NRL 360

[giboz71]

So you are saying that Trent Robinson and Wayne Bennett are wrong?
Trents team is on top of the ladder and Wayne has been one of the greatest coaches of all time.

Wayne used to have Matty Head sitting on the pine for the whole 80. I remember Ch 9 even did a story about it.

Didn’t seem to hurt us when we won the minor premiership that year.

 

[Old Timer]

Wayne used to have Matty Head sitting on the pine for the whole 80. I remember Ch 9 even did a story about it.

Didn’t seem to hurt us when we won the minor premiership that year.

Were there not more interchanges allowed back then?

 

[dannyt]

Not getting game time from the bench hasn't been a problem for Mann or Leilua in the recent past.

Trent Robinson has had a bench player sit on the bench for 80 minutes for the last 3 weeks. Bennett also uses the Broncos bench in a similar fashion.

There's some merit in using the bench in this way when your team is set and big games are coming.

Unfortunately, mary does this from week 1. Wasted opportunity in not giving promising youngsters valuable FG minutes in early games. This is how you develop a squad. Ric Charlesworth did this better than anyone

 

[possm]

Each NRL coach is accountable for his decisions - except for Mary. Other successful coaches may make decisions regarding use of the bench some of which are similar to Mary however, in the end over the season they lead to success. The Broncos and Roosters did not fall in a heap half way through the season after being undefeated early on and actually leading the competition at the halfway mark.

This season and last season, Mary has employed the same game plan which delivered a similar result. This is despite the experienced gained and a significant upgrade to our playing squad. What is worse is that Mary, the CEO and the Board think that all is OK; no need for change.

The NRL upgraded is salary cap contribution form approximately 7m to approximately 9m, that's 2m more for the Dragons to use on player payments. Can anyone on here see a 2m improvement in our playing squad? No doubt decisions were made to frontend some player contracts to make it easier to fit under the cap in the future, normally I would applaud such a more however, such a move should not be done at the expense of the current year's squad having the depth quality to compete for the title this year. Clearly fault is shared by the Board, Management and the Coaching Staff. Boy, we sure do need a cleanout.

 

[My man Gasnier]

Wayne used to have Matty Head sitting on the pine for the whole 80. I remember Ch 9 even did a story about it.

Didn’t seem to hurt us when we won the minor premiership that year.

Tragedy though because Matty Head was a gun when fit.

 

[My man Gasnier]

Each NRL coach is accountable for his decisions - except for Mary. Other successful coaches may make decisions regarding use of the bench some of which are similar to Mary however, in the end over the season they lead to success. The Broncos and Roosters did not fall in a heap half way through the season after being undefeated early on and actually leading the competition at the halfway mark.

This season and last season, Mary has employed the same game plan which delivered a similar result. This is despite the experienced gained and a significant upgrade to our playing squad. What is worse is that Mary, the CEO and the Board think that all is OK; no need for change.

The NRL upgraded is salary cap contribution form approximately 7m to approximately 9m, that's 2m more for the Dragons to use on player payments. Can anyone on here see a 2m improvement in our playing squad? No doubt decisions were made to frontend some player contracts to make it easier to fit under the cap in the future, normally I would applaud such a more however, such a move should not be done at the expense of the current year's squad having the depth quality to compete for the title this year. Clearly fault is shared by the Board, Management and the Coaching Staff. Boy, we sure do need a cleanout.

Did I miss the end of the season? Not sure how you can say the roosters and Broncos have had a successful season when it hasn't ended? The way I see it is we're having a much better season than Brisbane so far. Bennett can't even get them playing consistently week to week and if they have a bad loss to the roosters, they will be in danger of missing the 8!

The roosters had a bad slip up last week and are notorious chokers in prelim finals.

Do the smart thing and reserve your judgement until the end of the season.

 

[possm]

Did I miss the end of the season? Not sure how you can say the roosters and Broncos have had a successful season when it hasn't ended? The way I see it is we're having a much better season than Brisbane so far. Bennett can't even get them playing consistently week to week and if they have a bad loss to the roosters, they will be in danger of missing the 8!

The roosters had a bad slip up last week and are notorious chokers in prelim finals.

Do the smart thing and reserve your judgement until the end of the season.

All I can say is that both of these teams would give us a real caning in the backs unless something is done to address the make-up of our backline. I am sure most on here would agree that while we have been in decline since the halfway mark of the competition, Both the Broncos and the Roosters have been improving.

I've seen this movie before and absolutely hate the sequal being played this year..

 

[My man Gasnier]

All I can say is that both of these teams would give us a real caning in the backs unless something is done to address the make-up of our backline. I am sure most on here would agree that while we have been in decline since the halfway mark of the competition, Both the Broncos and the Roosters have been improving.

I've seen this movie before and absolutely hate the sequal being played this year..

The Broncos are 6-4 since round 13 and we're 5-5. Not a huge difference.

The roosters are by far the best team on paper, mate. There isn't much we can do about that. But they only try to buy premierships and that is their downfall.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Neither of your questions relate to your initial point of saying Mann and Leilua are in the team due to injury, now all of a sudden you're trying to make it look like you said the starting 13. Like I've already pointed out, leilua's bench spot was being used to blood rookies each week until after the storm game when Mary said with finals coming up someone would fill that role permanently. Leilua did just that.

Still didn't answer my questions. Just side stepped them.
Absolutely relevant to my original statement.
All you are doing is making assumptions about the 17th spot.
Mary hardly uses the 17th man anyway.
Vaughn's injury opened the door for Leilua.
Wddop's injury gave Mann's a chance to start instead of being wasted on the bench.
Lomax, Lawrie and Robson are not given game time to prove what they can do.
It just demoralizes the young guys when they play 7 minutes or the like.
You are welcome to blindly supporting Mary but he has been negligent in his use of the bench, selecting the team on form and induction of the younger stars.
The only way any them get a run is if there is an injury. Fact.
Right now there are 2 important injuries that have opened up places in the team.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

The Broncos are 6-4 since round 13 and we're 5-5. Not a huge difference.

The roosters are by far the best team on paper, mate. There isn't much we can do about that. But they only try to buy premierships and that is their downfall.

I love the way you rationalize things.
The Broncos have always only been hovering around eighth position so there 5-5 record is consistent with their ladder position.
We on the other hand have led the comp until round 16 and have slid down the ladder with a 4-6 record.
Hardly an objective comparison.
Only comment about Easts that is relevant is that they are building their title assault on their defence.
They are well coached and deserve to be one of the favourites.
I am sure Souths and Melbourne will have plenty to say about their chances though.

 

[Warabrook saint]

Did I miss the end of the season? Not sure how you can say the roosters and Broncos have had a successful season when it hasn't ended? The way I see it is we're having a much better season than Brisbane so far. Bennett can't even get them playing consistently week to week and if they have a bad loss to the roosters, they will be in danger of missing the 8!

The roosters had a bad slip up last week and are notorious chokers in prelim finals.

Do the smart thing and reserve your judgement until the end of the season.

The dramatic fall by us these past couple months is undeniable and unacceptable

 

[My man Gasnier]

I love the way you rationalize things.
The Broncos have always only been hovering around eighth position so there 5-5 record is consistent with their ladder position.
We on the other hand have led the comp until round 16 and have slid down the ladder with a 4-6 record.
Hardly an objective comparison.
Only comment about Easts that is relevant is that they are building their title assault on their defence.
They are well coached and deserve to be one of the favourites.
I am sure Souths and Melbourne will have plenty to say about their chances though.

Exactly right, we started the season well and proved what we can do. We lead the completion until round 16. We're a good side, better than Bennett coached Brisbane. Did you get a chance to read the possm quote? Brisbane aren't improving at all. That was my point.

 

[My man Gasnier]

The dramatic fall by us these past couple months is undeniable and unacceptable

Dramatic fall from 1st to 4th...

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Exactly right, we started the season well and proved what we can do. We lead the completion until round 16. We're a good side, better than Bennett coached Brisbane. Did you get a chance to read the possm quote? Brisbane aren't improving at all. That was my point.

I am pretty sure I understand.
Brisbane has not improved which supports their 5-5 recent record and we are a good side but are going backwards.
Bennett doesn't have to prove anything to anyone.
Are you suggesting that McGregor is a better coach than Bennett because of our relative positions on the ladder?
Or another question - do you think we would beat Brisbane right now?
As Possum rightly points out, we are watching a sequel of the last 3 years.
So what's your point?

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Dramatic fall from 1st to 4th...

Pretty dramatic when you consider the other 3 teams in the 4
None of them have stumbled like we have and NONE of them get flogged by big scores.
Even if they lose, it is usually in a gritty close contest.
So far results are going our way because Penrith have also collapsed.
With Canterbury and Newcastle to go, there is no excuse not be in the 4.
Like you said, we are a good side.

 

[Crush]

Pretty dramatic when you consider the other 3 teams in the 4
None of them have stumbled like we have and NONE of them get flogged by big scores.
Even if they lose, it is usually in a gritty close contest.
So far results are going our way because Penrith have also collapsed.
With Canterbury and Newcastle to go, there is no excuse not be in the 4.
Like you said, we are a good side.

Rabbits got done by 20 last week against Broncos and got beaten convincingly by Tigers a few weeks back.

 

[Warabrook saint]

Dramatic fall from 1st to 4th...

We were 1st for 16 rounds straight barr one week we were equal 1st

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Rabbits got done by 20 last week against Broncos and got beaten convincingly by Tigers a few weeks back.

OK Crush
I'm happy to go along.
Just compare those two losses against our flogging at the hands of Parramatta (who got done by the Cowboys by a cricket score last night with the same team), the collapse and surrender at the hands of a Melbourne side missing 7 regulars and flogging by Easts.
So look at the trend for these teams not isolated results.

 

[The Damo]

Still didn't answer my questions. Just side stepped them.
Absolutely relevant to my original statement.
All you are doing is making assumptions about the 17th spot.
Mary hardly uses the 17th man anyway.
Vaughn's injury opened the door for Leilua.
Wddop's injury gave Mann's a chance to start instead of being wasted on the bench.
Lomax, Lawrie and Robson are not given game time to prove what they can do.
It just demoralizes the young guys when they play 7 minutes or the like.
You are welcome to blindly supporting Mary but he has been negligent in his use of the bench, selecting the team on form and induction of the younger stars.
The only way any them get a run is if there is an injury. Fact.
Right now there are 2 important injuries that have opened up places in the team.

Few things I’d answer here - first, yes Mary’s use of the bench leave a lot to be desired, both in terms of tactics in game and long term strategy blooding younger players.
However - Luc was being given time on field early in the year, but his defence and fitness weren’t up to scratch. Went back to reserves, and has improved both significantly. He was back on the bench befor Paul got injured, been in team since round 16, minutes were 28, 80, 17, 80, played 24 mins vs roosters.
Mann had a regular role resting Jack for the first part of the year, probably averaged 20/25 minutes then. IMO It probably would’ve been better for him to be on the wing and have Lawrie or Sele in that role, but it was effective.
Whether being played for 7 minutes demoralised players is pure speculation. None of us know either way.
Seibold has had a utility getting limited minutes on his bench most of the year too. Storm not that dissimilar with how they’ve used Stimson. Major diffference is the average mins for other teams is probably 4-7 minutes more, and they’ve been used in general more intelligently. But you can find quite a few games for both those teams where 1 player got 0 mins, and plenty under 10 mins.
It’s not a fact the only way they get a run is injury. If you go through how other teams do it, it’s very often dictated by injury and suspensions too. Mary is too conservative bringing them through I agree, and he needed to trust the younger players more and earlier.

 

[Crush]

OK Crush
I'm happy to go along.
Just compare those two losses against our flogging at the hands of Parramatta (who got done by the Cowboys by a cricket score last night with the same team), the collapse and surrender at the hands of a Melbourne side missing 7 regulars and flogging by Easts.
So look at the trend for these teams not isolated results.

The flogging against parra was unforgivable and an absolute low point.
The game against storm I don't mind, we too were missing our many origin players and we were in that game up until the last 15 minutes.
The Easts game was disappointing and showed we are nowhere near them at the moment.
We have definitely fallen apart this year again but I am hoping we now get our shit back together and show the form we had in the first 10 weeks. That still btw won't be enough to win the comp probably but at least we would be going down swinging.