R3 v Cowboys

[Blood Shot Eyes]

We will have everyone on our case again applying the blowtorch, if Manly do a number on us the spiral will be well and truly alive.

Yep and every opposition coach will instruct their team to just be patient keep busting them up the middle they will fold as usual...it's not rocket science

 

[justadragon]

He has not done nothing to be fair. Some of his kick returns and runs out of our danger zones are wonderful but he has too many brainless moments to ever be a premiership winger. Pretty sure he’s still with us for a number of seasons. He’s a lovable character but we have to see the end of mentally weak players in our team and bring in the new era of professionalism.

Im in favour of Finau getting his second game but I’d still have Bird on top of the dropped list.

Totally agree, Bird is over it, plus Suli drifts in and out of games.

 

[justadragon]

Yep and every opposition coach will instruct their team to just be patient kerp busting them up the middle they will fold as usual...it's not rocket science

Yep, Bennett showed everyone the blueprint last week, and Peyton followed it.

 

[Dragon the chain]

I've been thinking about this comment.. and the squad losing 120kg in the off-season (Leilua aside who wasnt here) was amazing.. but then if you think.. what if we had gone into that Pre-Season only needing to lose 10kg? Surely you end up with a lot more time spent on fitness/endurance.. and less on weight loss..

So next season you'd think we will be much fitter again.. but it doesnt help our 2024 situation.. definitely does feel like we cant rebound from things going against us, when a team gets a run on...

I don't think we are fitter this year than last year. At least not where it counts. Our defence controlled the ruck much better last year than we have this year. Last year we conceded a lot of tries on the edges due to weird spacing and bad reads. But we absolutely bashed teams in the middle last year. This year the other team powers straight through the middle with no resistance.

 

[Gezza1]

Mate I'm driving down from just outside Brisbane in 2 weeks to the Knights home game on Friday night do you think thats worth it....and that will be after Manly inflict more pain

Good luck to you. That's some real dedication.

 

[sammymills]

I don't think we are fitter this year than last year. At least not where it counts. Our defence controlled the ruck much better last year than we have this year. Last year we conceded a lot of tries on the edges due to weird spacing and bad reads. But we absolutely bashed teams in the middle last year. This year the other team powers straight through the middle with no resistance.

Agreed. The footy we played last year in attack was like watching paint dry it was so boring. We lost a lot of games but I don’t really recall us getting flogged.

 

[Dragon the chain]

Agreed. The footy we played last year in attack was like watching paint dry it was so boring. We lost a lot of games but I don’t really recall us getting flogged.

We got flogged on the scorecard a few times. But our middles didn't often get dominated.

 

[Dragon the chain]

Flanno says in the press conference that the RFM bombed try was the turning point. In a pure scoreboard sense he's right. We lost 42 to nil in the next 43 minutes, conceding 7 tries in that period. That's a try conceded every six minutes. But it's actually much worse than that, because 11 and a half minutes of that 43 minutes were taken up by conversion attempts and getting the ball back to halfway for the kick off. So it's more like 7 tries in 32 minutes. So, yeah, he's right that the socre goes from 18-4 to 18-46 very quickly after the missed try.

But there is no reason why bombing a try leads to you concede 7 tries in 43 minutes. In fact, I have seen many bombed tries (in fact nearly every bombed try I've ever seen) that are not followed by such capitualtions. It seems to me that Flanno is either delusional or he is trying to delude his players and the general public. I think this is very dangerous. Bombed tries are not that bad. The relevant difference between Panthers and Titans is not in bombed tries. The Panthers win so many games for the same reason they lost 8-0 to Melbourne when their attack wasn't good: it's because of their defence.

In many ways this was a worse performance than the Dolphins game. The Dolphins were more ruthless than the Cowboys were. The Cowboys were a bit loose. Against the Dolphins we conceded 48.89 meters per set (poor). Against the Cowboys this was 52.46.

Apparently, Flanno said at the member's function last week after the Dolphins loss that "it won't happen again". It did.

 

[Illusion]

For me Flanno is starting to look stunned , after 2 loses to why they drift in and out of games and to say the missed try by Mariner was the reason does not sit ok with me ....... The way we played they would have scored next anyway ........

 

[cusnjed]

Good luck to you. That's some real dedication.

I'm old enough to remember when playing Newcastle in Newcastle was like a home game for Dragons and more often than not, We would pump the Knights.
Ahhhhh, the good old days.

 

[Kiwi Dragon supporter]

Flanno says in the press conference that the RFM bombed try was the turning point. In a pure scoreboard sense he's right. We lost 42 to nil in the next 43 minutes, conceding 7 tries in that period. That's a try conceded every six minutes. But it's actually much worse than that, because 11 and a half minutes of that 43 minutes were taken up by conversion attempts and getting the ball back to halfway for the kick off. So it's more like 7 tries in 32 minutes. So, yeah, he's right that the socre goes from 18-4 to 18-46 very quickly after the missed try.

But there is no reason why bombing a try leads to you concede 7 tries in 43 minutes. In fact, I have seen many bombed tries (in fact nearly every bombed try I've ever seen) that are not followed by such capitualtions. It seems to me that Flanno is either delusional or he is trying to delude his players and the general public. I think this is very dangerous. Bombed tries are not that bad. The relevant difference between Panthers and Titans is not in bombed tries. The Panthers win so many games for the same reason they lost 8-0 to Melbourne when their attack wasn't good: it's because of their defence.

In many ways this was a worse performance than the Dolphins game. The Dolphins were more ruthless than the Cowboys were. The Cowboys were a bit loose. Against the Dolphins we conceded 48.89 meters per set (poor). Against the Cowboys this was 52.46.

Apparently, Flanno said at the member's function last week after the Dolphins loss that "it won't happen again". It did.

The state of this club is beyond the pale. Maybe recruiting Superman is the answer but Clark Kent is dead.

 

[maestro1]

In all 3 of our games the opposition have played near mistake free footy, which has meant that we had to earn everything. The opposition gave us nothing. In the case of the Dolphins and Cowboys, they were mistake riddled in their previous games. I fear that opposition coaches have already worked out that you need to starve the Dragons to avoid an upset win to the Dragons. We don't have the speed or size in the forwards to dominate when we have 50% or less possession. Flannos plan is to stay close to the more talented rosters, grind with them and grit out a 2 point win. It makes sense that this can only happen if we can maintain at least 50% possession. The bombed tries yesterday are worse than giving penalties or dropping the ball whilst on the attack in their 20.

4 or 5 times (an extra 7 x 4 =28) tackles that we shouldn't have had to make it we scored.

Add that to the fact that the Cows are one of the best rolling out of their territory team (Taulagi and Holmes were unbelievable in returning the ball and then followed by McLean, Nanai and co.). They are also one of the smartest teams under an attacking high ball with the likes of Felt and Taulagi means that even if we defend our tryline with a good defensive set, they hit you with a fabulous attacking kick on the last which either gets them points or a repeat set. We are hopeless on both sides of the short dropout so it is almost guaranteed that they get the ball back. All this means that the momentum is hard to swing back.
We need to practice the skills like short dropouts, kickoffs until we can win at least 50% of these. Nail all our opportunities......no mercy........we just kept releasing the pressure valve. The Cows did not miss one opportunity to score, we bombed easy tries on 4 or 5 occasions. You can't give good teams that many breaks. The extra 24 points plus the extra possession that comes from scoring and receiving the ball back after scoring means we are massively less fatigued, are more in control and have even more possession to put even more tries on.

And we need faster wingers. Real Speedsters. At least one. Rav is dangerous in coming out of our territory or on their line to score a power try. He is yet to score in 3 games and has made crucial mistakes in all 3 games. His runs off our line have been very good, but a quick winger would have scored at least 1 try in each game. He was run down in all 3 games after being put in the clear. We haven't had many opportunities in the opposition 20 due to being starved of the ball, so Ravs strength in scoring power tries is removed

 

[since77]

Went to the game today and have to say:

Our execution let us down on 3/4 occasions which cost us a bucket load of points.

The attack is slick.

Our attack is a work in progress.

We did not get a 50/50 call all game.

Our first “try” which was disallowed was in my view a try.

Mariner and Lomax could/should both have scored.

Sloan gets a finger on a kick in goal and Cowboys are awarded a try.

Our defence is not moving forward to meet the opposition.

Our forwards were dominated, hence Cowboys had field position.

We are mentally very fragile.

Would like to see young Fifita given 15-20 minutes per game.

Leilua played very well and will be a real assets moving forward.

Liddle, Sua and Sele will stiffen up our side. Marschke should be made the 14. I don’t feel young Mulheisen is a first grader at this stage.

The side will improve.

No time to throw the toys out of the cot.

Let’s get behind the squad.

They may well surprise us.

Tend to agree with you on a lot of this. A lot of huge turnarounds in fortune last night.
The negatives from the game last night obviously are going to get all the attention but I saw a lot of positives.
The people who are whinging today need to be patient. It's going to take a while to turn around the ship an incompetent board along with Price, McGregor & Griffin has left us with.
Personally I'm not agreeing with every decision Flanagan is making as far as team selections but I think as time goes on during the season he'll get the mix right. We'll end the season in much better shape than we started it - I'm confident about that.

 

[Gold_Coast Dragon]

Tend to agree with you on a lot of this. A lot of huge turnarounds in fortune last night.
The negatives from the game last night obviously are going to get all the attention but I saw a lot of positives.
The people who are whinging today need to be patient. It's going to take a while to turn around the ship an incompetent board along with Price, McGregor & Griffin has left us with.
Personally I'm not agreeing with every decision Flanagan is making as far as team selections but I think as time goes on during the season he'll get the mix right. We'll end the season in much better shape than we started it - I'm confident about that.

This! Too early to be forming a lynch mob. Lower your expectations for 2024. That is the key for fans.

 

[John moz]

Dean young not the answer we need better in a defence coach .
The last 2 games are not Nrl standards

 

[Hound of Dracula]

There was a photo put up on the forum before the last few games of round 1 showing us as being on top. We won't be seeing that anymore this year sadly.

We can improve but by crikey when?

Sorry about that DD but, at the time, it felt bloody fantastic.
Seems The the current Dragons DNA stands for
DID NOT ACHIEVE

 

[St Tangles]

Our side is full of mental midgets.
We do not have anyone with a footy brain.
Until we do I expect to get beaten most weeks with the odd win here or there.

 

[Hound of Dracula]

Flanno should grab the team, take 'em back to Kogarah, and make them do the' walk of Fame'
. In their case SHAME.
If that doesn't inspire them, nothing will!

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

Nah mate dont praise

Good luck to you. That's some real dedication.

Nah mate dont praise me to much ......I'm a dedicated Saints man and have been for 66 years but on current form Im not that stupid....going back to The Shire where I come from to catch up with family and friends....my wife bought tickets for the Knights game for me for my birthday whilst we are are travelling down

 

[Blood Shot Eyes]

View attachment 85565
Flanno should grab the team, take 'em back to Kogarah, and make them do the' walk of Fame'
. In their case SHAME.
If that doesn't inspire them, nothing will!

Good idea......and can I add theres none in our current roster worthy of carrying any of our legends footy boots