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Round 4 v Storm

BlackDuckSaint

Juniors
Messages
745
Yes there seems to be a lot of hysteria when the fact of the matter is that in two rounds we have conceded 9 tries ....... AND scored 9 tries. With those stats we have been extremely unlucky not to have jagged one win. Just like we lost both, we could just as easily have won one or both games. We haven't been that bad and one of our opponents is touted as top 4 and the other has Clint Eastwood as coach. The wrist slitting is so melodramatic. Our spine has played 160 minutes of NRL level footy together. There just isn't any patience floating around
Thank you! I said something similar after the sensationalism of the Rd 1 loss.

There are going to be plenty of teething issues this year with so many imports all playing under a new system.

I was as gutted as anyone after a loss like that on the weekend. But hey, you can see the shoots of a very dynamic attacking team.

Just focus on defence for the rest of the year and it will come

From memory, I don't think the sharks started particularly well in 2016 before clicking into gear and going on a run of 16 straight wins.
 

since77

Bench
Messages
2,532
Yes there seems to be a lot of hysteria when the fact of the matter is that in two rounds we have conceded 9 tries ....... AND scored 9 tries. With those stats we have been extremely unlucky not to have jagged one win. Just like we lost both, we could just as easily have won one or both games. We haven't been that bad and one of our opponents is touted as top 4 and the other has Clint Eastwood as coach. The wrist slitting is so melodramatic. Our spine has played 160 minutes of NRL level footy together. There just isn't any patience floating around
I think the manner of the loss against Souths is what is tipping people over the edge. It was like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. So typical of the post 2010 Dragons. For me personally it's the toughest loss I've watched in quite a while and I'm still annoyed about it. So I get why people have pushed the panic button. And it's going to get worse for these people as I think it's almost certain we start the year with 3 losses after the Melbourne game. The media will be writing us off as season gone already blah blah blah.

But I tend to agree with you that patience might be key. This might be one of those years when we get off to a bad start and slowly pull things together as the season goes on.
Despite the 2 losses I'm excited about our attack - best it's looked for years.
If Flanno can squeeze one less try per game out of the defence.......I agree with you it's ridiculous a team that scored 9 tries in two games has lost both of them. Unacceptable.

Biggest worry for me after the front row situation (and defence) is Ilias - I was never a fan of the signing and although he seems like a nice young kid and I'd love for him to prove the doubters wrong, I'm not convinced he's NRL quality. Hopefully I'm wrong.
 

maestro1

Bench
Messages
4,649
I think the manner of the loss against Souths is what is tipping people over the edge. It was like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. So typical of the post 2010 Dragons. For me personally it's the toughest loss I've watched in quite a while and I'm still annoyed about it. So I get why people have pushed the panic button. And it's going to get worse for these people as I think it's almost certain we start the year with 3 losses after the Melbourne game. The media will be writing us off as season gone already blah blah blah.

But I tend to agree with you that patience might be key. This might be one of those years when we get off to a bad start and slowly pull things together as the season goes on.
Despite the 2 losses I'm excited about our attack - best it's looked for years.
If Flanno can squeeze one less try per game out of the defence.......I agree with you it's ridiculous a team that scored 9 tries in two games has lost both of them. Unacceptable.

Biggest worry for me after the front row situation (and defence) is Ilias - I was never a fan of the signing and although he seems like a nice young kid and I'd love for him to prove the doubters wrong, I'm not convinced he's NRL quality. Hopefully I'm wrong.
I think Ilias will become a favourite. He is definitely one of the players that us fans have to be patient with
 

jeffdragon

Bench
Messages
3,971
I think the manner of the loss against Souths is what is tipping people over the edge. It was like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. So typical of the post 2010 Dragons. For me personally it's the toughest loss I've watched in quite a while and I'm still annoyed about it. So I get why people have pushed the panic button. And it's going to get worse for these people as I think it's almost certain we start the year with 3 losses after the Melbourne game. The media will be writing us off as season gone already blah blah blah.

But I tend to agree with you that patience might be key. This might be one of those years when we get off to a bad start and slowly pull things together as the season goes on.
Despite the 2 losses I'm excited about our attack - best it's looked for years.
If Flanno can squeeze one less try per game out of the defence.......I agree with you it's ridiculous a team that scored 9 tries in two games has lost both of them. Unacceptable.

Biggest worry for me after the front row situation (and defence) is Ilias - I was never a fan of the signing and although he seems like a nice young kid and I'd love for him to prove the doubters wrong, I'm not convinced he's NRL quality. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Yes typical Dragons there the taking and find another way to lose.
If we want to do anything we have to win games like this .
Souths had only two on the bench.
How many times have we lost in the same situation?
We are soft.
Will be 0-3 after R4.
JDB was annoyed when the full time whistle went because they botched it again.

We won't get the luxury of playing half strength teams before origin this year like last year.

No better time to have won last week and it went pear shaped.

Cookie said Flano gave it to them after the game and they had a few days off since then.
 
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jeffdragon

Bench
Messages
3,971
Yes typical Dragons there the taking and find another way to lose.
If we want to do anything we have to win games like this .
Souths had only two on the bench.
How many times have we lost in the same situation?
We are soft.
Will be 0-3 after R4.
JDB was annoyed when the full time whistle went because they botched it again.

We won't get the luxury of playing half strength teams before origin this year like last year.

No better time to have won last week and it went pear shaped.
 

Inisai Toga

Juniors
Messages
1,606
I don't necessarily see 'soft' around the loss- I do see confusion, communication and lack of understanding of what to do when put in these situations. I'd like to think and assume that they practice these situations at training ad nauseam (which they may well be doing) so it becomes automatic in the heat of the battle, but been hoping to see that since Bennett left....
 

Unsainty79

Juniors
Messages
196
I’m a fan of Su’a but he’s been disappointing defensively.
It'd be interesting to see a heat map Su'a positioning. I am not sure if anyone else noticed, but he played very, very tight in attack, almost as like a 3rd prop. I wondered if this was deliberate by Flannagan in an attempt to bulk up our middle. Although I am not sure what bearing this has on his defence, if any.

I don't think we should make any wholesale changes. I agree our defence was very poor, but some of the errors that lead to their attacks were even worse. Cook's 2 x errors, Liddle's forward pass and Couchman's knock on hurt us a lot.

Unfortunately, RFM got spun twice and I don't think you can coach that out of him now, he just has to get dropped. The other change for me is that Liddle might get a bit more of a run.
 

matPORTS

Juniors
Messages
680
Lawrie - approx 20mins for about 48m run
Guler - approx 45mins for about 48m run

This is simply not good enough, and definitely not going to cut it against the best in the comp.

As a result of this, pressure then applied onto Couch and JDB to play big minutes up front (along with Su'a & Luc playing the full 80m. No wonder we died off in defence and let them come back at us, despite a 12 point lead. No wonder there was no kick pressure on the Souths field goal.

As starting front rowers, they are also expected to lay out a platform for our halves to shine. We were under pressure right from the outset, despite going out to a lead by about the three quarter mark of the game. Which is why, at this point in time, think it's very unfair to be piling it onto our halves (especially Ilias who is still finding his feet in a new environment and returning to footy after a long lay off).

For Saturday week at Kogarah - I think the back seven pick themselves... I'll be watching with baited breath to see which way we go with the pack.
 

TheRev

Coach
Messages
12,205
Guler definitely hasnt fired the way we would like.. he did do 42 tackles @96% in that time, but we do have guys like Stewart who can play that role.. I dont mind if Guler takes some of the defensive load off Jack, since he is also better in his running game.. though Jack still did 45 tackles & 145 run metres in his 60mins.... but yes definitely been dissapointing, esp in a game like that where it wasnt the worlds best pack we came up against... and we won the running metres..

I think our best forwards are being overworked as a result of a couple of reserve grade standard forwards on the bench... but even still that wasnt the reason we lost.. we did beat them on stats.

Basically we cant afford to lose JDB, Klemmer, Toby for the rest of the year.. Ryan was our redundancy and hes gone, and even if Sele is fit, I mean hes a great inclusion but hes not a guy who dominates.
 

Wolfgang90

Juniors
Messages
894
Guler definitely hasnt fired the way we would like.. he did do 42 tackles @96% in that time, but we do have guys like Stewart who can play that role.. I dont mind if Guler takes some of the defensive load off Jack, since he is also better in his running game.. though Jack still did 45 tackles & 145 run metres in his 60mins.... but yes definitely been dissapointing, esp in a game like that where it wasnt the worlds best pack we came up against... and we won the running metres..

I think our best forwards are being overworked as a result of a couple of reserve grade standard forwards on the bench... but even still that wasnt the reason we lost.. we did beat them on stats.

Basically we cant afford to lose JDB, Klemmer, Toby for the rest of the year.. Ryan was our redundancy and hes gone, and even if Sele is fit, I mean hes a great inclusion but hes not a guy who dominates.
If sele plays anymore games it's a bonus imo. His recruitment risk has backfired on us. It was always a chance of happening. It's a shame because when he plays, he's a good footy player. I hope someone picks him up for 26, even if we have to chip in a bit...
 

John moz

Juniors
Messages
957
Liddell back at 9 / cook at 7 / Laurie dropped never to return off to superleague/ Luciano on the bench fresh as a x factor player. Illias to reserves/ klemmer starting prop.
 

This Year?

Immortal
Messages
37,415
After a preseason that was supposed to give us positivity we've had that shattered by our losses in both rounds. The latest result hurt. Alot. Even our coach has lost his cool in his presser. Our fans have been tarnished by the pie throwing and the threatening of an opposition player's kid. We can't attract marquee players and we're down 3 props.
We have a week to regroup and then face our biggest challenge of 2025. What happens next will show the character of the club and given the record of incompetence it will most likely end in failure.
There is still soul in this club and how it's stuck by Ramsey and how it stuck by the Illawarra even though many of us don't like it or agree with it and we get taunted about merging, whether rightly or wrongly still proves there is some good in the club. I'll be damned if I ever give up, especially against a club who refuses to accept how it cheated and came up with some of the most disgusting tactics in the gane. I don't give a f**k if they are better than us, have better players, have better systems, have a better coach, a better stadium, are more ruthless and are favourites to easily beat us.
The day we give up, have apathy, stop caring or stop getting angry is the day we truly become losers, for me that day will never be against those purple merkins. The season they entered the comp we had our history and heritage diluted over some bullshit criteria and that won't ever sit well with me.
 
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redandwhite4evr

Juniors
Messages
1,951
I have a bit of a concern about Hamish Stewart and how he's being used. I see him a tall, very athletic and skillful player (he took that catch and laid on the try in the one motion against Souths) who has a great future as an edge forward- in the mould of a Shaun Lane. The Dragons appear to be using him as a middle.
 
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