Match Discussion: Round 1 vs Warriors @ Mt Smart Stadium

[Mr_Knightside]

Has anyone else watched the post match press conference? To me Nathan Brown looked a bit rattled and pretty upset. Might have had something to do with the Phythian injury. If this is the case then it's great to see a coach care about his player like that. I bet everyone at the club is totally gutted for him.

 

[Caped Crusader]

On form, the u20s fullback had a blinder yesterday.

While i agree he had a good game (i only watched the h'lights and read opinions on here), however i am weary of throwing Meaney into FG for 2 reasons

1. U20s to FG is a huge step up. Weve seen kids carve up there then get monstered in FG

2. He was awful in the 9s, which isnt necessarily a good yard stick but it stood out enough for me to notice just how off the pace he was

 

[Pedge1971]

Has anyone else watched the post match press conference? To me Nathan Brown looked a bit rattled and pretty upset. Might have had something to do with the Phythian injury. If this is the case then it's great to see a coach care about his player like that. I bet everyone at the club is totally gutted for him.

Maybe he is genuinely disappointed with that last 20 mins ofnthe first half. That and our kicking cost us the game. I think he thought we were a genuine chance to win this and it is disappointing.

No excuses for that crap anymore.

 

[Pedge1971]

In his defence, he pretty much got zero ball, no early ball, and didn't have a great deal of opportunity to do a lot today.

We were either very flat in attack or the Warriors line speed was very quick for most of the game or the 10 became very short for them as the game wore on because the halves had little time with the ball in hand before being hit.

Maybe it was a little of all that?

Yep. We should be making a point of giving Gagai as much early ball as possible 1:1. If we do that and he gets worked over then I think we can be critical.

 

[Spot On]

Maybe he is genuinely disappointed with that last 20 mins ofnthe first half. That and our kicking cost us the game. I think he thought we were a genuine chance to win this and it is disappointing.

No excuses for that crap anymore.

He'd have to be genuinely disappinted he gave the side a very good game plan to excute and they f**ked it in 15 mins before half time.

Pythian would be a big blow as he looks like a footballer with some good skills we desperately need.

 

[Burwood]

Hopefully Phythian isn't following the same path as Seage- he was one of my favourite players going back a decade ago and it was devastating to see him be cruelled by injury time after time.

 

[Dave_]

Hopefully Phythian isn't following the same path as Seage- he was one of my favourite players going back a decade ago and it was devastating to see him be cruelled by injury time after time.

Hate to say it but Phythian reminded me of Stage immediately when he got injured. Having a great game and then...

 

[Seage]

I could have been an immortal by now if not for my cursed knees..

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I dont think it was just us. Shaun Johnson was great in attack and he was tearing us open all day...

For me, though, i loved watching this game. Hands down, more enjoyable than any game last year or the year before!!!

I know we collapsed before half time and made a mountain of basic mistakes, but that all seemed like inexperience and young guys getting overwhelmed as the opposition gained momentum.

Even to the end, the whole team looked like they wanted to be there (which is a nice change from teams of the past two years looking like they wanted to be anywhere else).

Im not expecting any miracle GF runs, but if they keep up this energy and develop as a team, we might get be in the race for the 8 at seasons end.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Top 8? Cmon mate.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

I just finished the replay. That ending was TRAGIC!!!!!!

(jaded man i am, i saw the score the other day and just assumed they ran away to 26 and we came back late to make it look respectable)

Honestly, i think we were the better team. Beyond the last 15 minutes of the first half we were on top for most of it.

Our problem was the incomplete sets (something that should improve over time, this side looks bloody young) and not converting the dominance into point (again, im sure the attacking formations will improve over time. The one time i like watching Hodko is when he is giving it to a guy sweeping around behind runners, first time we've had someone who could do that since Johns)

I think the big improvement is around the ruck. We have a pack that looks interested (i think gettting rid of the Sims brothers was a plus for us) and dummyhalves keeping us on the front foot (we havent had that so consistently across a game since Budsy was here)

I cant believe im gonna say it, but im actually looking forward to this season!!!!!

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Top 8? Cmon mate.

Im not making the prediction, but i reckon we'll be somewhere in the middle.

I think we'll at least be on those late-round calculations for who is left that COULD make the 8

 

[Knight76]

Im not making the prediction, but i reckon we'll be somewhere in the middle.

If we win this week in decent fashion then I could be leaning towards agreeing with you.

If we squander our chances and commit too many handling errors again, then we are going to struggle all year.

This game for me, is going to show me what we can expect for the season.

We're at home, against a side not in contention for the title.