Rd11: Parra v Manly GAME DAY THREAD at BankWest 23/5/21

[TheParraboy]

I’d spend 5 minutes alone on the Gutho 20m tap where he ran 15m solo begging for some support runners. Given he also would’ve run the 20m plus the in goal area to take the tap, it’s pretty poor that none of his teammates could be f**ked

Before Gutho got tackled he was begging Sivo to go with him, would have put him on a long run downfield on that left side

Sivo appeared gassed, or was it just no game awareness until way too late

 

[hindy111]

I had no problem with any of those signings and still am glad we did them.
Fergo is not going anywhere near as badly as you make out, and RCG is good almost every week. Let’s wait and see how RCG is going in a couple of years.

Blake was a good signing at the time and I was happy then. We needed him to join the team and I believe he improved us. He has been on a decline since then and shown that he’s probably not worth the money he is likely getting, but how good is hindsight, eh?

Ferguson is playing like a guy who is worth 200k not 500k. He offers nothing in attack bar banging it up.
BA has a few options. Stick with this side and come finals get ripped apart. Or try a few different things. Blake on wing perhaps, Brown at centre and W.Smith at 5/8. Perhaps go shopping for a centre. It is his call. I feel just sticking with same side is silly. Any decent side will expose them down that side.
Either way I would rather see him try and find a solution even if it doesn't work. Its far better then just repeating what we are seeing for the last 18mths

 

[Eelogical]

Our boy Sivo is not on the same ballpark as Semi. Gutho gave him space a few times and he either f**ked it or ran out of puff after 20m.

Pay me Semi money, I play like Semi.

 

[Eelogical]

Even the nrl hates us by not suspending waqa

It's extra punishment for the Roosters game.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

Ferguson is playing like a guy who is worth 200k not 500k. He offers nothing in attack bar banging it up.
BA has a few options. Stick with this side and come finals get ripped apart. Or try a few different things. Blake on wing perhaps, Brown at centre and W.Smith at 5/8. Perhaps go shopping for a centre. It is his call. I feel just sticking with same side is silly. Any decent side will expose them down that side.
Either way I would rather see him try and find a solution even if it doesn't work. Its far better then just repeating what we are seeing for the last 18mths

His stats aren't all that worse than Sivo's. Fantasy points are very close. He's even got twice as many try assists as Dylan Brown.

 

[84 Baby]

Before Gutho got tackled he was begging Sivo to go with him, would have put him on a long run downfield on that left side

Sivo appeared gassed, or was it just no game awareness until way too late

The game plan would be for Fergo and/or Sivo to push up there but the real difference between us and Smugfers is it shouldn’t just be them in isolation. The only players who maybe get away with gathering themselves are RCG and Junior getting ready to take the next hit up. Opacic or Moses or whoever the second rower was at time or Nrown or Rheed could’ve also looked like they were actually aware a game was happening around them. Gutho made a 15m run with a 3 on 1 disadvantage. Imagine what he could’ve done with 3 on 2, or heaven forbid 3 on 3.
@hineyrulz wants to bitch on about BA having no attacking structure and is only worried about the collision and effort, but the Smugfers don’t have great attacking structures. What they do have is 13 guys in constant motion that pressures the defence.
We’re usually ok for effort but yesterday it was non-existent pretty much across the board.
Maybe one of the TCT guys knows what the training schedule was like during the week. But even if we went into yesterday on a relaxed schedule, for none of them to show any situational awareness is disheartening

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

The game plan would be for Fergo and/or Sivo to push up there but the real difference between us and Smugfers is it shouldn’t just be them in isolation. The only players who maybe get away with gathering themselves are RCG and Junior getting ready to take the next hit up. Opacic or Moses or whoever the second rower was at time or Nrown or Rheed could’ve also looked like they were actually aware a game was happening around them. Gutho made a 15m run with a 3 on 1 disadvantage. Imagine what he could’ve done with 3 on 2, or heaven forbid 3 on 3.
@hineyrulz wants to bitch on about BA having no attacking structure and is only worried about the collision and effort, but the Smugfers don’t have great attacking structures. What they do have is 13 guys in constant motion that pressures the defence.
We’re usually ok for effort but yesterday it was non-existent pretty much across the board.
Maybe one of the TCT guys knows what the training schedule was like during the week. But even if we went into yesterday on a relaxed schedule, for none of them to show any situational awareness is disheartening

Yes I'm no rugby league professor but our attack seems very linear and predictable. There's no unexpected formations and players coming at odd angles ready to bust through and maybe offload to another guy and shut the gate. Bodies in motion I guess. It's all a bit robotic and when it doesn't work we get what we saw yesterday, robots with their circuits fried.

 

[Eelogical]

Yes I'm no rugby league professor but our attack seems very linear and predictable. There's no unexpected formations and players coming at odd angles ready to bust through and maybe offload to another guy and shut the gate. Bodies in motion I guess. It's all a bit robotic and when it doesn't work we get what we saw yesterday, robots with their circuits fried.

To be fair, the Sea Slugs did their homework on us and exposed what several were predicting when we come up against stiffer competition. I would have loved to have seen what Barthur would done selection wise this week re: Waqa, if he had a full roster to pick from.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Paulo and RCG missed 7 tackles between them.

Paseka and Tapau missed 6.

Our bench missed 7 tackles - theirs missed 2.

I am surprised that Paulo and RCG's numbers were that good - the viable impact they were making was poor.

But I do agree that Moses, and Arthur's, decision-making was terrible.

We had plenty of possession, and territory, in the first half to make a game of it, and our last tackle plays were very poor.

I just don't think our pack controlled the ruck too well.

I thought we got in position to score multiple times yesterday but went for the miracle play when it wasn't needed. Whilst manly had a player off Cartwright and Arthur kicked on early tackles that led to nothing, whilst Moses and Gutho went for miracle passes.

The one time we went through the hands we scored. That's how we win games, engage defenders and get our outside players 1v1 against their opposition. We don't need the Sam Walker 30m cut-out, we need the Eels vs storm ruck play.

I do not like it one bit when we have Reed firing the long ball to our first receiver who is standing nearly half the field away. The way to create space on the outside is to keep the "A" and "B" defenders engaged around the ruck. Continually having those long passes from dummy half allows those inside defenders to turn their bodies and help their outside defenders. Plays like that are good once in a while where you've tired out the middle defenders and catch them out being lazy but when they're set it just doesn't work.

And the thing is we can play like this. We're blessed to have 2 elite level ball-players as middle forwards. We also have 2 very quick halves who can catch out lazy ruck defenders. We need to play tighter to the ruck in these games, not wider.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

We might as well not have a right edge attack at the moment. Blake and Ferguson are both catching colds in attack. Seems like we are content to use them as battering rams. I hope the coaching staff gets more creative because the sweeping play from Gutherson to Sivo is going to become predictable.

We need someone who will straighten the attack on the right.

 

[84 Baby]

Yes I'm no rugby league professor but our attack seems very linear and predictable. There's no unexpected formations and players coming at odd angles ready to bust through and maybe offload to another guy and shut the gate. Bodies in motion I guess. It's all a bit robotic and when it doesn't work we get what we saw yesterday, robots with their circuits fried.

It’s more the basics we weren’t doing yesterday. Can’t do shit if there’s no one moving around ball.
We do have our set plays (special moves) that I’d hope we’d utilise more and more at the business end but I’m just not sure why in games like yesterday rather than throwing the miracle ball to Sivo we don’t chuck one of those plays at them to see how it goes under different conditions.
But yeah I agree it’s very robotic and one out at the moment. Even the midfield offloads we look mostly surprised when they happen.

 

[lingard]

My guess this week.
Oregon for RCG
Marata to bench
Greig for either Lussick or Cartwright

Basically Marata is there to put Waqa on notice that he could be hooked mid game

Do you really think that would make much difference to Waqa? He can't do what he cant do, just because there's a threat of being hooked.

 

[84 Baby]

I do not like it one bit when we have Reed firing the long ball to our first receiver who is standing nearly half the field away. The way to create space on the outside is to keep the "A" and "B" defenders engaged around the ruck. Continually having those long passes from dummy half allows those inside defenders to turn their bodies and help their outside defenders. Plays like that are good once in a while where you've tired out the middle defenders and catch them out being lazy but when they're set it just doesn't work.

That pass only works to either catch that side of the field offside after a break or if we have an overlap out there and work at pace. Rheed yesterday (and somewhat last week) reverted to doing it as his go to.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

That pass only works to either catch that side of the field offside after a break or if we have an overlap out there and work at pace. Rheed yesterday (and somewhat last week) reverted to doing it as his go to.

I'm not sure it's Reed's fault. His job is to get the ball into the hands' of those to start the play. If the playmaker is standing 30m away he's got to throw it 30m. If he throws it 5m the ball hits the ground and we shit ourselves even more.

 

[84 Baby]

Do you really think that would make much difference to Waqa? He can't do what he cant do, just because there's a threat of being hooked.

Unfortunately with no RCG, the alternative is Marata in for Waqa and a bench of Lane, Cartwright, Greig and Lussick.
I guess neither is a great alternative

 

[84 Baby]

I'm not sure it's Reed's fault. His job is to get the ball into the hands' of those to start the play. If the playmaker is standing 30m away he's got to throw it 30m. If he throws it 5m the ball hits the ground and we shit ourselves even more.

True. The spine together were really ordinary and Rheed was probably the least (most?) ordinary. (He was the best IMO of the four)

 

[lingard]

Unfortunately with no RCG, the alternative is Marata in for Waqa and a bench of Lane, Cartwright, Greig and Lussick.
I guess neither is a great alternative

True. But they'll tear us apart on our right edge.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

I'd be curious to see Opacic and Blake swap sides for a couple of weeks.

 

[84 Baby]

Even the midfield offloads we look mostly surprised when they happen.

Like, and I know no one wants to be out of position/offside/potentially obstruction for the next play, we rarely have someone just absolutely barrelling past off Junior’s hip regardless if he passes or not. We all saw it last year in finals in that penalty Cook should’ve been binned when it was dying for almost an eternity for anyone to run off Junior.
I don’t want him forcing the pass, but he can get his arms free and if he does then just pop it. It may lead to nothing straight away but suddenly tacklers will need to wrap the ball up (risking penalties in this climate), fall off Junior quicker (giving quicker ruck speed) or draw the A/B defenders in (creating space wider).
It’s not attacking structures. It’s simple awareness and effort to put in the 1% that no one (except hopefully the defence) will remember

 

[Noise]

I'd be curious to see Opacic and Blake swap sides for a couple of weeks.

I wouldn’t mind Waqa playing for the other side either. Can you do that?