Round 3 v Manly

[Dragsters]

He was dropped for the last 3 games.

True.

He did improve his handling massively after being dropped earlier in the season and then getting reselected.

He had a long run of games where he didn't look like dropping a ball...

 

[redandwhite4evr]

You can now see the commitment the players have for each other and the club and they are learning to back themselves a lot more than ever before, well for the past couple of years anyway.

Yes-even the laid back Norman is showing signs of intensity- pep talks behind the posts when the Dragons have conceded a try.

Having said that, I actually thought the Dragons defended better against the Cowboys than Manly. Whether that effort took something out of them- who knows- but I thought we reverted to the Charity Shield slow line speed and ball watching. Manly set up numerous second phase plays based on our ineffectual defence and a better and more organised team than Manly may well have made us pay. Meanwhile, we may have made fewer mistakes in attack but there was a lot of one out running to get the set completion stats looking good.

While you can only beat what is put in front of you and we certainly did that, I thought the score flattered us a little bit. The try Sims set up for example was appalling Manly right side defence. Sims ran into a huge gap to set up Dufty but for mine, he is still not the Tariq of old. The Knights will be hurting after the Tigers loss and without Hunt and Bird, it will be a major test of our consistency and depth.

 

[BLM01]

Yes-even the laid back Norman is showing signs of intensity- pep talks behind the posts when the Dragons have conceded a try.

Having said that, I actually thought the Dragons defended better against the Cowboys than Manly. Whether that effort took something out of them- who knows- but I thought we reverted to the Charity Shield slow line speed and ball watching. Manly set up numerous second phase plays based on our ineffectual defence and a better and more organised team than Manly may well have made us pay. Meanwhile, we may have made fewer mistakes in attack but there was a lot of one out running to get the set completion stats looking good.

While you can only beat what is put in front of you and we certainly did that, I thought the score flattered us a little bit. The try Sims set up for example was appalling Manly right side defence. Sims ran into a huge gap to set up Dufty but for mine, he is still not the Tariq of old. The Knights will be hurting after the Tigers loss and without Hunt and Bird, it will be a major test of our consistency and depth.

I agree with everything you said there except the fact the scoreline flattered us
yes we did have a lot of ineffective tackles allowing them to have second phase but we also went unlucky not to have about two or three more tries to our name
so I think the result difference is a fair reflection of our dominance of less errors / missed tackles than Manly

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Yes-even the laid back Norman is showing signs of intensity- pep talks behind the posts when the Dragons have conceded a try.

Having said that, I actually thought the Dragons defended better against the Cowboys than Manly. Whether that effort took something out of them- who knows- but I thought we reverted to the Charity Shield slow line speed and ball watching. Manly set up numerous second phase plays based on our ineffectual defence and a better and more organised team than Manly may well have made us pay. Meanwhile, we may have made fewer mistakes in attack but there was a lot of one out running to get the set completion stats looking good.

While you can only beat what is put in front of you and we certainly did that, I thought the score flattered us a little bit. The try Sims set up for example was appalling Manly right side defence. Sims ran into a huge gap to set up Dufty but for mine, he is still not the Tariq of old. The Knights will be hurting after the Tigers loss and without Hunt and Bird, it will be a major test of our consistency and depth.

It will be a test but I hope we are up for it because we need to at least win a few while Hunt is out and this is one of the more winnable of them.

 

[possm]

It will be a test but I hope we are up for it because we need to at least win a few while Hunt is out and this is one of the more winnable of them.

I have confidence that Clune will step up and do himself proud in the game against Newcastle. Hopefully Soward has given him some of his time, working on long kicks into the corners.

I will be watching Williame very closely as I think this is where we might be a little weak. If Williame acquits himself well at left centre then I see no reason why we won't win this game. Our forwards have been improving steadily each game this season and so I expect that under Griffin's coaching, they will step up again against Newcastle.

I am looking forward to see how the team rallies behind McCullough as captain.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

I

I have confidence that Clune will step up and do himself proud in the game against Newcastle. Hopefully Soward has given him some of his time, working on long kicks into the corners.

I will be watching Williame very closely as I think this is where we might be a little weak. If Williame acquits himself well at left centre then I see no reason why we won't win this game. Our forwards have been improving steadily each game this season and so I expect that under Griffin's coaching, they will step up again against Newcastle.

I am looking forward to see how the team rallies behind McCullough as captain.

I have no worries about Wiliame he’s a more than solid fill in.