Match Discussion: Round 16 vs Dragons @ UOW Jubilee Oval

[Johns Magic]

For all his stuff-ups, Feeney still did more good things yesterday than Hodko did all year in first-grade.

 

[perverse]

If we can't get Watson for next year then we need to make Pythian a half. He has a real footy brain and all the skills

As has been said though, leadership is what is lacking. I love Sione but not sure he provides much as captain

Really? I've been really impressed with Sione as captain.

How much does Sione have to do to get everyones approval, I wonder. He's such a fantastic young player with all the right attributes. The biggest problem is figuring out where he should play for mine. I know it's almost cliche to say about him at this point, but he's only just turned 21 (in fact, yesterday was his birthday... it's a shame the team dished up that second half for him). I'd kill to even have 5% of our juniors at 21 years of age be as good as Sione.

I think he will find his feet in the second row, if that hasn't started already. I don't think he's ever going to be a workhorse second rower running 150m+, but he has impact and a smart head on his shoulders... it's not often he takes the wrong option. His line running has been getting better and we all know he can put the hurt on in D (although he needs to get better at picking his moments).

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Sione is like 4th or 5th for us in missed tackles. Needs to work on that.

 

[Johns Magic]

Sione is like 4th or 5th for us in missed tackles. Needs to work on that.

Without taking a look, is that just a function of being the only backrower playing pretty much every week for us?

 

[perverse]

Without taking a look, is that just a function of being the only backrower playing pretty much every week for us?

He's getting it out of his game, but he doesn't mind rushing out of the line and getting a miss or two if he gets to put someone on his arse eventually. Haven't seen him do it much lately, though.

There's a lot of players that miss a lot of tackles through making efforts that other players don't bother with, too.

That's not to say that his D doesn't need work, it does. I don't think there's a single player in our squad that is the complete finished package.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Without taking a look, is that just a function of being the only backrower playing pretty much every week for us?

Nah, he averages 2.6 missed tackles a game, so he's equal 4th for missed tackles. But he also averages about 27 tackles a game which is equal third. So when you look at it like that it isn't too bad, especially looking at gagai who averages 13 tackles a game and 3.4 missed per game which is significantly worse than anyone else in our team. Next worse is lamb with 17 tackles a game and 2.9 missed.

 

[Johns Magic]

Keep in mind that certain positions are expected to have a lower successful tackle ratio.

Some players will have a higher missed tackle ratio than others due to the way they defend as well.

I remember years ago Tigers fans trying to say Farah was a better tackler than Buderus because he always had a much lower missed tackle count. That only happened because Farah was constantly third-man in to tackles whereas Buderus would lead the defensive line and put the initial contact on when a big forward from the opposition was winding up. Think JWH in Buderus's final game.

I'm not necessarily saying this applies to Sione but I don't read into missed tackle stats too much.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Really? I've been really impressed with Sione as captain.

How much does Sione have to do to get everyones approval, I wonder. He's such a fantastic young player with all the right attributes. The biggest problem is figuring out where he should play for mine. I know it's almost cliche to say about him at this point, but he's only just turned 21 (in fact, yesterday was his birthday... it's a shame the team dished up that second half for him). I'd kill to even have 5% of our juniors at 21 years of age be as good as Sione.

I think he will find his feet in the second row, if that hasn't started already. I don't think he's ever going to be a workhorse second rower running 150m+, but he has impact and a smart head on his shoulders... it's not often he takes the wrong option. His line running has been getting better and we all know he can put the hurt on in D (although he needs to get better at picking his moments).

He's a good bloke and a well spoken young man but I'm not seeing much in the way of leadership from him on field with either talking to the refs or reving up the team when they need it

My comments have zero to do with his footy ability, he is consistently one of our best each week, but I do question his suitability right now in leading the team. Given the way the team collapsed in the 2nd half yesterday, it appears noone is

 

[slotmachine]

Without taking a look, is that just a function of being the only backrower playing pretty much every week for us?

If you look at averages;

Buhrer: 38 tackles 1 missed
Sione: 27.1 tackles 2.6 missed
Fitz: 31.3 tackles 1.3 missed
Stone: 27.1 tackles 1.8 missed

 

[Zoidberg]

The thing about yesterday is previously when we've been ahead at half time we've had a small lead and had about 45% or less of the ball then seem to get tired in the 2nd half, we had such a high possession rate in the 1st half yesterday, even though again, we had much less in the 2nd, we should not have gotten fatigued.

 

[Volcom6685]

I don't think it was fatigue. We just couldn't get field position for the majority of the second half. When we did get close we nearly did score. The penalties in the second half definitely made it harder

 

[slotmachine]

Penalties were 7 all.

Most weeks the line is "we got caned by penalties early then the ref squared up the count once the game was over".

Now it's "ref got dragons back in the game with heaps of penalties in the second half".

So, which one is it?

 

[Johns Magic]

Nothing to do with penalties. All to do with this whenever the other team gets a roll-on:

 

[perverse]

If you look at averages;

Buhrer: 38 tackles 1 missed
Sione: 27.1 tackles 2.6 missed
Fitz: 31.3 tackles 1.3 missed
Stone: 27.1 tackles 1.8 missed

Yeah, but even I wouldn't mind getting tackled by Buhrer, Fitz or Stone. I'll be stuffed if I want to be on the other end of Siones shoulder when he gets it right. In all 3 of their cases, they've played a lot less minutes than Sione across the season, too. I could be wrong, but I think Sione has played nearly every minute for us this year? Has he been injured or benched at any point?

None of this is to say that he doesn't need work, though. He certainly does, as does every 21 year old in the comp (many of which still wouldn't have debuted to this day in the forwards). But if you need to reach down to missed tackle averages to criticise Sione, it shows how far he's come from an 18 year old centre, to be honest. There is a tonne of good in his game.

 

[Zoidberg]

Watching Broncos v Storm game and the professional foul 10min sin bin makes a comeback for the exact same thing we had happen against us last week

 

[Burwood]

Watching Broncos v Storm game and the professional foul 10min sin bin makes a comeback for the exact same thing we had happen against us last week

Not to mention the Bulldogs player getting 10 in the bin last night as well.

 

[Zoidberg]

Not to mention the Bulldogs player getting 10 in the bin last night as well.

Oh, I missed that game