Round 2 vs Souths

[West coast dragon]

Might be time to let gareth go he’s going anyway we’re clearly trying to fit four pegs into three holes it’s not working I said Norman was clearly upsetting the balance of the team and it seems like it’s all come down to this convoluted rotation system to try and accommodate his spot in the side

 

[hazzbeen]

Might be time to let gareth go he’s going anyway we’re clearly trying to fit four pegs into three holes it’s not working I said Norman was clearly upsetting the balance of the team and it seems like it’s all come down to this convoluted rotation system to try and accommodate his spot in the side

If he wants to go let him go now , so they can sort out who goes where ....

 

[West coast dragon]

B

If he wants to go let him go now , so they can sort out who goes where ....

but on the upside the status quo remains mary gets the punt in due course lol!

 

[possm]

B

but on the upside the status quo remains mary gets the punt in due course lol!

Mary to go and coach the new Perth team in 2020.

 

[SaintPauli]

I just read Widdop ran 16 meters for the game. 16 meters for a fullback, Houston we have a problem, do we have a solution? Yes, however the coach won’t listen.

Widdop is not a fullback. Full stop.
He might be leaving at years end BUT I'd like us to win more than lose more games too!
Dufty playing 10 or 15 minutes each week will make him loose match fitness and that is digging our deep hole even deeper.
Coaching staff at this point have lost the friggin plot.

 

[West coast dragon]

Mary to go and coach the new Perth team in 2020.

The main drag in the city is St George’s terrace relocate them here minus the coach lol

 

[FlameThrower]

Overall another disappointment - whatever was drilled during off season has not translated into the Field during game day?
The whole idea of 3 playmakers - sparking the attack and providing options really is not working.
How long does the experiment go on for - I’m not sure but surely another 2 losses and sitting dead last would ring alarm bells to revert back to 2018 spine that was working?

 

[SGMax]

I was there Sims no try then they scored.
Leading at ht we have them heaps of ball late in the first .
Told south fans on hill they will come over the top in the 2,nd they said no I said I know my team .I was right .
We had only realistically a 4 day turnaround compared to their 7.
How does that work ?
I'd that fair?
Then two away games v bris and knights.
Disgraceful.
Capitulated in the 2nd half were we never had the ball .
No desperation from widdop or Ravalawa.especially for Burns try.
Should never have been scored.
Sutton put whistle to mouth on forward pass but blew nothing.
Looks like we will be one of the teams from last year to drop out of the 8.
We are missing Jdb.

Agree Jeff, not sure why we wait for summer o be over then schedule a round 1 game in NQ.
There should be no games in NQ till at least May.

I think the team showed they are a quality team tonight with that 1st half performance.
We just can't have too many inexperienced forwards on at the same time.
Very pleased with Lawrie and Host, also Pereira showed he can take on the opposing winger without running infield.

Kerr showed energy but needs to ease his way in without upsetting the team's momentum with penalties and poor positioning in defense.
Ravalawa looked slow and lacked urgency getting to the ball.
Leilua is a concern....can't be relied on except for limited time at the end of the game when the opposition is tired.

Dragons were clearly the better team in both 1st halves this year so the run on team must be OK.
We need more forward depth and for the refs to pull up forward passes.
I still have hope we can give this year a good shake.

 

[getsmarty]

With 2 Origin forwards and no Leeson (or his replacement Korbin), we were always gunna do it tough especially with Mary’s bench selections/usage. That’s a big hurdle for any team. That’s the reality. So I’m in no ways laying any blame towards Widopp. I’m not hear to bag him either as he’s been one of if not our best player in his time here at the club, a real quality player that’s lead us to many victories.

But he decided to move on. So on a way he is a problem as he is taking up around 900k and playing out of position.

Preseason I’d commented my preference would of been to release Widdop (frees up 900k?) and go hard for Corey Oates who wasn’t signed. My reasons being we knew what he would deliver - consistency. His strengths are he can finish off tries and run around 200 metres a game. We took a gamble on a cheap winger who really was average last night. On the other wing Peierra played well.

One thing I noticed Last night was our kick returns were very poor. Widdop is not returning the ball with any vigour. Rav seems too unfit or lazy to get back and help or run onto the ball. I think he nearly caused about a dozen forward passes. Rav was also slow getting back for another try. Rav and Widdop slow or no urgency to field and chip kick to name a few.

Not saying we haven’t got a lot of other issues. I think Hunt (whose played well) but is poor at reading defence and in both games ran up took no-one and directly cost us tries and Leilua cost us tries with lazy/poor defence in both games. Rav made costly errors which lead to tries in both games also. That’s a lot for the other boys to carry.

I don’t know where to from here and maybe just another reason for moving Widdop to five eight but this two play makers on top of everything else is having an indirect impact. I thought the one thing Rav would bring was plenty of energy and strong kick returns but that wasn’t so last night. I thought he played well in his debut though. So it’s a tough one. Anyway I’m still hopeful it works out, and glad some young forwards are in the mix.

You do Realize that McGregor has stated that he will not let Widdop leave Early...Again the buck stops with the coach.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

It is Bennett so GF likely in 2020.

Given his success and rapport with Peter Doust, you wonder why Bennett didn’t decide to come back.

We all know about the failed 2014 attempt. Was it a case of “been there, done that”, money, or something insidious only known to a certain amount of people?

Perhaps it was a combination of all three or none at all?

We’ll never get the full picture.

Sigh

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Widdop is not a fullback. Full stop.
He might be leaving at years end BUT I'd like us to win more than lose more games too!
Dufty playing 10 or 15 minutes each week will make him loose match fitness and that is digging our deep hole even deeper.
Coaching staff at this point have lost the friggin plot.

Limited game time affects match fitness? What do ya reckon it’s doing to poor, young Lomax? He’s not playing reserve grade, huh?

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Overall another disappointment - whatever was drilled during off season has not translated into the Field during game day?
The whole idea of 3 playmakers - sparking the attack and providing options really is not working.
How long does the experiment go on for - I’m not sure but surely another 2 losses and sitting dead last would ring alarm bells to revert back to 2018 spine that was working?

Two points which should be bleeding obvious:

1. a trio of so called playmakers is a akin to the idiom “too many cooks spoil the broth”.

(It would be nice to have Damien Cook)

2. Norman’s acquisition was a panic buy, which will not work in the long or short term.

 

[Dragsters]

With 2 Origin forwards and no Leeson (or his replacement Korbin), we were always gunna do it tough especially with Mary’s bench selections/usage. That’s a big hurdle for any team. That’s the reality. So I’m in no ways laying any blame towards Widopp. I’m not hear to bag him either as he’s been one of if not our best player in his time here at the club, a real quality player that’s lead us to many victories.

But he decided to move on. So on a way he is a problem as he is taking up around 900k and playing out of position.

Preseason I’d commented my preference would of been to release Widdop (frees up 900k?) and go hard for Corey Oates who wasn’t signed. My reasons being we knew what he would deliver - consistency. His strengths are he can finish off tries and run around 200 metres a game. We took a gamble on a cheap winger who really was average last night. On the other wing Peierra played well.

One thing I noticed Last night was our kick returns were very poor. Widdop is not returning the ball with any vigour. Rav seems too unfit or lazy to get back and help or run onto the ball. I think he nearly caused about a dozen forward passes. Rav was also slow getting back for another try. Rav and Widdop slow or no urgency to field and chip kick to name a few.

Not saying we haven’t got a lot of other issues. I think Hunt (whose played well) but is poor at reading defence and in both games ran up took no-one and directly cost us tries and Leilua cost us tries with lazy/poor defence in both games. Rav made costly errors which lead to tries in both games also. That’s a lot for the other boys to carry.

I don’t know where to from here and maybe just another reason for moving Widdop to five eight but this two play makers on top of everything else is having an indirect impact. I thought the one thing Rav would bring was plenty of energy and strong kick returns but that wasn’t so last night. I thought he played well in his debut though. So it’s a tough one. Anyway I’m still hopeful it works out, and glad some young forwards are in the mix.

Spot on belta.

I feel the same way.

Still hopeful, happy the young forwards are getting a go as well.

The main issue that is fixable is the use of the bench.

Having all the rookies out there at the same time is like throwing lambs to the slaughter and will do their confidence damage.

Our right edge defence in the first 20 of the second half basically invited Bennet and Cody Walker to pillage and pillage they did.

Must fix asap...

 

[hazzbeen]

I cant see us having an equal or better season than last year , hope i am wrong ......

 

[Carlton]

With 2 Origin forwards and no Leeson (or his replacement Korbin), we were always gunna do it tough especially with Mary’s bench selections/usage. That’s a big hurdle for any team. That’s the reality. So I’m in no ways laying any blame towards Widopp. I’m not hear to bag him either as he’s been one of if not our best player in his time here at the club, a real quality player that’s lead us to many victories.

But he decided to move on. So on a way he is a problem as he is taking up around 900k and playing out of position.

Preseason I’d commented my preference would of been to release Widdop (frees up 900k?) and go hard for Corey Oates who wasn’t signed. My reasons being we knew what he would deliver - consistency. His strengths are he can finish off tries and run around 200 metres a game. We took a gamble on a cheap winger who really was average last night. On the other wing Peierra played well.

One thing I noticed Last night was our kick returns were very poor. Widdop is not returning the ball with any vigour. Rav seems too unfit or lazy to get back and help or run onto the ball. I think he nearly caused about a dozen forward passes. Rav was also slow getting back for another try. Rav and Widdop slow or no urgency to field and chip kick to name a few.

Not saying we haven’t got a lot of other issues. I think Hunt (whose played well) but is poor at reading defence and in both games ran up took no-one and directly cost us tries and Leilua cost us tries with lazy/poor defence in both games. Rav made costly errors which lead to tries in both games also. That’s a lot for the other boys to carry.

I don’t know where to from here and maybe just another reason for moving Widdop to five eight but this two play makers on top of everything else is having an indirect impact. I thought the one thing Rav would bring was plenty of energy and strong kick returns but that wasn’t so last night. I thought he played well in his debut though. So it’s a tough one. Anyway I’m still hopeful it works out, and glad some young forwards are in the mix.

It wasnt Hunt running up that caused those tries it was Luc standing back and planting his feet. He looked scared to move up and meet Sam Burgess and waited for him to come to him.

Aitken is a disaster in defence, on a number of occasions he chased players in field and made a tackle inside two of his own defensive line and then was slow to get up at marker, on each of these occasions souths moved the ball straight to the vacant space in our defensive line where Aitken should have been.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

I believe this to be correct. However, there is no indication that McCrone was the best solution, just the only available player that fitted that play style. Rather than slot someone else in who clashed with the game style (whatever happened to the forums golden boy Nona?), it was better to use someone who at least was able to work with Gaz during a game as opposed to clashing with him (which I believe was the issue with Benji).

When you look at last years finalists, almost all of them have a controlling half and a half that plays off the cuff. I don't think it matters what their position is, 1 needs to run the game, the other needs to create opportunities. Last year we had that. This year it is still uncertain as to who does what.

I agree however I'm a great believer in playing specialists in specialist positions.
Nona was a specialist 5/8 and could not (IMO) have played in the team with Widdop however there were plenty of opportunities to use him when Widdop was injured. That never eventuated.
So in our case Widdop plays off the cuff and Hunt is the organizing half?
I think there is some confusion there as to who is supposed to do what.
Widdop will mostly finish off the sets especially close to the line.
Hunt often plays off the cuff.
There doesn't seem to be any structure.
Probably doesn't matter when the halves have plenty of room created by a dominant forward pack but the opposite when we are under the pump.

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Walker, Milford, Maloney, Johnson you are kidding surely.

Not kidding just asked to rate Widdop.
So you're saying Widdop is streets ahead of all those on the list?

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Agree Jeff, not sure why we wait for summer o be over then schedule a round 1 game in NQ.
There should be no games in NQ till at least May.

I think the team showed they are a quality team tonight with that 1st half performance.
We just can't have too many inexperienced forwards on at the same time.
Very pleased with Lawrie and Host, also Pereira showed he can take on the opposing winger without running infield.

Kerr showed energy but needs to ease his way in without upsetting the team's momentum with penalties and poor positioning in defense.
Ravalawa looked slow and lacked urgency getting to the ball.
Leilua is a concern....can't be relied on except for limited time at the end of the game when the opposition is tired.

Dragons were clearly the better team in both 1st halves this year so the run on team must be OK.
We need more forward depth and for the refs to pull up forward passes.
I still have hope we can give this year a good shake.

1st half good performances, second half fades.
First half of the season stellar, second half fades.
What you are describing has to do with coaching aptitude and expereince.
The best coaches are always adjusting their game plans at half time after reading what can be improved.
Both Green and Bennett did it successfully last two games
During the season, the best coaches are constantly tweaking their strategy and their squad so they're firing at the end of the season when it really matters.
Our bloke has never been able to do that.

 

[2010]

I thought this year would bring us a premiership. That is out the window.
I feel the club made a dumb decision signing Norman and as a result our chief playmaker is our fullback, this move has been a disaster. He ran for 16 meters against Souths, was out of position on some kicks, passed early to our wingers who obviously not expecting that.
Millward needs to be sacked for signing Norman at the start of this year, worst signing in years.
Was there no juniors who might have able to play 5/8 next season, I have my doubts whether he will the player he used to be.
Of course then we have Dufty, the X factor, warming his arse on the bench and hoping he gets more then 10 minutes on the field.
I believe we will be 0 and 3 after next week.
The club needs a broom put through our coaching and recruitment staff otherwise we will become one of the teams that can be considered also Rans
We.need to make changes now. New Coach and new Recruitment staff, clean out the boys club and start fresh,

 

[Slippery Morris]

The bench is what really let the Saints down. The boys put in a solid half then the subs came on and showed they are not up to it. Ravalawa was also shocking. Lomax is a must next week. Korbin Sims comes back than god. As for Kosh Kerr, he was terrible. Luciano not much better.