Please give use som ad lib football

[DeeJay1983]

Long time follower of the forum but don't post often. Who else just wishes we would chance our arm and play some ad lib football. I'm sick of going to games to watch us play the same boring football week in and week out. I really think the boys need to be given a licence to chance their arm and play what is in front of them. It seems to be hit up hit up hit up followed by a flat backline every set and I really think it is time for a change. Whatever Mary's so called structures are do not work! I believe we have the cattle. The boys give 100% every week and rarely go down without a serious fight. I just wish we could start to play some entertaining football. Would certainly brighten my weekend to see us score some quality tries even if we do lose games.

 

[BankstownDragon]

Agree with this DJ.

Its painful to watch even when we win.

Would love to see ut hapoen but unfortunately Mary is to consumed with keeping his job.

 

[twinkletoes]

Agree with this DJ.

Its painful to watch even when we win.

Would love to see ut hapoen but unfortunately Mary is to consumed with keeping his job.

Reminds me of the NSW SOO side.. both players and coach

 

[hazzbeen]

Reminds me of the NSW SOO side.. both players and coach

You hit the nail on the head. Was thinking the same thing . Maybe Mary is coaching to be the next SOO coach he seems to be bending over for Daley at every chance.....

 

[steggz]

They play structure and people complain.

They play ad lib, but people complain when it doesn't work.

No way of pleasing some people is there...

 

[smi962]

Just need some halves who can play to the structure but also have the instinct to play what is in front of them when the time is right. We are currently a little too mechanical.

 

[saints4me]

Want to watch some ad lib exciting Dragons football? Go watch the Dragons NYC team. Big forwards slick halves and a speedy backline. It may only be NYC but they play an exciting game of football.

 

[Mickthedragon]

This would possibly work and is definately worth a try.
We don't seem to know what we are doing with our structured attack so what halm could it do. They should throw it around a bit more and see what happens. I know its easier said than done but just might work with the boys not having to think about things as much,plus benji is an off the cuff style of player anyway and would probably suit him better

 

[BennyV]

Lol playing 'off the cuff' is not a long term solution. To break the line in NRL you need bodies in motion, block runners, angles and so on. If we play 'off the cuff' where noone knows what anyone else is doing, it doesnt work. You think Cowboys or Broncos attack is 'off the cuff'? f**k no! Their halves/fullback just have a plethora of options due to off-the-ball runners, and they one based on the actions of the defense. Our halves have a single option, and its srupidly easy to read.

Playing structured is fine. Problem is that our structure f**king sucks.

 

[The Cobra]

I went to bed just after half-time in the SOO,said to my wife,"This is like watching the f**kn Dragons play".The opposition know what to expect.After watching Duftys'highlight reel(I know its only NYC,& it was put together by his management)but Mary has to get this kid in to first grade before someone else f**kn does.He may struggle initially but he eventually will find his feet & be a superstar.As I said somewhere else he was a halfback as a junior & his defence is not thst bad but his atacking speed & footwork would worry any defence in that position.FFS lets stop trying to buy a halfback when we have this kid who has been a halback in his junior years(he was only turned into a fullback to accomodate Hutch in the halves) who with the right coaching(get Joey to mentor him)could be just what we are looking for.

 

[Old Timer]

Long time follower of the forum but don't post often. Who else just wishes we would chance our arm and play some ad lib football. I'm sick of going to games to watch us play the same boring football week in and week out. I really think the boys need to be given a licence to chance their arm and play what is in front of them. It seems to be hit up hit up hit up followed by a flat backline every set and I really think it is time for a change. Whatever Mary's so called structures are do not work! I believe we have the cattle. The boys give 100% every week and rarely go down without a serious fight. I just wish we could start to play some entertaining football. Would certainly brighten my weekend to see us score some quality tries even if we do lose games.

TBH most ad lib football comes from

Broken play / turnovers
Quick taps from penalties & 7 tackle restarts from the 20
Instinctive reaction to a given situation

A backline running freely with room to move is actually not ad-lib.

It comes from the sides ability to get the ball out of the ruck, move it wide very quickly and the backs being set deep which gives them time, space and ability to hit the line at speed.

The only time we get anything away from structured play is from the 20m restarts, as everything else that happens we stand around flat footed and having a conferences about what to do.

Occasionally Rein will take off from dummy or a tap half but never anyone going with him which shows lack of vision / creativity.

All of our attacking structures crab to the sidelines with no one turned back under neath or if they do, it is slow and obvious that it all looks shit.

 

[inside_pass]

I'm sure like us McGregor would love the team to be scoring more points and playing free-flowing footy but his coaching ability ends there.
He just doesn't have the coaching nous to get the team playing like that with set plays and a structured but flowing attack.
Its not his fault really as the board and Doust appointed him and like anyone he accepted that big pay cheque which he wouldn't get anywhere else.
We need a new coach if we want to see the team play at their best.
Simple as that!

 

[RedVDragon]

Choc Mundine will change all this. Getting rid of rein will also be a positive step.

 

[blacksafake]

Lol playing 'off the cuff' is not a long term solution. To break the line in NRL you need bodies in motion, block runners, angles and so on. If we play 'off the cuff' where noone knows what anyone else is doing, it doesnt work. You think Cowboys or Broncos attack is 'off the cuff'? f**k no! Their halves/fullback just have a plethora of options due to off-the-ball runners, and they one based on the actions of the defense. Our halves have a single option, and its srupidly easy to read.

Playing structured is fine. Problem is that our structure f**king sucks.

100% Correct Benny V.
Mary recently stated that he & Daley often talk about footy etc & you can see in the style the dragons & the blues play how similar it is. The structure is all wrong.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Saints have been playing boring footy for far too long. Saints have the cattle to play more attractive footy (seriously you would expect a halves pairing of Benji/Widdop to play more attacking than Hornby/Soward) but they are just not given the chance by the coach. You can see they are playing to instruction and that is to play dull footy (kick it out to waste time, go for 2 pts, etc).

Now that I have seen the Dragons win a comp I am happy for them just to go back to playing the attractive footy I use to love to watch them play. Sometimes it is better to lose playing good footy than win playing boring dull footy. Thing is, in the last 4-5 years they have played dull footy and got nowhere so why persist with it. At least Bennett was making top 4 every year every year and he would play this boring style to strangle the opposition and then put on the entertaining stuff not grind the full 80 even if they are way on top and the opposition have nothing. These games against Cows, Titans, Raiders, the Saints started like a house on fire then when they got to 10 the play grinding footy. I know he had the cattle but our cattle is not as bad as people think.

 

[Mickthedragon]

Lol playing 'off the cuff' is not a long term solution. To break the line in NRL you need bodies in motion, block runners, angles and so on. If we play 'off the cuff' where noone knows what anyone else is doing, it doesnt work. You think Cowboys or Broncos attack is 'off the cuff'? f**k no! Their halves/fullback just have a plethora of options due to off-the-ball runners, and they one based on the actions of the defense. Our halves have a single option, and its srupidly easy to read.

Playing structured is fine. Problem is that our structure f**king sucks.

I agree and i never said it was easy, i just think maybe we could give it a go and see. It could even create a few tries and at least give us a bit of confidence back. At the moment it feels like heads are just banging into walls continuously. The "work in progress" idea has been going for a few years now with little to no improvement. I'm not saying i have the answers,i wish i did though.

 

[denis preston]

Choc Mundine will change all this. Getting rid of rein will also be a positive step.

I sometimes wish that Rein was signed to a 5 year contract renewal just to piss you off bigtime !

 

[TruSaint]

I sometimes wish that Rein was signed to a 5 year contract renewal just to piss you off bigtime !

:lol::lol:

 

[Dragsters]

I think our year has gone a little like this...

We trained all off season with a ball playing fullback in Mann with 4th and 5th tackle plays based around him chiming in with options, we saw one example of this working in round 1 vs the storm resulting in a try.

This on the back of more size up front with mose and packer adding more grunt to get sets off to a better start and make more early metres to lay the platform for those sweeping backline plays to happen on better field position.

The halves to continue to build on the combination we saw developing last year, combining on the same side, the odd run around, kicking for each other etc. and with more size in the centres with Dugan, having options to break the line in the opposition 20 which we struggled to do last year.

It would take few games to gel but this would provide more variation and improved point scoring opportunities compared with last year.

Then...

Mose ruled out for the season = less punch up front.

Mann has a nervous second game and gets injured/dropped = no ball playing fullback option.

Our play starts to look a lot like last year after 2 games.

Benji does his hammy = makeshift halves with Widdop shouldering more of the control makes it easier for opposition teams to read and contain.

This continues for longer than expected as benjis hammy persists.

Then in the last couple of games where he is able to stretch out more, we have seen him busier and combining with Widdop which has put the defence in two minds.

Attack starts to look more adventurous and with gypsy at the back last week we saw a try come from a ball player at the back.

At present the team is more like the type of team we trained with all pre season.

With more options I reckon Mary will be able to release the shackles a bit more.

I'm thinking if benji stays injury free and he and Widdop keep combining and changing up the attack we will see a more entertaining and more importantly effective and fruitful attack develop.

Optimistic maybe, but I have liked what improvement I have seen with the pill over the last couple of games.

 

[steggz]

I think our year has gone a little like this...

We trained all off season with a ball playing fullback in Mann with 4th and 5th tackle plays based around him chiming in with options, we saw one example of this working in round 1 vs the storm resulting in a try.

This on the back of more size up front with mose and packer adding more grunt to get sets off to a better start and make more early metres to lay the platform for those sweeping backline plays to happen on better field position.

The halves to continue to build on the combination we saw developing last year, combining on the same side, the odd run around, kicking for each other etc. and with more size in the centres with Dugan, having options to break the line in the opposition 20 which we struggled to do last year.

It would take few games to gel but this would provide more variation and improved point scoring opportunities compared with last year.

Then...

Mose ruled out for the season = less punch up front.

Mann has a nervous second game and gets injured/dropped = no ball playing fullback option.

Our play starts to look a lot like last year after 2 games.

Benji does his hammy = makeshift halves with Widdop shouldering more of the control makes it easier for opposition teams to read and contain.

This continues for longer than expected as benjis hammy persists.

Then in the last couple of games where he is able to stretch out more, we have seen him busier and combining with Widdop which has put the defence in two minds.

Attack starts to look more adventurous and with gypsy at the back last week we saw a try come from a ball player at the back.

At present the team is more like the type of team we trained with all pre season.

With more options I reckon Mary will be able to release the shackles a bit more.

I'm thinking if benji stays injury free and he and Widdop keep combining and changing up the attack we will see a more entertaining and more importantly effective and fruitful attack develop.

Optimistic maybe, but I have liked what improvement I have seen with the pill over the last couple of games.

Get out of here. Too much sense in what you're saying to be in this forum!