Round 21 vs Warriors

[BennyV]

I think he would be a better option on the Bench...straight swap with Mann...also Lomax/Periera for Nighty.

To do what exactly?

 

[getsmarty]

To do what exactly?

Knowing that The Coach will not Drop Aitken...because if he was ever going to do it he would have done it by now.

I think the coach could possibly try to use him as a Bench forward ...he is strong and may be suited to the role...

Personally I would put him in Reserves and tell him to work on his defense.

 

[ouryears]

Dead right the decline started two Months ago, there were signs before that. The backs are too stereo typed, easy for oppositions to read. They have no flow and Aitken gets out of position on defence. He does not know how to draw and pass, and gives poor service to the wingers. He is physically strong and could do with a spell in the forwards in fact his future could be there. Admittedly the origin series did the team no favours, but Widdop and Hunt are going to have to reinvent themselves if the team is to have any success going forward. De Belin is obviously injured and not at his best but guts it out every week.

Spot on KDS

 

[Overseas dragon]

Lose one, win one. Go Crusaders. My glass is half full. Yep, a dual coder

Yes we'll done Crusaders 2 to go

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

WTF was Nighty doing in the centre on that last play ? Maybe he was trialling for a centre position knowing his days as a winger are over, one of the most embarrassing plays I have ever seen & didn't deserve to get smashed like that. Are you listening Widdop ?

Blaming Widdop for where Nightingale stands in the defensive line?

That’s a new one.

Maybe you should also criticise him for North Korea ignoring UN sanctions apropos the denuclearisation of its weapons of mass destruction too!

 

[BennyV]

Knowing that The Coach will not Drop Aitken...because if he was ever going to do it he would have done it by now.

I think the coach could possibly try to use him as a Bench forward ...he is strong and may be suited to the role...

Personally I would put him in Reserves and tell him to work on his defense.

Serves little purpose off the bench. There are far more useful up-and-coming forwards that would be better off there. If he’s going to transition to the forwards, he can do so in reserve grade.

 

[Drag Queen]

Yes we'll done Crusaders 2 to go

Boo yeah OD. We've finally won it again. What's with the 2 to go though? Are you talking Bledisloe mate? Put your money on the AB team. It's probably $20 to one. Jeezuz I hope I haven't jinxed this

 

[Drag Queen]

Knowing that The Coach will not Drop Aitken...because if he was ever going to do it he would have done it by now.

I think the coach could possibly try to use him as a Bench forward ...he is strong and may be suited to the role...

Personally I would put him in Reserves and tell him to work on his defense.

Bloody hell you said it. His defense isn't that bad but he was shown up by Mitchell. It's his non-passing game that has me more worried.

 

[Dorsai]

The back line is stereotyped. That is what is being coached into them. Its predictable and seriously unattractive. There is no team in the comp that is afraid of our attack currently.

Our only sparks of attack recently have been individual attempts. The team has had nothing to do with the tries scored recently.

Our forwards are not offloading as they were early in the season. No one is following them through anyway so no one to offload to. They do one out and back to the ruck at least 4 out of every 6 sets guaranteed. Back line has no ball. When the back line does get the ball Widdop or Hunt run sideways and do not attack the line and its just pass, pass, pass, tackle. Predictable.

Frankly, this seems to be the coaching tactic. When they are in the opposition 20, they have no idea. its pass, pass, pass, tackle. Spin and repeat. Kick and hope. Occasionally, someone will do something and we get an individual try. BUT, we do not get any team tries. I cannot remember the last really good team try.

I do think the back line has lost confidence. They have no ball, so, yeah, no confidence. But also, they dont back up, so thats their own fault. When the forwards do get a half break, no back to be seen for miles. Aitkin is terribly out of form. Lafai is not far behind. McDonald, well he can score if you give him the ball 5 or so metres out but otherwise he is not really there. Nightingale, he is slow, he has no confidence in his centre partners and is making mistakes because of it. Dufty, is great, when you can find him. Most of the game he is just not there.

That comes down to Hunt and Widdop. Both were playing so well early on. Thats when players were backing up. But they were attacking the line and actually trying to put people through gaps. Now, they run sideways, turn the ball inside to a forward who runs back into the ruck and gets tackled. Hunt does not run at the line much at all and is just keen to get the ball away to someone else. It seems both are waiting on the other to do something.

Now, I have probably just given every other team a comprehensive rundown of our game plan, if they did not already figure that out. Things have to change but we know they wont. Not under McGregor who believes nothing is wrong. Nothing was wrong 8 weeks ago. Since then we have just deteriorated. Its been coming and coming. The writing was so clear a blind man could have seen it.

Frankly, I would rather not make the semis than be embarrassed by getting flogged in the first week and turfed out. McGregor's take will be that we over achieved and how good will will they be next year. I dont know, maybe he gets paid by the half season result like the betting companies. "If your team is up by so much we pay you out" His is probably if you win more games in the first half of the season your a success my boy.

 

[getsmarty]

Serves little purpose off the bench. There are far more useful up-and-coming forwards that would be better off there. If he’s going to transition to the forwards, he can do so in reserve grade.

Correct..that is what I was alluding to...suggestion was bench because I cannot see Mary dropping him to reserves.

 

[Overseas dragon]

Boo yeah OD. We've finally won it again. What's with the 2 to go though? Are you talking Bledisloe mate? Put your money on the AB team. It's probably $20 to one. Jeezuz I hope I haven't jinxed this

No afl and nrl my treble

 

[slippery5]

Blaming Widdop for where Nightingale stands in the defensive line?

That’s a new one.

Maybe you should also criticise him for North Korea for ignoring UN sanctions apropos the denuclearisation of its weapons of mass destruction?

No, I'm blaming Widdop for where Nightingale was standing in the ATTACKING line, obviously Nighty could see Widdop wasn't running at the line so he thought he'd take things in his own hands, unfortunately his execution & speed lacked, causing him to get hammered before he could even think about off loading.

 

[Drag Queen]

No afl and nrl my treble

One ticked off the calendar OD which incidentally went in my favour haha. Richmond will win AFL. NRL is anyone's guess. At the beginning of the season I thought it'd probably be a Roosters/Storm final. If Souths play like they did last game I would back them. Go figure.

 

[Drag Queen]

The back line is stereotyped. That is what is being coached into them. Its predictable and seriously unattractive. There is no team in the comp that is afraid of our attack currently.

Our only sparks of attack recently have been individual attempts. The team has had nothing to do with the tries scored recently.

Our forwards are not offloading as they were early in the season. No one is following them through anyway so no one to offload to. They do one out and back to the ruck at least 4 out of every 6 sets guaranteed. Back line has no ball. When the back line does get the ball Widdop or Hunt run sideways and do not attack the line and its just pass, pass, pass, tackle. Predictable.

Frankly, this seems to be the coaching tactic. When they are in the opposition 20, they have no idea. its pass, pass, pass, tackle. Spin and repeat. Kick and hope. Occasionally, someone will do something and we get an individual try. BUT, we do not get any team tries. I cannot remember the last really good team try.

I do think the back line has lost confidence. They have no ball, so, yeah, no confidence. But also, they dont back up, so thats their own fault. When the forwards do get a half break, no back to be seen for miles. Aitkin is terribly out of form. Lafai is not far behind. McDonald, well he can score if you give him the ball 5 or so metres out but otherwise he is not really there. Nightingale, he is slow, he has no confidence in his centre partners and is making mistakes because of it. Dufty, is great, when you can find him. Most of the game he is just not there.

That comes down to Hunt and Widdop. Both were playing so well early on. Thats when players were backing up. But they were attacking the line and actually trying to put people through gaps. Now, they run sideways, turn the ball inside to a forward who runs back into the ruck and gets tackled. Hunt does not run at the line much at all and is just keen to get the ball away to someone else. It seems both are waiting on the other to do something.

Now, I have probably just given every other team a comprehensive rundown of our game plan, if they did not already figure that out. Things have to change but we know they wont. Not under McGregor who believes nothing is wrong. Nothing was wrong 8 weeks ago. Since then we have just deteriorated. Its been coming and coming. The writing was so clear a blind man could have seen it.

Frankly, I would rather not make the semis than be embarrassed by getting flogged in the first week and turfed out. McGregor's take will be that we over achieved and how good will will they be next year. I dont know, maybe he gets paid by the half season result like the betting companies. "If your team is up by so much we pay you out" His is probably if you win more games in the first half of the season your a success my boy.

 

[Drag Queen]

Synopsis? My attention span is that of a gnat.

 

[possm]

We play a compressed defensive line like other teams...the problem for us is that the right edge players are too slow or lack confidence in each other...both right side players are weak in their lateral movement...

The coach plugged the hole a few times by placing Mann on the right edge...it worked...He then reverted back to the former right edge...it doesn't work....


Maybe someone can explain it to me ???

T.B.H...I can see little changing...it starts with the Board and filters down through the entire organization...

Just imagine if we had Mann and Lomax on the right edge and Herbert and Macdonald on the left edge. At least these youngsters would be further along in their development; I mean we lost anyway so how could it be any worse?

 

[getsmarty]

Just imagine if we had Mann and Lomax on the right edge and Herbert and Macdonald on the left edge. At least these youngsters would be further along in their development; I mean we lost anyway so how could it be any worse?

I Think the time to do this would be at the beginning of the season. That said, Mary is too conservative...prefers to play "Older" experienced players over the younger guys.

 

[Overseas dragon]

One ticked off the calendar OD which incidentally went in my favour haha. Richmond will win AFL. NRL is anyone's guess. At the beginning of the season I thought it'd probably be a Roosters/Storm final. If Souths play like they did last game I would back them. Go figure.

gws in the afl

 

[Drag Queen]

gws in the afl
Maybe OD. I don't actually get this code but my brother-in-law took me to a game in Melbourne. It was quite an experience.

 

[Overseas dragon]

Yes it's nearly as good as the NRL .