Round 2 v Wabbits

[Exsilium]

Souths waited until the game was over to turn up. They're not a serious competitor.

Latrell waited until the game was over to turn up. They're not a serious competitor.*

 

[martielang]

El Salmondo has genuinely impressed me thus far this season. Has added some size and was a real handful last night. Think he can definitely do a job on an edge if required.

Great to see Garner have a good game last night also. Ran hard from the 1st minute and ran some smart lines.

 

[martielang]

Souths waited until the game was over to turn up. They're not a serious competitor.

Souths were very light in the middle last night. We got time and space out wide because our forwards trampled them. Bring back Tatola, Arrow and even Sele and I think they're a different proposition.

 

[MugaB]

El Salmondo has genuinely impressed me thus far this season. Has added some size and was a real handful last night. Think he can definitely do a job on an edge if required.

Great to see Garner have a good game last night also. Ran hard from the 1st minute and ran some smart lines.

How many tries he bomb?

You know who really impressed me, Matt Eisenhuth he just did his job tackled hard, didn't f**k up, didn't plod much, i reckon he should stay on our bench, even Mitch Kenny ran thru those forwards hardcore, when he wasn't hooking, maybe we get Leniu or Sorrenson on nates edge, move Martin to Luai edge, keep Eisenhuth on the front row rotation, garners a f**k up

 

[Exsilium]

I liked how IC moved Martin to the left hand edge in attack. Smart move. Gave Luai more time and options.

I'd like to see Leniu do the same but would only be possible if we carried two props on the bench.

 

[Exsilium]

How many tries he bomb?

You know who really impressed me, Matt Eisenhuth he just did his job tackled hard, didn't f**k up, didn't plod much, i reckon he should stay on our bench, even Mitch Kenny ran thru those forwards hardcore, when he wasn't hooking, maybe we get Leniu or Sorrenson on nates edge, move Martin to Luai edge, keep Eisenhuth on the front row rotation, garners a f**k up

Huth made a crucial tackle in the second half on Latrell. Latrell got through the markers and huth hit him low and did enough to get him to ground. If he gets through, it would have been a try as Tass was on the inside. Those little efforts make a massive difference but generally go unnoticed.

 

[MugaB]

I liked how IC moved Martin to the left hand edge in attack. Smart move. Gave Luai more time and options.

I'd like to see Leniu do the same but would only be possible if we carried two props on the bench.

Kenny, Eisenhuth, Sorrenson, Yeo, Leniu, Leota, Fish
All These guys can play middles

Edwards
Turuva
Tago
Chricton
To'o
Luai
Cleary

Fish
Kenny
Leota
Leniu
Martin
Yeo

Luke
Esienhuth
Sorrenson
Salmon

 

[martielang]

How many tries he bomb?

You know who really impressed me, Matt Eisenhuth he just did his job tackled hard, didn't f**k up, didn't plod much, i reckon he should stay on our bench, even Mitch Kenny ran thru those forwards hardcore, when he wasn't hooking, maybe we get Leniu or Sorrenson on nates edge, move Martin to Luai edge, keep Eisenhuth on the front row rotation, garners a f**k up

Dropped the ball a couple of times, other times they stick. The fact he got himself in those positions, most of the time from solely his own doing, is a great sign. That try saver from Mitchell as well was world class.

 

[Exsilium]

One thing that gives our side great variability is how many players can slot in to roles for periods of the game.

Kenny to Lock
Martin to the Edge.
Yeo to prop.
Leniu to prop or the edge.
Salmon to backrow, has played hooker, 5/8 and centre for us.

It gives us a lot of options with the bench rotation and shows how balanced the squad is.

 

[MugaB]

Dropped the ball a couple of times, other times they stick. The fact he got himself in those positions, most of the time from solely his own doing, is a great sign. That try saver from Mitchell as well was world class.

That plodder shouldve scored way before latrell got near him..... he is a class A plodder... not sure why Ivan is persisting with him

 

[Sime_11]

Martin's errors were pretty frustrating last night - for all Garner's criticism so far - Martin's errors have been just as bad and at crucial times.

very good start last night - fix the errors and souths dont make it a game with 10 mins to go

 

[Exsilium]

Garner has been playing with a plod team since he entered first grade. Lets not compare him to Kikau or expect him to be an instant success. Lets not forget that Kikau had lean years with us. Capewell was always banging on the door and the sharks paid dearly for that error in Judgement. He took 11 rounds to become consistent in his first season with us.

Garner has size, speed and knows how to run a line. He's an 80 minute player and can ball play. Notice how he rarely gets put on the ground or on his back? He isn't a superstar but he is a good player. I watch most games and he was always putting in, doing his job in a shit team with reserve grade halves. Give him time.

Lets revisit this at the halfway point. I think he will be a lot better.

 

[MugaB]

One thing that gives our side great variability is how many players can slot in to roles for periods of the game.

Kenny to Lock
Martin to the Edge.
Yeo to prop.
Leniu to prop or the edge.
Salmon to backrow, has played hooker, 5/8 and centre for us.

It gives us a lot of options with the bench rotation and shows how balanced the squad is.

Don't forget Sorrenson prop or edge, and Stephen Crichton Fullback Centre, Wing, 5/8th (world cup samoa)

Kenny was taking hit ups like leota and leniu normally do last nite, whilst soni was in at hooker... it impressed me, never seen him charge hard, like a raging bull.

 

[Exsilium]

Don't forget Sorrenson prop or edge, and Stephen Crichton Fullback Centre, Wing, 5/8th (world cup samoa)

Kenny was taking hit ups like leota and leniu normally do last nite, whilst soni was in at hooker... it impressed me, never seen him charge hard, like a raging bull.

I was going to list all the positional changes but it would have been a long list haha.

Kenny is of the Brandon Smith mould. Not as good but plays a similar role. He has been on a rampage but that also comes with us being on the front foot.

Big difference last night was the referee wasn't allowing the ruck to slow down as much as in the Broncos game. Wow that was frustrating. As soon as we get quick play the balls, its all over. Teams know this.

 

[snickers007]

OMG- just went o to the wabbits page- they are going off deluxe regarding the lost ball where Tago scored saying it went forward but if you look closely and compare it to the markings on the ground - the ball went back ( flat at worst) but it didn't go forward. however they aren't whining about the the try the scored off a pass that was blatantly off the ground from a tackled player. and funny how they blame the ref.....

I've spent too much time with a whistle in my mouth, so I don't like bagging refs. I honestly believe that 99 times out of 100, the better team wins, regardless of decisions made by the referee. And that was the case again last night.

BUT...

The officiating last night was terrible. Both sides copped some absolute stinkers, and the bunker was responsible for most of them. It's a deadset lottery everytime they get involved.

All 3 captains challenges were incorrect IMO, and I strongly believe that had Panthers not use their challenge when Cleary knocked the ball out, that the Rabbits first challenge would have been denied. Seemed like a 'oh shit, I better overturn this one, because it's kinda similar to the other one' moment.

And the Luai penalty was ridiculous, the ball was placed on his leg (which didn't move). If the on field ref penalised for slowing the play the ball down, that's a non-challenge-able penalty. So the original decision must have been for knocking the ball out. But Luai doesn't move - so he can't have knocked the ball out. And the bunker can't rule on speed of the play the ball penalties. So how does it get upheld? I can cop mistakes being made at full speed, but I don't understand how they consistently ignore their own policies and procedures when it comes to the bunker.

The less said about the pass off the ground for the AJ try the better.

Just as many decisions went our way which were just as egregious - but I don't think the Rabbits fans can claim that they were robbed when they didn't start playing until the 65th minute.

 

[MugaB]

Garner has been playing with a plod team since he entered first grade. Lets not compare him to Kikau or expect him to be an instant success. Lets not forget that Kikau had lean years with us. Capewell was always banging on the door and the sharks paid dearly for that error in Judgement. He took 11 rounds to become consistent in his first season with us.

Garner has size, speed and knows how to run a line. He's an 80 minute player and can ball play. Notice how he rarely gets put on the ground or on his back? He isn't a superstar but he is a good player. I watch most games and he was always putting in, doing his job in a shit team with reserve grade halves. Give him time.

Lets revisit this at the halfway point. I think he will be a lot better.

Garner is not an 80min player, nor has he played 80mins for us yet, Salmon subs for him at 25-30 to go, for trials, and 1st 2 rounds, if he IS a 80minute player at the tigers, that is probably why they were graced the wooden spoon, while we reigned supreme last season... im fairly sure he wasn't playing 1st grade for the 2nd half of last season, or atleast on the bench.... at the tigers... why the f**k are we starting him, let him come off the bench, give hoskings a go, fmd give peachey a go, anyone but plod

 

[Exsilium]

Garner is not an 80min player, nor has he played 80mins for us yet, Salmon subs for him at 25-30 to go, for trials, and 1st 2 rounds, if he IS a 80minute player at the tigers, that is probably why they were graced the wooden spoon, while we reigned supreme last season... im fairly sure he wasn't playing 1st grade for the 2nd half of last season, or atleast on the bench.... at the tigers... why the f**k are we starting him, let him come off the bench, give hoskings a go, fmd give peachey a go, anyone but plod

He had an ongoing neck complaint for most of last season.

He hasn't played 80 minutes for us as there is no need to.

Lets revisit this later in the season

 

[MugaB]

He had an ongoing neck complaint for most of last season.

He hasn't played 80 minutes for us as there is no need to.

Lets revisit this later in the season

Like when we are mid table, and can't figure out why we've lost 5-6 games by 1 point margins...
I'll give butterfingers one more game, if he plods his way thru another game, you'll have no choice but to read all my posts on the bad roster strategy in being persistent with bargain buys

 

[Girds89]

Garner has been playing with a plod team since he entered first grade. Lets not compare him to Kikau or expect him to be an instant success. Lets not forget that Kikau had lean years with us. Capewell was always banging on the door and the sharks paid dearly for that error in Judgement. He took 11 rounds to become consistent in his first season with us.

Garner has size, speed and knows how to run a line. He's an 80 minute player and can ball play. Notice how he rarely gets put on the ground or on his back? He isn't a superstar but he is a good player. I watch most games and he was always putting in, doing his job in a shit team with reserve grade halves. Give him time.

Lets revisit this at the halfway point. I think he will be a lot better.

Size and speed?? Haha cmon.

He's not quick. And he weighs about 99kgs I think. Or about a 1 or 2kgs more than critta..

And the 80 min comment... please he's looked gassed so far in both games after 20 mins.. atm there is absolutely no way he could get through 80 mins.

Latrells try saver last night was great but you have to score those.. he needed to get lower before the line.

Garner had a solid game.. if he can continue to improve than I'm happy for him..

I'm still of the believe that our biggest issue this year is going to be points.

You can't have hard games every week.. it catches up with you. And without the ability to score when you should you sort of lock yourself into the arm wrestle battle games which wears you down.

We should've score 30 odd last night.

That's not garners fault... but he doesn't exactly create points!

I still think Sorensen on an edge is worth a shot..he is much more explosive than garner..

I also think it would really balance the team out with him there. Means eiso can come onto the bench and his work when he comes on is always good for us..

But the biggest issue is Ivan need to get the team to adjust the structure on the fly when soni comes on.

Soni isn't a 'structure' player.. he plays what he sees in front of him.

In attack yeo is generally always first receiver and the forwards will run off yeo or he goes out the back to cleary.

Needs to change, the props and whichever 2nd rower the side of the field they are on need to run off soni.. he threatens with his deception to pick a man charging onto the ball, or by running or a little kick through. Yeo needs to move wide when soni is on and we are in attack.

Whilst he has been really good, you can see at times soni is a bit lost, and he's taking the wrong options, and it stunts the attack.. it's because he's not used to playing to a structure and he's looking for a bloke to crash onto a ball and they aren't there.

If we can get that adjustment right when he comes on I really think our attack will improve and it will create a lot more space on the edges. Having the forwards compressed for soni to hit drags in their defenders.. should give blokes like tago and critta more space.

And another thing I really want to see, move Spencer to an edge in the attacking 30m to try line Area.. garner or whoever is on that edge can slide into the middle..

 

[maple_69]

We're a long way off the finished article and like the Broncs game, we bombed a heap of tries & were generally fairly poorly disciplined. We did look a lot sharper though. Given Souths forward outs, I put that performance down to how we currently look against a bottom 8 team. Absolutely dominated them but we have a way to go in attack.
Brisbane should be a 5-8 team and we were deservedly in the trenches with them. I think we don't stack up with a top 4 team right now but ice those 2-3 chances are we're in the mix with them as well. I can definitely see us getting that fluency over the next 3-4 months and with our big game experience, we'll be a chance.

I'm more confident about our hooking rotation after that game. There's definitely a rotation/balance of minutes/roles in there that can work well for us. Edges are definitely the key. Nice to see a really well constructed and clinical try go down the right to go with the first out of our own half against the Broncs though.