Match Discussion: Finals Week 1 vs Parramatta @ Browne Park

[macavity]

Watson's last game for us today

The more I think about it the less upset I am.

Would have been great to keep him as a 14 but he obviously doesn’t want to be at the club that tried to find him a starting spot so we move on.

Barney to 13 shores up our middle defence and gets him out of the backline. Just need to find a good edge runner. Letting Beau Fermor leave was a really bad decision.

 

[macavity]

Also, Gutherson literally admitted to dropping the ball. Penalty try.

 

[Yosh]

Brave and gritty. Happy with the team but we definitely lacked the class to win that game. One Mitch was brilliant and the other basically only made mistakes.

Really disappointed that we couldn't win that. However, I think the Knights of old would have folded and lost that 50-10. Good fight back.

- Saifitis seemed out of their league for some reason. Lucky we had Barney and Klem really step up. Frizz really tried but was injured for most of that game.

- Hunt and Tuala should be our wingers next year. Very happy at how they ended the season for us. Tuala unlucky at the end there.

- Ponga is a genius, but, only three or four times a game. We need a real push in quantity from him. Should be getting the ball two or three times every set. Even if it's just to hand it off to a forward. Maybe it's a coaching thing?

- Clifford has been a god send. Looks like he has a good head on his shoulders. Probably a better game manager than Pearce already. Should be giving the right to lead the team around from 2022 onwards.

- Pearce really does try hard but needs to take a step back now. Let Ponga and Clifford lead the team. Just play the Blake Green role now. Still can't believe he decided to kick so deep, instead of kicking it 10m out from their line. Gave them a seven tackle set at a crucial time and perhaps that was the killing blow.

- Gagai will be a huge upgrade on Mann. Gagai played a big hand in the Rabbits win last night. Mann has been a nightmare all season.

- I don't care how, but the whole club needs to coach Best to increase his quality in attack and defense... He has all the raw attributes and mental fortitude. Needs to be coached now to become a star in the NRL. Can't just run over 15 year olds anymore.

- If we don't get a specialist attacking coach in over the off season, I'd be very disappointed. Most important recruiting decision for 2022.

- Brailey was good and solid this season. We needed that for his first real season but need to see more creativity out of the ruck from him. I hope it's something he can work on for 2022.

Probably missed a bunch more things I wanted to say. Really disappointed to go out first round of the finals but showed real character towards the back end of the season.

 

[ryana87]

Listening to Shane flannagan after the game.... Everything he said is spot on. I know Toohey mentioned him as a potential assistant coach.... Could do a lot worse

 

[Alex28]

Listening to Shane flannagan after the game.... Everything he said is spot on. I know Toohey mentioned him as a potential assistant coach.... Could do a lot worse

For a guy who won a premiership off the back of systemic drug and salary cap cheating, I don’t take his opinion all that seriously to be honest.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

We kept on doing the same old in attack. Backs take it up for a few plays and then the forwards.
Yeah I know you need to establish field position but repeating the same thing wasn't working.
We needed attacking plays as well as playing what's in front.

 

[Spot On]

Well we just saw why the chooks packed Mitch's bags for someone who can win the big games.

We've all seen it for years.

Apparently on no $$$ next year so the pressure is off and he comes ridiculously cheap!

Not sure how that helps us.

We needed a decent kick to end or set before the penalty try was awarded.

But we got the opposite.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Out of the box idea:

Move Pearce to 13, Ponga to 6 and Clifford to 7

Gets Pearce out of the playmaking role but still lets him lead on the field and run on the 4th

Gets Ponga more ball at 1st receiver and out of defending at fullback

Gives the team to Clifford and allows him to dictate our attack and control the game

Leaves a hole at fullback but maybe we can move Hodgson in quicker and hope for a Walsh like rookie year

 

[Spot On]

Need to someone to protect Ponga in defence if he isn't going to have a go in the front line.

 

[Miller was a legend]

For a guy who won a premiership off the back of systemic drug and salary cap cheating, I don’t take his opinion all that seriously to be honest.

By that logic sounds like a good fit for drugcastle

 

[perverse]

By that logic sounds like a good fit for drugcastle

Zing.

 

[mozza91]

Listening to Shane flannagan after the game.... Everything he said is spot on. I know Toohey mentioned him as a potential assistant coach.... Could do a lot worse

If it stops him from commentating than I’m all for it.

 

[Seage]

In all honesty, we finished where we deserved. We had a poorly constructed attacking approach, that yielded the second worst rank in a new, faster, expansive NRL, where all sorts of points records were broken.
Our edge defence on both sides was terminal, all season, never improving. And somehow, we made the finals, mainly because there is enough individual quality in the roster to be better than the garbage that sat below us on the table. Yet we are a long, long way off the top 6 sides.

Braith Anasta, unfortunately, was right post game when he said he can see no evidence of our side evolving and improving over the last 2 years.

So what the hell can we expect next year?

 

[Alex28]

By that logic sounds like a good fit for drugcastle

Must be proud of that ill-gotten, asterisks of a premiership.

At least our suss one saved rugby league. We have the other one as well though.

 

[Old dog]

The bottom line is we expected a tough match that we would dominate in the forwards with The Safs, Klem, King etc but Eels game plan was to play hard and put it to our blokes. They didn’t handle it, couldn’t change game plan and succummed then they beat us in the backs, there 1-7 outplayed our 1-7 set up by the forwards.

 

[aqua_duck]

The more I think about it the less upset I am.

Would have been great to keep him as a 14 but he obviously doesn’t want to be at the club that tried to find him a starting spot so we move on.

Barney to 13 shores up our middle defence and gets him out of the backline. Just need to find a good edge runner. Letting Beau Fermor leave was a really bad decision.

To be fair Fermor was released on compassionate ground due to home sickness, another bloke who I wish we held on to but completely understand why we didn't is Hudson Young.
In terms of Watson, I think the big issue with him as a make shift middle is defensively it's just not very good. As soon as Sue left the field is where their pack really started to gain the ascendancy. Niukore and Papalii had a field day in terms of post contact metres running at Brailey, Watson and Clifford

 

[Yosh]

To be fair Fermor was released on compassionate ground due to home sickness, another bloke who I wish we held on to but completely understand why we didn't is Hudson Young.
In terms of Watson, I think the big issue with him as a make shift middle is defensively it's just not very good. As soon as Sue left the field is where their pack really started to gain the ascendancy. Niukore and Papalii had a field day in terms of post contact metres running at Brailey, Watson and Clifford

Yup. They made Watson and Brailey a target. They would hit it up into where our two big props were and then the very next run (with our props at marker) they would use their big middles to run straight at Watson and Brailey for a bunch of post contact metres and a quick play the ball. Watson and Brailey don't miss many tackles but they do give away a lot of post contact metres and quick play the balls. Not their fault at all though, it's not their job to dominate physically.

 

[Knight Tales]

Always thought getting to week 2 would be a huge progression. I could not see any way us or the eels get past a Penrith desperate to make amends. The fact Penrith lost to a Latrell free Souths could work for Eels.