Rd8: 8pm EELS v Broncos GAME DAY THREAD @ TIO Stadium - Darwin 21/4/23

[hineyrulz]

I remember in 2021 when RCG got injured that month afterwards we got flogged 4 game straight up in Covid hub.

That pointed to me we miss RCG more then we miss Paulo.

Paulo has been shit this year.

 

[the phantom menace]

There's only eight interchanges and we used two of them replacing injured players you dopey merkin. Hands was doing fine at hooker, so why burn an interchange for no reason? Doorey was the one who needed the rest.

I already told you, tackles per minute is the key stat in the middle. If a bloke is missing more but still making more per minute it just means he is working harder.

Next week will be an easier game than this week's, so I suspect it won't make a lot of difference who starts. But without RCG we might not be able to afford to use two interchanges at dummy half. The only time this year we've done that was against the Tigers.

So after all that you again didn't answer the question... no worries champ.

 

[the phantom menace]

Junior Paulo has to lift his game up now with Reg gone. He form has been down

I personally think Reg has played better football in past 3 seasons then Junior despite Junior racking up the Origin caps.

I would love Junior to stand down from origin he has already missed 2 games this year and potentially another 3 when origin comes around.

But he probs doesn't want to give up 90k.

I don't think he'll get picked.

We're a club running 12th-15th, and Fittler in desperation for a series win to keep his job might go with a younger option from any of the clubs running higher.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

What? He is doing his job by making his tackles without missing many. He’s also not f**king the defensive line and creating yawning gaps by missing / not sticking.

Let’s just be real about it, Pou. Do you think Hodgson is performing well?

Are you suggesting there's no gaps in the middle when Hands is on the field? If there are then why isn't he working hard trying to plug them?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Or perhaps Hodgson is getting targeted even more so than other hookers due to the fact that he can’t tackle and even when he does he doesn’t get into a good marker position leaving easy metres on the next tackle. Oppositions do their due diligence. I’d rather Hodgson “does nothing” and spreads those missed tackles across other middles who can defend.

We are already getting too few tackles from our starting middles. Last night:

RCG 12 tackles in 37 minutes
Paulo 12 tackles in 47 minutes!!!

Hodgson's 16 in 31 minutes shows he was just trying to fill the massive gaps left by the plodders. Really, Paulo is our main problem in defence. But merkins give him a free pass because his attack is (usually) so good.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Spot on Dave. It’s laughable the rationale he’s coming up with here.

You just wait until BA finally bites the bullet and drops Hodgson. He’ll come in here and tell us all he “told you so” and it was obvious Hodgson had to be dropped and BA has done it at the precisely correct time.

It will also just be for match fitness because Pou has told us time and time again, players clearly on top 13 money don’t play NSW Cup. However Waqa says hi and debunks that ridiculous theory.

I think you're making shit up, or more likely misrepresenting me. Just like you I saw Michael Jennings picked in reserve grade. And there is a gulf between a team's best players, like Jennings, and its squad players, like Waqa Blake and Nathan Brown. You seem to think because a player gets picked every week that he is on big money, or if he was signed from a rival mid-season that we must be paying overs. The fact is Blake's form has fallen so far and for so long that he has been surpassed in the squad by players like Russell and Simonsson, who was also released by his previous club. Does that mean we are paying $500k for Bailey Simonsson? If we're not paying it for him why would we be paying it for Blake?

 

[TheParraboy]

We are already getting too few tackles from our starting middles. Last night:

RCG 12 tackles in 37 minutes
Paulo 12 tackles in 47 minutes!!!

Hodgson's 16 in 31 minutes shows he was just trying to fill the massive gaps left by the plodders. Really, Paulo is our main problem in defence. But merkins give him a free pass because his attack is (usually) so good.

Most hookers do more tackles per minute cause they get run at more often.

If Hodgson was trying to plug massive gaps, he created just as many

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The other thing to add is that this metric is probably wrong anyway. While Hands is apparently attempting a fraction fewer tackles than Hodgson on a minutes played basis, the only 80 minute game he’s played so far was the one against Canterbury last week, in which we absolutely dominated possession.

A more meaningful metric would be to compare Hodgson and Hands for number of tackle attempts during team time in defence. My gut feeling is that Hands would come out very close to, if not ahead of, Hodgson in terms of defensive involvement on that metric, without nearly as many defensive errors.

Are you saying that Hands' stats would be skewed by playing 80 against a shit Bulldogs side, and not playing at all against the Storm, Sharks and Seagulls?

This all completely separate from the fact he hasn't had to share as many minutes defending with Junior Paulo?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Our sets are structured as one out to get in the middle of the field, short crash ball, shift off a slow play the ball, settler to bring it back in the middle of the field, kick. It is so easy to defend.

And yet only three teams have scored more tries than us.

Put shit on our defence all you like (it is shit) but we are a good attacking side.

 

[Noise]

And yet only three teams have scored more tries than us.

Put shit on our defence all you like (it is shit) but we are a good attacking side.

We have played more games than most teams. Only 4 teams (including us) have played 8 games so far.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The worst part of that moment is that we had jagged back some momentum prior to that set of six, but the meek nature of that defensive set was a fatal blow from which we never fully recovered.

And only one player is to blame for that meek defensive set? Did you know that with Paulo making a tackle every four minutes that his front row partner RCG was also left isolated and had worse defensive stats than Hodgson? You need to look at stats in context or there's no point looking at them. You are just trying to fit the stats to a preconceived notion that Hodgson was always going to be a bad signing. Now you're trying to find a way to pin all our issues on him. Some merkin here recently admitted as much.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

We have played more games than most teams. Only 4 teams (including us) have played 8 games so far.

And half of those games have been against four of the top five in premiership betting.

 

[Noise]

And half of those games have been against four of the top five in premiership betting.

Without Hodgson we would be higher up in the premiership betting.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Lost hope has been going on for 10 years now. Just happens to coincide with BA.

lol yeah we were awesome before Arthur's joined the club.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Well they didn’t have squads as good as this one.

And they didn't make the finals five times either.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I remember in 2021 when RCG got injured that month afterwards we got flogged 4 game straight up in Covid hub.

That pointed to me we miss RCG more then we miss Paulo.

Because RCG is also a great defender. Paulo attempt far too few tackles. Doesn't miss many though!

 

[hineyrulz]

And they didn't make the finals five times either.

They didn't get 10 years or the chance after winning a spoon. Bea Arthurs 2014 squad was much stronger than Stuarts or Kearney's. Let alone with what he's had to work with the last half decade.

 

[the phantom menace]

And only one player is to blame for that meek defensive set? Did you know that with Paulo making a tackle every four minutes that his front row partner RCG was also left isolated and had worse defensive stats than Hodgson? You need to look at stats in context or there's no point looking at them.

Did you actually watch the set and Hodgson's missed tackles? Or are you just leaning on stats alone again to fit your pre-conceived agenda of being contrary...

 

[DaveMc]

Are you saying that Hands' stats would be skewed by playing 80 against a shit Bulldogs side, and not playing at all against the Storm, Sharks and Seagulls?

This all completely separate from the fact he hasn't had to share as many minutes defending with Junior Paulo?

I’m saying that Hands’ defensive workrate is likely understated on the tackles (and misses) per minute played metric, because his one 80 minute game so far was one in which we had a bulk of possession.

You still haven’t even tried answering whether you think Hodgson is performing at an acceptable, first grade level. That’s a yes or no question. I’d be interested in knowing your opinion.

 

[King-Gutho94]

Because RCG is also a great defender. Paulo attempt far too few tackles. Doesn't miss many though!

What do you reckon was Paulo's best club game in past 2 years.

Has there been a game you have noticed where he is best forward on the park.

Maybe RCG has taken the limelight off him. And the combo they have.

But I can't recall off the top of my head where I went gee Junior was unstoppable or undisputed one of the best tonight many times in past 2 years.