I agree Im a JP fan always gives his all when running the football....he will get better and better the more games he plays in 1st grade
Good analysis BLMO1- Dean Pay in my opinion is the most underestimated coach in the NRL. He is clever and his game plan should have beaten the team many had already had anointed as premiers. I fear a repeat of last years humiliation coming up at Jubilee-particularly if Mary sticks solid with heart attack material Aitken and Ravalawa on our vulnerable right edge- which will have every coach licking their lips. One clear contrast with the dogs is that they attack in waves- runners have options on both sides to create doubt in defenders minds. Also, each player has a clear role and the skills for that role have been well drilled. Dufty, for mine, needs to be used smarter. He should be like Billy Slater- trailing the damaging runners like Frizzell and Tariq Sims. The headless chook running is being generally well contained. First, however, he needs to learn how to take a bomb. After a dynamite display against the Broncs, Ben Hunt put away his running game and returned to the mediocrity he dishes out most weeks eg the lazy forward pass to Host he didn't need to throw when the runner had clearly gone past him. We need a 80-90% kicker and Lafai's poor attempt to convert Ravalawa's try was far from convincing. Another reason to support your suggestion of Lomax to start at 3. Not sure if we have a safer but as dynamic alternative to Ravalawa in Pearson - only one way to find out I guess and that's to throw him in- we surely can't continue with the poor reads coming from our current right edge. I've been a fan of James Graham but using him to run the ball back from a restart is ridiculous- he never dents the line- Vaughan, Frizzell, Lawrie and Tariq SIms are our yardage runners. But that's hard way Mary for you- the bleeding obvious to the rest of us is invisible to him.
I will say this about our wingers. They never get ball into space especially Ravalawa, except the Dufty cut out pass or when Lafai draws a couple in and then flicks it out the back. If we straightened our attack which I note Norman and Hunt at times are trying to do and offload at the line eventually holes will appear..but anyway. And my other pet hate, we are standing to shallow with hit ups or runs from dummy half. You can throw a face cloth over our side crammin in together waiting to get the ball and go through their paces and standed hit up plan. I watched Lawrie a few times who can wind up hitting the line hard but he gets the ball standing relatively flat footed. Re Graham..have to agree. He is now trying to run at an angle to avoid the big straight up run and getting smacked but he is not making good yards..he is worse than Tolman. Outside of Vaughan doing a hit up or Frizz..we make jackshit. Rava and Periera do threaten to bust the line but teams are awake to our tactics, getting numbers around then and then slide out if we swing it wide Infact every TV viewer are awake to our tactics Graham is valuable when we get in the other half and he does a lot of work in defense...but he aint a yard maker man or intimidating anymore.
Great assessment. Apart from being a better organized side than we are, my biggest fear against Canterbury are their wingers. Both giants, fast and athletic. I am sure they will test out our wingers big time and Aitkin/Ravalawa's side will get a solid work out.
Our centres do not possess the ability to run straight and then time an accurate long pass to their winger - similar skill that our halves and fullback do possess. Drawing the opposition outside backs and then passing the ball to our winger in space should be an elementary skill for a centre and mandatory requirement for selection in first grade.
Thats great news. Cant wait to decoy's get awarded a try. Maybe we can give it to a decoy every now and then.
Was it just me or was Sims hit on Pearce that was penalised was reasonably harsh as was highish but did not hit him in the head. I thought contact was not late and up round the chest / shoulders. Maybe I am biased but the timing and the hoohaa around protecting kickers was a part to blame
It was the ferocity of the tackle combined with the fact it was a fraction of a second late that gave the ref the opportunity to penalise Sims. It wasn't a high tackle. Over the years some of our kickers have been on the end of much later and worse tackling efforts.
It was a combination of the factors mentioned in the post above mine, but the largest is that he was warned a few times in the game and that one was just the tipping point. Ferocity is all good and I love Tariq but in the act of kicking, a player is unable to defend themselves, so the onus is on the attacker to not put them in a dangerous position. It was maybe a little harsh but ultimately I have no problem with it
I totally agree. I was bumbfounded that the commentators accepted the penalty without any scrutiny. It was ferocious but not late and definitely not head high. Sims should have been praised. There needs to be some responsibility of the kicker not to leave it so late if he doesn't want to be tackled. I have noticed that T.Sims has been very careful not to ruin his hits by giving away penalties.
But every tackle should be on its merits regardless of pre-warning. A half is fair game now matter how ferocious if not late, too high and legs are not in the air. That was neither. It was a crowd and media penalty for me
