Is it coming together?

[roopy]

I think today was our best game of the season so far.
We have had three very ordinary wins against ordinary sides, one disgraceful game, a fair game against Melbourne, and now we have been competitive against one of the genuine contenders who were playing well.

We played well enough today to beat all but the top four or five teams IMO.

We need to improve a lot, but we have a lot of improvement in us.

Our forwards have held their own in all games but one - and we have played against most of the best forward packs already.

Our backs are slowly being sorted out.

 

[Johns Magic]

We need a halfback

 

[cram]

I was a little disappointed with our second half performance, we had nothing in attack mid way through the second half where we should have been able to put the Bronco's to bed. DEFENSE still remains a massive problem.

Most improved by far Kirt Gidley...as safe as houses with his defense and fielding the kicks but still lacking in attack.

 

[Alex28]

They lack organisation - there is no reason why we couldn't have won last night, but some of the plays last night were just plain dumb. I mean to have a full set of six where the backs run up every hit-up...I mean that is just poor stuff.

We badly need another half...

 

[cram]

Yeah good point Alex, when they seem to be under a little bit of pressure there is no one taking the necessary control. I see this as a direct hangover of the Johns' era. Many of them have never had to think too much about their footy because they had the maestro directing them.

 

[K-Man]

I think in some ways it is coming together, but in other ways there's only so far we can go.

That was definitely the best performance of the season in terms of the quality of football we played in certain patches - the off-loading, second phase play, involvement of the backline etc were all far better than any other match. At times we really looked like a talented side out there, and 2 of the tries were really quite beautiful (Paterson - pass of the season, can't be beaten!).

However, we still lack another quality playmaker and I doubt if we can lift all that much higher without one. Mullen tried his heart out and played his best match of the year too, but we would improve out of sight with him playing as a genuine 5/8th.

Overall, very pleased with the signs shown but very disappointed with continued errors at crucial times. That game was there for the taking, and a more ruthless team would've really put the Broncos to the sword when we had the chance.

 

[reginald.p]

They lack organisation - there is no reason why we couldn't have won last night, but some of the plays last night were just plain dumb. I mean to have a full set of six where the backs run up every hit-up...I mean that is just poor stuff.

I'm pretty sure Brian Smith would of told the backs to do that to give the forwards a rest.

We have used pretty simple game plans all season and still made a ton of handling errors, we at least managed to hold onto the ball this time so yeah i guess we are getting better.

 

[voltron]

our forwards have lacked any real go forward
i mean i saw a stat somewhere else in the forum, no one made 100 metres
thats pretty shocking

our fifth tackle options have been poor for the last two games
mullens has too much pressure, move abraham into lock, as much as i like him, he isnt for that position.

we're relying too much on kidley now.
buderus needs to step up more in his game, and direct play alot more
but overall we need to spread the responsibility amongst the team
before it can 'come together'

 

[Pika]

I was a little disappointed with our second half performance, we had nothing in attack mid way through the second half where we should have been able to put the Bronco's to bed. DEFENSE still remains a massive problem.

Most improved by far Kirt Gidley...as safe as houses with his defense and fielding the kicks but still lacking in attack.

Our defence on the edges is still shaky, but improving.

Our defence in the middle is second to none.

Dropped ball is what is losing us games.

 

[Nuffy]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves here, we didn't actually push an inform Brisbane all the way, the Broncos were pretty ordinary, just we were worse.

We seem unable to play a safe, simple game. Brisbane was running on fumes in the second half, but we lacked the required patience to grind them down. There were any number of chip kicks, short kicks, cross field kicks or shoddy last tackle options. Where were the repeat sets?

Look at Brisbane in the 2nd half, they just played field position and waited for the mistake, knowing full well that Newcastle would make mistakes........................this is the same gameplan teams have been using against us for 3-4 years. When exactly were any of our last tackle options (in the broncos half) a low risk patient option? There wasn't a single one!

Plus is it possible for players to make more simple mistakes than this team does?

My concern has always been that in the absence of Joey, theres not a footballing brain amongst them, the squad we have may be fitter, faster and more athletic but there seems little evidence of a development of footballing intelligence.

Whether its reading a ref and adapting to his foibles or finessing a gameplan to suit the oppositions circumstances during a game, we just seem to be unable to play smart or more correctly, play a low risk safe game.

Couple of more things:

Our outside backs are woeful, the less said the better. We desperately need Tate or similar.

The off contract forwards seem determined to play themselves out of a job, I haven't seem any of them demand a new contract through performance.

Mullen needs a hand, he can't do it all himself, but he needs to play the percentages much more than he does, he reverts to the flashy low % option more often than not.

Abes is a great footy player but not a playmaker, back to lock for him.

Finally, Kids has surprised me greatly, hes a good fullback but he needs to stop letting balls bounce, its putting him 10-15 metres behind where he should be each kick.

 

[knightsyeah12]

The sooner we get Walsh in the halves to help Mullen the better, i know he is small but there have been heaps of small players in the NRL eg. Langer one of the best. give Walsh a shot i say. Walsh and Mullen know each others game, they played alot together when they were younger. It will take alot of pressure off Mullen which will help his game

 

[Jobdog]

I think it is slowly but surely coming together. Last night was disappointing in that the fifth tackle options in the second half were panic options. In saying that, Mullen is trying to run the show himself, but he can't do it all. He needs someone to help him out. Abraham is not an option at five-eight, I think Dureau might be worth being given a shot.

Out of the six games we've played, we've been in five of those games with ten minutes to go. We've won three and lost two of those five and got blown away in the final twenty in Canberra. With a little more polish on the end of our sets, we most likely would have come away with five wins and a loss. Mullen will get better, last night he panicked a little with his chip kicks when he would have been best to drive it into the corner, but he is only young and will learn from those mistakes.

Its not all doom and gloom for the season, we saw what we were capable of against the Rabbitohs and now there will be no "Farewell Joey" things going on, the boys can concentrate on playing footy.

 

[Jono078]

I think we are coming good.

I agree with everyone saying we need another half.

I think I read that Dureau is sh*t in defence, but really who cares we just need another option in the halves, Abraham isnt a 5/8th.

1. Gidley
2. McManus - Speaking of coming together, I havnt thought too much of McManus. Maybe Uate soon? Or even Franze to wing.
3. Tighe
4. MacDougall
5. Polglase
6. Dureau
7. Mullen
8. Perry
9. Buderus
10. Simpson - IMO he's been ordinary, and he's looking bigger than ever, I think he would go well up front.
11. Abraham
12. Newton
13. Tolar
--
14. Woolnough
15. Sargent
16. Paterson
17. ??

 

[Pika]

17. M.Tafua

Not his best game in PL, but all the work we have put in keeping him off his back in the tackle has paid off.

He is two or three games off a first grade start in my opinion.

 

[Yosh]

Yeah Simmo has looked ordinary these day.

Our forwards not making over 100m is a worry. We dont really have any workhorses in our team these days. Our backs actuatlly make alot of metres for our team, which I assume is a plan to keep our forwards crisp the whole match.

We did pretty well yesterday, with some freakish sh*t, however it was the basics that let us down. Ball handling, lack of direction of the field. Like some shocking "game breaker" kicks and plays were put in the end when we were down those 4 points. Doogs chip (I nearly died laughing, one of the worst kicks I've ever seen) and Mullen's one on the left side of the field. We needed a Lockyeresque leader who would know to just place the ball down field and build pressure. Oh well, played some amazing footy, just have to start getting the basics right again.

BUILD PRESSURE and the points will come, we have to learn this.