Round 21 V Sharks

[Buzzard Breath]

I am glad we finally beat Cronulla but why did we have to do it the hard way?

Good on Edwards for coming back stronger after he was dropped earlier in the year.
Well done to the kids debuting last night.

 

[OldPanther]

Just a bit of fun while practicing being better at talking through my anxiety. completely unscripted.

 

[chrisD]

I don't think Kenny's service is good enough on top of the rest.

 

[herbert henry1908]

The pass on that backline sweep that looks like he has a slight delay almost like a DVD freezing for a second which seems to freak out the defence because they can't pick if the second rower or fullback will get it lead to Edwards second try and our first against Raiders. He does have an excellent passing game when utilised with proper set plays and straight runners like Martin.

It was good, but it was just a quick catch & release. Xerri came in too far and created the gap. I think the two running plays in the first half were better.

 

[Black Magik]

I hope our halves one day develop that slight-of-hand that Johnson has.

Much happier with the energy last night compared to last week.

 

[mxlegend99]

Probably because of that first half try he set up. He’s a really strong runner of the ball, always has been. Watch the way he exploited those tired sharks forwards.

Saying that he’d be a better hooker isn’t the same as saying he’s a bad half, he’s got both in him. But I genuinely think he could be the no.1 hooker in the game.

He was at first receiver to do that. Very unlikely he does it at dummy half having to sorry about the marker and not being able to change direction to help create the gap.

The angle he had was a big part of that break. People are using halfback plays to say he is a 9... even though that play wouldn't have happened if he was the bloke at hooker.

I think he could do a job at 9. But last night he did a fantastic job at half.

 

[martielang]

I don't think Kenny's service is good enough on top of the rest.

I think we all agree with that, but Cleary knows his limitations so we seem to play really short off the ruck which seems to work for us. He very rarely throws a ball over 10m.

I’d still have given Katoa 20 - 30 last night. He’s a better player then what was shown in the first 10 games of the year when the whole team was running like busteds.

 

[martielang]

Can’t believe Cronulla didn’t run there attack more at Burton & Naden. Their obsession with giving Graham the ball twice a set helped us imo.

 

[OldPanther]

It was good, but it was just a quick catch & release. Xerri came in too far and created the gap. I think the two running plays in the first half were better.

I won't argue against that because you're right. Halves have good running games as well it's hard to know if he'd succeed without seeing him play the position. Could be worth trialling though I doubt they do and it's not my personal preference.

 

[OldPanther]

 

[PANTHERMIKE]

Please don’t give too much credit to our coach this evening his lack of use of the bench was frankly appalling.

It is a17 man game not a 15 man game, he got away with it, thankfully but in my opinion we could have done it a little easier had he injected Katoa and Lenui into the game. Lenui half a dozen minutes and Katoa nil was ridiculous given the way the game turned and Kenny was out on his feet.

Ok mate...

 

[OldPanther]

Ok mate...

The coach clearly had nothing to do with debuting 3 players and beating our bogey team. It's so obvious.

 

[mxlegend99]

Can’t believe Cronulla didn’t run there attack more at Burton & Naden. Their obsession with giving Graham the ball twice a set helped us imo.

I understand why they wanted to hit that edge though.

Brian To'o is still a rookie.
Stephen Crichton was on debut.
Villiame Kikau playing his first right side game.

There was no experience between these guys defensively. Even with Nathan Cleary it was 4 guys who had never defended together. Graham exploited it early on. Sharks no doubt thought they could do it by targetting them all game.

Honestly a brand new right edge without Whare and they did reasonably well defensively.

 

[PANTHERMIKE]

The coach clearly had nothing to do with debuting 3 players and beating our bogey team. It's so obvious.

But let’s play Katoa who has been the worst all season!

 

[betcats]

OMG it's Betcats:

Haha it’s nice to be missed.

 

[martielang]

I understand why they wanted to hit that edge though.

Brian To'o is still a rookie.
Stephen Crichton was on debut.
Villiame Kikau playing his first right side game.

There was no experience between these guys defensively. Even with Nathan Cleary it was 4 guys who had never defended together. Graham exploited it early on. Sharks no doubt thought they could do it by targetting them all game.

Honestly a brand new right edge without Whare and they did reasonably well defensively.

I get it to. But Naden is poor defensively & Burton lost his legs after 50 mins, they should/could of adjusted. Johnson troubled them every time he got the ball but Graham seemed to over call him most of the night.

 

[mxlegend99]

The coach clearly had nothing to do with debuting 3 players and beating our bogey team. It's so obvious.

Ivan has pissed me off a lot this year. But trying to take credit away from him for some things is hilarious.

I have no issue with him not using Katoa. Kenny could have used a rest... and if Egan was on bench he would have gotten it. But obviously he felt the stakes were too high and didn't trust Katoa not to do something stupid.

Maybe he comes on and freshens up our middle defence..or maybe he comes on and gives away stupid penalties, throws forward passes etc.

We won with an inexperienced young team over our bogey side. The likes of Crichton, Naden, Too, Burton, Kenny and Leniu were not even in our top 30 at the start of this season. That's more than a third of the side last night.

 

[OldPanther]

Ivan has pissed me off a lot this year. But trying to take credit away from him for some things is hilarious.

I have no issue with him not using Katoa. Kenny could have used a rest... and if Egan was on bench he would have gotten it. But obviously he felt the stakes were too high and didn't trust Katoa not to do something stupid.

Maybe he comes on and freshens up our middle defence..or maybe he comes on and gives away stupid penalties, throws forward passes etc.

We won with an inexperienced young team over our bogey side. The likes of Crichton, Naden, Too, Burton, Kenny and Leniu were not even in our top 30 at the start of this season. That's more than a third of the side last night.

Completely agree. To make the call like he did for a guy who is known as being loathed to make changes was a good sign. The way they handled it shows we will be ok for next year onwards.

 

[mxlegend99]

Completely agree. To make the call like he did for a guy who is known as being loathed to make changes was a good sign. The way they handled it shows we will be ok for next year onwards.

Not sure why he is known for being against change. He gives guys chances to bounce back. But he has had a lot of guys debut under him and pushed out a lot of players to change direction.

Our 2014 success was on the back of pushing Walsh and Burns out to bring in Soward and Wallace. Giving guys like DWZ, Cartwright and Yeo etc. A debut. He pushed out many guys in his first stint here to rebuild aswell. It just seemed more necessary back then. Jennings. Coote. Grant. Lewis etc. On big money.

Even at Tigers he rebuilt that roster. Although his rebuild was shit. Lol. But Tigers fans loved his rebuild at the time.

 

[franklin2323]

Can’t believe Cronulla didn’t run there attack more at Burton & Naden. Their obsession with giving Graham the ball twice a set helped us imo.

Their halves were poor that helped