R2 v Dolphins.

[Number of the Beath]

I thought the 17 and the attitude last week was spot on. I question the decision to make the changes in the forwards that were made which meant that JdB and RFM were both less effective tonight and, well, Lawrie and Luce were not effective at all whereas BMM took the ball up hard last week - in a manner unlike Lawrie who hits the defensive line with all the tenacity of an overripe persimmon.

 

[Dragonsdiehard]

Didn't see anywhere near the same intensity from us this week. Let's see if Flanno and Deano can turn this turnaround around against the Cowboys at Kogarah.

 

[VodkaSaint]

to say im disappointed is understatement , was it the heat up in QLD ! Nah!
was it the truth where we are, yes
The team was back to the future 2022
Rava up to his old tricks, Bird not up to it, just doesn't have the pace to be a threat
Sloane is a work in progress and is our best attacking option , sadly his tackling is still lacking
Suli struggled and I do think the heat got to him,
our Forwards got smashed and never gave us a chance
oh well, back to the drawing boards , I will be at Kogarah next week to support our team.
I reckon we are another two years on top of this year before we are a threat with no real top 20 players available next year, we have to rely on talent coming through

 

[sammymills]

Sucks so much when your team gets demolished. That was embarrassing. Completely outplayed in every facet. Saw some bloke on the roar talking about how Katia should be a reserve half for origin. That’s how good we made this kid look, I don’t think I saw one player pressure him all game. They completely nullified us, instead of going straight and hard like we have been we started dancing around like idiots. I think Suli was close to 200m last week would be shocked if he got 50 tonight. We made Josh Kerr look like he was Shane webcke. Can’t remember a set where we got more than 40m without a penalty. For all the talk of how fit we are we sure looked sluggish tonight. Line speed non existent.

 

[matPORTS]

Certainly not going to defend the indefensible (not sure if pun intended or not).

Unacceptable that level of defeat.

As mentioned a couple of times - Luc should be making his way back through NSW Cup. His fitness is not at the same level as the rest of the team (understandable without a full pre-season - but Fifita deserved another go tonight but probably also a positive that he didn't have to experience a loss like that in his early games).

Speaking of fitness - were we in camp up there all week because we looked very tired with no enthusiasm or tempo whatsoever, as if we'd been flogged in the Queensland heat all week... stark contrast to a week ago and the trials (whilst a big negative in the context of tonight it could be a positive when the whips are really cracking later on in the season).

We just have to take our medicine and move on very quickly.

Reality - we are going to be a complete rocks & diamonds team all season (I don't suggest punting on any of our games).

 

[This Year?]

Well I'm sure the Dolphins know they just played us!

 

[Dragon David]

Following the Dragons is the hardest thing one can experience. To me, if we were any chance of being competitive in this competition, todays game should have been stronger than last weeks game. It started poorly and luck was on the Phins side to get to 10 nil. We held them for the rest of the first half but then the floodgates opened and we just couldn't shut them.

When the team list for the Phins had Averillo in it, that was the telling blow for me. More often than not he scores and has more wins against us than losses.

After last weeks loss to the Cowboys, Bennett got his players to lift and just had a winnable plan to beat us, convincingly.

Can Flanno get us to lift and have a winnable plan against the Cowboys next week?

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Sucks so much when your team gets demolished. That was embarrassing. Completely outplayed in every facet. Saw some bloke on the roar talking about how Katia should be a reserve half for origin. That’s how good we made this kid look, I don’t think I saw one player pressure him all game. They completely nullified us, instead of going straight and hard like we have been we started dancing around like idiots. I think Suli was close to 200m last week would be shocked if he got 50 tonight. We made Josh Kerr look like he was Shane webcke. Can’t remember a set where we got more than 40m without a penalty. For all the talk of how fit we are we sure looked sluggish tonight. Line speed non existent.

Agree.....the issue that pissed me off the most all game was the latitude their kickers were given compered with how they put pressure on our halves, except for one 40/20 by Hunt.....fmd we were supposed to be super fit but the lack of intent to stimify their kicks were simply pathetic......they had time to have a cup of tea before we went within 5 metres of them....surely its the coach and captains responsibility to identify during the 80 mins

 

[Tuddy]

Looks like our plan was to keep it simple and wear down their ‘old’ forwards in the first half and then run them down in the second.

I think those forwards from the fins went out there with a point to prove after their loss last week and the associated media commentary. Boy did they prove it.

Blake and Luc’s performances were probably the most disappointing thing for me … beside the score of course.

Start again Monday boys.

 

[2010Dragons]

Look the way I see it. The dolphins had more intencity to win. They were too fast in and around the ruck. Their backs outran our backs. They were too good and beat us.
our boys made a huge effort but just couldn’t keep up.

 

[56to66]

Back in 2018, I went to an Anzac game, coach Mary walked past me and a Roosters supporter screams out, your club is Shit. The Irony, i used to think the same way about the Roosters, back in the 1990s, f**k haven't times changed, St George Illawarra is pure shit club, over a decade of pure diabolical performances, the DNA is Illawarra steelers, not the St George Dragons.
I was one that came out to slam Ben Hunt for wanting to leave, I will be happy to drive him to T3 Sydney Airport, one way to the Brisbane Broncos a chance of winning a premiership.
Don't worry Flanno, I would sign you to a 10 year contract if your crazy to take it, no one can save this shit club!

 

[justadragon]

FMolo has given Fafita his start, MMolo was ineffective along with most of our forwards, to busy reading how good we were last week, they blew a pretty good F and A. Not to score anything was diabolical, looks like both defensive and attacking coaches were as bad as each other this week. It might be a long afternoon at Jubilee next week

 

[Mitty266]

Round 1 win hangover. Too much hype during the week, complacency. Now we can enjoy reading the “it’s just one game” clan say we told you so. 🫠

 

[mbk78]

For us old enough to remember and, worst still, having been there in 1975, a scoreline of 38 nil really, really hurts.

 

[TheRev]

We held on for as long as we could, we defended bravely initially, but when they 1) out-run 2) out-kick & 3) dont make errors.. there is no coming back from that, its a battle of exhaustion that we will lose... there is no individual player you can blame... that was across the park tonight.

We literally started every set from our own goal-line for 80 minutes (bar the very occasional penalty).

This 'losing the arm wrestle' has been happening for a long time (but tonight was next level), I dont think all fans/media realise that our wins are almost always in error-ridden affairs.. we NEED opponents to get us out of our end so we can compete in the contest.. I dont think i've ever seen our pack beat another pack.. full-stop.. we dont have that luxury, which I was so shattered we missed AFB, he was exactly what we needed, because we cant rely on errors forever.

 

[justadragon]

Looks like our plan was to keep it simple and wear down their ‘old’ forwards in the first half and then run them down in the second.

I think those forwards from the fins went out there with a point to prove after their loss last week and the associated media commentary. Boy did they prove it.

Blake and Luc’s performances were probably the most disappointing thing for me … beside the score of course.

Start again Monday boys.

We had the chance to bring Lawrie and Luc back through KOE and didnt, we paid the penalty for that.

 

[56to66]

Round 1 win hangover. Too much hype during the week, complacency. Now we can enjoy reading the “it’s just one game” clan say we told you so. 🫠

No Hangover, come on, enough is enough, just a shit club.

 

[Parko1310]

We didn't turn up, simple as that. Too busy believing their own bullshit after last week.

Getting this part out of the way: No we wouldn't have won, but refereeing was a joke. Dolphins got away with a heap in the ruck, crowding the play the ball, sticking their legs in the ruck to slow it down, walking backwards through the ruck and at times literally sitting on our players to get to marker, then they're offside every play. It makes it really hard to get any momentum. Plus the bunker.. just wow. blow it up.

Kyle Flanagan and Ben Hunt, hang your heads in shame. Both must have had a bet about who could throw the worst hospital pass. No depth, no organisation, heaps of crash plays to players in traffic. Terrible.

Michael Molo... wow I don't know how this guy gets picked. Surely some can see what I'm getting at with him, he just is not good enough. Lawrie likewise, heavily overrated by large portions of the fan base. Tries hard, that's it. Completely ineffective player.

Ravalawa.. horrendous.

Such a demoralising display. I thought that game was really important for our season, we just can't afford to drop games that are winnable for us, and then to lose it in that fashion... I know it's only round 2 but we needed that two points. To drop those points and now also go into negative for and against.. that's basically lights out for our year. Might sound dramatic, but there's only select teams in this comp our squad is capable of beating, and we need to beat them all.. we just lost to one of them. Really disappointing to see signs of such mental weakness and lack of resolve again.

 

[carltonsouth79]

We had the chance to bring Lawrie and Luc back through KOE and didnt, we paid the penalty for that.

Agree with that. RFM much less effective as a middle I think. Maybe Blocka is still troubled by the rib cartilage. Liddle ordinary for mine.Watching the presser very different to Hook era, blunt assessment and looking at changes. Seles will likely come in but again will be underdone but all hands on deck…

 

[blacksafake]

What happened to Hunt being second receiver like last week as he seemed to be first receiver the majority of the time.

Also does anyone know why RFM got so little game time? Was he injured?

I’ve no doubt the humidity played a part in their performance.
All we can do is Move on & forget it ever happened.