Round 7 vs Roosters

[thebigredv]

A couple weeks ago our line speed was incredible. The Knights and Eels, two classy teams, didn't know what to do. Since then we've either gone away from that style (were giving away many set restarts) or the players are burnt out. A quarter of the way through the season it can't possibly be a fitness thing, can it?

Started with good enthusiasm in attack yesterday when chooks were settling into the game and then ill-discipline just flooded our game. We do a bit of tackling unsuccessfully, leaking tries...then we turn up with zero energy in the 2nd half. Zero energy. Surely the players had more in the tank then they demonstrated. I can't put my finger on it but it's majorly concerning and dare I say it, very reminiscent of the charity shield.

Tariq can hold his head up. He is a big game player. He didn't have a lot of mates yesterday. People ready to sink the boot into JP after missing his chance but Ramsey hasn't added much this year as much as it pains me to say.

 

[Crush]

Fui Dufty Bird our Top 3: not necessarily in that order in an ordinary day on field

Geez, brave man putting Dufty in the top 3. Do you ever go into the JA forum?
Duff isn’t all that popular....

 

[jeffdragon]

Rorters have only lost to souths and storm.
We didn't make them pay when we had all that field position.
Dufty had to be hungry to get the ball on every set of six.
Teddy was slipping when Jordan hit him.
And ravas well remember when sivo fractured Norman cheekbone 2 years ago.
Morris didn't suffer any injury.
But rava being a dragon will cop it.

 

[Dragon David]

If you feel that way about JP then you must really hate Ramsey who also had a chance to impress at centre and did nothing, zero, nada. Periera made 93 metres from 11 runs obviously injured, Ramsey made 17 metres from 4 runs. At least Periera gets in and has a dig.

At the moment, I don't rate Ramsey for first grade. No power in his game either at winger or centre and shows no elusiveness. He is an easy tackle target and I imagine not a real threat to the opposition. Nowadays, wingers and centres need to be bulkier and bigger with good leg drive and Ramsey just does not have it. Putting him in the fullback position will not work either in my opinion.

 

[kit66]

I just watched the presser with Hook ( wasn't in the mood to watch it yesterday ) and he admits he made changes because he thought we " had problems " in some areas. Clune and Kerr obviously as they were the victims of the cuts. I think he made a big mistake and a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to our loss last week. He should have stuck with the same line up and I'm sure we could have done a lot better. Last week's loss wasn't that bad and can't be pinned on Clune and Kerr alone. Kerr particularly has been excellent and becoming a real force out wide stopping opposition big edge runners in their tracks. I hope Hook gets back on track by next week.

Couple more points on the game I didn't notice yesterday - why didn't Ellis get a run when our forwards were obviously struggling ? Why did the Rorters get to invoke the 18th man, I thought you had to have 3 HIA's and at least one of them unable to return before that happened ? It's going to be just another rort. You'll see teams having a huge forward or an x-factor strike player in the 18 jersey coming on whenever the coach feels the need - it's a joke.

Bird at 6 didn't work, just threw us into disarray and our kicking game suffered because Bird doesn't kick - 1 kick for 32 mtrs, no wonder we were under the pump.

 

[Walpole]

It was basically a reality check. As we all know deep down, there are 6 teams who will be in the finals (assuming Canberra get their shit together), then a group battling it out for 7 and 8 and then the Broncos and Tigers of the world. The important thing is to re-group and make sure we beat the Tigers this week, these are the sort of games we cannot afford to lose.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

I just watched the presser with Hook ( wasn't in the mood to watch it yesterday ) and he admits he made changes because he thought we " had problems " in some areas. Clune and Kerr obviously as they were the victims of the cuts. I think he made a big mistake and a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to our loss last week. He should have stuck with the same line up and I'm sure we could have done a lot better. Last week's loss wasn't that bad and can't be pinned on Clune and Kerr alone. Kerr particularly has been excellent and becoming a real force out wide stopping opposition big edge runners in their tracks. I hope Hook gets back on track by next week.

Couple more points on the game I didn't notice yesterday - why didn't Ellis get a run when our forwards were obviously struggling ? Why did the Rorters get to invoke the 18th man, I thought you had to have 3 HIA's and at least one of them unable to return before that happened ? It's going to be just another rort. You'll see teams having a huge forward or an x-factor strike player in the 18 jersey coming on whenever the coach feels the need - it's a joke.

Bird at 6 didn't work, just threw us into disarray and our kicking game suffered because Bird doesn't kick - 1 kick for 32 mtrs, no wonder we were under the pump.

Ellis was our 18th man, they got to use their 18th man due to the HIA being a sin bin offence I believe.

 

[kit66]

At the moment, I don't rate Ramsey for first grade. No power in his game either at winger or centre and shows no elusiveness. He is an easy tackle target and I imagine not a real threat to the opposition. Nowadays, wingers and centres need to be bulkier and bigger with good leg drive and Ramsey just does not have it. Putting him in the fullback position will not work either in my opinion.

Exactly. He would be good if we went wide early and often but to do that you need to be dominant in the middle and to have momentum. We never seem to have momentum and as I pointed out last week it starts with your back 3 bringing the ball off the line hard and fast. Ramsey and Dufty have no punch at all.
And I agree, putting Ramsey at fullback would be scary. Leave him on the wing if we have to but get him to bulk up and teach him to side step.

 

[kit66]

Ellis was our 18th man, they got to use their 18th man due to the HIA being a sin bin offence I believe.

Of course, my bad - I just saw him in the team list with blank stats. I'm not used to the 18th man thingy yet.

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

Of course, my bad - I just saw him in the team list with blank stats. I'm not used to the 18th man thingy yet.

I’m not used to most of the new shitty rules.

 

[possm]

Need a much better fullback and five eight to have any impact

Yes, I'd say that would be a good start. In my opinion we need to recruit at least:
One top line prop to partner Vaughan in the run on side (700k).
A top line fullback. (800k)
-1.5m

Top 13:
1. New recruit
2. Ramsey
3. Max Feagai
4. Lomax
5. Ravalawa
6. Sullivan
7. Hunt
8. New recruit
9. McCullough
10. Vaughan
11. Kerr
12. Bird
13. De Belin (or McGuire if De Belin is not available)

14. Dufty or Wishart if Dufty walks
15. Molo (prop)
16. Lawrie
17. McGuire

Reserve grade:
1. Sloan
2. Pereira
3. Schiller
4. Sauni-Esau
5. Matt Feagai
6. Amone
7. Clune
8. Alvaro
9. Wishart
10. Faamausili
11. Ford
12. Burns
13. Fumaono

Let Go:
Norman (850k)
Ellis (200k)
McInnes (450k) Sharks
Merrin (600k) Retired
+ 2.45m

 

[Old Timer]

A couple weeks ago our line speed was incredible. The Knights and Eels, two classy teams, didn't know what to do. Since then we've either gone away from that style (were giving away many set restarts) or the players are burnt out. A quarter of the way through the season it can't possibly be a fitness thing, can it?

Started with good enthusiasm in attack yesterday when chooks were settling into the game and then ill-discipline just flooded our game. We do a bit of tackling unsuccessfully, leaking tries...then we turn up with zero energy in the 2nd half. Zero energy. Surely the players had more in the tank then they demonstrated. I can't put my finger on it but it's majorly concerning and dare I say it, very reminiscent of the charity shield.

Tariq can hold his head up. He is a big game player. He didn't have a lot of mates yesterday. People ready to sink the boot into JP after missing his chance but Ramsey hasn't added much this year as much as it pains me to say.

We have lost 3 games 2 of which we could have just as easily won.

Yesterday was our worst performance of the season in losing to a real premiership contender and has to be seen in that light.

We will look very good against the worst teams, look competitive against those that are similar to us and look ordinary against the top teams unless of course they have a very off day.

Our energy levels will ebb and flow depending on who we play as the best sides play at a much higher energy level than middle dwellers like us and we will also suffer in the big games due to a real lack of high quality depth.

To be really honest if you don't have a couple of fast big poppa Polynesian forwards you are going to struggle big time up front.

 

[kit66]

I thought except for his brain explosion in the second tackle of the game Fui when on field showed something in attack and defence more than most in our side today anyway

Fui is a revelation this year, really impressive every week, i love the guy. I thought Kerr has been great too, a couple of dropped balls and he gets hooked but he's been shutting down the opposition out wide with really strong ball and all tackles against some huge forwards. Sims and the Grub were good too. Vaughany and Lawrie were outmuscled big time.

 

[kit66]

Yes, I'd say that would be a good start. In my opinion we need to recruit at least:
One top line prop to partner Vaughan in the run on side (700k).
A top line fullback. (800k)
-1.5m

Top 13:
1. New recruit
2. Ramsey
3. Max Feagai
4. Lomax
5. Ravalawa
6. Sullivan
7. Hunt
8. New recruit
9. McCullough
10. Vaughan
11. Kerr
12. Bird
13. De Belin (or McGuire if De Belin is not available)

14. Dufty or Wishart if Dufty walks
15. Molo (prop)
16. Lawrie
17. McGuire

Reserve grade:
1. Sloan
2. Pereira
3. Schiller
4. Sauni-Esau
5. Matt Feagai
6. Amone
7. Clune
8. Alvaro
9. Wishart
10. Faamausili
11. Ford
12. Burns
13. Fumaono

Let Go:
Norman (850k)
Ellis (200k)
McInnes (450k) Sharks
Merrin (600k) Retired
+ 2.45m

You're kidding. Where's Sims and why would you drop Fuimaono ?

 

[Dragon David]

Agree, we need to keep continuing to build this pack and still some big question marks over some players to have impact on a weekly basis. McGuire played ok, but he’s not our saviour. Need at least two hard hitting intimidating forwards imo.

BTW, hopefully McGuire is not jinxing us. As someone else said in this thread, he lost 3 with the Cows and now 2 with us. The Cows have won 3 in a row without him.

 

[BLM01]

Geez, brave man putting Dufty in the top 3. Do you ever go into the JA forum?
Duff isn’t all that popular....

No and I am judging on team performance yesterday

 

[BLM01]

Fui is a revelation this year, really impressive every week, i love the guy. I thought Kerr has been great too, a couple of dropped balls and he gets hooked but he's been shutting down the opposition out wide with really strong ball and all tackles against some huge forwards. Sims and the Grub were good too. Vaughany and Lawrie were outmuscled big time.

Kerr dropped another important ball when he came on in the first half yesterday
I did thought PV tried hard with plenty of players on him As was well marked still with leg drive although didn’t Really trouble them
I would like to see some of our bigger forwards look for an off load while hitting the line Not like Fui brain explosion though in the second tackle

 

[Forbes Creek Dragons]

BTW, hopefully McGuire is not jinxing us. As someone else said in this thread, he lost 3 with the Cows and now 2 with us. The Cows have won 3 in a row without him.

He’s not jinxing us, his stats were the best of all our forwards, neck and neck with Sims. Same last week. If our other forwards played as well as him we probably could have been competitive.

 

[Spazer]

Fui is a revelation this year, really impressive every week, i love the guy. Sims and the Grub were good too. Vaughany and Lawrie were outmuscled big time.

Agreed, Fui has been my favourite player this year, he runs hard and hits even harder.

 

[Gourley's Socks]

Genuine question on rules:

There were three tackles - including a set restart - that followed the Pereira tackle before the referee awarded the penalty.

How far back can the refs go in penalising illegal play?