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Round 13 v Tigers

BlackDuckSaint

Juniors
Messages
635
Dugan played very well tonight. I shudder to think about 2018 without Dugan and Packer. Neither Field or Dufty could have come close to matching Dugans effort tonight.

Dugan positionally is very good defensively, and noone disagrees that he does a lot of hard work coming out of trouble in kick returns.

But as others have alluded too, he isnt a good link fullback, he passes the ball too hard or doesn't pass. There was one today when he made that break down the wing on a kick return and all he had to do was draw and pass and Mann scores, but he thinks run first which has its place.

One thing which I think Dugan lacks and I think he should work on is his support play. He is rarely the one that receives the offload, and the few times he does he does real damage. I don't completely blame him, the bigger full backs are not the ones who generally trail the props waiting for an offload and this is where both Field and Mann would outshine Dugan as well as ball playing in back line plays.

Pros and Cons.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,626
Dugan positionally is very good defensively, and noone disagrees that he does a lot of hard work coming out of trouble in kick returns.

But as others have alluded too, he isnt a good link fullback, he passes the ball too hard or doesn't pass. There was one today when he made that break down the wing on a kick return and all he had to do was draw and pass and Mann scores, but he thinks run first which has its place.

One thing which I think Dugan lacks and I think he should work on is his support play. He is rarely the one that receives the offload, and the few times he does he does real damage. I don't completely blame him, the bigger full backs are not the ones who generally trail the props waiting for an offload and this is where both Field and Mann would outshine Dugan as well as ball playing in back line plays.

Pros and Cons.
Excellent post.
 

hazzbeen

Bench
Messages
4,617
Dugans defense and running the ball back were fantastic but in attack on the opposition line with back line movements he struggles. He doesn't chime in like good fullbacks do. It breaks down a bit and he doesn't have that catch and pass like some.
Tedesco is next level. That is one amazing fullback!
Ok lets change the scene , how much better would we have been , if Tedesco played with us and Dugan played for Tigers ?
 
Messages
2,866
A lot of people expected this to be a blow-out and I think that's why there is some angst with the performance.

The Tigers were always going to come to play, they had the bye as well, had a bonding session and took a whole new attitude into this game. I said in an earlier post that Woods would bring his A game today.
We were fortunate to collect the 2 points but we did so through courage rather than skill.

You have to remember GW was playing his first game for 5 weeks, Duges and Friz backing up from SOO, Friz getting injured at a critical time of the match, McCrone continuous U10's kicking game and finally the bye did us no favours (as far as fitness). We missed 42 tackles and had our worse completion rate for the year.

If that was our "ugly" win game for the year then so be it and I will take it. It also cements a top 4 spot moving into next week.

Just on McCrone. Surely his days are numbered, we just can't carry this into the serious part of the season. But the point remains who to replace him? Mann is not a 7 and it would be foolish to move Widdop toaccommodate Mann at 5/8.
I think Mann/Widdop combination in the halves would be dynamic.
Milne to centre - he is a handful and will only get stronger.
I think Mary has to stop kidding himself regarding McCrone and Aitken when he is ready to come back.
 

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,626
Ok lets change the scene , how much better would we have been , if Tedesco played with us and Dugan played for Tigers ?
Mate teddy has something that is very rare, pure speed! Every time he touched the ball gaps opened up due to his blistering pace. And he is a tough bugger, he fends time after time. I think dugans defense may be stronger maybe but seriously the roosters next year will be incredibly hard to beat with that freak at the back.
Tedesco at fullback and we win by 100 today.
 

hazzbeen

Bench
Messages
4,617
Mate teddy has something that is very rare, pure speed! Every time he touched the ball gaps opened up due to his blistering pace. And he is a tough bugger, he fends time after time. I think dugans defense may be stronger maybe but seriously the roosters next year will be incredibly hard to beat with that freak at the back.
Tedesco at fullback and we win by 100 today.
This ......
 

Old Timer

Coach
Messages
17,072
Just got home after being at the game and interested re some of the posts.
IMO no Duges or Widdop we probably lose by some margin.
Dudes missed a few chances today (as in most games) but his heavy lifting in defence is always AAA rating.
Some criticism of Mann I would like people to watch a replay and maybe reassess some of it. He want great today but I think there are some general issues on the RHS that need to be addressed.
Mc Crone's service to that side was abysmal and his kicking even worse.
Mc Crone started to crab sideways instead of taking on the line (difficult as he is slow) and forced Mann to be jinking in field as the sideline kept beckoning or he faced the prospect of being hammered by 2 or more sliding defenders if he tried to go through or around.
Mc Crone played the right hand side like a short blind restricting the room available whilst Widdop at times appeared to have had more than half the filed at his disposal in attack.
Mc Donald (IMO clearly a dud at this time) keeps wanting to push into the midfield to take dummy half runs which totally disrupts the structure of the back line. He wanders in their and stays lurking around for 2 or 3 tackles waiting to get to dummy half. Nighty is much more adroit and natural at doing it so leave it to him.
Mc Donald does not play right wing well and even when presented with some open space today he refused to pin the ears back and decided to stop, prop and turn in side.
For such a big bloke and supposedly so fast he doesn't put in nearly hard enough and IMO has made all the centres inside him look ordinary at times.
He should not be marked up just because he takes a few hit ups he should be marked down because he isn't playing wing correctly.
Mary has to pick him in his rightful position on the left and see if he lights up the ground or it's time for him to go to reggies.
Unfortunately we have to take some hard truths out of todays game and face the reality that changes need to be made so IMO it's clearly a case of can Mary grow some balls and be Paul for once.
 

BrissyRedV

Bench
Messages
4,382
I was also at the game and I think the atmosphere contributed to the scrappy dull nature of the game. Its pretty silly having 12 000 people in a 80 000 capacity ground. I won't be rushing back to ANZ.
One of the reasons I refuse to attend the big stadiums unless of course it is finals time. If I am going to travel all the way down for a game, it will always be to kogarah or the gong purely for the atmosphere that those places have.
 

Blood Shot Eyes

First Grade
Messages
6,121
I wish McDonald would contest the ball in the air more instead of just hanging his arm out.....its a bad habit he has in this area...hes tall enough just needs some coaching...if I was Mary I'd seek the help of an AFL player or similar
 

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