Rate the teams performance

[Magpies Forever]

1. Tim Moltzen- did well.
2. Taniela Tuiaki- did well- ran strongly but cant jump to diffuse bombs
3. Dean Collis- didn’t really see him- don’t know whether limited opportunities or what
4. Chris Lawrence- quiet first half but did well in second half
5. Beau Ryan- did well, made a break or two and supported well.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
6. John Morris- solid enough performance, but did nothing flash as usual
7. Benji Marshall- good and bad game, generally played ok but does not have a kicking game that can be relied upon. Not sure he steered the team around either.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
8. Bryce Gibbs- reasonable game, ran ball strongly but lucky not to be pinged for a couple of stupid infringements whilst defending- especially when close to own line.
9. Dene Halatau- solid enough performance, but did nothing flash as usual, a few missed tackles
10. Keith Galloway- did well.
11. Gareth Ellis- great game
12. Todd Payten - great game
13. Chris Heighington - did well

14. Rhys Hanbury- hardly on field- cant judge
15. Rocky Trimarchi- defended well when on field
16. Robbie Farah- played well, good kicking game and lifted the team when on field
17. Daine Laurie- high impact offensive player, defence leaves a bit to be desired at this stage but you certainly know it when he is on the field.

Overall, played good enough but defense in terms of stopping offloads needs lots of work. They sure stopped the Canberra players but didnt stop the offload to another Canberra player.............

Ellis was fantastic, Farah just lifts the team and is worth every penny they pay him, Marshall- I still reserve judgement- his kicking game is not good and WT need to find a second positional kicker, not sure 1/2 is the go for him- I'd prefer him as 5/8 and Morris on the bench and give a proper 1/2 back a go so can make a true comparison on how the team performs. Generally WT attack was good- loved Moltzen's freak try- great luck / skill to hold on to the ball and a good pair of heels once away.

Next week - Cowboys will test the defensive line again up in N Qld- WT will have to improve- Simmons- do your job or let someone else have a go.

 

[tiger_nick]

1. moltzen - im sorry but he isnt a fullback. was poorly positioned on a few kicks, doesnt back up and doesnt get involved in attack. i would take gallant any day of the week over him
2. tuiaki - ran with purpose and played the kind of game we know he is capable of
3. collis - defended superbly. we attacked down the left so he had limited opportunites
4. lawrence - good game, put tnt away for first try
5. ryan - safe as always
6. morris - typical game. did nothing in attack and missed a vital tackle that lead to purtells try, pointed at campese as he passed so everyone knew he missed him
7. marshall - hot and cold, what we have to expect whilst he adjusts to halfback
8. gibbs - costly mistake after our first try lead to their first 2 tries. still has no impact in attack, how long can we carry him?
9. farah - no idea why he started on the bench. otherwise looked rusty but in a couple of weeks will be back to his best
10. galloway - was very impressed with his first stint. dont know why he doesnt get more game time
11. ellis - what a beast! exactly what this pack needs. and to think some people said we should have kept teo instead of him hahahahahaa goes to show what they know
12. heighington - great try saver early in the game and made some nice runs
13. halatau - living off 2005 like sheens for far too long. would have shown him the door last year and he showed nothing last night to suggest we should do otherwise

14. hanbury - only got 5 mins but will be good off the bench when needed
15. triamchi - a much better option then payne imo. did what we needed him too
16. payten - great to have him back.no other forward would have scored the try he did
17. laurie - worked well on the fringes. defence was much better then last year. his first real pre season seemed to have paid dividends.

 

[Magpies Forever]

Yeah, I'd like to see Gallant have a run, but I suspect he may have to wait until Moltzen gets injured or is rested. I actually thought Moltzen was injured after his run as he seemed to pull up and limp a bit after he had scored the try.

 

[macnaz]

Pretty good summary Nick, id have to agree to most of it if not all. Like you I still think if Moltzen was our 5/8 we could then have Gallant at number 1. Altho Moltzen went well he still looked like a stand in fullback and doesnt have the explosive attacking abilty that a fullback should have .

 

[westie]

Galloway was the best performed prop of the week. Running hard!
Gibbs is acting as a stats man - needs agression. It's bullsh*t at the moment.
Collis caught a cold. The one time he did get the ball he was doubled teamed, he clearly doesnt rate Ryan and won't look to feed him, just as defenders don't worry about him getting the ball.
Ellis proves he is world class and a step above what we consider first rate.
Benji isn't a half and we'll be caught out when the going gets tough.
Farah was rusty and still a class above.
Tuiaki was good - could be great.
Lawrence can't read defensively. He's both no good, and playing in a poorly set up structure.

What the f**k was with the bench rotation.

Defense will cost us the season again. No one knows what they are doing, especially on-line. It was well and good being agressive - but everyone was in their own world.

Heighno was good for once. Played with more agression and seemed more committed than usual. Still did that lazy run back from marker, not pushing up and leaving gaps sh*t. But definitely a vast improvement. I really think he'd benefit from not being on the field for so long.

 

[MacDougall]

I still think Josh Lewis is enough of a half to take the six from Morris. Morris on the bench isn't the worst idea IMO.

 

[Estoboy]

it's interesting to see people's comments about collis

whilst he didn't give anything in attack, he did put in some killer tackles close to the line when the raiders were starting to throw it wide, definitely stopping a planned move dead in it's tracks.

anyway, continue...

 

[Marshall_magic]

1 Moltzen: caught out of position several times, good player but not a fullback-7/10
2 Tuiaki: His best game in a long time, made plenty of breaks, busted tackles and bagged a double-8.5/10
3 Collis: Quiet in attack due to limitted opportunities, but defended very well-6.5/10
4 Lawrence: sharp in attack, defensively was fairly poor, but was marking one of the best centres in the business-7.5/10
5 Ryan: safe as always, nothing special, nothing stupid 7/10
6 Morris: Offered nothing in attack, missed some crucial tackles 4/10
7 Marshall: Not a halfback, made some good runs, but kicking and passing was poor again 5/10
8 Gibbs: His best game in a while, made good yardage in attack for once, and defended strongly 7/10
13 Halatau: Nothing flash, didn't offer a lot at all 5/10
10 Galloway: plenty of venom in attack, really fired up 7.5/10
11 Ellis: some huge hits and strong runs, combined quality with quantity 9/10
12 Heighington: worked his backside off as usual, got some good offloads away 8.5/10
16 Payten: showed up everywhere, did some great things 8/10

9 Farah: very sharp out of dummy half, caught them napping with his first run 8/10
14 Hanbury: not enough game time to rate
15.Trimarhci: didn't see much game time, didn't stand out much 5/10
17 Laurie: did his job perfectly, made some great runs and looked great 7.5/10

 

[roughyedspud]

so gaz ellis gets the thumbs up...good,good,good


don't be afraid to stick him out in the centers either...especially when you play canterbury...i'd love to see ellis snap that kid idris in half :lol:

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Phenomenal debut mate. I was extremely impressed.

 

[madunit]

Lucky for us the two refs idea has sped the game up phenomonally.

WE NEED TO LEARN TO DEFEND.

We should have tow people going into each tackle, and they should be dominant. If any more are needed then there is a huge problem. One around the ball, one around the waist.

Hardly any players push through their legs once they've been hit by the defence. As soon as a defender gets a good amount of body in a tackle, the attacker stops trying to make ground and either looks for an offload or a quick play the ball.

We need to wrap the ball up quick, a tackle around the waist should see a player pushed back or held upright for a while, which still gives your players time to get back, it also means your defence isn't wasting energy getting back up off from the ground.

Instead we have three guys run in and try and tackle around the shoulders, something you could do 15 years ago when players wore the loose fitting old style jumpers which you could get a good grip of. Obviously a tactic that will never work today with the skin tight nylon jumpers. Something Royce hasn't got a grasp of yet after about 10 years.