Lets be honest

[woodgers]

Don't get me wrong, i'm ecstatic that we managed to use the 'get out of jail free' card and got the 2 points last night, we have gotten to the stage where any win is a good win right now.

Now, lets be honest with ourselves. THAT first half was nothing short of the most pathetic, abysmal footy that I have ever seen from any Raiders side. Every time I think about it I cringe at what we dished up. The Warriors, who have the biggest forwards in the league must have thought it was Christmas (or Easter) because pretty much every play involved a player getting the ball from dummy half, running 4 steps to the right or left then turning an inside ball straight back into where we just played the ball. They were lining up licking their lips as our forwards were continually smashed. I would have thought the message would have gone downstairs to change it but our 'chief' was happy to watch his troops get smashed. That is the closest I have ever seen a Rugby League side get to playing Union....I was aghast at the tactics. Besides Thurling, no forward likes to run onto the ball, what happened to hitting the ball 'on the burst' which has been around for 50 years? The last tackle plays included simply putting up a mid field bomb to a fullback rarely under pressure and hoping he drops it in the lights or something. I watched it and truly wondered how those guys train twice a day, I really did.

The second half was slightly better. Our first try was a desperate dive over from dummy half after wasting a whole set again. The next try was ad-lib throwing the ball 'wily nily' and getting lucky, and the last try was a hard working forward trying a last ditch grubber as nothing else was on and he was stranded. I yearn for the day that we put together a pass from halfback to 5/8 who cuts the ball out to a centre or winger hitting the ball at pace and running in untouched....

There is a thread questioning the crowds but this is your answer. A home side playing footy like that will be lucky to attract moths to the floodlights for fear of the stench. I stood there at halftime looking at that empty ground wondering how the Raiders went from the pioneers of expansive footy to one that didn't score a point in the 1st half, at home, against a side that is probably in the top 3 worst sides in the league along with us.

Where oh where did it all go wrong and why is it that across 2 computer forums you have probably 200 Raiders fans who can see it, however the 2 guys running the show and the board members can't?

 

[legend]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Funny thing is with the bye next weekend, we could find ourselves in the top eight if results go our way.:shock:

 

[I Bleed Green]

Hopefully next year when we have a coach who can actually come up with attacking gameplans and structures and give in-form players a go, the boys at the top will see their mistakes.

I've given up on this year. That sounds harsh but I have. I'll still go to as many games as I can and I'll still watch every week, but I don't have any hopes or expectations this year. When we play I'll expect a loss and the most boring brand of footy possible, if we get anything more than that I'll be ecstatic.

After reading everything that Henry has said over the last week or so, I'm just eagerly awaiting next year more than any other, because we'll finally have a coach (hopefully) who can bring the best out of the players.

I'm not saying that next year we'll have a world beater side with Henry as coach, but it will at least be a bit more enjoyable to watch.

 

[Chief_Chujo]

The thing I find so hard to fathom is that the players cop this bullsh*t playing style and even embrace it. Its a sign of a coach that has no confidence in his players as footballers.

I actually reckon the forwards are going ok though. Particuarly Thommo, LL and Thurling. At least Henry will have a bit of a platform to work with.

 

[I Bleed Green]

The thing I find so hard to fathom is that the players cop this bullsh*t playing style and even embrace it. Its a sign of a coach that has no confidence in his players as footballers.

Couldn't have said it any better. Elliott keeps saying "We don't have the most talented players so we need to play a simple gameplan"... that's rubbish. How does he know when we dummy half run every single play and bomb on the last tackle every set of six? Against Manly we played an expansive style... where the hell did that disappear to? If I were one of the players I'd feel disrespected that the coach doesn't believe they have ability to play football rather than just running forward.

 

[azza]

I stood there at halftime looking at that empty ground wondering how the Raiders went from the pioneers of expansive footy to one that didn't score a point in the 1st half, at home, against a side that is probably in the top 3 worst sides in the league along with us.

Where oh where did it all go wrong and why is it that across 2 computer forums you have probably 200 Raiders fans who can see it, however the 2 guys running the show and the board members can't?

Simple. We signed Matthew Elliott, a bloke that doesn't have a clue when it comes to attacking football. I don't give much credence to these comments suggesting that we don't have the cattle to play a more exciting brand of footy - many of our youngsters play very expansive footy in PL but are clearly coached to play a boring, repetitive, horribly negative and ineffectual "up the guts" style when they hit firsts. Either Elliott doesn't believe our players have what it takes to play a better style (in which case he should piss off, because he has done nothing to remedy that situation except sign hookers and play them at half and sign nuffie outside backs), or he simply doesn't know how to coach a team to play consistent attacking football.

Right now, I'm embarrased to watch the way we play. As great a season 2003 was, the seeds for this were laid then. Our bash and barge style worked that year but it was very easy for teams to adjust and since then we have had nothing.

The damage Elliott does to the club every second he is here is disgusting - just think back to that 2004 semi final against the Roosters, where he again got us to play an extremely one dimensional brand of football. We had nothing to lose - the least we could have done was chanced our arm. But noooooooooo.

Seriously, we played more expansive footy even during Mal's tenure as coach.

 

[woodgers]

So why is it that we don't just punt him and give the reigns to Snoopy or Furner for the rest of the year?

If our board seriously think he will move the team forward from here then we have people making decisions for this club that have less idea about the game than a goat herder in Guinea Bissau. What would we have to lose besides possibly the financial side of it? If I were Furner or Snoopy and was offered to take over for the rest of the year, no extra money but NRL coaching experience and exposure, then I would jump at it in a nanosecond.

The worst thing is that a lot of the 'popular' players stick up for him. I think this is also because they haven't seen a lot of really good coaches either but also to protect their positions. Can anyone else believe that a 5 year plan that has gone so horribly wrong resulted in not only Penrith 'poaching' the man, but the Raiders disappointed he is moving on?

It is all so frustrating and crazy if you ask me.

 

[I Bleed Green]

My guess as to why they don't punt him: pride. If they terminated his contract early, they're admitting they made a mistake by hiring him in the first place. They want to keep the "never fired a coach" record too.

 

[Stelios Giannakopoulos]

Also the fact that the upcoming bye could put us in the 8 will be used as justification that he is having a "good" season..

 

[Bay56]

Well said Woody .... we must have come out of the same womb brother.

I started up a thread on the other forum where I congratulated management on the appointment of Neil Henry but suggested that they give Elliott an early mark, demote Withers to impact hooker, give Zilly and Carney the reigns and Smith the job of preparing them for when Henry takes over in 2007.

We would then have an 8 month head start on 2007.

 

[twistedbydesign]

I'm a passionate Raiders fan but more importantly a league fan, and I am sick and tired of us playing in the worst quality game of the round. The Cowboys/Knights and Dragons/Sea Eagles clashes this weekend were timely reminders of just how good rugby league is and, let's face it, when viewed in this larger picture 2 competition points is little consolation for the fact that we haven't a hope in hell in competing with any decent side at the minute.

That said, at least we are winning. We could easily be 1 and 5, we have only outplayed our opposition once in my opinion. I will always turn up every week hoping to see something better from our boys and should that manifest these 'ugly' wins could prove important.

 

[aussies1st]

I don't know what game we were playing on Saturday but it certainly wasn't League. We had no width to our attack and when in the opposition half, all we ever did was bomb it. Put in some variation at least!

 

[Leethal]

Here's a suggestion - in the play-the-ball, GET TO YOUR FEET AND PLAY IT QUICKLY!!!

f**k me, even a Llama farmer from Lake Titicaca can see that if you go into a tackle soft for a quick play-the-ball, the ref will call "surrender" and give the opposition a licence to lie all over you as long as they want.
Run in hard!! When you get put down, get to your feet and play it quickly. That's how forwards get a roll on and how you avoid getting smashed - DON'T GIVE THE OPPOSITION TIME TO SET THEIR DEFENSIVE LINE. I would have thought this would have been taught at Rugby League 101, but we must've been away from Kindergarten that day.

 

[raider1822]

Here's a suggestion - in the play-the-ball, GET TO YOUR FEET AND PLAY IT QUICKLY!!!

f**k me, even a Llama farmer from Lake Titicaca can see that if you go into a tackle soft for a quick play-the-ball, the ref will call "surrender" and give the opposition a licence to lie all over you as long as they want.
Run in hard!! When you get put down, get to your feet and play it quickly. That's how forwards get a roll on and how you avoid getting smashed - DON'T GIVE THE OPPOSITION TIME TO SET THEIR DEFENSIVE LINE. I would have thought this would have been taught at Rugby League 101, but we must've been away from Kindergarten that day.

And FFS run angles at the defence line, even my son footy team are taught this basic

 

[Raider_69]

without a doubt one of the most boring halves of footy ive ever seen played in the first half

 

[Raider Ultra]

Frustrating, boring, unimaginative, structureless, unskillful, uninspired, dull. Anyone else have and adjectives to describe the abomination that was the first half?

 

[azza]

sh*thouse

 

[I Bleed Green]

Elliottness.

 

[ed bbay]

our forwards are great the rest needs alot of work . purtell is a gift from god & we need to keep chalk & either give carney a starting spot or punt him .

 

[TiTTieS_[CNTDN]]

our forwards are great the rest needs alot of work . purtell is a gift from god & we need to keep chalk & either give carney a starting spot or punt him .

You seriously need to learn how to use a full stop properly. There is no need to put a space in front of it.