Match Discussion: Round 18 vs Canberra @ GIO Stadium Canberra, Bruce / Ngunnawal

[Woody90]

I think the way they went was a better option.

Either way, we won. Great result. Perhaps we should celebrate the wins rather than forever searching for the negatives…

The other good news i suppose is either way we probably won’t see it again as Crossland will be back.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Yes, let's paper over issues and pretend it's all fine just because "we won"

Let's pretend that if not for some very good fortune that Savage knocked on over the line that we wouldn't have won. Tell me, if he scores there and we lose are we allowed to make criticisms then?

Silly me for not realising this was LU and not the forum that shall not be named or FB. I'll have to remember my blue and red glasses next time

 

[mozza91]

They’re just as critical on the other forum as they are here tbh.

We were trash yesterday and didn’t really deserve to win. But we’ll improve and are in a good position to make a run for the 8. We’re not a great team but neither are about other 14 sides in the comp.

 

[slotmachine]

We’re not a great team but neither are about other 14 sides in the comp.

Definitely agree with this, outside the top 3 (and maybe the Broncs if they get Reynolds back and pull their fingers out) we're no better or worse than the rest of the comp on our day.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

I haven't read through the whole thread but f**k moi, Hastings was rubbish yesterday. We seem to always end up with a halfback who does the same thing time and again even though it never works. Pearce/Mullen syndrome with those kicks and fair dinkum, the guy almost looks stop-motion animated he's so damn slow.

With a good halfback, we scored about 3 more tries in that game imo. Absolute number one priority must be to find one asap.

 

[slotmachine]

Absolute number one priority must be to find one asap.

Been said before but good luck with that. The Roosters had the pick of the litter and came up with Townsend.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Definitely agree with this, outside the top 3 (and maybe the Broncs if they get Reynolds back and pull their fingers out) we're no better or worse than the rest of the comp on our day.

Very true. 3 good teams which unsurprisingly have the best halves/spine. There's a general dearth in quality halves across the comp and most sides play a similar style due to that imo.

 

[Walk On Home Boy]

Been said before but good luck with that. The Roosters had the pick of the litter and came up with Townsend.

Yeah, I know it's rough across the game re: halves... but still, it's the difference between us being mid or contending for the title.

 

[Woody90]

Been said before but good luck with that. The Roosters had the pick of the litter and came up with Townsend.

Yep. We really need to double down and produce one/find a gun young one because we’re not going to sign an established halfback. Other than Cleary most of the good ones are approaching their mid 30s which means there’s going to be even more demand in a couple of years.

I wish we had a better halfback than Hastings but we need to face it that he’s probably as good as we’re going to get for at least the next 2 years. We need Gamble/Pryce, Ponga and Crossland to do more kicking though because his kicking game is atrocious.

 

[Apey]

They’re just as critical on the other forum as they are here tbh.

We were trash yesterday and didn’t really deserve to win. But we’ll improve and are in a good position to make a run for the 8. We’re not a great team but neither are about other 14 sides in the comp.

The good thing is Raiders didn't deserve to win either. We gave them every opportunity to do so.

 

[mozza91]

The good thing is Raiders didn't deserve to win either. We gave them every opportunity to do so.

The Raiders were amazing and would of won by 50+ if not for Gerard Sutton
Source: Skeepe

 

[slotmachine]

I wish we had a better halfback than Hastings but we need to face it that he’s probably as good as we’re going to get for at least the next 2 years.

He can negotiate with other clubs in about 3.5 months time yet the knights don't seem in a rush to extend him.

 

[Knight Tales]

I can't be f**ked reading the whole thread to see if it's been mentioned or not, but Pryce made 31 tackles with only 1 miss. Yeah he had some absolute clangers in attack, but if he can keep defending like that then I think he's got a long career in FG ahead of him

It is an incredible stat when all you heard was how poor he is in defence. On several occasions he was clearly exhausted. So the defence and fatigue may have led to the clangers.

 

[perverse]

He can negotiate with other clubs in about 3.5 months time yet the knights don't seem in a rush to extend him.

Which will turn into good news once we have a viable replacement. Hopefully we're not getting ourselves in a situation where we end up holding a big wad of cash and no-one to take it.

Fear of that happening isn't a good reason to re-sign Hastings either, though.

Considering our roster as it stands right now, and with the noise of who we're looking to move on, I can see a very critical 12-18 months here on the recruitment/retention front. If we get it right, there's a real opportunity to go up a level. There's a lot of good ingredients around in the squad. Gotta get that spine right, most importantly.

 

[Yosh]

Which will turn into good news once we have a viable replacement. Hopefully we're not getting ourselves in a situation where we end up holding a big wad of cash and no-one to take it.

Fear of that happening isn't a good reason to re-sign Hastings either, though.

Considering our roster as it stands right now, and with the noise of who we're looking to move on, I can see a very critical 12-18 months here on the recruitment/retention front. If we get it right, there's a real opportunity to go up a level. There's a lot of good ingredients around in the squad. Gotta get that spine right, most importantly.

Thankfully we have Parr and O'Sullivan who are basically the best in the business at what they do. Can't wait till we are a competent and competitive team again.

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

With a good halfback, we scored about 3 more tries in that game imo. Absolute number one priority must be to find one asap.

I suspect ( or is that hope) that's why we are clearing the decks of deadwood, going to market for a playmaker or additional quality in the spine. Who that will be I have no idea.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

They’re just as critical on the other forum as they are here tbh.

We were trash yesterday and didn’t really deserve to win. But we’ll improve and are in a good position to make a run for the 8. We’re not a great team but neither are about other 14 sides in the comp.

I can’t really agree with the whole “we didn’t deserve to win” thing…

Normally in sport the team that is ahead on the scoreboard at the end of the match is the deserved winner of the contest. Sometimes it can be so close and such high quality that you feel like neither team deserved to lose, but I thought we were the better side yesterday. We scored 3 legit tries that were a result of good buildup play and the raiders scored 2 tries, one of which was off an intercept + offload and was against the run of play.

Whilst the wheels definitely fell off in the final 20 mins we at least defended with plenty of desperation and the Raiders had plenty of chances to ice the game but we held them out.

I totally agree that we didn’t play that well but we deserved to win, no doubt about it.

 

[mozza91]

I can’t really agree with the whole “we didn’t deserve to win” thing…

Normally in sport the team that is ahead on the scoreboard at the end of the match is the deserved winner of the contest. Sometimes it can be so close and such high quality that you feel like neither team deserved to lose, but I thought we were the better side yesterday. We scored 3 legit tries that were a result of good buildup play and the raiders scored 2 tries, one of which was off an intercept + offload and was against the run of play.

Whilst the wheels definitely fell off in the final 20 mins we at least defended with plenty of desperation and the Raiders had plenty of chances to ice the game but we held them out.

I totally agree that we didn’t play that well but we deserved to win, no doubt about it.

Not saying the Raiders were any better. We were just so poor at the end I don’t think we deserved to win either.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

TBF we did enough in the first 60 mins to earn the win. At least our defence remained strong despite how diabolical our attack and overall game management was in the final 20 mins. I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if we had let it slip and lost in the dying minutes (which we almost did) but we put ourselves in a position to defend the lead, which we somehow managed to do. I’d rather that instead of us chasing the game in the final minutes, we at least had earned the right to be in the lead by that stage and did just enough to hold on…

 

[Alex28]

I suspect ( or is that hope) that's why we are clearing the decks of deadwood, going to market for a playmaker or additional quality in the spine. Who that will be I have no idea.

The problem is that there isn’t anyone out there. Are we better off hanging on to Jacko for a year rather than getting pressured into a Lachlan Ilias or Sean O’Sullivan?

Yes, the position is a problem, however it’s a problem for a number of clubs and there really isn’t much choice out there.