If Grothe does not improve drastically, should he be dropped from first grade?

[JTB]

with ben smith and INU sitting on the sidelines who do you suggest we drop him for??? bare in my that Etu is defensively just as bad.

no one defensively could be as bad as Grothe

 

[Stagger eel]

no one defensively could be as bad as Grothe

you reckon? maybe you should come out and have a look at a few other options that we have instead of bleating like a broken record.

 

[hineyrulz]

Just for you JTB.

 

[mrblue]

I have my doubts on whether he can be coached out of his defensive problems, he's had this problem for many years now and all the teams target his wing.

I remember the match against Melborne in last GF qualifier where it seemed like his inside men were told to cover Grothes wing for him as the entire right side slide across simultaneously on every occasion the the ball went that way so that his centre would be outside of him while he rushed in on his lonesome :lol: . They have learnt to do in one week what Grothe couldn't do his whole career :sarcasm: .

We should have a survey: Who would you rather have in defence Gothe or Matt Utai. (he's short though so his actually got a valid excuse).

 

[Dutchy]

From an outsiders POV. Grothe is the worst defensive winger in the NRL. He simply cannot read the play in defense.

 

[Bazal]

yeah down Grothe's wing. The solution: DROP HIM!

Ahhh...you're such a predictable troll. You harp on about it but refuse to get involved in rational discussion...:lol:

 

[Bazal]

From an outsiders POV. Grothe is the worst defensive winger in the NRL. He simply cannot read the play in defense.

He was much better with Benny playing on the inside, which implies to me that Reddy is having an affect on the defence down that flank too.

 

[HevyDevy]

Again Eric let in two. Who coaches the wingers in defence?
How hard is it to mark up man on man.
Eric YOUR man is the winger. That's all you have to worry about. Leave the others to the cover defence..just make sure you moving in or up doesn't create the overlap....

I'd love to know how that second try was Grothe's fault - Reddy f**ked up and left him with no choice but to come in. Every winger in the comp would have come in as well, as they are coached to do.

The first try Eric came in far too quickly, although again it still took a superb pass to beat him.

 

[barney gumble]

It is clear that teams are successfullly targeting Guru Jnr in defence.
I have heard that Hagan instructs him to use that up and in defense. But I think it's time for the old fashion mark your opposite.
Guru Jnr shouldn't be singled out as the team as a whole appears to be disjointed when it comes to defense.

No problem scoring points though.

 

[Fathead]

There are only two reasons to come in like Eric does -
1. To take out an attacking player - which he rarely does
2. To take an intercept - which he never does.

I think people should cut JTE some slack.He is saying the same thing because we get seduced every 5th match or so by some Eric Grothe brilliance which in my opinion does NOT make up for his deficiencies. IMHO Eric Grothe cannot read attacks and cannot turn readily enough to counter the kick behind.
We MUST have a better option on the wing in the lower grades.

 

[Fathead]

I have heard that Hagan instructs him to use that up and in defense. quote]

You have heard incorrectly.
I have it on good authority that they continually tell him to stay on his opposite number and it is a constant source of frustration to the coaching staff - and his teammates , that he doesnt do what he is instructed to do.
I have also heard that he is quite aware what he is doing and is very down on himself for it but its a muscle memory thing with Eric and considering the game is played at such a fast rate, he probably cant fix it.

The coaches love him though. Personally I'm not so forgiving.

 

[Parraren]

The bottom line is though, eventually, some tough calls will have to be made about who misses out in our backline and I think when Inu & Benny are fit, Grothe & Reddy will probably be the ones who should drop off.

Fortunately for Eric those 2 guys are currently unavailable.

TT has been very impressive so far and I think he'll get even better with each game. Runs just as hard as Eric without the brain explosions.

 

[Fathead]

Good plan but I can tell you that there is no way that Eric will be dropped - ever.

 

[Eelementary]

My confidence in Grothe's sh*tness actually won me money today. I took:

Selection: : GROTHE JNR, Eric (Eels) | 110 Metres or Under @ 2.40

and of course, the son of a bitch only made 67m, which gave me a sizable return on my investment!!!!!

But, being the clubman which I am, I would rather Grothe be dropped for the good of the team, even if it means I will be unable to profit off Grothe's inability in the future.

Why the need for swearing and insults? You want to blame him and criticise him, fine - though he'd do better than you ever would in that environment. But there's no need to resort to insults - the only son of a bitch is Judas.

 

[COACH STERLING]

Off course it's going to be Grothe's fault when there's a 3 on 2 overlap and the inside centre isn't reading the defence well enough to adjust :roll:

 

[JTB]

Why the need for swearing and insults? You want to blame him and criticise him, fine - though he'd do better than you ever would in that environment. But there's no need to resort to insults - the only son of a bitch is Judas.

I seriously doubt that.

 

[Hellsy]

To be fair to Grothe, on those tries down his wing, he actually had TWO men outside him, which tells me there was a big problem with the structure in general on those two plays, and I thought that young half back they have threw a great pass to beat our defense.

That he did.
2 of the 3 tries in his corner last night he was left with 2 or 3 attackers on him when Reddy and Finch also moved in. He cant stay on his wing and leave a gap between him and the centre. If our line stayed in position he would have more chance at stopping the try scorer

 

[Suitman]

He cant stay on his wing and leave a gap between him and the centre.

Well, he can actually - that's the whole idea of a sliding defence.. It's up to the players inside him to slide and cover that gap, and also the cover defence to get in behind them to reinforce it.
Eric coming in only allows the overlap with NO outside cover. What he is poor at doing is reading WHEN to come in, if the situation arises. The other night was a perfect example of him choosing to move too early.

Suity

 

[Hellsy]

Well, he can actually - that's the whole idea of a sliding defence.. It's up to the players inside him to slide and cover that gap, and also the cover defence to get in behind them to reinforce it.

and when they don't? (which also happened?)

 

[COACH STERLING]

Well, he can actually - that's the whole idea of a sliding defence.. It's up to the players inside him to slide and cover that gap, and also the cover defence to get in behind them to reinforce it.
Eric coming in only allows the overlap with NO outside cover. What he is poor at doing is reading WHEN to come in, if the situation arises. The other night was a perfect example of him choosing to move too early.

Suity

It wouldn't matter whether Hindy was defending on the wing - 2 tries would have been scored although I do agree he did come in early on one instance.
Things like that you sometimes can't avoid being a winger. What Grothey needs to elimante in order to become a real good player is his mistake rate with the ball in hand. There's no doubting his tenacity and strength, but at times he tries to push the impossible pass or carries the ball loosely. Once he eliminates those facets from his game, I'm sure Benny will take care of the DEFENSE out wide when he comes back.

Grothe will be in the mix come SOO time!