Round 2 vs Penrith

[mickeylane]

And was pleasantly surprised as we all were on this forum.. our team is a different beast from bygone years.. it has ticker and will be in the 8 at the end of all
This..

Got that wrong

 

[Gold_Coast Dragon]

Half wish we had Moga in the team instead of Ramsey.

Yep, Ramsey brought very little to the arm wrestle. Less than 1/3 of the metres RAVALAWA made. Moga would suit that game more.

 

[BBTB]

Missed the game, just watching the replay now. Glad I didn't watch it live cos I could have potentially had an aneurysm from yelling at Sutton and the F*x Sp*rts "commentary" team. The Su'a sin-binning was the biggest load of shite ever and just shows how much the NRL loves to back (or should I say piggy-back?) a favourite. How Dylan Edwards avoids a sin-binning for the knee in the face is beyond me. And then we lose Bird. Where's the consistency? Let alone the justice.

Poor hands and some soft defense at the back end of the first half cost us but credit to them for sticking to the task and holding Penriff scoreless in the second half. Sutton will probably have his pay docked for that.

Lomax was a bit ordinary and maybe should have a week in KOE to think about it. Su'a, Molo, Lawrie, JdB & Bird all impressive. Amone, Suli and Kerr improving. IMO, Hunt and Mbye should be sharing the hooking role with Sullivan joining Amone in the halves and Hunt providing some relief when Mbye is at dummy half.

Thought MOLO had a fantastic frontrowers game.
Really stood up to those Penriff possers. "Great game
MOLO. "Hope you can keep it up next week,against the Shonks.

 

[Adolf_Spritzer]

Lomax had his worst game in a while, but still managed to set Rav up and if he catches that ball in the dying stages of the second half we win that game.

I think we were all guilty of forcing the pass at times, and we still almost won the game against the supposed best in the league. Well it would be easy to be the best when you get the rub of the green like they did, offside all night and laying all over the ruck. Truly atrocious refereeing and needs to be dropped because that was a joke.

Early days though, and we kept with them despite all the leg ups they received. I reckon we'll put some teams away this year if we get a quick ruck. And I bet Sullivan is excited, a blessing in disguise losing poor old McCollough.

 

[Adolf_Spritzer]

Yep, Ramsey brought very little to the arm wrestle. Less than 1/3 of the metres RAVALAWA made. Moga would suit that game more.

Defensively strong though, that counts for something

 

[BBTB]

Too early, give him time. He laid on a good soft hands pass to Sua which was a positive
I said he is already a well marked man and other teams know his right foot step
he is not overplaying his hand yet
people expect miracles that young players can just walk into NRL and play well every week
That is the reason we cant have the 3 rookies out there together running the team just yet

Give Amone a rest next week let him chill in Reserve grade,get his confidence back. Mbey to 6. Bud to 14.

 

[thebigredv]

A couple points:

Our coach and captain condoned the way Sua was sent from the field and vindicated the ref so if anyone's looking for Sutton to get a holiday, sorry to burst your bubble. If you ask me Ben and and Anthony need to go revisit the footage. Thought it was a bit PC on their part but AG did point out that O'Sullivan shouldn't have been able to return if it was as bad as he made out. Maybe his subtle way of saying cheats can't have both ways.

I think we looked better in general play last night than we did in round one and somehow no biscuits. We could have made the eight last year if we were more match aware and disciplined. The same goes last night.

Forcing passes. Why panic?

When the nitpicking ref has shown his hand you have to adjust. Strips on the ball, late hits, ruck infringements...all very dumb and costly.

Dropped ball. Finally Kerr learns how to hang on to the pill and then Lomax, Lawrie, Amone and Rava say 'hold my beer'.

This team of players looks like it could be a good one but what has the coach done to address this issue that plagued us all last season? How do you become more composed and match aware as a team? We needed to work it out a long time ago. I'm a bit demoralised that it looks set to characterise us again.

 

[SGMax]

There was something very Storm like about the Panthers defence.
So much wrestle and holding of the tackled player.
They just don't let go and there is contact the whole time until the ball is eventually played. Can't believe the refs don't see it and penalise.
Molo, Burgess, Simms, and all the forwards did well despite the Panthers defence taking off early every time and giving them no space.
Its not linespeed, its off side!
Lomax has to limit his high risk passes....looking for the miracle every time.

 

[st.phil]

A couple points:

Our coach and captain condoned the way Sua was sent from the field and vindicated the ref so if anyone's looking for Sutton to get a holiday, sorry to burst your bubble. If you ask me Ben and and Anthony need to go revisit the footage. Thought it was a bit PC on their part but AG did point out that O'Sullivan shouldn't have been able to return if it was as bad as he made out. Maybe his subtle way of saying cheats can't have both ways.

I think we looked better in general play last night than we did in round one and somehow no biscuits. We could have made the eight last year if we were more match aware and disciplined. The same goes last night.

Forcing passes. Why panic?

When the nitpicking ref has shown his hand you have to adjust. Strips on the ball, late hits, ruck infringements...all very dumb and costly.

Dropped ball. Finally Kerr learns how to hang on to the pill and then Lomax, Lawrie, Amone and Rava say 'hold my beer'.

This team of players looks like it could be a good one but what has the coach done to address this issue that plagued us all last season? How do you become more composed and match aware as a team? We needed to work it out a long time ago. I'm a bit demoralised that it looks set to characterise us again.

agree re hunt and hook in the presser - missed a great opportunity to put some well founded pressure on abysmal one sided refereeing. I get the "no excuses - we gotta be better" but you also have to stand up for yourself and be honest or we'll continue to get rag-dolled by suspensions and spurious sin bins

 

[baggygreen man]

Sully or Mybe to 7 ...... Just my opinion .......

..aint the only one. Problem is remove sluggish Macca whose best attribute is his defense and slot in Hunt whose worst attribute debatedly is his defense.. are we any better off. I agree we need some slickness and creativity at half. I think Mybe provides that more than Sullivan at this stage. Where is he playing in the Ressies?

 

[st.phil]

those calling out Amone - classic forum. 2nd proper game in the 6 and he had a try assist and a repeat set. We had norman at 6 last year, just remind yourself. Give the kid some time, plenty of vets make mistakes each game

 

[thebigredv]

agree re hunt and hook in the presser - missed a great opportunity to put some well founded pressure on abysmal one sided refereeing. I get the "no excuses - we gotta be better" but you also have to stand up for yourself and be honest or we'll continue to get rag-dolled by suspensions and spurious sin bins

It is irritating enough copping it from the ref and the Panthers but when your own leaders don't call a spade a spade it makes you feel somewhat removed from your club as a fan.

At least Tallis and Marshall didn't mince their words. Will probably get more exposure that way. However not expecting the two competition points back.

Panthers prevail and all is well.

 

[Spazer]

Amone hasn't been as involved as we'd like him to be but give him more than 2 games to gel with hunt, he has already linked up well with sua and lomax and always has his running game to mix up the defence. We can't pull a mcgregor here and drop a young player so early in the season.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

I hate losing.

That is all.

As a dragon’s fan. I hate losing. But it’s part of our DNA for the past 11 years

 

[Dragon David]

There was something very Storm like about the Panthers defence.
So much wrestle and holding of the tackled player.
They just don't let go and there is contact the whole time until the ball is eventually played. Can't believe the refs don't see it and penalise.
Molo, Burgess, Simms, and all the forwards did well despite the Panthers defence taking off early every time and giving them no space.
Its not linespeed, its off side!
Lomax has to limit his high risk passes....looking for the miracle every time.

Somehow the Panthers have got their "line speed" down pat. They are compact in their defence and nullify progression of the attacking team. I wondered last night if our coaching staff have looked at footage of how the Panthers defend and why we were not doing the same. Our guys waited most of the time for them to run to us rather than go to them like they were doing.

They do have that Storm way in defence and if they can get away with this why haven't we and other teams not do it?

The quicker a team defends and holds and the quicker the team runs in attack, the better the outcomes.

 

[baggygreen man]

Still scratching my head why this club allowed McInness to leave when I see his replacement by comparison.

 

[thebigredv]

Amone hasn't been as involved as we'd like him to be but give him more than 2 games to gel with hunt, he has already linked up well with sua and lomax and always has his running game to mix up the defence. We can't pull a mcgregor here and drop a young player so early in the season.

Said it over and over but the coach needed to give him more of Norman's game time last year. By now we'd be reaping the reward.

Amone is important for us. The only thing that could possibly pry him from the 6 is a fit Sullivan and I think that'd be a great problem to have.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Yep, Ramsey brought very little to the arm wrestle. Less than 1/3 of the metres RAVALAWA made. Moga would suit that game more.

Probably because all the kicks went to ravioli. You can’t do much on the wing if the ball doesn’t come out to you

 

[BLM01]

agree re hunt and hook in the presser - missed a great opportunity to put some well founded pressure on abysmal one sided refereeing. I get the "no excuses - we gotta be better" but you also have to stand up for yourself and be honest or we'll continue to get rag-dolled by suspensions and spurious sin bins

Behind closed doors is where you do it.
Hook will never create a song and dance to the awaiting vultures from Ch9 and SMH media (Gus lovers)
But if you listen Hook had a sly dig at Sullivan in the end saying if you lie down for a minute with concussion the rules are you go Category 2 or whatever it is and cant come back on. Everyone knew he was not concussed but did lie down. I am confused he said.
That is as close as you get from Hook publicly.

 

[baggygreen man]

There was plenty to like about the Dragons's performance.. discipline was not one. If we are to compete with the best this year we need to cut out silly mistakes in our half that gifts the opposition good field position. In addition we can not afford to be a man short for 20 mins.. that is a killer blow.