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List of Dragons players who are no good

Firey_Dragon

Coach
Messages
12,099
I don't think St George choked last year. They overachieved to the finals and once there they didn't have the spark to recover once they found themselves behind on the scoreboard. I expect more of the same this year unless, as dclayw suggests, you get Gasnier.

But St George aren't chokers. It's a stupid term - big games require players that can make something from nothing, and teams without these players don't do well in big games. It doesn't mean they're chokers, it just means they're missing the last piece of the puzzle.

Brisbane, Gold Coast and maybe Souths, Wests and Parra (and of course Melbourne) all have better teams for finals football. If St George get Gasnier they'll be up there with Brisbane and Gold Coast.

We're playing a very different brand of footy to last year. We're averaging around 6 more points per game than we were at this stage and conceding 1 less point a game. Almost all of our tries are coming through the hands and structured play, last year it was off kicks or broken field play. This year we've already beaten 8 teams by 13+, last year we only beat 12 in the entire season. We're playing footy far more better suited to the finals than we were last year. Whether it pans out that way remains to be seen, but players like Boyd have made a huge difference in the variety of our attack.

We score more tries through the hands than any other team in the comp and sit 3rd in tries scored, that doesn't really reflect the opinion that we're "poor" in attack.
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
152,791
I thought Poppa Clay was overrated, should have been a back rower.

I mean how can you play bad when you have Billy Smith inside you and Changa and Gaz outside you.

what, no bites ?

if Moffo posted this you guys would be all over it
 

dragon_around

Juniors
Messages
1,291
If you want over-rated, there's always Gidley and Idris.

Although it looks like tha latter isn't rated by the selectors anymore.
 

chrisD

Coach
Messages
14,741
So what happens when Gaz comes back? They can't drop their two Bennett made origin superstar centers obviously, but Gaz has to be somewhere given he's the best player in the world. I assume Soward will have to be dropped to make room.
 

Firey_Dragon

Coach
Messages
12,099
So what happens when Gaz comes back? They can't drop their two Bennett made origin superstar centers obviously, but Gaz has to be somewhere given he's the best player in the world. I assume Soward will have to be dropped to make room.

LOL and the most idiotic post of this thread goes to....

Scott will goto 2nd row, Gasnier to centers. Soward is pivotal to our teams success he will never be moved.
 

Firey_Dragon

Coach
Messages
12,099
What? It looks like you're playing identical footy to last year, only with better execution.

In your opinion, what is St George doing differently to last year?

I just told you exactly what we're doing differently to last year. We relied on broken field play to score our points last year, this year most of our tries come from set plays through the hands. In attack were are a vastly different side this year. We relied too heavily on Soward last year to come up with magic plays, this year our attack is far more balanced.

I wouldn't expect you to notice the differences though, in the posts that I've read from you, your analysis is generally pretty "simple" to say the least.
 

TheEelDeal

Juniors
Messages
169
So what happens when Gaz comes back? They can't drop their two Bennett made origin superstar centers obviously, but Gaz has to be somewhere given he's the best player in the world. I assume Soward will have to be dropped to make room.
Cool story bro :crazy:
 

Mustard Keppers

Juniors
Messages
161
images
 

chrisD

Coach
Messages
14,741
But but Scott is a center, Lord Bennett said so and his disciples assured us in the origin thread, so it must be.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
90,764
I just told you exactly what we're doing differently to last year.

No you didn't, you told me how the outcomes have been different to last year (ie. more of one type of try and less of another and overall one extra try scored per game).

But the tries you score isn't the same as your gameplan.

We relied on broken field play to score our points last year

Ah ok. So the gameplan was "wait until you get broken play and then score tries"?

f**k. And you call me simple? :shock:

Do you have any idea how the team aimed to achieve broken play last year? Do you know why they scored so many tries from broken play last year but not this year? Broken play tends to be a pretty decent opportunity to score. Why aren't they managing it this year? Do you think Bennett has told them to hold the ball when a break is made? Why do you think he would have done this?

this year most of our tries come from set plays through the hands.

So were they not trying set plays last year? If not why not? Or were they trying them last year and they just weren't coming off? Why are they comfortable passing the ball in set play situations this year, but not in broken play?

And do you realise that 'broken play' and 'set play' situations aren't mutually exclusive? If you make a break during a set play you are in broken play. If you go on to score a try is it a try from set play or a try from broken play? It seems a fairly childlike distinction.

So I ask again, what is the team doing differently to cause the different try-scoring pattern from last year?

In attack were are a vastly different side this year. We relied too heavily on Soward last year to come up with magic plays, this year our attack is far more balanced.

So they're passing Soward the ball less? Supporting him less when he runs with it? What exactly? If getting Soward involved worked last year why would they change it? In fact, what are they doing now instead of going to Soward?

Because you've thrown out a bunch of cliched statements - typical footy fan quotes that sound like something Terry Kennedy would say - without showing you know anything about how a gameplan works. And then you want to hide behind it by calling other people idiots?

I wouldn't expect you to notice the differences though, in the posts that I've read from you, your analysis is generally pretty "simple" to say the least.

Sure.
 
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Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
90,764
But but Scott is a center, Lord Bennett said so and his disciples assured us in the origin thread, so it must be.

There's bugger-all difference between a centre and a back-rower these days - they stand next to each other in attack and in defence they've got a 6 or a 7 between them.
 

trudge

Bench
Messages
4,715
There's bugger-all difference between a centre and a back-rower these days - they stand next to each other in attack and in defence they've got a 6 or a 7 between them.

A backrower is in the corridor demanding a higher defensive effort than a centre having to tackle the Pritchards moreso than the Danielas. Size and strength.

Centres require speed for spaces. Attacking skills: sidesteps, in and aways, explosive pace etc. that isn't a prerequisite for the backrow.

Sonny Bill is a perfect second row and a very flawed centre(as the All Blacks will find out)

Smartarses should be extra careful with glib posts.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
90,764
WTF? Board crash lost a whole post.

f**k it. Main point: all the best centres are big and all the best back-rowers are fast.

trudge said:
Smartarses should be extra careful with glib posts.

They certainly should. ;-)
 
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Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
90,764
me said:
Notice there's no smaller Girdler/Renouf type centres anymore?

Tell a lie, there are still a couple running around - Mat Rogers and Phil Graham come to mind. But Rogers has bulked out his (relatively) small frame with sh*t-tins of muscle, and Graham is pretty tall despite being so lean. Joel Reddy's another one who's not so heavy, but he's tall with a big frame, and he could put on another 10kg if he needed to.
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
25,335
I think the reason most people don't like the dragons is because their players only have to play one half decent game and all of a sudden they are origin players. Because they are such a wellsupported team they get the channel 9 games and therefore allthe media attention.

Justin Poore is a prime example. I always thought he wa sh*t, but he was a dragons player so he had to be good and was picked for origin. Then he leaves and IMO plays to the same level but can't even get a run on the bench for The bench for country.

If Beau Scott was say penriths center, do you honestly think he would be anywhere near origin?
 

Firey_Dragon

Coach
Messages
12,099
No you didn't, you told me how the outcomes have been different to last year (ie. more of one type of try and less of another and overall one extra try scored per game).

But the tries you score isn't the same as your gameplan.
Funnily enough, I thought saying that we score our points through set plays now is part of the gameplan... We actually have about 15 different variations on that play down that left edge that I've seen this year alone. Last year we had nothing like that.

Ah ok. So the gameplan was "wait until you get broken play and then score tries"?
Believe it or not, much of it was. We weren't a potent side inside the opposition 20, we relied on capitalising on mistakes and scoring points quickly after them. Part of the gameplan? No, but it was a requirement in our games to win them. This year our attack is far more potent.

f**k. And you call me simple? :shock:
Don't shoot the messenger.

Do you have any idea how the team aimed to achieve broken play last year? Do you know why they scored so many tries from broken play last year but not this year? Broken play tends to be a pretty decent opportunity to score. Why aren't they managing it this year? Do you think Bennett has told them to hold the ball when a break is made? Why do you think he would have done this?
We're controlling field position much better this year, most of the time, most teams aren't in a position to fumble the ball and we have 80m to scoop it up and run the length of the field. We're much better at pinning teams in their own half. Last year we scored the most trys of any team from their own half. This year I think we've scored 2.



So were they not trying set plays last year? If not why not? Or were they trying them last year and they just weren't coming off? Why are they comfortable passing the ball in set play situations this year, but not in broken play?
We had pretty much no set plays last year, well nothing used in the first half of last year. Defence and ball control was our focus, we rarely threw the ball around.

And do you realise that 'broken play' and 'set play' situations aren't mutually exclusive? If you make a break during a set play you are in broken play. If you go on to score a try is it a try from set play or a try from broken play? It seems a fairly childlike distinction.
Does boring yourself with semantics give you some sense of self accomplishment thinking you've won the argument? I know exactly the difference between the two, we're relying far less on opposition errors to win games than we did last year.

So I ask again, what is the team doing differently to cause the different try-scoring pattern from last year?
Another year under a good coach where the focus is less on defence and more on ball-playing.



So they're passing Soward the ball less? Supporting him less when he runs with it? What exactly? If getting Soward involved worked last year why would they change it? In fact, what are they doing now instead of going to Soward?

Because you've thrown out a bunch of cliched statements - typical footy fan quotes that sound like something Terry Kennedy would say - without showing you know anything about how a gameplan works. And then you want to hide behind it by calling other people idiots?



Sure.
Soward's job thus far this year has been to get to the kicks, improve his defence and distribute the ball. Last year he was the goto man, but it got worked out by seasons end. This year Boyd has taken on a much bigger role in our attack and it's let Soward focus on injecting himself when needed instead of all the time.

Enough cliched comments there for you? I look forward to you not reading any of it then putting your own geniused spin on what I'm not saying.
 

Willow

Assistant Moderator
Messages
109,864
There's Broncos fans who no longer support him?
Yes. Believe it or not.

Big Pete said:
I thought both Broncos and Dragons fans loved Uncle Wayne. It's a weird place, it's like when Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd find common ground.
Crude but effective counter point Pete. But I was thinking of an incident where some Broncos fans were booing Bennett at Lang Park.
 

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