Interesting passage on our attacking stats

[Hoekstra]

The Dragons have struggled to make a dent in opposition defence this year, and are currently the worst-ranked attacking team in the competition, scoring 24 less points than their nearest rival in the point-scoring department.

But it's not as if they haven't had the opportunities to register points.
They are ranked fourth in metres gained, fifth in offloads and seventh in tackle breaks, yet they are averaging just 14.8 points per game.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...arks-circle-20120710-21u3n.html#ixzz20HLMensf

If the metres gained, offloads and tackle break stats are accurate then I'm fairly suprised. It could lend some credibility to the lack of execution view point, or it could just be highlighting how void of creativity we are in the red zone. Either way thought I'd share. ​

 

[Slippery Morris]

This is the scariest part of teh article "currently the worst-ranked attacking team in the competition, scoring 24 less points than their nearest rival in the point-scoring department".

Even Parra and Penrith can score more points than the Dragons.....

 

[moik]

Jarrod Croker and James Maloney combined have scored more points than us.

 

[Daniel Dragons]

Sign em both up!!

 

[hardbaby]

One thing that has really stood out to me this year is our inability to force line drop outs. Putting your opponents under pressure is a huge aspect of the game. I haven't seen the stats but if you compere drop outs forced to drop outs conceded I would be surprised if we have won 20% of our games in this aspect. We are a team that defends hard and grinds it out but it's all for nothing if we don't win this stat (IMO). Teams can break but you often need repeat sets to do it. Our short kicking game has been average this year.

 

[st.phil]

I would guess that we would have had EVEN LESS line dropouts forced in the past couple years. It was never a favored tactic under Bennett. Look some more repeat sets would be handy...but I think we simply don't have many creative players in the side and opposition defenses only have to focus on Soward. We don't bully oppositions with our forwards any longer so that's out the window as well.

 

[TheRev]

Lack of Line-Dropouts has been killing me this year, our 5th tackle options (if we make it to 5th), is usually a 5th tackle kick, ending in an absolute dolly of a catch for the opposition.

All the games I can recall, the stats are in the area of 5 to 1 we are losing this stat.

Im sure in 2009-2010-2011 (first part) we would have done better in this regard, perhaps we werent forcing enough dropouts ourselves (not a speciality of hornby/sowie), but we certainly didnt have the high error-rates that are giving the opposition so much ball on our tryline (Vidot the biggest culprit, but plenty have made errors this year).

 

[hardbaby]

Yeah pretty sure we are doing much worse this year than in previous years. Our short kicking game has been poor.

 

[Hutty1986]

Jarrod Croker and James Maloney combined have scored more points than us.

Really??

 

[Dragonwest]

Our inability to win repeat sets is not a new problem, it's been around for years. Our poor completion rate is highlighting the fact this year.

 

[Hoekstra]

Our attack has steadily declined for a while now. I mean we did really slide post Origin last year, culminating in that tough loss to the Broncos in the semis.

I think the simplicity of attacking play under Bennett really masked some of our attacking issues for quite some time. It begs the question though as to why it was not really addressed in the off season given how obvious it has been.

 

[64 Dragon]

Our attack has steadily declined for a while now. I mean we did really slide post Origin last year, culminating in that tough loss to the Broncos in the semis.

I think the simplicity of attacking play under Bennett really masked some of our attacking issues for quite some time. It begs the question though as to why it was not really addressed in the off season given how obvious it has been.

I can't remember when we last really put a team to the sword. 2010 was our best year and we beat Manly to nil and smashed the Rooters in the GF. Other teams seem to be able to get their attack buzzing along at times, (Manly 40 - 0 against Parra) but we just can't do it.

Defence supposedly wins matches but at times our defence is only average. I reckon there is something going on in the club between the players and the coaching staff that we are not hearing about.

 

[TheRev]

It begs the question though as to why it was not really addressed in the off season given how obvious it has been.

Indeedy, this is what pi$$es me off, the entire season completely wasted using the same old game-plan that barely coped these last few years, but now were doing it without bennett, boyd and gaz (and the rest). All the Bennett momentum has been wasted.

 

[Mr Red]

Our attack has steadily declined for a while now. I mean we did really slide post Origin last year, culminating in that tough loss to the Broncos in the semis.

I think the simplicity of attacking play under Bennett really masked some of our attacking issues for quite some time. It begs the question though as to why it was not really addressed in the off season given how obvious it has been.

the simplicity of our attacking play under bennett was not masking any attacking issues - it was the master coach playing to our strengths.. he knew we lacked genuine attacking ability so created the perfect game plan to devise simple yet affective attacking plays that even a below average half back like hornby could execute properly..
problem now is Price thinks we actually have a half back and has tried to re-invent our attack adding more complexity, which has been proven to not be able to be executed properly by a make shift half...

if Price wants to reinvent the attack and add extra complexity thats fine... but however its not achievable with the current roster... he cant have it both ways... tough calls need to be made on the roster, or our style of football..

 

[Elias1983]

the simplicity of our attacking play under bennett was not masking any attacking issues - it was the master coach playing to our strengths.. he knew we lacked genuine attacking ability so created the perfect game plan to devise simple yet affective attacking plays that even a below average half back like hornby could execute properly..
problem now is Price thinks we actually have a half back and has tried to re-invent our attack adding more complexity, which has been proven to not be able to be executed properly by a make shift half...

if Price wants to reinvent the attack and add extra complexity thats fine... but however its not achievable with the current roster... he cant have it both ways... tough calls need to be made on the roster, or our style of football..

Which is why I think Morris is back on the wing.

Watch for Flo to play the boyd role and we start hitting our left side attack again.

It's the initial reason as to why Style was given a shot at fullback wasn't it? He can pass a ball both ways with pretty good ease.

Flo has got the balls skills to throw a decent pass.

Morris to score a hat-trick this week!!!

 

[Charles Bronson]

We rely too much on the kick in the opp 20 and are too predictable when spreading the ball. Players need to be given the ability to create something and use whatever flair they have.

 

[Penfolds Wines]

the simplicity of our attacking play under bennett was not masking any attacking issues - it was the master coach playing to our strengths.. he knew we lacked genuine attacking ability so created the perfect game plan to devise simple yet affective attacking plays that even a below average half back like hornby could execute properly..
problem now is Price thinks we actually have a half back and has tried to re-invent our attack adding more complexity, which has been proven to not be able to be executed properly by a make shift half...

if Price wants to reinvent the attack and add extra complexity thats fine... but however its not achievable with the current roster... he cant have it both ways... tough calls need to be made on the roster, or our style of football..

Spot on.

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

One thing that has really stood out to me this year is our inability to force line drop outs. Putting your opponents under pressure is a huge aspect of the game. I haven't seen the stats but if you compere drop outs forced to drop outs conceded I would be surprised if we have won 20% of our games in this aspect. We are a team that defends hard and grinds it out but it's all for nothing if we don't win this stat (IMO). Teams can break but you often need repeat sets to do it. Our short kicking game has been average this year.

Glad you brought that up..I was thinking myself re the line drop outs....would be interested in the stats in that dept.