Match Discussion: Round 2 vs Warriors @ Central Coast Stadium

[PhilGould]

Taking the tackle as close to the goal line as possible is the smart move in that situation. Why risk a 7 tackle set? Or with our luck, a grubber that goes straight into the the shins of RTS for him to pick it up and run the length.

 

[Frederick]

If Pearce or Brailey ran to the corner I’d understand. But Pearce was tackled about 3m to the right of the posts, then Brailey directly in front of them. It wasn’t a set play, it was Pearce doing his usual ploy of running the ball on the 5th and the team not having another competent playmaker to put a polished end to the set.

I honestly can’t think of another half, let alone one with 299 NRL games experience, who gets tackled on the 5th as often as he does.

Why the corner? The field was soaked. They run to the corner there's the risk of getting dragged or forced over the sideline.

Are you so blinded by your hate of Pearce that you can't admit that taking the tackle as close to the goal line in the middle of the field was the smartest option available?

 

[Mr_Knightside]

That was a really tough win. We had to work hard for that and I’m so glad that we showed that we can win tough against a good team that should be vying for the top 8. Obviously the next step is to perform like that against top 4 sides regularly but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

I thought Pearce overall was pretty good, he came up with some nice kicks and generally managed the game pretty well. I thought that last 2 minutes was fine, we got the ball to 1 metre out from their line and then defended the next well and forced a turnover then held the ball for the final minute to get the win, what else could we ask for.

Re Phoenix and Tex, I was critical of Tex last week and said that I wasn’t sold on him. I’m still not, but he has at least looked pretty safe in these last 2 games. He’s definitely not an attacking weapon which is what a good NRL fullback should be but it’s possible that the coach has asked him to keep it simple and just focus on the basics. It looks like Phoenix is doing the same, his involvement seemed really low in this game but it’s also his first start at 5/8 and there was virtually no ball movement from us in this game at all so I’ll cut him some slack on this one. Hopefully he shows a bit more over the next few weeks.

 

[Burwood]

Why the corner? The field was soaked. They run to the corner there's the risk of getting dragged or forced over the sideline.

Are you so blinded by your hate of Pearce that you can't admit that taking the tackle as close to the goal line in the middle of the field was the smartest option available?

Because the closer to the sideline you are the easier it is to compress your defence and keep the opposition pinned in? I’m pretty sure teams elect to pack scrums center field rather than closer to touch these days because it opens up their attacking options.

And so what if they get dragged into touch- the end result is a play the ball anyway.

I have no hatred for Pearce, but I can’t stand him getting tackled on the 5th 3-4 times a games.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I can see why people are frustrated by Pearce getting tackled on the 4th & 5th but that also comes down to the fact that we just don’t have anyone else who can or is willing to kick in general play. Yes Pearce should have more match awareness at times but it’s also not his fault that no one else (apart from Green) in our squad looks like they’ve never kicked a ball in their life. A halfback should be able to take a run if he sees an opportunity without being blamed when neither the 5/8, fullback or hooker are able to step up and get a decent kick away. Seems more like a systematic problem to me.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Ponga is generally a 2nd kicking option for us when he's there too

Pearce has scored some beauties for us when he's run it late in the tackle count before too. I don't want him to rack that option as he is big and often hard to handle and he's shown it can pay off