Positives... if any and a couple of negatives

[Drew-Sta]

Ben Creagh played marvelous.

Beau Scott did well.

Jason Nightingale played well.

I'm concerned, however, that our lock (in Creagh) who is much smaller in frame than our front rowers standing by and looking on is taking the first hit up off the kick off.

Our fitness leaves a lot to be desired too - The size of Danny Wicks gut makes me muse that he ate an entire pig over the long weekend. And our attitude - It took Adam Peek's send off to fire them up as it appears the half time coffee chat by Brown did little to motivate them.

Although Williams played pretty poor, his effort was commendable. Soward went MIA about 10 minutes into the second half, and then he and Williams also swapped first/second recievers for a good 25 minutes also - A change that confused me greatly.

It appears as though our players have been taught to no support the ball carrier also, as Ben Creagh got a good offload off and had anyone been running onto it we probably would have gotten a roll on.

People may disagree with me, and that's fine, but I can't fathom how we could get any worse than tonight. We had no creativity in attack. Our line was never deep in the second half. Nobody was running onto the ball. It looked almost Farrar-esque.

What will it take to fire these blokes up?

 

[Steel Dragon]

The back three hit the ball up with gusto everytime there was a kick put in deep.
It was inspiring watching those boys chew up the yards before the defence could get down there.

 

[Southernsaint]

Rylesy had a top game, IMO.

Gave a complete effort and will probably get an injured back from carrying other members of the pack through long stretches of the game.

 

[Ribs]

Well, we didnt have a lot of talent out wide and we had a 5/8 that had essentially been given one week to impress so it was always a recipe for disaster. I thought Williams had a go but he went himself too many times. This happens in a one off game though.....

We had no depth in attack at all. We looked like a Chris Anderson coached side given how flat our attack was.....

 

[Godz Illa]

Agree with SS. You're reluctant to give Ryles a rap Drew-sta. Head strapped and bleeding, seemed to have a corked leg also because I noticed him favouring one side, yet he still kept driving forward for more metres than any of our pack.

 

[Dragonheart]

Although I do see some valid points above, I have to say that the incosistent refereeing disadvantaged both sides, and robbed the fans of what could have been a much more enjoyable contest...regardless of outcome.

Ben Creagh again proved his worth, and although Soward and Williams started off well, seemed to quieten down in the second half. I though our forwards generally played well, as did our backs, although the problem of not making the most of opportunities is still there.

The fact that the sharks managed to hang on and win by 4 points over a side that showed poor completion, and a lack of direction, at times, AND only had 12 players, indicates that they weren't much better than Gallen's acting ability. In fact, as poor a decision as Peek made in collecting Dykes with an elbow, there was a lot of acting in his reaction.....as though he couldn't decide whether to go down like he did, or not.

 

[The Preacher]

I thought the effort was fantastic. They gave 110%.
The execution of plays, especially on the 4th and 5th left a lot to be desired.
There were no attacking options once we got inside their 20, and I thought Soward was left high and dry looking for support on a number of occasions, leading to some rushed kicking with no result.
Creagh was brilliant.
I had to laugh at the Telegraph on the weekend when previewing the game it mentioned Dykes and Thommo being doubtfull starters, but went on to say that the Dragons had NO injury concerns !!! :shock: :lol:

 

[Drew-Sta]

True, Chase and Morris played solid also, but I found that with little distribution of the ball last night, they were without hope of getting any real chances.

That and our forwards did not lay a good enough platform for the backs.

 

[The Preacher]

Rylesy had a top game, IMO.

Gave a complete effort and will probably get an injured back from carrying other members of the pack through long stretches of the game.

Ryles had a great game. his back may well be a problem considering the amount of "extras" Porky Wicks is carting around.
"Cling Wrap" jumpers do not look good on Wicks. iggy:

 

[Drew-Sta]

I watched Ryles all night. I'll concede he made some reasonable hit ups, but compared to his efforts last week I have to wonder why he can make such an impact against an international pack and yet not the same impact against a depleted Sharks pack.

For the record:
Ryles - 23 gets (19 hit ups) for 147 metres
Creagh - 16 gets (15 hit ups) for 118 metres

Considering none can debate that Creagh was playing as a prop for the night, and had as many people tackling him as Ryles would, I'm concerned Ryles was not making more metres.

I guess I don't like Ryles. I don't think he's the player every says he is. I watch his game but it doesn't meet the wraps everyone posts about. A man of his stature should be making 10 metres plus a hit up. But then again, I would expect my footy team to be able to concentrate on the full 80 minutes of every game in the season, and as such I'm willing to concede there is a level of coaching required for Ryles to achieve his potential that can only be coached and isn't necessarily talent driven.

Houston again did well statistically, taking 37 tackles and playing in the second row.

 

[Dragonheart]

That's a fair call Drew-Sta.

I like Ryles, but yes, he should be more consistant in his hit ups, and gaining more yards. I think last week showed what happens when he does, as the younger guys in the pack tend to follow his example. The weeks he does have a quiet game the others do likewise. Jason probably needs to play a mentor role on-field, by getting the young guys moving a little more.

 

[Drew-Sta]

That's a fair call Drew-Sta.

I like Ryles, but yes, he should be more consistant in his hit ups, and gaining more yards. I think last week showed what happens when he does, as the younger guys in the pack tend to follow his example. The weeks he does have a quiet game the others do likewise. Jason probably needs to play a mentor role on-field, by getting the young guys moving a little more.

Case in point right there.

Ryles fires up, we get a platform, and a bunch of kids plus Jason can take on and win the battle of the forwards against an international pack.

Ryles 'goes quiet' and the pack looks around as if to say 'What do we do now?' The whole exprience factor of forwards is something we're missing in truckloads, and I guess my continual whinge about Bailey's loss stems because last year when Ryles was off, Bailey was on and vice versa - The whole on-off bit applied to form as well. When Ryles was in form, Bailey might not have been and so on.

We're lacking a major element of leadership and 'Follow me, I'll show you the way!' and I'm convinced that this is where someone like Justin Poore or Ashton Sims should be made to step up and show the team what to do. Considering out packs roster looks almost identical to last year with the exception of Baiely, Henderson and Gorrell, and we've picked up Woolford (An experienced head) and have players like Wicks, Sims, Poore and the like a year older, I thought that at the beginning of the year we were a very good chance of top 4. Sure, Dean young has not been present for a whole lot, but we have Ryles, Woolford, Poore, Sims, Hunt, Houston, Wicks, Isemonger, Payne, Creagh still hanging around from last year, I think we're entitled to ask the question of 'What has changed' to see our side struggling at equal last and only two or maybe three at best of the above list performing to the standards we had achieved in '06.

I won't harp constantly about Ryles but lately I can't see the justification for him being touted as such a great prop when his consistency is often lacking (Strictly my opinion). Statistics only show so much, and one or two good hit ups can cover, statistically, 3 or 4 bad ones.

I thought Creagh showed more leadership and courage than any player on that field last night, and for a lock/second rower to be keeping us in the game in the fashion of a prop speaks very clearly to me that we're lacking something in the front row that needs to be found ASAP.

 

[Southernsaint]

How many hit-ups do you want him to take each set??

IMO, it’s the other forwards not contributing a similar effort that is hindering the pack’s effectiveness…

 

[Steel Dragon]

I guess the most positive thing to come outta that game is that with every loss, it brings us one game closer to Browns dismissal!

 

[Godz Illa]

Drew-Sta, the crux of your argument resides in six words of your previous post. "I guess I don't like Ryles." I've had this discussion with you before and I'm not compelled to go over old ground. Suffice to say that the fine tooth comb you run over his game would catch kinks in most every prop in the game. There's no doubt in my mind he led by example last night in spite of injury, and deserves some credit for his courage and zero blame for the loss. You nominate Creagh as the leader even though Ryles made more runs, and one less tackle. Creagh played like a prop, but not strictly as a prop. A lot of his runs were out wide. Ryles made every one of his metres directly up the middle into the teeth of the Sharks. That his per hit up yardage is approximately 0.1 less than Creagh's, says to me he was working at least as hard.

As supporting testimony I cite the ovation he received from the grandstand when interchanged.

 

[Drew-Sta]

How many hit-ups do you want him to take each set??

IMO, it’s the other forwards not contributing a similar effort that is hindering the pack’s effectiveness…

I'm not disagreeing with this.

I'm asking why is there a difference between Jason Ryles against Brisbane last week and Jason Ryles this week against the Sharks?

I thought his workload was quite acceptable for the time he spent on the field (Note - He got sent off by Archer for blood quite a bit and that's disruptive) but couldn't understand why he didn't have the same impact as he did against Brisbane.

Godz - I am trying to give him credit and have stated his Brissy game as a highlight of this year. But I disagree with the leadership facet. Benny Creagh ran around like a loon last night and probably ran about 10 or 15 decoys that you don't get credit for either. I did see Ryles run a few, but not as many as Creagh. Benny defended against the first or second reciever almost all night, and whilst Ryles did also, if I had been on the field playing I would have found Benny the inspiration for the fact that he was wlays chasing kicks, always moving and his impact in the game from the hill was outstanding.

Like you said, there's no point in going over our differences of him again outside of that which we're discussing now.

 

[God-King Dean]

Our fitness leaves a lot to be desired too - The size of Danny Wicks gut makes me muse that he ate an entire pig over the long weekend.

Danny Wicks =

 

[Slippery Morris]

In the end a forward pass try was the difference. And what with the Chase Penalty for passing when held? Did anyone hear the ref call held. If they threw him out it would of been a Sharks ball therefore it was a lose lose situation for poor Chase.

The ref sucked big time but then again Saints had ample opportunities to score. Very poor options cost them the game.

Soward missing an easy conversion is also a concern imo. Could hurt us in games to come.

Dragons attack ALL season sucks. They can only score from kicks or dummy half. That's what you get with no Barrett.

Browny needs to work on this big time. I have never seen them so ineffective in attack in a long time. With that much possession, the Dragons would have scored more than 3 tries in the past that is for sure.

Parra will have a picnic on the weekend and will flog the Dragons. The Dragons always struggle against them.