I'm sick of the Dykes criticism.

[Suitman]

Dykes may be looking bad but it is because he is getting little or NO support from his team mates.

Yes he runs sideways. So do a lot of first receivers. But all the others have forwards or backs wanting to take the ball and give it their all to hit the advantage line.
Cronulla are doing pretty shite this year, but I watched the Sharks/ Dragons match on Fox last night before the Eels game, and fair dinkum, Kimmorley had a runner every time, running straight and hard.
If it was going to the backs, it would be either a pass to the second receiver, or a cutout pass to a centre, with players in support.
I know Cronulla lost, but at least they looked as though they had some structure about them, not like our rabble.
For us, EVERY set of six is a lottery, and if we don't win the lottery in the first 5 tackles, we'll kick the shite out of the ball and hope for the best.

What a load of crap.

Give Dykes a break. At least he is having a go.

Suity

 

[The Colonel]

Don't agree with you often Suity but I do agree with you on this. Dykes is doing the work and the runners aren't taking the opportunities. Dykes showed how the runners can be effective against Canberra when Wagon put him over the line with a ball back on the inside. If the forwards took their sue from him and backed up Dykes we would be whining a lot less then we are now....

 

[Kornstar]

I can't see how anyone can blame Dykes for anything, the only thing you can accuse him of is trying too hard to make up for the 2 years of nothing he gave us. Now he is playing well and BS takes a playmaker out of the team and replace it with a 2 lock strategy, Dykes needs a another playmaker........he needs another half for support!!!!

 

[Suitman]

A second lock startegy eh??

Gee, its working a treat.
I assume you mean the pretender currently playing 5/8th.
Oh, thats right, he's not playing 5/8th, he's playing as a lock.

How silly of me.


Stop trying to be so friggin' clever Brian. You are destroying the admiration that I have always had for you.

Suity

 

[Avenger]

I don't mind Dykes, however people my gut tells me he is not the answer at halfback. He is only a band aid solution. The only other option is Witt and it is obvious that Smith does not rate him.

 

[Parraren]

Couldn't have said it any better myself Suity

 

[Twizzle]

He's trying to do it all himself because BS wont give him any assistance, in the form of another playmaker.

This puts an enormous amount of pressure on Dykes, who is yet another player, being played out of normal position.

 

[The Colonel]

I don't think he is so much out of position Twiz. I've never really seen him as a five eight at all because of his size and this isn't the first time in his career he's been played at half.

There is a hell of a lot of pressure on him to get things done and he needs some sort of backup.

As I have said before if Brian is so concerned with defence at 5/8 then just play Morris there. His defence is of the same level as Wagon and he at least can get the ball outwide. And before everyone tells me that is the role he is already playing - that may well be the case however he doesn't until later in the game.


4. Wagon
6. Morris
7. Dykes
9. Muspratt

Seems a simple yet effective way of plugging a lot of problem areas.

 

[Twizzle]

As lone as my *edit* points to the ground, BS will never play Wags in the centres.

(I saved you the trouble Colonel)

 

[The Colonel]

At least he might put him in the 13 jumper......

 

[fish eel]

Dykes would look a hell of a lot better if he actually had guys running angles for him, especially in the opposition 20, ie the match v sharks, Dykes runs across field...picks up Adam Peek running a decent angle and an easy try!

 

[Eelementary]

Dykes may be looking bad but it is because he is getting little or NO support from his team mates.

Yes he runs sideways. So do a lot of first receivers. But all the others have forwards or backs wanting to take the ball and give it their all to hit the advantage line.
Cronulla are doing pretty sh*te this year, but I watched the Sharks/ Dragons match on Fox last night before the Eels game, and fair dinkum, Kimmorley had a runner every time, running straight and hard.
If it was going to the backs, it would be either a pass to the second receiver, or a cutout pass to a centre, with players in support.
I know Cronulla lost, but at least they looked as though they had some structure about them, not like our rabble.
For us, EVERY set of six is a lottery, and if we don't win the lottery in the first 5 tackles, we'll kick the sh*te out of the ball and hope for the best.

What a load of crap.

Give Dykes a break. At least he is having a go.

Suity

I agree 100%.

* Dykes' style of play is to crab away and find lazy markers. When he does, he exploits them

* He tries too hard because he only has one partner to work with (Morris)

* He has to do everything himself with Morris

* On countless occassions he's made a break or put someone into space and NOBODY has backed up

* He gives 100% in every game

 

[Twizzle]

Agree with all that, and it highlights further that if Dykes has a shocker, we've got nothing in attack.

 

[Freak]

Dykes started the season well but has slowly become a liability again. Yes many of you have raised fine points, but even with the limited amount of support he is getting I just don't think he is moving us around the field like a good halfback should. Way too many bad options especially overkill on the blindside!!
Im not sure what the solution is but let's hoep for some type of change before the Melbourne MUST WIN game in 2 weeks!!

 

[Eels Dude]

I cannot be critical of Dykes' form this year. Probably been our best player after Hindmarsh. He doesn't have a 5'8th to help him so it's no wonder he has to try so hard.

 

[The Engineers Room]

I cannot be critical of Dykes' form this year. Probably been our best player after Hindmarsh. He doesn't have a 5'8th to help him so it's no wonder he has to try so hard.

He holds the ball too long. So having another playmaker isn't going to help his form.

 

[strider]

I agree 100% on Dykes - he is probably our 2nd best player this season and is trying hard every game.

I generally believe MOST teams have 2 playmaker type players on the field at any point in time - and most teams start the game with 2 and have a 3rd player on the bench....these players are generally either: a halfback, 5/8 or hooker. There are the odd team with a 3rd guy who can be a part time playmaker.

So, I think our play makers are Dykes and Morris and we need another coming off the bench.

What I believe to be our problem in attack (which you mentioned also Suity), is that everyone stands still.....MOST of the time we don't have ball runners - we get close to the line and seem lost - the few times we have got someone running onto it close to the line we score....and even further back up the field - its alot of passing to a guy who's flat footed, no real decoys or switches etc.

And my last point is that the reason we have no ball runners is cos we seem unfit and/or uninterested....Hindy is possibly the only guy who can push himself past the tiredness barrier - Jamie used to be able to do it too.

 

[The Colonel]

He holds the ball too long. So having another playmaker isn't going to help his form.

He does hold the ball too long but only because the ball runners aren't running off him and into the gaps he is trying to create by going across field and finding the lazy defenders. If we had some people running off him ala his try off Wagon against Canberra then he wouldn't have to hold it for so long....

 

[Kornstar]

I think Dykes needs to get rid of his half back duties and control his own game, as half back he needs to do all the organising but because he is such a spontaneous player he doesn't have the time to organise the plays, if Thorman or Witt were in the number 7 then they could organise the game and Dykes could do his thing and the number 7 could direct players towards him. It seems that Dykes doesn't communicate because he see's something is on and the players aren't following.......we need a half who communicate's.....

 

[Y2Eel]

Dykes has been one of the only players to stand up wasnt it him who put hindy through that gap to score last weekend if he had more support there would be no need for him to run side ways...