Match Discussion: Round 4 vs Panthers @ Pepper Stadium

[TooheysNew]

I think we've overestimated how far we've come, most teams are improving, we might be marginally better, but it's incremental, not transformational.

If we don't sign some real quality, we've be cellar dwellers for the duration of our club because our crop of juniors isn't that good anymore.

There he is.

 

[Sydney Knight]

Also the 7 tries to 0

Yes that is like 7 repeat sets

 

[BuderusIsaBeast]

I watched the game at the stadium so I may have missed a few things but the way Penrith played tonight they would of put a lot of points on most teams. We weren't good tonight no doubt about that. But with the young players in our team and the overall skill level there will be games like this when we play the top sides. We have had a really positive start to the year. Let's not let one bad game bring in a wave of negativity that makes these forums miserable

 

[Nuffy]

There he is.

Missed me it seems.

You can pretend or you can see the truth, entirely up to you.

 

[Swarzey]

Forgettable night. Possession starved at times, Panthers are a classy outfit. Nobody stood up when we needed them to in attack; neither Lamb or Hodkinson took control when it was needed. Levi I thought tried to spark something. Few harsh calls, especially in the second half; a try off the back of an absolute dud of a call.

Tonight is a good example of what good teams will do to us if we keep turning the ball over. I don't know, there's still something worth being excited for, I doubt this will be the standard and performances like this will define us. As I said, forgettable night overall.

 

[slotmachine]

Barnett and Buhrer missed a lot of tackles.

Stocky 37 made 0 missed

 

[Swarzey]

And that's a good example of why tonight was just not our night. When are those two going to have such poor efforts in defence again?

 

[Zoidberg]

And that's a good example of why tonight was just not our night. When are those two going to have such poor efforts in defence again?

Proabably next week

 

[slotmachine]

Barnett worked himself to a standstill and was flogged after 15 or 20. I love him but he needs to be a bit smarter, running 10 metres from marker to be the fourth man into a tackle is a huge effort but we need him on the field for 60 minutes, not 40

 

[K-Man]

Aside from getting destroyed up the middle and the diabolical line defence, what constantly concerns me is our attacking structure inside opposition 20. We don't even look close to putting on a decent play at speed. It's just pass pass pass across field, tackled. No pressure, no working to a plan. No shape at all. I know it's not all on Hodko, but I feel he has a lot to answer for. He just doesn't seem capable of leading and getting our structure right.

Perfect example after the Sio break. A decent team scores from there. Our captain and half tries to dive over from dummy half.

 

[Sydney Knight]

In recent years even in the bad times we seem to still roll up the field OK when we have the ball but we really struggle to convert field position into points.

 

[the seagull]

I haven't understood the defensive pattern for years. Newcastle technique of going up and stopping out wide has had me puzzled for years. Teams with playmakers who like to run sideways and ball play like marshall, johnson,milford, penrith halves etc are always going to cut the knights to pieces because we give them too much time to play.

What illustrates this, is some of the tries that the titans scored on the last tackle when no one put pressure when the play went wrong and they had time to keep playing and eventually scored.. This sit back and watch doesn't work. Can we have more speed and aggression with our defensive line and put pressure on playmakers,. What we are currently doing is allowing the playmakers to play in dinner suits.

If we get that right and get a fair go from referees like that useless kiwi, we will improve.

 

[FlameThrower]

I feel for you guys,
Dark times, but there has to be some light at the end of the tunnel.
Hang in there...my Dragons been in wilderness since Bennet left too...

 

[Tom155]

Tough run, cant see many wins there

 

[TooheysNew]

Missed me it seems.

You can pretend or you can see the truth, entirely up to you.

Just think its funny. You're like a worm. We only see you when it rains.

 

[Burns]

Tough run, cant see many wins there

0/5

 

[Glendale]

I feel for you guys,
Dark times, but there has to be some light at the end of the tunnel.
Hang in there...my Dragons been in wilderness since Bennet left too...

You call that "the wilderness"??

Geez I'd love to be up there in the dizzying heights of mediocrity the Dragons have found themselves in. If only our post Bennett era was as good as yours!!

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Tough run, cant see many wins there

To be fair I think we can win against the Bulldogs and Titans. The Bulldogs are aweful in attack and the Titans have looked worse than we have in the first 3 rounds. Given our draw over the next 5 weeks I'll take 2/5 with open arms.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

After watching the game tonight I'm bitterly disappointed. Some of our "tackles" were a disgrace and it looked like boys up against men for most of the match. I'm not quite sure what happened to be honest. I know we were 1/3 from the first few rounds but we weren't being physically beaten up, we lost v Warriors and Souffs because we didn't hold the ball, yet we held our own in the middle. Whereas in this game we got absolutely murdered up the middle. I can't understand why our line-speed was so slow all game. We literally just allowed them to run 10 metres before contact and another 6 or 7 after contact. It was terrible to watch just how inferior we were.

To be fair we're not the only team that Penrith will embarrass like that in 2017, anything less than top 4 for that team will be a serious underachievement and I hope we learn our lesson.

I can forgive the occasional game like this but if we don't turn up with a significantly improved performance next week I'll be really concerned.

 

[mozza91]

You call that "the wilderness"??

Geez I'd love to be up there in the dizzying heights of mediocrity the Dragons have found themselves in. If only our post Bennett era was as good as yours!!

This. St George have won as many games in last last 3 weeks as we have in the last 19 months. They're currently experiencing a mild flu while we're fighting terminal ass cancer.