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Match Discussion: Round 8 vs Sydney @ McDonald Jones Stadium

Who will win? Round 8: Newcastle v Sydney


  • Total voters
    7
  • Poll closed .

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112

You guys seen/heard this? Embarrassing... If I was AOB I would have this turned on all week everywhere at the club.

Lack of talent is one thing but lacking effort is unacceptable. Our set plays are slow because one half is 300 years old on one knee and the other literally can't make a spiral pass but the whole side should be the first to jump on a loose ball and should contest every high ball etc.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing that!

I think we need to stop selling Newcastle as a place that loves their footy and their players. Maybe that does make them come here and think I can just do 30 tackles or run 100m and some bloke will buy me a beer at the pub.
 
Messages
3,663
Does anyone think Bennett would see us as unfinished business now WESTS have taken over? With him OC I would not put it past him to at least let them know he is open to offers if they decide AOB is not working out.
No.
I don't think he'd come near the place. I reckon there was conflict behind the scenes.
 
Messages
3,663
Does anyone think Bennett would see us as unfinished business now WESTS have taken over? With him OC I would not put it past him to at least let them know he is open to offers if they decide AOB is not working out.
No.
I don't think he'd come near the place. I reckon there was conflict behind the scenes.
 

Mr_Knightside

Juniors
Messages
2,155
Big no to Bennett ever coming back here. It didn’t work out for a multitude of reasons and I don’t think the fans would ever accept him again after everything that went on. Besides why would Bennett come back here anyway? It would be like going back to an abusive relationship.
 

Mr_Knightside

Juniors
Messages
2,155
It's why I find calls for a more expansive game plan baffling.

They can't run five one-out hit ups and get a kick away without f**king something up.

I was one of the people calling for a “more expansive game plan” but allow me to clarify because I think it has been misinterpreted.

I’m not expecting the coaching staff to come up with complex set plays or moves involving our whole backline or anything like that but I want to see us play a more up-tempo brand of footy. Meaning we have bodies in motion and whenever a player takes the ball to the defensive line there are at least a couple of guys running alongside him to at least give us the option of passing or offloading the ball.

Sometimes you see our forwards looking for an offload yet the rest of our team is cooling their heels about 5 metres back just waiting for the next play, Watson is probably the only exception to that. So I’m not surprised when we go through a whole game with about 3 offloads from our whole team because no one is there giving these guys the option to pass.

We’ve seen the Saifitis, Klem, Barney and Frizell all offload before but it looks like it’s either being coached out of them or they must look at their teammates and think that no one is in position to create an opportunity with it.

I assume that we’ll have Crossland or Hoy (or both) in the halves over the next little while which isn’t ideal and I can’t see either of them standing up and dominating a game but this is where we have a bit of an opportunity to come up with a game style that utilises the skills of other players rather than just relying on Pearce/Ponga which has been the main focal point of our attack for a few years now.

Back in round 3 against the tigers DSaf threw a great short ball to Watson who cut right through a gap and set Pearce up under the posts. It was a really simple play but it was based on having multiple guys running at the defensive line together. We have barely seen anything like that since then which makes no sense to me. Surely this simple and very basic concept should be apparent to our coaching staff.

I can’t see us winning many more games (or any more games at all) by playing the predictable game style that we have been so why not mix it up a bit and play a bit more off the cuff? We have a team with Ponga, Watson and Mann who are all excellent broken field runners so why we don’t at least try and create more opportunities around the ruck is a complete mystery to me.

Anyway I’m not saying this fixes everything but we can’t keep turning up and playing the same way every week because teams have us worked out already.
 

macavity

Referee
Messages
20,318
I was one of the people calling for a “more expansive game plan” but allow me to clarify because I think it has been misinterpreted.

I’m not expecting the coaching staff to come up with complex set plays or moves involving our whole backline or anything like that but I want to see us play a more up-tempo brand of footy. Meaning we have bodies in motion and whenever a player takes the ball to the defensive line there are at least a couple of guys running alongside him to at least give us the option of passing or offloading the ball.

Sometimes you see our forwards looking for an offload yet the rest of our team is cooling their heels about 5 metres back just waiting for the next play, Watson is probably the only exception to that. So I’m not surprised when we go through a whole game with about 3 offloads from our whole team because no one is there giving these guys the option to pass.

We’ve seen the Saifitis, Klem, Barney and Frizell all offload before but it looks like it’s either being coached out of them or they must look at their teammates and think that no one is in position to create an opportunity with it.

I assume that we’ll have Crossland or Hoy (or both) in the halves over the next little while which isn’t ideal and I can’t see either of them standing up and dominating a game but this is where we have a bit of an opportunity to come up with a game style that utilises the skills of other players rather than just relying on Pearce/Ponga which has been the main focal point of our attack for a few years now.

Back in round 3 against the tigers DSaf threw a great short ball to Watson who cut right through a gap and set Pearce up under the posts. It was a really simple play but it was based on having multiple guys running at the defensive line together. We have barely seen anything like that since then which makes no sense to me. Surely this simple and very basic concept should be apparent to our coaching staff.

I can’t see us winning many more games (or any more games at all) by playing the predictable game style that we have been so why not mix it up a bit and play a bit more off the cuff? We have a team with Ponga, Watson and Mann who are all excellent broken field runners so why we don’t at least try and create more opportunities around the ruck is a complete mystery to me.

Anyway I’m not saying this fixes everything but we can’t keep turning up and playing the same way every week because teams have us worked out already.

we go through the same pattern over and over - we do stupid stuff early, have no ball, do heaps of tackling (while giving up 60-70m a set so defending an attacking kick every set) and have no energy to attack.

we get momentum against us 5mins in every game and it just compounds.
 

Zoidberg

First Grade
Messages
6,154
The common theory is, complete your sets and you’ll have a good chance of winning the game. I don’t think it means, do nothing with the ball to make sure you complete your sets, more like, play footy and make sure you still complete.
 

Mr_Knightside

Juniors
Messages
2,155
we go through the same pattern over and over - we do stupid stuff early, have no ball, do heaps of tackling (while giving up 60-70m a set so defending an attacking kick every set) and have no energy to attack.

we get momentum against us 5mins in every game and it just compounds.

This leads me to our other big problem which is that we are way too passive in our defence. When was the last time one of our forwards put a genuine shot on someone and forced the ball free? It sure didn’t happen against the Roosters. Not to mention when we do get an attacking kick in we never actually keep our opponents in the 20-30m zone. We just let them march up field and kick it back into our in goal up the other end. We must be the worst team in the comp at wrestling the momentum back from another team.
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,769
And when they do put in a big effort and look to have pinned the opposition down in the 20m, it’s uncanny how often on the 4th there’s a lapse in concentration and suddenly the ball is on the half way. Even maintaining that intensity over 6 tackles can often prove too much.
 

TooheysNew

Coach
Messages
1,047
You can dismiss Ramien as being a dickhead, but it looks like that was only an issue he had with us- he seems to be quite happy playing at Cronulla and getting quality early ball from quite ordinary halves the likes of Moylan and Townsend.
Dont be so sure. They didn't bring Chambers in for just what he adds on the football field
 

Jono078

Referee
Messages
21,112
Just seen this was Sue's 150th NRL game.. Typical of us to fold on a milestone.

From this day forward I'll be betting against us in a milestone game. When's our next?

EDIT: Mitch Barnett has his 100th next week against the Tigers. What a shitshow that's going to be.
 
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