R2 v Dolphins.

[Carlton]

No. Such is his passion for his jumper, fit or not he still managed more metres than any other forward and pulled off his usual tackle load. What happens if he aggravated that injury in Reserves, we'd lose one of our best for a longer period. Besides, he probably convinced Flanno that he was ready to go.

Its not the effort thats being questioned, its the effectiveness. His usual tackle load includes standing and dancing with the attacker while they make post contact meters down field, getting up on the wrong side of the play the ball, failing to control the play the ball and when he gets fatigued dropping off tackles (when he manages to get there) .

Lawrie is a footballer from yester year trying to play in a faster more athletic game against players who are bigger, stronger and more mobile than him.

 

[Dragon the chain]

Its not the effort thats being questioned, its the effectiveness. His usual tackle load includes standing and dancing with the attacker while they make post contact meters down field, getting up on the wrong side of the play the ball, failing to control the play the ball and when he gets fatigued dropping off tackles (when he manages to get there) .

Lawrie is a footballer from yester year trying to play in a faster more athletic game against players who are bigger, stronger and more mobile than him.

Blake Lawrie would be in the top 17 of any team in the comp. We are very lucky to have him. Ask his teammates. Ask his coaches. Ask the opposition players. Ask the opposition coaches. They'll tell you that he is effective. They probably won't tell you that he is an exciting player.

 

[maestro1]

Blake Lawrie would be in the top 17 of any team in the comp. We are very lucky to have him. Ask his teammates. Ask his coaches. Ask the opposition players. Ask the opposition coaches. They'll tell you that he is effective. They probably won't tell you that he is an exciting player.

Who do the Roosters, Sea Eagles, Storm, Panthers, Cowboys, Broncos, Bunnies drop to make way for Lawrie. Lawrie is flat out making our 17 when all forwards are available

 

[Carlton]

Blake Lawrie would be in the top 17 of any team in the comp. We are very lucky to have him. Ask his teammates. Ask his coaches. Ask the opposition players. Ask the opposition coaches. They'll tell you that he is effective. They probably won't tell you that he is an exciting player.

I love your enthusiasm for Lawrie but there is no way he would be in the top 17 of any team in the comp.

As to your statement that implies all his teammates, all his coaches, all the opposition players and all the opposition coaches would say he is effective, I think, this is probably a bit of an exaggeration. I find it hard to believe you have actually spoken to many of them to get this input. Even if you meant most of them, I doubt this too.

If you think he is effective that's fine (that's your opinion) but don't try to justify it by referring to what other people think when you don't know. It would be better if you explained why you think he is effective.

 

[SBD82]

Blake Lawrie would be in the top 17 of any team in the comp. We are very lucky to have him. Ask his teammates. Ask his coaches. Ask the opposition players. Ask the opposition coaches. They'll tell you that he is effective. They probably won't tell you that he is an exciting player.

Agree wholeheartedly.

Every opposition coach and player that I’ve spoken to told me that they love seeing Lawrie in our 17 every week.

 

[baggygreen man]

Same backline with maybe Lomax and Sloan switching for the opening 20 minutes, see how that goes and give Sloan permission to emulate Blacklock and come infield to follow the ball all day.

Sounds good to me.

 

[baggygreen man]

Blake Lawrie would be in the top 17 of any team in the comp. We are very lucky to have him. Ask his teammates. Ask his coaches. Ask the opposition players. Ask the opposition coaches. They'll tell you that he is effective. They probably won't tell you that he is an exciting player.

 

[Ddraig]

Sloan hit the line as hard as I've ever seen.
We were Ambushed by a Wayne Bennet coached team on home soil.
Katoa had an absolute golden kicking game.
I'm backing a far better performance against the cows.

 

[Saints supporter]

For me the dragons suffered from poor defence and a failure to get into the grind. Sloan failed to tackle the Hammer in cover for his first try. Sua's miss on Nichols for his try was terrible. Just basic one on one misses. You can't afford these mistakes against tough Bennett coached sides.

 

[Dragon David]

‘Few truths they didn’t want to hear’: Hunt reveals Flanagan’s brutal Dragons honesty session

‘Few truths they didn’t want to hear’: Hunt reveals Flanagan’s brutal Dragons honesty session

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Gourley's Socks]

‘Few truths they didn’t want to hear’: Hunt reveals Flanagan’s brutal Dragons honesty session

‘Few truths they didn’t want to hear’: Hunt reveals Flanagan’s brutal Dragons honesty session

www.foxsports.com.au

"a few truths THEY didn't want to hear" - not "we".

Rather telling.

 

[Bunga]

"a few truths THEY didn't want to hear" - not "we".

Rather telling.

I wonder who "THEY" are?

 

[Gourley's Socks]

I'm going to go out on a limb to say that last week wasn't that bad. The scoreline was obviously pretty terrible but I don't now think it was all so doom and gloom as I thought in the moment.

The initial try was a sliding doors moment. Had Lomax arrived a moment earlier or if the kick had had an extra couple of metres height on it, he would have taken the ball over Bostock and almost fallen over the line for a 6 - 0 lead. Even going into halftime, it was only 10 - 0 and could easily been 10 - 6 but for some bad hands/luck.

But the Dolphins played very well throughout and starting every set from the corner and burning three or four tackles just to make it to the 20 took it out of us in the end. It might also just be bias but they were allowed to lie about in the ruck all night without penalty.

Obviously there were disappointing aspects and things to improve but I didn't see anyone giving in. I saw a resolve even under extreme fatigue that I haven't seen in recent years.

So while we were on tilt from pretty early in the game, it was the lack of luck, freakish game-breakers and experience that I attribute to the final score. This is all to be expected from this squad.

But I don't think it was a lack of effort and that's a welcome change in my view.

 

[TheRev]

100% Gourley.. we were in the arm wrestle for a long time.. we had to convert some of those opportunities.. we didnt.. and once they wrecked us physically, we werent stopping them..

We will definitely bounce back this week, but again lots of speed and skill we are going to have to overcome, but bounce back + home ground should get us in the lead in the 1st half.. the 2nd half I dunno.. but lets get there first.

 

[SAP58]

I'm going to go out on a limb to say that last week wasn't that bad. The scoreline was obviously pretty terrible but I don't now think it was all so doom and gloom as I thought in the moment.

The initial try was a sliding doors moment. Had Lomax arrived a moment earlier or if the kick had had an extra couple of metres height on it, he would have taken the ball over Bostock and almost fallen over the line for a 6 - 0 lead. Even going into halftime, it was only 10 - 0 and could easily been 10 - 6 but for some bad hands/luck.

But the Dolphins played very well throughout and starting every set from the corner and burning three or four tackles just to make it to the 20 took it out of us in the end. It might also just be bias but they were allowed to lie about in the ruck all night without penalty.

Obviously there were disappointing aspects and things to improve but I didn't see anyone giving in. I saw a resolve even under extreme fatigue that I haven't seen in recent years.

So while we were on tilt from pretty early in the game, it was the lack of luck, freakish game-breakers and experience that I attribute to the final score. This is all to be expected from this squad.

But I don't think it was a lack of effort and that's a welcome change in my view.

The disappointing thing apart from a few players that were down on their form from the previous week was they didn’t follow the game plan according to Flanno in a number of areas including kicking straight to Hammer constantly. Flanno says that was totally against the game plan. We expected some ups & downs but not to this extent.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Saints need to beat the bottom 8 sides and snag a few wins from the top 8 to make finals. Dolphins was team I feel will end up bottom 8 whereas the Cows will be a top 8. If Saints can snag a win over the Cows it sort of puts Saints on track again as that will make up for the Dolphins loss.

What scares me about the Cows is I thought they were awful against the Knights for most of that game, but their cattle is so good that they can easily change a game and win it within minutes. The Cows are a quality team and last year was a hangover from a very good 2022 and then World cup campaign which their youngsters that all of a sudden became reps had to adjust to. This game on Saturday will be a good test for Saints and if they can win this one then I have some faith Saints will have a better year than the last few years.

If Saints can get to Townsend early and get him off his game and possibly run at Dearden all game to tire him somehow (he looks like a guy that never gets tired), then Saints can get them.

 

[Harry Bath]

"a few truths THEY didn't want to hear" - not "we".

Rather telling.

Yes Hunt missed at least 2 tackles that led to 2 of the 7 tries scored by the Dolphins and his kicking game apart for the 40/20 was very poor. What happened to Flanagan taking some of the pressure off by kicking I cant remember him kicking at all on the 5th ?

 

[Harry Bath]

The disappointing thing apart from a few players that were down on their form from the previous week was they didn’t follow the game plan according to Flanno in a number of areas including kicking straight to Hammer constantly. Flanno says that was totally against the game plan. We expected some ups & downs but not to this extent.

Why didn't Flanagan kick? the ball on the 5th always went to Hunt !!

 

[OneEyedDragon]

Why didn't Flanagan kick? the ball on the 5th always went to Hunt !!

Flanno Snr said that the team went right away from the game plan. Maybe they just fell into the old plan of "give the ball to Hunt" on every play!

 

[BLM01]

I'm going to go out on a limb to say that last week wasn't that bad. The scoreline was obviously pretty terrible but I don't now think it was all so doom and gloom as I thought in the moment.

The initial try was a sliding doors moment. Had Lomax arrived a moment earlier or if the kick had had an extra couple of metres height on it, he would have taken the ball over Bostock and almost fallen over the line for a 6 - 0 lead. Even going into halftime, it was only 10 - 0 and could easily been 10 - 6 but for some bad hands/luck.

But the Dolphins played very well throughout and starting every set from the corner and burning three or four tackles just to make it to the 20 took it out of us in the end. It might also just be bias but they were allowed to lie about in the ruck all night without penalty.

Obviously there were disappointing aspects and things to improve but I didn't see anyone giving in. I saw a resolve even under extreme fatigue that I haven't seen in recent years.

So while we were on tilt from pretty early in the game, it was the lack of luck, freakish game-breakers and experience that I attribute to the final score. This is all to be expected from this squad.

But I don't think it was a lack of effort and that's a welcome change in my view.

I was on the same limb