R5 // Cowboys 28-2 Knights @ 1300SMILES // Mon 7.00pm

[slotmachine]

Eh, we're trash, no better than the Smith/stone days and bedsy isn't coming back to bail us out this time.

Time to shake things up.

Also Darius should give back his pay for tonight. Avoided work all night.

 

[Jono078]

I saw the 20+ loss coming. Truth is it didn't make it any easier to take.

 

[slotmachine]

When do we get to play the sharks again?

 

[Yosh]

Was it that bad guys? Still working... So i shouldn't watch the replay?

 

[Burns]

So, Mamo time ?

 

[Burns]

Was it that bad guys? Still working... So i shouldn't watch the replay?

Watch Game of Thrones. Watch the news. Watch anything. Do not watch the game, 53 % completion rate tells you what to expect.

 

[Whats Doing]

The team is a shadow of how they played towards the end of last year.

Smith has been a passenger all year and Falaongo doesn't offer much off the bench.

Our left edge has been leaking points all year with Rochow tonight missing 6 tackles, Roberts 4 and BJ really struggling in positional defensive play.

Also Roberts with only 16 touches of the ball which is just not good enough.

Agree with Dobson being only a one trick pony lacks genuine pace.

The only players who could hold their head high were Scott, Mason and Sims.

 

[Rod]

I'm normally not one to slit the wrists after a loss but that was one of the most depressing and awful games in our recent history. Our incredible ineptness combined with the same ineptness from the referees, I can't remember the last time I was so frustrated watching a game.

From our perpective, pretty much no one had a go. I guess you could excuse the boys for being a bit flat, I almost expected given the emotional week last week and then the inevitable comedown. Our attack was the most directionless and stunted it has been since probably that shocking period at the start of 2012. Passes going forward or high or behind the man, it was schoolboy stuff.

Scott, Sims and maybe a couple of others like Mason are the only ones who can hold their heads up. Dobson was utter crap but he certainly wasn't alone. Gids passing was a mess, Boyd wasn't trying, Leilua had feet for hands etc etc. That try the Cowboys scored in the second half (might have been their last) where they simply grubbered it through on the 5th and Morgan won the race to the ball was completely embarrassing. Not to bring it up again but those were the kind of tries we were conceding in 2012.

Now the refs. Oh man, where to start. Uate being blatantly run off the ball not once but twice (they really have to get that 'block runner' out of the game, it's a disgrace). Cowboys got away with downright murder in the ruck, holding down etc, and we couldn't buy a penalty. Meanwhile Beau Scott only had to stand at marker to get penalised on one occasion. JT, great player but what a niggly merkin he is who gets away with murder. Flopping in, offside at marker, forward passes and one of the most blatant strips off all time on J. Smith, all not called. Ashton Sims used Cuthbertson's face to roll some dough on and nothing. I could go on but we all saw it, absolutely nothing resembling a fair cop went our way.

I can't say the Cowboys were anything special despite the commentators raving about how the Cowboys were back and all that crap. I reckon if we'd played a quality team in form like the Roosters and we brought that game and the refs bought their game from tonight, we would have got done 50+.

 

[perverse]

Geez, I didn't notice Rochow making that many misses in defence. Must reconsider my KOTW points.

 

[aqua_duck]

Glad someone brought up Jez, 6 hits ups for 49m just isn't good enough, if that was T Rex or Adam Blair everyone would be laughing their heads off at that lack of involvement

 

[Seage]

I don't think 'Judo' Smith has been that bad. I felt he has offered some starch at times when others haven't. He dished up his worst tonight, but has not been appalling for 5 rounds by any stretch.

How good was watching the Cowboys repeatedly have one defender race out of the line and smash the bloke who we telegraphed from three postcodes over that was going to get the ball.

Let's draw a line under that 80minute debacle and never speak of it again.

 

[Whats Doing]

I don't think 'Judo' Smith has been that bad. I felt he has offered some starch at times when others haven't. He dished up his worst tonight, but has not been appalling for 5 rounds by any stretch.

How good was watching the Cowboys repeatedly have one defender race out of the line and smash the bloke who we telegraphed from three postcodes over that was going to get the ball.

Let's draw a line under that 80minute debacle and never speak of it again.

Last 3 rounds

Round 3 - 6 runs for 42 metres
Round 4 - 8 runs for 63 meters
Round 5 - 6 runs for 49 metres

That is just not good enough.

Round 2 - 9 runs for 72 metres
Round 1 - 8 runs for 96 metres

He has a very low hit up rate and doesn't involve himself no where near enough for a middle player.

 

[Nuffy]

I am just waiting for this bad luck to end. We have not taken a break since Johns did his ACL against the eels 10 years ago.

This. I just wonder what we have done to deserve 10 years of accumulated bad luck, we just can't catch a break, every year brings one problem after another, when will it end.

Some clubs turn things around in a couple of years, we just aren't incrementally improving year on year, 3-4 weeks of magic at the end of last year papered over an ordinary year on the field overall.

I have no idea where this club is heading.

 

[Seage]

Last 3 rounds

Round 3 - 6 runs for 42 metres
Round 4 - 8 runs for 63 meters
Round 5 - 6 runs for 49 metres

That is just not good enough.

Round 2 - 9 runs for 72 metres
Round 1 - 8 runs for 96 metres

He has a very low hit up rate and doesn't involve himself no where near enough for a middle player.

Mmm, those stats definitely don't look good. I can't argue there.

There's more to it than stats but i take your point.

 

[Rod]

Jezza has been one of my favourite players for years but I agree he has been a bit absent so far this year.

 

[Spot On]

I'm assuming Smith is playing injured???

That was close to Rochow's worst game for us. He missed plenty.

I can't remember seeing a worse display with the ball. Flat doesn't aptly describe it.

 

[Swarzey]

I felt we were hard done by with a lot of decisions. Just one of the those nights where we got pulled up for every single little incident and blatant call was ignored (The strip, Aku being taken out, a few high shots). Clydsdale, Scott and Mase are the only blokes who I felt actually tried and played reasonably well.

It's a tough period, but I recall the years when Joey was injured and we were getting towelled by shit teams but the instant he returned, it was the same points scored, just the other way around. It's no different with Mullen. What I've found in essentially all our loses is that we have early opportunities off the back of our forwards but because Mullen isn't there to put the touches needed to get the points, we lose our momentum and eventually tire (excluding last week).

Dobson has also been a weak link in our defence, too slow and just misses too many tackles. He's been a decent stand in, but with someone like Roberts in the 7 with his lack of experience, we were never going anywhere.

Just need to keep our heads up. We have a quality team, a team that when they click, they f**king click.

On Jez, his injury is pretty clear. He just doesn't back himself like he did at the back end of last year. Sims is another bloke who stood up tonight, if Jez needs to rest, rest him. He's someone, like Mullen, like Boyd, I'd rather rest in the early rounds to keep fit for the end of the season.

 

[Seage]

This. I just wonder what we have done to deserve 10 years of accumulated bad luck, we just can't catch a break, every year brings one problem after another, when will it end.

Some clubs turn things around in a couple of years, we just aren't incrementally improving year on year, 3-4 weeks of magic at the end of last year papered over an ordinary year on the field overall.

I have no idea where this club is heading.

I think the same and was thinking about this the other day - but a club like Cronulla has had bad luck for 40 years. The Bears had it for a thousand. Unfortunately there is no time period where the forces of the Universe decide 'That's enough sh*t for you.' It could be a year - or forty!

All i know is I want it to stop...

 

[Nuffy]

To put it into perspective. To fly to townsville when Alex is still in Melbourne, then to find out Alex just got flown back to Sydney, whilst still dealing with the issues with Alex. Its a tough ask. Not to mention we never ever ever ever get the 50/50 calls from the refs.

Our season starts when Mullen returns. He is our man. He is our A. Johns. We need him now more than ever.

You are asking way too much of Mullo, he's not Joey and will be coming back from the injury so he is weeks off being up to speed. We could be 1-7 or worse before he is back into stride. It's over at that point because we are not a team that has ever strung a heap of games together. Remember 4 in a row happens about every 5 years for us.

 

[Jobdog]

This. I just wonder what we have done to deserve 10 years of accumulated bad luck, we just can't catch a break, every year brings one problem after another, when will it end.

Some clubs turn things around in a couple of years, we just aren't incrementally improving year on year, 3-4 weeks of magic at the end of last year papered over an ordinary year on the field overall.

I have no idea where this club is heading.

The most concerning thing I've been thinking of (last week excepted) is that Bennett came here two and a bit years ago and said he was going to work on our consistency. Forget about winning the comp because we're not even in the same country as those that are genuine contenders. We're still as consistent (or inconsistent) now as we were when Bennett arrived here at the end of 2011.

Sure there have been mitigating circumstances contributing, but it'd be nice to at least see some signs.

/emo post.

Now, lets get to Canberra and knock them off next week.