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Round 10 versus the Titans

redandwhite4evr

Juniors
Messages
1,816
I believe that any fullback letting a ball bounce in any situation is a cardinal sin. If they drop one of those bombs but are putting their body on the line, at least they're showing the attitude and commitment that is required of a fullback.

Letting a ball bounce to me is akin to being scared of the ball or the contact which is why I think it isn't a good sign that Tyrell who has played all his junior football in the position is another who lacks even the will or attitude to get under the ball.

Dufty was the same and for years us as supporters overlooked his glaring defensive issues because we thought what he added with the ball was better and now look at him, he will be either in ESL next year or won't be playing the game at NRL level anymore.

I don't want the same for Sloane and I hope we see this facet of his game improve but it's certainly worrying.

Cast your mind back to my namesake as a young fullback, he wasn't the biggest guy nor did he need to be. Every time a bomb went up he was willing to get under it and do his best to catch it, he didn't catch them all but at least he tried and that's all I for one want to see in a young up and coming fullback.

The ball skills can come second for mine, show that you're a natural fullback who wants to put their body on the line and isn't scared first.
As I said I'm not saying he doesn't have an issue with the high ball- but to judge and then drop him for an extended period on his Wollongong performance against the Sharks in atrocious conditions was in my opinion a poor man management approach from Hook and makes that high ball issue a mountain rather than the mole hill it should be. Then to bring him, a 19yo kid, back on a wet night in front of 50,000 fans- yeah good idea Hook.

A smarter coach than Hook would have brought him back on a dry daylight game and given him some extra high ball sessions-both day and night- and with the sprinklers on.
Also, while I agree that there were high balls that we should have contested, and didn't, it is not universally a good idea to attempt the catch- particularly if the bomb is landing near the sideline or is in the form of an up and under which is just a sneaky ploy for attacking players to go for a phony contest and hope the defending team will knock it on. Rainy weather at night are perfect conditions for forcing those sorts of errors. As kicking high swirling balls becomes an art form designed to regain possession, the battle between bomber and catcher is evolving- and getting more complex for the defending team.
 

Dragons4me

Juniors
Messages
1,039
This Forum allows all of us to say a lot of things to either praise or condemn players/coaches/club/board as a form of venting our feelings one way or another. Critism has been part of this venting process. If we can't say the things within reason, what is the benefit of having the Forum.

Even if the players look at this Forum and see what might be said about them - they should take it with a grain of salt. But if they are hit hard through other mediums like the social media networks, then that to me is not good.

How much criticism have we given Mary, Hook, other coaches and of course players.

In saying this I'm sure that the footballers wouldn't be looking at this stuff.

Maybe not but it wouldn’t be too hard for it not to get back to them. Players partners, family and close friends would. Enough criticism could easily turn a player against a club which is why good coaching staff becomes so important.
 

justadragon

Bench
Messages
2,509
Maybe not but it wouldn’t be too hard for it not to get back to them. Players partners, family and close friends would. Enough criticism could easily turn a player against a club which is why good coaching staff becomes so important.
I think the important thing to remember here is there is a line in the sand and we dont cross it, as a credit to the members of the STGI forum, if family partners etc would see the posts in this case they would see that we have nothing but support for the juniors and are condemning the disgraceful personal attack on other social media platforms, having our posts get back to them regardless if they read it or not would show our support, and that is a good thing. I personally see these guys as our future as they stand now, and I will not stop supporting them regardless of what sort of game they have, sure i will be disappointed when we lose but then I will be ecstatic when they put on those wonderful plays that they are capable of, it takes time, but the good far outweighs the bad.
 

Slippery Morris

First Grade
Messages
7,395
Sloan is copping slack yet I saw the kid defend which is something our previous fullback in Dufty never did. Sloan will come good. He may not have contested some bombs but Teddy and others did not either. The commentators even said that there are quite a few times now when fullbacks do not contest the high ball. To single out Sloan for that is crazy.

The turning point for me was Blake Lawrie giving that soft penalty because he was lazy to get off a bloke on the ground in the back end of a well defended set. Saints were 16-10 up and Titans were nowhere. Titans got the penalty and scored in the next set. After that it was a mistake-athon as both teams made plenty of them in the pouring rain.

Junior and Sloan will learn plenty from this game. Dropping them would be ludicrous. They need more games and the Warriors is the perfect one to bounce back. Geez I hope Sloan gets selected for the Warriors and Dogs games.
 

Illusion

Bench
Messages
2,729
Sloan is copping slack yet I saw the kid defend which is something our previous fullback in Dufty never did. Sloan will come good. He may not have contested some bombs but Teddy and others did not either. The commentators even said that there are quite a few times now when fullbacks do not contest the high ball. To single out Sloan for that is crazy.

The turning point for me was Blake Lawrie giving that soft penalty because he was lazy to get off a bloke on the ground in the back end of a well defended set. Saints were 16-10 up and Titans were nowhere. Titans got the penalty and scored in the next set. After that it was a mistake-athon as both teams made plenty of them in the pouring rain.

Junior and Sloan will learn plenty from this game. Dropping them would be ludicrous. They need more games and the Warriors is the perfect one to bounce back. Geez I hope Sloan gets selected for the Warriors and Dogs games.
Sloan needs to be selected again , yea he did throw a couple of passes that went wrong , that's because the kid nearly poked through a hole , which Mybe would never do , All the young guys need to play and Hook needs to stop making them a scapegoat out of them ......
 

redandwhite4evr

Juniors
Messages
1,816
sloane is being attacked on social media, he has shut down all his accounts, that is extremely poor form by anyone that has attacked him personally like that, it actually disgusts me. all the posts i have seen on here are actually supportive of the kid, god there are some trolls out there with no morals.
No one likes to see that but if Hook is using trolling as a reason to drop him, it is ridiculous. "Hiding" him in the KOE is not going to make the trolls disappear. T has dealt with the situation decisively- Hook should give him an extended run at FB to help him show the sort of devastating form he was showing in the KOE.
 

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