Rd14: Parra v Dragons GAME DAY thread (14/8/20)

[TheParraboy]

Seeing a few dragqueen jersey and jackets come out of the woodwork down here in the Gong this morning

F..k you Parra, F..k you !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mr Parramatta]

I think our defence is quite good (and the stats back it up) - but our attack is schizophrenic.

One play, we set up tries like Gutherson's on Friday, and the next, we dump it off to Paulo, or Nathan Brown, for a hit up.

I know Mahoney, Brown, and - to a lesser extent - Gutherson are all relatively inexperienced, but a backline as potent as ours, steered around by talented halves, shouldn't struggle to score points in the attacking rezone, imo.

Moses seems to be gambling on flashy plays since his return from injury; prior to his injury, his mentality seemed to be "score points, or if we don't have an opening, try to get a repeat set".

Lately, all his options seem to be to try and create points.

Now, that's most likely due to scoreboard pressure, and rustiness, but it's an issue nonetheless.

Mitchell Moses is a bloody good halfback - we have all seen him at his best.

But he is far from his best lately - even his defence, which had improved dramatically in recent months, has regressed.

But we don't exactly have options available, of we were to give Moses a break - Field is a back-up; Salmon (while talented) is inexperienced, and would leave two inexperienced halves to play together; Taikarangi isn't a full-time half; and Smith can't really be trusted in the halves to make good decisions.

Our only genuine option, if we were to rest Moses, would be to slot Gutherson at 5/8, Brown to halfback, and put Smith at fullback (which I think is Smith's best position, anyway).

Or we could put Field at 7, like we did when Moses was injured - but I get the impression that Arthur has soured a little on Field.

As it stands now, I don’t think Moses is offering us enough; our forwards are invariably winning the battle, but Moses seems to be coming up with poor options more often than not, putting more pressure on Mahoney, and Brown.

Moses is too good a player to stay down for long, but for our sake, he needs to get back to his best asap.

Moses is not a big game half at the moment, (common knowledge) though he is very good against middle of the road sides, he has tonnes of potential which he is yet to fulfil, no arguments Pou as they will be futile.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Seeing a few dragqueen jersey and jackets come out of the woodwork down here in the Gong this morning

F..k you Parra, F..k you !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just yell out "Go the steelers".

 

[Delboy]

Watched all 3 games yesterday, one thing that stood out was that the dominant halves all stood closer to the dummy half position than we do. Even Cleary does this, that prevents the defence line getting so much time to get in the space immediately in front of the first receiver.
Williams, Cleary, even Reynolds stand closer and seem to get more than enough time to survey the defence and set plays in motion around them. Maybe that would help unlock the problems we seem to have against reams that are quick off the line.

 

[Pazza]

Agree Sivo needs to pull his finger out. I reckon we could have put a drunken hobo on the wing the last few weeks and had better results.

I think we are all forgetting the hit he took from Brad Parker in round 10. Sivo's right knee bent inward so far i think everyone thought ACL at worst MCL at best. Theres no way there isnt some sort of lingering pain/confidence issue for Sivo.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I think we are all forgetting the hit he took from Brad Parker in round 10. Sivo's right knee bent inward so far i think everyone thought ACL at worst MCL at best. Theres no way there isnt some sort of lingering pain/confidence issue for Sivo.

If thats the case give him time to recover and put someone else out there.

 

[Mr Parramatta]

I think we are all forgetting the hit he took from Brad Parker in round 10. Sivo's right knee bent inward so far i think everyone thought ACL at worst MCL at best. Theres no way there isnt some sort of lingering pain/confidence issue for Sivo.

He was fairly ordinary before the hit

 

[emjaycee]

If thats the case give him time to recover and put someone else out there.

Dunster named in the final 19 is a sign that he is close.

 

[Pazza]

If thats the case give him time to recover and put someone else out there.

Agree

I wouldn't be shocked if quite a few of the boys are quite banged up. We know about Moses having to nurse that calf tear, Ferguson's knee and Matterson's finger and concussion issues. Matto is still the 5th highest offloader in the comp and has essentially missed 4 of the last 5 weeks.

 

[Pazza]

He was fairly ordinary before the hit

11 tries, 14 line breaks, buried Tedesco, whole stadiums chanting his name! Average at best.........

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Moses is not a big game half at the moment, (common knowledge) though he is very good against middle of the road sides, he has tonnes of potential which he is yet to fulfil, no arguments Pou as they will be futile.

Which halves play better against strong defensive sides?

 

[TheParraboy]

I think we are all forgetting the hit he took from Brad Parker in round 10. Sivo's right knee bent inward so far i think everyone thought ACL at worst MCL at best. Theres no way there isnt some sort of lingering pain/confidence issue for Sivo.

If thats the case give him time to recover and put someone else out there.

How much of an issue is it really? When we let George Jennings (our back up winger) go to the Warriors a week later?

 

[Mr Parramatta]

11 tries, 14 line breaks, buried Tedesco, whole stadiums chanting his name! Average at best.........

Nevertheless he is light years from last year.

 

[Mr Parramatta]

11 tries, 14 line breaks, buried Tedesco, whole stadiums chanting his name! Average at best.........

Which halves play better against strong defensive sides?

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

Agree Sivo needs to pull his finger out. I reckon we could have put a drunken hobo on the wing the last few weeks and had better results.

If only I knew, I would have put my hand up.

And for those defending Sivo, the poor stuff I mentioned has nothing to do with any injury from Parker:

• Catches the ball from an almost standing start 3 metres behind the play the ball;
• The most at-risk player in the team in regards to dropping the ball;
• Scared to contest a kick.

He has the tries because, previously, we had Brown, Gutho and Jennings doing all the work.

It's time for Sivo to be dropped. Bring on Dunster.

Like I said earlier, I'd drop Waqa Blake, too, and bring in Taka. Matterson + Taka + Fergo would be a threat and we wouldn't have to spend 95% of our time setting to move the ball to the left in a ridiculously predictable fashion.

 

[Gazzamatta]

Agree

I wouldn't be shocked if quite a few of the boys are quite banged up. We know about Moses having to nurse that calf tear, Ferguson's knee and Matterson's finger and concussion issues. Matto is still the 5th highest offloader in the comp and has essentially missed 4 of the last 5 weeks.

But we continue to play our 14 through 17 minimal minutes, injurys excluded. Its like anyone other than our best 13 arent trusted to do the job. Its a 17 man game these days.

 

[lingard]

He's lost his ball out the back and become one dimensional,

I hope that never happens to me.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

He was fairly ordinary before the hit

Before the hit he ran for less than 100m once this year, out of 9 games. After the hit he's run under 100m twice, out of 4 games. He also ran for over 100m in the game he was hit.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

Nevertheless he is light years from last year.

Maybe cause teams have more footage of him now than last year?

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

Maybe cause teams have more footage of him now than last year?

Blackmail?