stop the ball, Nikora covers the inside or Kennedy gets better contact to allow the cover to get there, we stop that play. Only needed 1 of the 3 and got none so game over.

 

[MilkShark]

Possible double movement for Raiders last try?

 

[Weaponhead]

Possible double movement for Raiders last try?

No. Bounced over with momentum

 

[MilkShark]

I think we need a proper 7, Hynes to 6.

Brailey needs to be smarter from hooker.
Giving the ball to Teig on the last on their line is just dumb.

Kennedy needs to learn how to defend. He lets in easy trys.

 

[Craigshark]

Pointing out that Kennedy and Ramien played a huge part in the last 5 minutes in particular of losing us that game isn’t racist.. it’s just a fact. Doesn’t matter if they’re black, yellow, blue, white or purple. If Ramien doesn’t give away that penalty and Kennedy makes that relatively regular fullback tackle (goes low instead of high and getting bumped off), we most likely win the game.. not sure why the first thought always seems to be to label someone a racist..

Yes I realise a lot of what we did in the first half contributed to the loss as well.. but at that time with 5 minutes to go, we’d done enough to win the game and were in front.

 

[Craigshark]

This may be controversial but if Tracey is fit, and I talked to him today, there is a chance, Ronny on the wing is a better chance of scoring that try at the end, also he would not have dropped that sitter in the first half.
Plus, let's see if McInnes is available

possibly, but does tracey even manage to pass the ball correctly? How many times in similar situations last year did tracey fluff it? I think ikuvalu is definitely powerful enough, I think fatigue had just caught up with him at the end. He’ll be better for the run.

 

[Bob Scott]

It looked to me like Young bounced over with momentum. Ball comes off the ground after landing but it wasn't promoted, it was tucked. Finucane's hands are desperately trying to get under it to stop it though.

It was a bad play for us. Hynes made an ineffective legs tackle allowing the offload and Nikora had dropped off not covering the inside. Kennedy then misses Young and that's the game. If Hynes goes high to stop the ball, Nikora covers the inside or Kennedy gets better contact to allow the cover to get there, we stop that play. Only needed 1 of the 3 and got none so game over.

Yeah i appreciate your point , my understanding has always been that the ball carrying arm once touching the ground must not then leave it before crossing the line , when i played rugby many years ago now that as always the interpretation , but as i say that was long , long ago . So many soft tries given now across both codes i have given up say if it's a try or not .

As for that being scored it is on one mans head , Ramien , we had them cooked , stuck in their own end and he gave up that stupid penalty , complete brain fade , i'm sure everyone was told no dumb feck penalties , especially in that position .

He is going to have to sort his shite out real fast for Fitz to keep faith in him or get a contract extension , as i said happy to see him move on , first year wonder , still .

 

[bad boy bubby]

Pointing out that Kennedy and Ramien played a huge part in the last 5 minutes in particular of losing us that game isn’t racist.. it’s just a fact. Doesn’t matter if they’re black, yellow, blue, white or purple. If Ramien doesn’t give away that penalty and Kennedy makes that relatively regular fullback tackle (goes low instead of high and getting bumped off), we most likely win the game.. not sure why the first thought always seems to be to label someone a racist..

Yes I realise a lot of what we did in the first half contributed to the loss as well.. but at that time with 5 minutes to go, we’d done enough to win the game and were in front.

did you read the post???? "Like last season", where where the hell was Kennedy like that last season?? Tell me.

You obviously werent around here in the Peachey days. I've seen this programme before. Didn't like it then, and just pointing it out before it becomes another infection.
Edit: if only Ramien was mentioned about last year I would not have blinked an eyelid

 

[Snoop Shark]

Hi fellow degenerates it’s been a while. My thoughts on last night is Nathan Brown knows a thing or 2 about duds. Of course I’m referring to Ramien. What a stupid idiotic player we have on our hands. No game awareness, very rarely goes for a tackle below the hips! That game was so in the bag last night it wasn’t funny. As someone else mentioned all we had to do was defend that set and make them play high risk footy to score that try. Instead we gave them a piggy back and the rest is history. The only positive is fitzy won’t cop that shit for much longer. All in all I’m still quite positive after that loss and that doesn’t rarely happen with me. The only way is up!

 

[chewsta]

Did we win? I think I'm dying....

 

[Thick Skinned Shark]

Ramien's brain farts are in my opinion the only thing he needs to eliminate. With ball in hand and defense he was as good as I'd seen him in the past!

 

[Quicksilver]

I think we need a proper 7, Hynes to 6.

Brailey needs to be smarter from hooker.
Giving the ball to Teig on the last on their line is just dumb.

Kennedy needs to learn how to defend. He lets in easy trys.

I think any combination is going to need time. I'm 50/50 on Moylan at the moment. He's a great player but his good attributes might be gone without the off the mark speed. If not Moylan than I'm also happy to persist with Nicho at "halfback" - whatever that means these days.

I do like the idea of Trindall where they can share the halfback responsibility a bit more. Good for both Nicho and Trindall to develop without the pressure of being the sole half.

I won't kick up a stink if they don't go that way in the short term though. Moylan has quite a lot of experience and that also has its advantages.

 

[Quicksilver]

Did we win? I think I'm dying....

Yes, we won.

 

[DJDL]

Well that was a disappointment.

Obviously not the start we were looking for but the writing was on the wall after the first 20 minutes.
To be honest, I can't believe they managed to hang in that long and briefly hit the front.

To have only about 4 sets in possession in the first 20 minutes will usually sap too much energy and lead to a fade out at the back end of the match. I think it's a testament to how far they've come that that was anything but the case.

There was plenty to like about that performance. They look more determined in defense, and seem to be able to put on points fairly easily.

Yes, there is plenty to work on but, as has been said earlier, they are very much a work in progress.

For mine, edge defense and fifth tackle options need to be sorted as a priority.

 

[imasharkie]

Some 3rd tackle brainfart grubbers into opposition legs you reckon?

Moyza was a useless tit but I'm not sure Trindall solves last play options much.

We definitely need another reliable boot though. Love to see Brailey make it a part of his game.

Moylan = field goal. That should've won the game.

 

[Card Shark]

Hey guys, great to be back playing footy.
How typical was that game…
Start slow
Get on top
Hit the front
f**k it up with stupid play
Lose on the bell.

Lose 1st game of the year…we start every game & every year slow.
What wasn’t typical is I did not get upset about losing, I don’t take much notice of round 1, glorified trial in my eyes.
My only comment, Moylan & Hynes in the halves together does not (& will not) work!
I thought both were pretty ordinary, especially Hynes without the ball & Moylan with (but what’s new).
Bring on Tricky Trindall (when’s he back?) & round 2!

 

[Weaponhead]

Hey guys, great to be back playing footy.
How typical was that game…
Start slow
Get on top
Hit the front
f**k it up with stupid play
Lose on the bell.

Lose 1st game of the year…we start every game & every year slow.
What wasn’t typical is I did not get upset about losing, I don’t take much notice of round 1, glorified trial in my eyes.
My only comment, Moylan & Hynes in the halves together does not (& will not) work!
I thought both were pretty ordinary, especially Hynes without the ball & Moylan with (but what’s new).
Bring on Tricky Trindall (when’s he back?) & round 2!

Fair take there, Cardy.

Quite a bit if deja vu in that game as you say with the slow start, errors, missed tackles, Raiders rolling through our middle, conceding offloads and a big lead. Then showing character to come back only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Some habits will be hard to break.

Moylan/Hynes will take time. Both were a bit clunky but there is a heap of points in them when they click. Moylan's lack of kicking game may well see Trindall come into the squad (possibly at 14). For all the expectation around Hynes I was not disappointed in his attack. That will come over time. He has the goods. It is incredibly hard to play halfback on the back foot. I was disappointed in his lack of physicality. He needs to show a lot more intent in defence.

The Raiders first try was very preventable and gave them a massive lift. Up to that point they had plenty of ball but weren't doing much.

Like you, I'm not too bummed about this game. Could have and probably should have won but the bigger picture is coming, it will just take time to emerge.

I reckon we a gun prop and a strike centre from being a very good side.

 

[Card Shark]

I admit I have seen very little of Hynes as I don’t watch many other games anymore.
He is a media darling, (rightly or wrongly, I am open to others opinions), but I will say is he came from the extremely successful Storm system where success is a formality.
If we don’t set it up for him in a similar way, he will flounder.
He cannot be the 1 directing our team, it’s not the best way to play him.
Anyway, 1 game in, he will be better for the experience.
I actually don’t mind losing the 1st round, as it resets the focus on the long year ahead.
We have proven year in & year out since the wooden spoon that round 1 is insignificant to us.
Is it true we won last year..the only time we have missed the finals since the spoon?