Round 1| v Souths | SFS | Thu Mar 7 8pm

[adamkungl]

Well that was putrid.

Inglis was damaging. Well deserved MOTM.

As for us... f**king hell. I thought we were past the same old shit of 2011-12. Discipline woeful and that was where the game ended. Can't play football from within your own 40 all day, whether your Pearce or f**king Thurston.

Saw glimpses of what we want from SBW and Jennings. f**k that pass at Mini's feet from Jennings though... unbelievable.
Disappointing lack of RTS greatness. Woeful wing defence.

3 2 1s?

I'll have to have a think about it.

 

[Nemesis]

nemesis still my bitch....

Nice choke by your team tonight bellyflop, you're a legend in your own tampon box...

oh and GI OMG...
SBW? LOL :lol:
lol@bellyflop :lol:
lol@loosters :lol:

 

[natheel]

Maloney was quiet for you guys. Jennings did ok. But sbw didn't live up to channel 9's hype

I reckon it may take him a bit to get skills back. Plus he looked nervous coming on and I would be to if 35.000 fans were booin me on

 

[natheel]

Jennings looked dangerous. Shame he only got the ball about 3 times. SBW played ok. He will improve. Friend - too many dumb penalties, Pearce - just shit in general, Maloney tried hard, Mini needs to go out to stud.

Our pack was too big, Inglis carved you up off the back of that and Reynolds kicking game hurt you bad as well.

Hard luck Roosters. See you again for round two later in the year.

Thing is roosters for have a small pack by any means. Rabbitohs went up a gear after Maloney scores and roosters couldn't keep up with then. Will take them a bitto click

 

[AceAv]

Bummer rooters. Not like there wasn't chances to put points on. Souths defended well at crucial moments and pierce or Maloney just arn't there yet for creativity.

Sbw was ok. Friend tried, but maybe too hard. Chek or w.e his name cost u 2 tries... Jennings showed good signs, but you could see roosters playing "desperate to score" style footy, which the bunnies just punished.

Reynolds inglis and the burgesses were magic

 

[Big Pete]

Positive signs early but discipline let the Roosters down. Didn't think your bench offered enough support either. Tide of the game really turned in Souths favour once Lima & G. Burgess came on which doesn't reflect well on either Kennedy or Arona.

Don't understand all the criticisms of Pearce. Offence wasn't the Roosters problem, Pearce created plenty of opportunities and his long distance kicking game really put the Rabbitohs on the back-foot in the first half. It was the defence that really hurt you. Not only by giving away all those penalties, but that right side was a constant concern. Rabbitohs are really strong down that side, but SKD's defence has always been a liability and RTS was clearly caught out of position on a few occasions.

Not a lot the Chooks can do about that this season. They could move Mini onto the wing but I can't see that happening until at least later in the season.

What they can consider changing is the make-up of the backrow & bench. Cordner should come into side for FPN when fit and unless he lifts, Guerra could find himself playing for the Jets in a matter of weeks. If that happens, I'd like to see Evans figure into the team somehow. He adds a lot of potential off the bench and could give the Roosters the oomph they were missing tonight.

Chin up guys and all the best for the rest of the year.

3. JWH
2. Friend
1. Pearce

 

[Jack_Napier]

Cheers Pete, all good points mate. Our Prop rotation is something Robbo and the club need to look at. Even Josh Ailomai from the jets would be a step in the right direction. Kennedy just doesn't have the grunt or killer instinct in his game. He's way to "nice" to be playing as a prop.

Don't think Pearce was as bad as some make out either, what's he to do when we surrender all field position for him to work with. He still managed 3 line break assists and his long kicking game actually found space/grass more often than not. His kick to trap GI in goal, only for Friend to negate it with a stupid offside penalty, was inch perfect. If we get some field position and forward dominance, the. I have no doubt we'll score some points. Composure in the opponents 20 is something they need to refine as well.

Can anyone confirm if FPN was actually on the field for the first 70 minutes. Can't wait til Boyd come back into the starting 13.

It's only Rd1 so still a long way to.

3 - JWH.
1 - Pearce
1 - Moa

 

[southwalesrabbitoh]

Pearce? A good game? From what I can see, he doesn't give the players around him confidence. He's not a good halfback, simple as. He should be changed into a loose-forward like Ryan Hinchcliffe, or sold to Salford Reds. There is no way he should play for NSW ever again in the halves.

 

[Big man]

I told you that George Burgess was ready for a big season and if you think he has potential, his brother Tom is a wide running forward, very much like Sam but he is bigger than the lot lol. Look guys it wasn't that bad for your team, you missed a couple of opportunities to score a few tries which could of made the game interesting. I think Jennings was great along with JWH they were standouts, the rest will take a little time to believe in your coach and his systems. Not pissing in your pocket but we lost our first three games last season before we got it right, I have a feeling we will be replaying last night come September.

 

[BranVan3000]

If its any consolation, your forward pack obviously wasn't ready which was the biggest issue. Cordner injured, SBW barely approved fitness wise and O'donnell not ready. Plus good prospects like Kane Evans. Put all them on the field and you'll make a lot more meters and defend more strongly and that will lay a better platform for Pearce who I thought looked good last night

Though I still have question marks over your choice of coach, seems like discipline is still an issue. I know Maguire puts the fear of God into our players, they are scared to even drop the ball

 

[Valheru]

I don’t think the performance was that bad, we were beaten by a way better side on the night. We definitely missed Cordner, the bloke is a work horse and always seems to make the hard metres. Jennings was really good until it came time to pass the ball but I guess that will come.

The right side defence is a definite issue but I’ll have to watch the replay to see if it was RTS or the inside men to blame.

Poor Pearce is on a hiding to nothing. Every time we lose it is apparently his fault. In the first half last night he was very strong and his long kicking game was markedly improved on last year, it’s not his fault Friend was offside and GI is a beast. At 12-4, if we score off that drop out it’s a new ball game...

One thing we didn’t do is punish souths for their mistakes. After both their first 2 tries they lost possession on the ensuing set only for us to lose possession in turn, we have to punish teams in that situation.

SBW was ok and I’d give him a pass mark for his first performance. He attracted players every time he had the ball; he just tried a little too hard to offload IMO.

All in all it wasn’t the most disastrous of round 1 performances and hopefully we will see improvement next week.

 

[Jack_Napier]

I told you that George Burgess was ready for a big season and if you think he has potential, his brother Tom is a wide running forward, very much like Sam but he is bigger than the lot lol. Look guys it wasn't that bad for your team, you missed a couple of opportunities to score a few tries which could of made the game interesting. I think Jennings was great along with JWH they were standouts, the rest will take a little time to believe in your coach and his systems. Not pissing in your pocket but we lost our first three games last season before we got it right, I have a feeling we will be replaying last night come September.

George looked super impressive mate. He's ônly 20-21 yeah. If Tom is anything like him the twins have massive futures in front of them, and coming out here at such young age is only going to do them good. So big and powerful. They'll upstage Sam in a few years time I reckon.

 

[bellyache]

Nice choke by your team tonight bellyflop, you're a legend in your own tampon box...

oh and GI OMG...
SBW? LOL :lol:
lol@bellyflop :lol:
lol@loosters :lol:

LYLT!

 

[cisco]

Where are you butt ache,28 to 10,Rooters shown up to be nothing more than overpaid losers,no past,no future,no one cares,HA HA HA HA

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

If its any consolation, your forward pack obviously wasn't ready which was the biggest issue. Cordner injured, SBW barely approved fitness wise and O'donnell not ready. Plus good prospects like Kane Evans. Put all them on the field and you'll make a lot more meters and defend more strongly and that will lay a better platform for Pearce who I thought looked good last night

Though I still have question marks over your choice of coach, seems like discipline is still an issue. I know Maguire puts the fear of God into our players, they are scared to even drop the ball

Good points BV but our discipline, which has been an issue for a few years now, is not going to change over night. I have confidence in Robbo. It's going to be a slow start to the season but we'll come good. Congrats BTW.

 

[Nemesis]

LYLT!

Why are you posting your family snaps bellyflop? or is it a happy snap from the bondi RSPCA's mad monday last season?

 

[cisco]

Its a younger photo of Butt Ache before he lost his teeth

 

[Ziggy the God]

Bottom line is that we have a way more settled team.

Your guys will improve as the year rolls on, so I am happy to get one of our games with you out of the way.

In terms of those putting their two young wingers down, give them a chance before you crucify them.

 

[adamkungl]

Definitely not crucifying our wingers yet.
RTS in particular is a huge talent, and until last night I hadn't seen any major defensive flaws in his game (maybe others have?).

Our biggest issue is discipline putting us permanently on the back foot. As we saw 2010-2012, we can still win games even when we get belted in the penalties - but not against teams as well drilled as Souths and Melbourne. This MUST be sorted if we want to do anything meaningful.

The second issue is our defensive structure out wide. Something needs to change here, the positioning and timing of our backs has been lacking for 2 years. Rushing up at the wrong time, lack of confidence in inside men, and poor positioning for bombs has us bleeding points. NEEDS FIXING.

 

[Big man]

Definitely not crucifying our wingers yet.
RTS in particular is a huge talent, and until last night I hadn't seen any major defensive flaws in his game (maybe others have?).

Our biggest issue is discipline putting us permanently on the back foot. As we saw 2010-2012, we can still win games even when we get belted in the penalties - but not against teams as well drilled as Souths and Melbourne. This MUST be sorted if we want to do anything meaningful.

The second issue is our defensive structure out wide. Something needs to change here, the positioning and timing of our backs has been lacking for 2 years. Rushing up at the wrong time, lack of confidence in inside men, and poor positioning for bombs has us bleeding points. NEEDS FIXING.

I thought your wingers played well, you surely can't blame RTS for those two tries scored off second man plays, the last try was SKDs fault, he shouldn't of charged in on GI leaving a two man overlap. There is no doubt that Robbo has the right squad and what appears to be the right game plan if your first 15 minutes was the snapshot of his structure. Your play the balls were the fastest I have seen and your defensive line was also fast moving and had purpose. The problem was your interpretation of the ruck in defence, Souths have three players go into nearly every tackle and then pancake the tackled player on the ground, therefore, pealing off the player one at a time consequently slowing the play the ball down, the referees can't penalise them until the last defending player is allowed up. Your team made attempts to do this but their execution was poor which resulted in a number of penalties. At times they wrestled the attacking player on the ground but didn't pin him pancake style which meant they must release immediately once the player was grounded.