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Rd4: EELS v Panthers GAME DAY THREAD @ Commbank Stadium 23/3/2023

84 Baby

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Are you saying that we should all just shit on Waqa cos he doesn't deserve anything better ?
No but it isn’t like he deserves a pass mark for that attempt. It was textbook turnstile. Does Drown also deserve blame? Yes. So does Gutho. So does especially whomever is the defence leader on that side which I reckon is Matto, who is also to blame for not getting over the top of Fisher-Paykel or at least trying to in order to appeal penalty (which in your second screen grab would’ve been a very near thing). But none of that is excusing Waqa for playing oztag.
And Waqa is copping shit for how poor he has been to start this season, not just one missed tackle.
 

Poupou Escobar

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Sorry haven't read the whole thread but Hands! What was stopping him getting a run last year? After last night he did more than enough and looked a pretty decent player. Dare I say why was JA picked over him last year?
We had Rein as our backup, plus our starting hooker was no less effective over 80 minutes. Why would we need Hands last year?
 

Gronk

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No but it isn’t like he deserves a pass mark for that attempt. It was textbook turnstile. Does Drown also deserve blame? Yes. So does Gutho. So does especially whomever is the defence leader on that side which I reckon is Matto, who is also to blame for not getting over the top of Fisher-Paykel or at least trying to in order to appeal penalty (which in your second screen grab would’ve been a very near thing). But none of that is excusing Waqa for playing oztag.
And Waqa is copping shit for how poor he has been to start this season, not just one missed tackle.
So we agree with each other.
 

Poupou Escobar

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The try was scored between Drown and Wanker, hardly up the middle like you claimed. Too many wine Spritzers last night,?
It was too close to the posts for edge defenders to have been expected to make the tackle. If Blake came in on Hosking, Cleary would’ve just made him the decoy, and passed out the back to Edwards. It’s not up to the defender to stop the four-on-two. It’s up to the playmaker to not f**k it up.
 

Gronk

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I think I'm now reluctantly in a position to say that that Cleary penalty shot to the sideline and the 2 point field goal was probably the most impressive premeditated NRL clutch play I have ever seen. I mean I have seen some freakish things, but Cleary had no time to think and the odds of pulling it off we 1,000s to one. It was not a hail mary, he meant it. Wow. Merkin.
 

84 Baby

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28,032
And to the “lol front loaders” if you observe Matto here
1679637442879.png
This is what failing to front load effort looks like. He’s done the correct thing to begin with, lining up the ball carrier Yeo whilst also covering the next man JFH, but once that ball goes to Chin he needs to load his effort to get around JFH so that he’s in position to mark up on Chin.

Although that said, you can already see Gutho overloading his effort which I think Chin also sees in that shot.

Anyway lots of loads going around
 

Poupou Escobar

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No it doesn’t - that is a false equivalency and only a troll would make it

Hands is clearly a better 14 than Jakey boy but BA couldn’t kill his sons career dead - and the defenders just follow the line that the coach is infallible
14 isn’t a position, mate. You’ll note Hands wore 15 last night. My point here is that the bench is horses for courses. No doubt Hands (a specialist dummy half) is a better dummy half than Arthur (a specialist halfback). But there is no rule saying you need a specialist dummy half on the bench. Hands came into the team when we needed him and no sooner. No doubt we needed Arthur on the bench last year, for different reasons.

If you’re cynical about those reasons, I’d suggest they still apply this year. Jake Arthur is still the coach’s son, and his last game in first grade was as a grand final try scorer. He is also carving up in reserve grade once again, so his form warrants selection at least as much as it did last time he was picked on the bench.

All this means that your bad faith ‘analysis’ of the coach’s motives has been completely debunked, and that you have in fact been revealed as the troll here Sir.
 

84 Baby

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I forget.
Well I was so if we’re in agreement then you did too.
I defended Waqa for a long time but so far this year, he is offering next to nothing in attack, his handling is poor, his decision making has been wrong and his tackling all arm waving. I said in 2021 when Souths made us and him especially look like Under 8s that even if he makes the wrong decision, he needs to hit the guy his tackling. He’s not even doing that.

If he can fix all of that, I’ll apologise for saying he was shit
 

84 Baby

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28,032
14 isn’t a position, mate. You’ll note Hands wore 15 last night. My point here is that the bench is horses for courses. No doubt Hands (a specialist dummy half) is a better dummy half than Arthur (a specialist halfback). But there is no rule saying you need a specialist dummy half on the bench. Hands came into the team when we needed him and no sooner. No doubt we needed Arthur on the bench last year, for different reasons.

If you’re cynical about those reasons, I’d suggest they still apply this year. Jake Arthur is still the coach’s son, and his last game in first grade was as a grand final try scorer. He is also carving up in reserve grade once again, so his form warrants selection at least as much as it did last time he was picked on the bench.

All this means that your bad faith ‘analysis’ of the coach’s motives has been completely debunked, and that you have in fact been revealed as the troll here Sir.
EvenHeartyFox-max-1mb.gif
 

Gronk

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73,538
Well I was so if we’re in agreement then you did too.
I defended Waqa for a long time but so far this year, he is offering next to nothing in attack, his handling is poor, his decision making has been wrong and his tackling all arm waving. I said in 2021 when Souths made us and him especially look like Under 8s that even if he makes the wrong decision, he needs to hit the guy his tackling. He’s not even doing that.

If he can fix all of that, I’ll apologise for saying he was shit
Are we talking about Waqa 2022/23 or how he went last night ? Cos Waqa deserves zero defence based on his last 20 matches. Last night wasn't bad and he played Ok based on his previous shit and a huge improvement on last week.
 
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