Match Discussion: Round 9 vs Rabbitohs @ McDonald Jones Stadium

[Pedge1971]

I actually took a lot away from tonight. At 12 nil after 5 mins I thought we were in for a 50 point loss.

We counter attack from our own end bloody well. And much of that came from our spine. Clearly Ponga is special but saw a lot of sharp stuff from Coggs and Watson. On the back foot that kept us in the game in the 1st half.

I dont know the answer but goal kicking is killing us. Turning solid wins into cliffhangers and competitive losses into thrashings.

On the back foot most of the night in the fwds but full credit to Souths. You complete at 90% and you typically win. Too much size and with that ball hard to beat.

Our right edge defence has been bad all year. Has to improve and think it can. Cannot see Sio playing that bad again so will leave it at that.

What encourages me is that without Pearce we still have the ability to score tries from anywhere and if we can improve our resilience in defence when the opposition has repeat sets we can win.

Very enjoyable game of footy. Closer game than the result suggests.

 

[Yosh]

I'm so glad it's not all gloom and doom in here. Very encouraging but disappointing game that. Most points covered already but just wanted to say that was the worst kicking performance I have seen from a side in a while. No pressure with our kicks at all. I can't remember a kick that did anything but hand the ball over.

Goal kicking needs to be fixed asap. Not just the points but the psychological effect it has on the game is killing us... 4 tries to 6 but we get blown out...

Thought our forwards didn't do enough for us today.. Of course they were a much more talented pack but the twins need to bring more aggression to the game and the likes of Barnett needs to do more than drop balls... I think Yates could have brought something different and some more aggro in the middle... As much as I like the experince Heighington and Lillyman has brought to the team, we are much better with only one of them in the side.

Sione and SKD were great today. Hope we get to see them get more early ball like today. Lovely first try by SKD, that line break was magnificent!

We still two months away from Pearce? I felt that with Pearce there today we would have won that game easy.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I think the really annoying part of last night is that we should be winning games when we score 4 or more tries. Realistically we should have had 5 if Sio plants the ball down 1 second earlier but we still would have lost.

Our attack is good enough to beat the lower table and mid table teams and we've probably gotten away with a couple more wins than we should have because our attack is pretty dynamic and we've been able to steal a few games at the death but we will continue to get hammered by the top teams while we defend the way we do.

As others have mentioned Souths completed at 94% last night and they still threw the ball around and played footy with it. They probably could have beaten anyone last night to be honest. Still it's a shame it wasn't closer.

 

[slotmachine]

Our attack is good enough to beat the lower table and mid table teams and we've probably gotten away with a couple more wins than we should have because our attack is pretty dynamic and we've been able to steal a few games at the death but we will continue to get hammered by the top teams while we defend the way we do.

100% spot on

 

[Spot On]

Agreed. It starts with defence. We have proven we just aren't very good at it.

Scary thing will be the scorelines if (God forbid) we lose Ponga for an extended period.

 

[Old dog]

Just mean we would score and threaten less but wouldn't necessarily mean we let more in, the defence problems are up front

 

[Old dog]

The game highlighted a problem with goal kicking,month think either Ponga or Sio will be an 5/6 kicker unless we score all tries and receive penalties under the posts. No recognised kicker in reserves, Lamb injured, so no solution in sight.
Lamb is our best kicker, goals and general play, might be a case of necessity that he comes back, injury and form depending

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The game highlighted a problem with goal kicking,month think either Ponga or Sio will be an 5/6 kicker unless we score all tries and receive penalties under the posts. No recognised kicker in reserves, Lamb injured, so no solution in sight.
Lamb is our best kicker, goals and general play, might be a case of necessity that he comes back, injury and form depending

100% Lamb has to come back in ASAP, even if it's just for the goal kicking if nothing else. Otherwise we're throwing away 4-6 points a game by not having a decent goal kicker, given where we're at as a side right now we can't afford to not take every point we can get.

Also on the genera play kicking, I've got nothing against Cogger because he's having a go but his kicking game just isn't at an NRL level yet. I know Lamb was poor a few weeks back but I would hope a spell in reserve grade would help him find some form. Fingers crossed he's not injured for long.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I’ve changed my mind on lillyman. Give him a bench spot at best. His stats again were terrible for a starting prop.

What’s Lamb done to himself and when will he be back? I think as a halfback he offers the team reasonable structure. Playing second fiddle to Pearce doesn’t help his game, whereas Watson is more suited to that role imo.

 

[Spot On]

Just mean we would score and threaten less but wouldn't necessarily mean we let more in, the defence problems are up front

Not sure about what it would mean defensively re the amount of points the opposition would score should we lose Ponga but that was far from my point.

The point was....... say last night's game as an example - we would have pretty much been beaten 38 blot if Ponga didn't play as he really is our only spark in attack.

I think it could have been worse in that case too but we can argue over that when it happens.

That said, Watson is starting to show what he will be capable of as well. Looked good running the ball last night.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

I missed it live and just watched the first half.
Our performance was good but burnt by those early tries and the goalkicking.
Lack of focus at the start. We need to be firing straight off.
I'm really impressed by SKD.
Sio *can* kick. He kicked well in reserves. Ponga can kick too.
They are both out of touch. We need a kicking coach to spend major time with them.
What can happen with that is that they are taught how to kick again from the start.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

What a load of crap.
The first try is the same old story from Sione jamming in tackling no one.
He did the exact same last night for GI last try as well.
He gets lucky at times and ppl start praising him as a good defender rofl.
What bout his play when he got in the way in our first real attacking opportunity?
Cost us a try right there.
Absolute amateur.
Many will be blaming Sio for last night but it was Sione that cost us the game in the first 15 mins.

Everyone predicted the Rabbitohs to get the wooden spoon this year and we just got belted by them.
Just not good enough.

People also predicted Dragons and Warriors had no chance of making the 8. Pre-season predictions mean nothing.

 

[perverse]

What a load of crap.
The first try is the same old story from Sione jamming in tackling no one.
He did the exact same last night for GI last try as well.
He gets lucky at times and ppl start praising him as a good defender rofl.
What bout his play when he got in the way in our first real attacking opportunity?
Cost us a try right there.
Absolute amateur.
Many will be blaming Sio for last night but it was Sione that cost us the game in the first 15 mins.

Everyone predicted the Rabbitohs to get the wooden spoon this year and we just got belted by them.
Just not good enough.

On Souths first try, they had miles of room out the back because half the team jammed in on a George Burgess decoy run - and it was probably a mandate from the coach to get bodies behind the Burgii. Sione made the wrong decision too, but even if he made the right one it's still 3 on 2 out the back with about half the field of space between the ball and the sideline. The only other try to be scored on our right side was the final one after the game was done and dusted, and again it was 3 or even 4 on 2 on that side out the back. Souths scored way more points up the middle, and just as many on the right as they did on the left.

What about the 2 try assists and the try he scored turning GI inside out? What about the overlaps he actually managed to shut down jamming in? As we all already know, you're an absolute plonker. He did a lot more right last night than he did wrong, and was one of the last blokes on the field you could say cost us the game.

Souths played well enough to go toe to toe with any team in the comp last night. Their completions were outstanding, and they threw a lot of good shape at us at speed. You could say their defence wasn't crash hot, but Ponga can and will make any defensive line in the comp look a bit silly if he gets some ball in good field position.

 

[perverse]

Sione cost us the game in the first 15mins.
Brown even mentioned we lost the game in the first half of the game.
Rabbitohs could’ve put 50 on us if they didn’t play conservative after going 12 nil up.
Play out the back all night to Sione’s edge and it’s a try all day everyday.
The only time Sione makes a tackle is when the opposition hits the lead runner.
It’s a bloody disgrace.

You know, I try to engage in a real conversation with you - choosing not to just jump on the bandwagon of shitting all over you that most posters are happy to take by default... but at the end of the day it's a waste of time. You haven't refuted or challenged anything I've said, just parroted the same old bullshit. You're either thick as shit or just flat out baiting (or both) - and I can't be bothered with either.

 

[Frederick]

You know, I try to engage in a real conversation with you - choosing not to just jump on the bandwagon of shitting all over you that most posters are happy to take by default... but at the end of the day it's a waste of time. You haven't refuted or challenged anything I've said, just parroted the same old bullshit. You're either thick as shit or just flat out baiting (or both) - and I can't be bothered with either.

Honestly, if I've told them once, I've told them a thousand time...close the bloody door behind you, or else any old riff Raff will come wandering in. Damn kids

 

[Pedge1971]

On Souths first try, they had miles of room out the back because half the team jammed in on a George Burgess decoy run - and it was probably a mandate from the coach to get bodies behind the Burgii. Sione made the wrong decision too, but even if he made the right one it's still 3 on 2 out the back with about half the field of space between the ball and the sideline. The only other try to be scored on our right side was the final one after the game was done and dusted, and again it was 3 or even 4 on 2 on that side out the back. Souths scored way more points up the middle, and just as many on the right as they did on the left.

What about the 2 try assists and the try he scored turning GI inside out? What about the overlaps he actually managed to shut down jamming in? As we all already know, you're an absolute plonker. He did a lot more right last night than he did wrong, and was one of the last blokes on the field you could say cost us the game.

Souths played well enough to go toe to toe with any team in the comp last night. Their completions were outstanding, and they threw a lot of good shape at us at speed. You could say their defence wasn't crash hot, but Ponga can and will make any defensive line in the comp look a bit silly if he gets some ball in good field position.

Totally agree. I dont think Souths have been given enough credit for their control of the ball and attack. They gave us nothing.