Valheru
Coach
- Messages
- 18,340
Well that was our 2nd completely bizarre game for the season. The first bulldogs game we nearly won the unwinnable and on this occasion the opposite nearly happened.
In the first half we came out firing on all cylinders, punching holes in attack regularly and being brutal in defence building a match winning lead. The two tries we did concede were very soft defensive efforts and Robbo would be filthy, definitely something to work on there in the lead up to the finals.
In the 2nd half things possession turned as it tends to do and of course Klein couldn't find us a single penalty the whole half. Against that possession though I thought our defence was exceptional and Manly didn't really look like scoring when attacking our line. Of course, they did score... 3 times all off intercepts which is something I have never seen before. It's hard luck to get one in a game, let alone three in 20 minutes. Looking at those intercepts again, the 2nd one was a horrible pass in our own half however the other 2 would (should) have been tries if they found their mark. Having said that the 3rd one probably didn't need to be thrown given it was tackle one with 3 minutes to go. Just get through the set and turn the ball over on their 2m line and the game is iced. That is that game management piece that has to get better.
3 Teddy
2 Walker
1 Radley
So how do we assess this?
For me we have to look at the positives and the fact of the matter is following from that Melbourne performance last week and all the talk about us not being able to beat top 8 sides, they came out in this one exactly as we hoped. They were a 30 point better team than Manly and if not for those interceptions we win by at least 30, if not 40 so that is the key takeaway IMO. I think we can all feel secure in the assumption that nothing like that is likely to ever happen again let alone this season.
Big picture, we are no back in to 3rd thanks to F/A with a bye to come. A tough little trip to Perth against this Dolphins this week before a bye and a 4 game run in to the finals of Parra (H), Titans (A), Raiders (H) and Souths (A). Even if we lose this week we can't be out of the top 4 which means we can't exit the top 4 until minimum after the Parra game.
With our F/A it's possible it only takes 2 more wins to finish 4th but I think we will win 3-4 and finish 3rd. I don't see this week as an easy game as I think everyone will be looking forward to a bye and then I give ourselves a loss in one of the final 4 due to resting players and a shit day at the office.
In the first half we came out firing on all cylinders, punching holes in attack regularly and being brutal in defence building a match winning lead. The two tries we did concede were very soft defensive efforts and Robbo would be filthy, definitely something to work on there in the lead up to the finals.
In the 2nd half things possession turned as it tends to do and of course Klein couldn't find us a single penalty the whole half. Against that possession though I thought our defence was exceptional and Manly didn't really look like scoring when attacking our line. Of course, they did score... 3 times all off intercepts which is something I have never seen before. It's hard luck to get one in a game, let alone three in 20 minutes. Looking at those intercepts again, the 2nd one was a horrible pass in our own half however the other 2 would (should) have been tries if they found their mark. Having said that the 3rd one probably didn't need to be thrown given it was tackle one with 3 minutes to go. Just get through the set and turn the ball over on their 2m line and the game is iced. That is that game management piece that has to get better.
3 Teddy
2 Walker
1 Radley
So how do we assess this?
For me we have to look at the positives and the fact of the matter is following from that Melbourne performance last week and all the talk about us not being able to beat top 8 sides, they came out in this one exactly as we hoped. They were a 30 point better team than Manly and if not for those interceptions we win by at least 30, if not 40 so that is the key takeaway IMO. I think we can all feel secure in the assumption that nothing like that is likely to ever happen again let alone this season.
Big picture, we are no back in to 3rd thanks to F/A with a bye to come. A tough little trip to Perth against this Dolphins this week before a bye and a 4 game run in to the finals of Parra (H), Titans (A), Raiders (H) and Souths (A). Even if we lose this week we can't be out of the top 4 which means we can't exit the top 4 until minimum after the Parra game.
With our F/A it's possible it only takes 2 more wins to finish 4th but I think we will win 3-4 and finish 3rd. I don't see this week as an easy game as I think everyone will be looking forward to a bye and then I give ourselves a loss in one of the final 4 due to resting players and a shit day at the office.
