NSW- time to regather and look ahead to Game 3...

[Joker's Wild]

Why put this pressure on a young bloke who plays for the club I support? There is much more downside to selecting him now.

The obvious issue was possession. Leads to territory up the middle as opposition defence tires and is continually on the back foot.

Game 1: NSW forwards dominate. With forward momentum and QLD defensive line backpedalling, Maloney has time to hit good kicks into space and also create breaks and tries. Cronk & Thurston looked like suburban amateurs. QLD outside backs got no ball.

Game 2: QLD forwards dominate, even more so than NSW forwards did in Game 1. Cronk & Thurston look like legends again. Deliver good quality ball to outside backs and have time to execute kicks.

Its simply not that cut and dry mate

NSW had possession, limited but they had it and squandered every opportunity through poor options and even poorer execution. Some of Pearces passing and kicking was sub NSWCup standard.

The change needs to happen now if we are a chance of winning this series. There is simply no point in waiting until next year

 

[big hit!]

Its simply not that cut and dry mate

NSW had possession, limited but they had it and squandered every opportunity through poor options and even poorer execution. Some of Pearces passing and kicking was sub NSWCup standard.

Like the standard Cronk and Thurston were at in Game 1. Basically, the standard Thurston is at every week with malfunctioning NQ forward pack.

The change needs to happen now if we are a chance of winning this series. There is simply no point in waiting until next year

Not a huge supporter of Maloney and Pearce prior to the series, but they are there now.

Bringing in two new halves yet again will require everyone to waste BS time to get accustomed to new personnel in plays in just 4 short sessions.

It's panic. that's is what it is. not mentioning the pressure being placed on two new halves.

It will come down to discipline and the forwards providing the foundation to get in the game. NSW provided this in Game 1. QLD got it in Game 2.

 

[Red Bear]

If Hayne is fit he comes in at fullback. Not sure about wing, maybe Taufua.

If Maloney isnt fit play Carney or Sutton.

Bring Tamou back in for J Reynolds. Not needed on the bench and his service from dummy half was crap.

I actually think Maloney and Reynolds would be quite an effective halves combo behind a strongly performing pack. I think Pearce will play in game III but I think Adam will be there next season

 

[Pomoz]

We have glossed over the fact our forwards didn't do the job. Wood is not ready for SOO yet. The stats don't lie and 38m gained for a 28 minute contribution just isn't good enough. Hoffman was also quite poor but he is a proven performer so he is allowed an off night.

Lets also talk about Laurie's inexperience as a coach. In game one Reynolds doesn't get to play. He has 3 utilities in his team (Lewis and Bird being the others) and yet he wastes a spot by picking Reynolds. In game two he uses Reynolds for 14 minutes. What the hell is the point of picking a player you don't trust to play? His selection of a player he won't use just puts pressure on everyone else and isn't going to help Reynold's confidence.

Then there is the selection of a rookie prop and starting him at Suncorp. Meanwhile, Fifita is on the bench and has at least one game under his belt, or he could have used Willie Mason. He just dropped Woods in it up to his neck and his lack of go forward was a major contributor to our problems. I couldn't believe it when we picked Laurie as the coach. He has no NRL experience. Anderson and Fittler are both more qualified for the job. We can expect more dumb decisions like Reynolds and Woods.

 

[Mr Saab]

I actually think Maloney and Reynolds would be quite an effective halves combo behind a strongly performing pack.

What the? NSW dominated QLD in game one in the forwards, yet Mitchell still did nothing. Could not even execute a repeat set. 14 point scored in the first 20 mins or so and nothing after that.

 

[JT_]

We started like crap, Qld's pace was electric, quick in defence, 4 man tackles and Thaiday running amok. We can't afford to let them do that in game 3 so the onus is on the Blues to start off well like they did in game 1.

Woods should come off the bench, Gallen needs to go back to lock imo, he hardly made an impact and looks to be playing injured, certainly not the same as he was in the 2011 series.

 

[Maroon4life]

We started like crap, Qld's pace was electric, quick in defence, 4 man tackles and Thaiday running amok. We can't afford to let them do that in game 3 so the onus is on the Blues to start off well like they did in game 1.

Woods should come off the bench, Gallen needs to go back to lock imo, he hardly made an impact and looks to be playing injured, certainly not the same as he was in the 2011 series.

You talk about gallen like he's some sort of blues saviour. Hes nothing more than a crying bitch whinging to the refs at every break of play like a soft coxk, thats why the qld fans make the game hard for him up here, so easily spooked.

As a blue you better hope this myth of a player stays in his piss weak moon boot for game 3

 

[Hutty1986]

You talk about gallen like he's some sort of blues saviour. Hes nothing more than a crying bitch whinging to the refs at every break of play like a soft coxk, thats why the qld fans make the game hard for him up here, so easily spooked.

As a blue you better hope this myth of a player stays in his piss weak moon boot for game 3

Holy sh*t, I didn't know Nate Myles was on LU (or that he could spell or put a sentence together). Don't worry mate, Gal can't hurt you anymore!

 

[Knightmare]

We have glossed over the fact our forwards didn't do the job. Wood is not ready for SOO yet. The stats don't lie and 38m gained for a 28 minute contribution just isn't good enough. Hoffman was also quite poor but he is a proven performer so he is allowed an off night.

Lets also talk about Laurie's inexperience as a coach. In game one Reynolds doesn't get to play. He has 3 utilities in his team (Lewis and Bird being the others) and yet he wastes a spot by picking Reynolds. In game two he uses Reynolds for 14 minutes. What the hell is the point of picking a player you don't trust to play? His selection of a player he won't use just puts pressure on everyone else and isn't going to help Reynold's confidence.

Then there is the selection of a rookie prop and starting him at Suncorp. Meanwhile, Fifita is on the bench and has at least one game under his belt, or he could have used Willie Mason. He just dropped Woods in it up to his neck and his lack of go forward was a major contributor to our problems. I couldn't believe it when we picked Laurie as the coach. He has no NRL experience. Anderson and Fittler are both more qualified for the job. We can expect more dumb decisions like Reynolds and Woods.

The forwards probably would have done a better job if they didn't spend the opening 20 minutes defending for their life and using up all their energy. Ditto Woods' lack of metre gaining.

And so what if Laurie has no NRL experience? Bellamy has more NRL experience than most but he oversaw Blues teams that weren't a patch on what we've got at the moment...

 

[Mortar]

And so what if Laurie has no NRL experience?

Well he said that the game plan for Merrit was to come in on Inglis and we saw how effective that was. I feel for him, for a debutant to given shit orders like that and do as he is told and now is probably going to be sacrificed for doing what he was told. :?

 

[Knightmare]

But to take it as literally as Merritt did is akin to a player being told to go out and hit his opposite number hard in defence, and subsequently throwing a punch instead of bothering to tackle.

Inexcusable mistake for a player with so much NRL experience to make, and to do it more than once (plus that soft excuse for a tackle on Inglis en route to grounding the ball in-goal for a try) showed him to well and truly be out of his depth.

 

[Mortar]

But to take it as literally as Merritt did is akin to a player being told to go out and hit his opposite number hard in defence, and subsequently throwing a punch instead of bothering to tackle.

Inexcusable mistake for a player with so much NRL experience to make, and to do it more than once (plus that soft excuse for a tackle on Inglis en route to grounding the ball in-goal for a try) showed him to well and truly be out of his depth.

I guess so but maybe he had thought his chance at origin was long gone and now given his chance he did exactly as he was told to.... i don't blame him more than the staff.

 

[BranVan3000]

But to take it as literally as Merritt did is akin to a player being told to go out and hit his opposite number hard in defence, and subsequently throwing a punch instead of bothering to tackle.

Inexcusable mistake for a player with so much NRL experience to make, and to do it more than once (plus that soft excuse for a tackle on Inglis en route to grounding the ball in-goal for a try) showed him to well and truly be out of his depth.

Nah its more akin to being told to cover Inglis then going out and covering Inglis

 

[Pomoz]

The forwards probably would have done a better job if they didn't spend the opening 20 minutes defending for their life and using up all their energy. Ditto Woods' lack of metre gaining.

And so what if Laurie has no NRL experience? Bellamy has more NRL experience than most but he oversaw Blues teams that weren't a patch on what we've got at the moment...

The opening salvo is no excuse for Woods. Gallen had to contend with that as well and still made his metres, albeit over a longer period.

Are you serious? You don't think NRL experience is helpful? You are asking him to coach a team in the toughest contest in the whole of rugby league and to do it without even coaching first grade. Where has he had the opportunity to experiment with tactics? Where has he had the chance to experiment with managing interchange? Where has he had a chance to develop his man management skills so he knows what to say to player "x" to get them fired up for a big game.

The "rush GI" tactic hasn't worked and his management of the interchange has been disastrous. Using Reynolds for a total of 14 minutes in two games. Whatever he said to Woods didn't work, he went missing.

Lets not blame Laurie. Lets blame the muppets who selected him.

 

[Allstar Knights]

Honestly, I think we could be in trouble again by even bringing in Uate or Taufua on the wing. I'm not so sure if they are ready for Origin at the moment.

I think someone else mentioned this too but I would move J Morris to the wing and bringing Idris in at right centre. Both are very strong defenders - I'm sure J Morris is capable of defending on the wing and Idris has been one of the best defensive centres this year and is probably the only player that can physically dominate GI.

 

[Knightmare]

The opening salvo is no excuse for Woods. Gallen had to contend with that as well and still made his metres, albeit over a longer period.

Are you serious? You don't think NRL experience is helpful? You are asking him to coach a team in the toughest contest in the whole of rugby league and to do it without even coaching first grade. Where has he had the opportunity to experiment with tactics? Where has he had the chance to experiment with managing interchange? Where has he had a chance to develop his man management skills so he knows what to say to player "x" to get them fired up for a big game.

The "rush GI" tactic hasn't worked and his management of the interchange has been disastrous. Using Reynolds for a total of 14 minutes in two games. Whatever he said to Woods didn't work, he went missing.

Lets not blame Laurie. Lets blame the muppets who selected him.

I'm not saying NRL coaching experience isn't helpful, but neither is it essential. I'd rather have a NSW coach with no NRL coaching experience than a coach with NRL experience who can't bring themselves to devise gameplans that target the key players in the opposition team because they are key players in their NRL team *cough* Bellamy *cough* Murray *cough* Hagan*

 

[Pomoz]

I'm not saying NRL coaching experience isn't helpful, but neither is it essential. I'd rather have a NSW coach with no NRL coaching experience than a coach with NRL experience who can't bring themselves to devise gameplans that target the key players in the opposition team because they are key players in their NRL team *cough* Bellamy *cough* Murray *cough* Hagan*

Fair enough. I think it is crazy to give someone the job without experience. That's why I was in favour of using Fittler or Anderson. They both weren't current coaches so the issue of loyalty doesn't come into it.

In respect of Belllamy though. It wouldn't matter who was coach during that time, QLD were so much better than us it was futile. Only now as a few of their players are getting older, do we have a chance. Mind you, being 30 didn't hold back Slater of Smith last night.

 

[Someone]

wasn't Daley part of the coaching staff of the blues team before?

that has to count for some sort of experience.

 

[Knightmare]

Fair enough. I think it is crazy to give someone the job without experience. That's why I was in favour of using Fittler or Anderson. They both weren't current coaches so the issue of loyalty doesn't come into it.

In respect of Belllamy though. It wouldn't matter who was coach during that time, QLD were so much better than us it was futile. Only now as a few of their players are getting older, do we have a chance. Mind you, being 30 didn't hold back Slater of Smith last night.

I wouldn't be so sure about Bellamy. He even came out and admitted it was hard to coach against his Storm players.

Freddy would be a good NSW coach IMO...

 

[Pomoz]

wasn't Daley part of the coaching staff of the blues team before?

that has to count for some sort of experience.

Yeah he has been on the staff at the Dragons as well. But thats not the same as being the boss. Its a tough gig being the coach and the only way to get good at it is to practice and get experience (like any senior leadership role). Working through the lower grades first would have been much better. He has jumped in at the deep end, that's for sure.