It’s game day ffs!

[Noise]

And please spare me with the bullshit about how well Hodgson played. He was shit. When it mattered most he went to the short side when Moses was calling for it for a field goal only to give it to Sivo to commit his brain fart and try and score.

Yea, I was surprised how many people thought he was good. His involvement in our 2 tries was good but overall his dummy half service was poor (both slow and not very accurate) and he went to Drown a couple of times when he should have gone to Moses.

 

[Twizzle]

watched the replay again this morning

so pissed off at million dollar boy for missing that fisrt conversion, then we dont go to golden point

for the money he is asking for, he should never have missed that

f**king prima donna

the Munster is worth double what ever Mitch is getting

 

[DaveMc]

And please spare me with the bullshit about how well Hodgson played. He was shit. When it mattered most he went to the short side when Moses was calling for it for a field goal only to give it to Sivo to commit his brain fart and try and score.

I think you’re conflating two different plays. The Sivo kick was off the scrum - Moses wasn’t set up for a field goal there.

 

[the phantom menace]

Yep, I can forgive Dylan Brown more for his non-game - kid's only young and still maturing.

Moses is 28 ffs, and should be taking those chances and stepping up in the final 15mins to stamp his experience and authority.

The thought that Hodgson (who should have been given a 10min spell either side of half-time by wonder coach) somehow caused Moses to have a poor game or not do what should be expected of him is just delusion.

 

[DaveMc]

He wasn't shit. For the most part he was pretty good. I can understand why he didn't give it to Moses. Moses has never nailed a penalty goal, conversion or field goal when the game is on the line. He's watched him miss these for the last 7 years.
Also on Moses first field goal attempt. Either the Storm were way offside (very likely) but why wasn't Moses deeper? We were only from memory 20m out anyway.
Regardless if Storm were offside, we were never getting a penalty from Klein. That bloke wouldn't give away his headache.
On reflection the better team won

Think this is a bit harsh. Off the top of my head, Moses kicked us a field goal to win in extra time against the Dogs some years ago (might’ve been soon after he joined us), he nailed a sideline conversion to win us a game at the death against Manly at Parra in terrible conditions last year, and his sideline conversion in the GF qualifier against the Cowboys was crucial to put us up by 4 and take a penalty goal out of the equation at the tail end of the game.

I get the frustration with him last night, but let’s not rewrite history.

 

[King-Gutho94]

watched the replay again this morning

so pissed off at million dollar boy for missing that fisrt conversion, then we dont go to golden point

for the money he is asking for, he should never have missed that

f**king prima donna

the Munster is worth double what ever Mitch is getting

Mitch doesn't have ice in his veins like chinboy

 

[King-Gutho94]

Think this is a bit harsh. Off the top of my head, Moses kicked us a field goal to win in extra time against the Dogs some years ago (might’ve been soon after he joined us), he nailed a sideline conversion to win us a game at the death against Manly at Parra in terrible conditions last year, and his sideline conversion in the GF qualifier against the Cowboys was crucial to put us up by 4 and take a penalty goal out of the equation at the tail end of the game.

I get the frustration with him last night, but let’s not rewrite history.

He has missed more crucial goals/FGs then he has made mate. The 3 you have mentioned he has made. I could count half a dozen at minimum he has missed probably more.

He also missed an easy penalty goal in that same prelim last year.

Even last year at Melbourne in Golden apoint Ray Stone saved him when he missed the FG and he scored the try.

 

[Gronk]

If we're also only going to use 16, even having Rein on the bench to replace Hodgson would've worked better. Hodgson was fatigued and making poor decisions in the last 15 minutes.

I think you're jumping the gun. The back rowers got extra minutes because Penisini and Lume only played 73 and 71 minutes respectively. So they both played less than the 84 mins that the other backs played. It totally threw the rotation out.

Makka was ready to go on and was warming up when the two HIAs happened in quick succession. Even 18th Man Jake was told to start warming up.

 

[DaveMc]

He has missed more crucial goals/FGs then he has made mate. The 3 you have mentioned he has made. I could count half a dozen at minimum he has missed probably more.

He also missed an easy penalty goal in that same prelim last year.

Even last year at Melbourne in Golden apoint Ray Stone saved him when he missed the FG and he scored the try.

I’m not disagreeing. The comment I was replying to said that he’s never iced a game when it was in the balance. That’s objectively wrong.

I think he does frequently seem to lack the killer instinct. But there are numerous times he’s taken a game by the scruff of the neck to win it, or has dragged the team along with him to win one we shouldn’t have (the big comeback against Canberra in the NT a couple of years ago is a good example).

I think we have a tendency to look to throw the baby out with the bath water here a lot of the time. We got beaten in golden point against the most consistently good team of the NRL era in a round fixture they’ve never lost in two decades. We had chances to win, despite our halves playing like shit for the most part.

The idea that we should f**k Moses off because he didn’t kick a field goal to win it last night is hysterical. And besides, there simply aren’t any better options whatsoever. So short of writing off at least the next couple of years unless there’s some other contract chicanery that goes on, he should be the no 7 we want and back.

 

[84 Baby]

Player thoughts:
Gutho - play wise was fine but I know it’s been drilled in that this is Moses’ team (dumb statement), when he and Drown are visibly shitting themselves, he needs to step in and control things
Sivo - ok level Sivo. Rucked it out really well when he did but he could’ve done it a bit more. The bat out was a non-issue (he could’ve caught it but the risk-reward was way in Scum’s favour) and while the grubber wasn’t the play, that was from good defence by Scum, not a Sivo brainfart.
Blake - wasn’t really noticeable which given his last few games is a good thing. Rucked and defended better than he did end of last season.
Penisini - defended pretty well but similar to Waqa he didn’t really stand out. Could’ve ran the ball closer to the sticks for his try rather than showboating but.
Lumelume - surprisingly quick. Definitely things that can be improved and there’s obviously a brainfart or two always on the cusp. But if he’s likely on absolute minimum wage, he isn’t the worst value in team.
Drown - needed surgery in off-season to remove the dicks he has for hands. And wasn’t sighted for most of first half other than dropping the ball.
Moses - started ok, then looked disinterested taking shots at goal, then visibly had zero plan when he got the ball. The only time he had a plan A was the short side run and kick to corners. Playing “heads up” doesn’t mean just running the ball with zero idea what you are going to do with it. Either held the ball too long or not long enough. Defence was pretty good is about the only compliment.
RCG - did his job. Not a match winning performance but not because he played poorly.
Hodgson - really good in patches but definitely needs bench cover at least in the short term.
Junior - IMO he was part of the problem. Too hot potatoey. Control the tempo and have a plan. Especially because he’s also the captain.
Cartwright - ran hard, fast and direct which was real good. Still very suspect in defence but. He was more a symptom of the problem because we clearly forgot that he can offload so most of his runs were unsupported.
Doorey - I was worried early as he was getting left on ground. He improved up to halftime. I don’t think it was a forward pass but if he and Moses get that pass right, he could be deadly on that inside run. But then second half the wheels fell off again. Give him BOTD as Moses was headless.
Hopgood - fine. Similar to RCG. Got through lot of tackles. Was quick to his feet. He ran a couple of real good fifth tackles that we need to learn from.
Murchie - not understanding the hate on here at all. Wasn’t great and did get left on ground a lot but his work rate was good. Similar to Doorey, like to see how he goes with a few more games under belt.
Greig - will only ever be used a low minute hitup merchant, which he did effectively, but he struggles in defence.
Moimoisea - flinging a lazy arm out at a crucial time when he’d be on field for less than a minute will do him no favours in maintaining his spot. Other than that was another barely visible player.
Makatoa - man of the match

 

[84 Baby]

Oof that’s an ugly post. But f**k yas

 

[Eelementary]

He wasn't shit. For the most part he was pretty good. I can understand why he didn't give it to Moses. Moses has never nailed a penalty goal, conversion or field goal when the game is on the line. He's watched him miss these for the last 7 years.
Also on Moses first field goal attempt. Either the Storm were way offside (very likely) but why wasn't Moses deeper? We were only from memory 20m out anyway.
Regardless if Storm were offside, we were never getting a penalty from Klein. That bloke wouldn't give away his headache.
On reflection the better team won

I couldn't understand why Moses didn't just take the tackle; 3 Storm players were in his face, and he gave away possession on tackle 3 by trying to force the field goal...

 

[Gazzamatta]

Id suggest kicking a field goal is the simple part of the process. Having a structure that is well practiced and ready to put into action is the most important factor and this should happen long before players take the field. Preventing field goals likewise. Clearly we have no idea how to set up properly and so far as defending same, having RCG at marker to attempt the chargedown exhibits the obvious.
I also wasnt impressed with Hodgo. Early days I know and its probably being hard on him but his service from DH looked slow with poor accuracy. How its a good idea to play him 80 is baffling. He was clearly fatigued as were many others yet Makka dosent even clock on. Here we go again. Paulo, Reg and our 9 will be flogged again. We were very lucky injury didnt impact our front row last season. Will we be so lucky this season?
Fitness impacted greatly and our inability to get players on their back when defending hasnt changed.
Only week 1. Move on I guess.

 

[84 Baby]

I couldn't understand why Moses didn't just take the tackle; 3 Storm players were in his face, and he gave away possession on tackle 3 by trying to force the field goal...

I don’t blame him for kicking it. Despite being a bit low, I thought it was going over. The annoying thing was we had Hopgood running blocker and that was it. Scum had 3 blockers on each of their attempts. One other player putting in the tough run there and we win.

 

[hineyrulz]

He was ultimately responsible for our only two tries last night, but he was noticeably fatigued late in the game, which is when most of his poor decisions were made. We're kidding ourselves if he has to play 80 minutes.

Well the coach is kidding himself at least, as mentioned he only uses 16 players anyway so wouldn’t you give Rein the spot on the bench if needed??? It was only his second real game in 18months of course he was going to fatigue. For a 10 year coach he makes the most rookie errors.

 

[the phantom menace]

Oof that’s an ugly post. But f**k yas

It hit the nail on the head particularly with points re Gutho, RCG, Junior. Murchie and the benchies.

 

[84 Baby]

his service from DH looked slow with poor accuracy.

Either you were watching a different game or you had it on slow motion.

 

[Avenger]

Either you were watching a different game or you had it on slow motion.

And every pass from right to left was forward or flat at best.

 

[84 Baby]

It hit the nail on the head particularly with points re Gutho, RCG, Junior. Murchie and the benchies.

It nailed f**ken all of them.
Ultimately I don’t think we played poorly, just rudderlessly, which if the leaders want to earn their keep, they need to fix.

 

[84 Baby]

And every pass from right to left was forward or flat at best.

True but every other team seems to get away with it, plus let’s be honest Mahoney did as much last year