Round 9: Dragons vs Titans

[Country Dragon]

Country where did Vidot go wrong ?

Vidot is FG
He' s a quality bench back rower
Drop Harrison
Quinlan can play half or 5/8
I'd consider Widdop at half and Quinlan at pivot next yesr if the both have kicking games
If Price picks Prior in the centres again he should be hung drawn and quartered
Our biggest problem in 2014 is going to be our kicking game
This facet of our game should be our singular prior st this time

There's nothing to support having Vidot as a bench forward, he's just not required in a quality 17!

 

[Twenty10]

G'day guys, look I really must say that we are lacking that killer instinct. I have no idea why but I am never comfortable when we are in front. Our discipline has gone to shite! It's costing us dearly.. This comes back to coaching and training. Far too many stupid penalties are hurting us. This game will come back and bite is when we are in a desperate battle to make the 8. As far as I am concerned the next 2 weeks are must wins. Already we are sitting 12th. Not good enough I am afraid.

Other observation (which we all know)... We dont have any centres. Chase Stanley is a liability. Way too inconsistent, too many errors and lacks any strike. Big worry for rest of the year. Rein is way off... hes not running at All, when He runs we look far More dangerous..his Form is terrible. Cam king on other hand was fantastic and should start until Mitch learns to run. We are being obliterated at the ruck.

Nightingale, Quinlan were great. Forwards ran hard... But lack of strike in centres, halves that aren't on fire and poor discipline is killing us.

 

[dragonv]

G'day guys, look I really must say that we are lacking that killer instinct. I have no idea why but I am never comfortable when we are in front. Our discipline has gone to shite! It's costing us dearly.. This comes back to coaching and training. Far too many stupid penalties are hurting us. This game will come back and bite is when we are in a desperate battle to make the 8. As far as I am concerned the next 2 weeks are must wins. Already we are sitting 12th. Not good enough I am afraid.

Other observation (which we all know)... We done have any centres. Chase Stanley is a liability. Way too inconsistent and lacks any strike. Big worry for rest of the year. Rein is way off... Form is terrible. Cam king was fantastic and should start until Mitch learns to run. We are being obliterated at the ruck.

Nightingale, Quinlan were great. Forwards ran hard... But lack of strike in centres, halves that aren't on fire and poor discipline is killing us.

x 2. Post of the day. Summed it up perfectly. Stanley needs cutters time and the more I think about it I think it is in our interest to move Fien to bench for King at hooker and quinlan to half giving Rein some time to think it over with the cutters.

 

[FlameThrower]

x 2. Post of the day. Summed it up perfectly. Stanley needs cutters time and the more I think about it I think it is in our interest to move Fien to bench for King at hooker and quinlan to half giving Rein some time to think it over with the cutters.

I've defended Mitch Rein, for weeks but I'm starting to question my loyalty to him. He is way down, on performance, and starting to show signs of "all care no responsibility". Soward out of sorts, add into the mix, little spark in attack, ill-discipline, 3 key players out, means we are up against it, and right now we are not meeting that challenge.

 

[TheRev]

- Goalkicking: Definitely an issue and id love to know what happened today, if Jamie doesnt want to kick, let Chase do it, dont take 1, give him 1 from the sideline then take the easy one back again. Chase isnt a great longterm investment as a kicker, Soward has to do it until Widdop arrives I feel, and id like himt o focus on it as his priority.

- Centres: I supported the Prior decision, only because were desperate and he refuses to use Vaivai, frankly I think its too much to throw guys like Green/Quin/Soward on their own, id rather Prior defending so we atleast dont leak points. In terms of Chase, again no better options exist, he is average but hes not our biggest problem.

- Fullback: Quinlan is a long work in progress, but you can see there is lots of raw talent, problem is we didnt sign Dugan for fun, if hes healthy he is our fullback and Quinlan/Cummins are our injury fallback, unless he has some other ideas to get creative with Quinlan (wing or halfback).

- Soward: Love to know what he blew up about at the end, he got the ball late but he had plenty of room and muffed it, he seems to be trying to me, just out of form, still think his lack of running is ridiculous though, but thats not going to change now. As for those calling for his sacking, who do you intend to play instead?

- Forwards & Discipline: Merrin was well handled, Hunt didnt have a great game, Stockwell had some great runs, JDB agree with some other opinions he just seems to lack 'intensity' hes like a robot, but maybe thats just his style. Overall just too many penalties let the titans into the match.

- Rein/King: If King can stay fit they should both now be splitting the game-time imo, lets see who wins the battle in a few months time.

- Halfback: Some calls here for Quinlan to play Halfback, definitely interested to understand his kicking/passing game and he appears to have vision but its untested, I put this in another thread but its not fair to 'chuck a Kyle Stanley' and throw him into 1st Grade #7 without any freaking practice in the lower grades, so at this stage I dont think Price has any serious ideas about that, and im very curious what he has in mind for the kid considering he is now 3rd in line for fullback.

 

[beecww]

- Goalkicking: Definitely an issue and id love to know what happened today, if Jamie doesnt want to kick, let Chase do it, dont take 1, give him 1 from the sideline then take the easy one back again. Chase isnt a great longterm investment as a kicker, Soward has to do it until Widdop arrives I feel, and id like himt o focus on it as his priority.

- Centres: I supported the Prior decision, only because were desperate and he refuses to use Vaivai, frankly I think its too much to throw guys like Green/Quin/Soward on their own, id rather Prior defending so we atleast dont leak points. In terms of Chase, again no better options exist, he is average but hes not our biggest problem.

- Fullback: Quinlan is a long work in progress, but you can see there is lots of raw talent, problem is we didnt sign Dugan for fun, if hes healthy he is our fullback and Quinlan/Cummins are our injury fallback, unless he has some other ideas to get creative with Quinlan (wing or halfback).

- Soward: Love to know what he blew up about at the end, he got the ball late but he had plenty of room and muffed it, he seems to be trying to me, just out of form, still think his lack of running is ridiculous though, but thats not going to change now. As for those calling for his sacking, who do you intend to play instead?

- Forwards & Discipline: Merrin was well handled, Hunt didnt have a great game, Stockwell had some great runs, JDB agree with some other opinions he just seems to lack 'intensity' hes like a robot, but maybe thats just his style. Overall just too many penalties let the titans into the match.

- Rein/King: If King can stay fit they should both now be splitting the game-time imo, lets see who wins the battle in a few months time.

- Halfback: Some calls here for Quinlan to play Halfback, definitely interested to understand his kicking/passing game and he appears to have vision but its untested, I put this in another thread but its not fair to 'chuck a Kyle Stanley' and throw him into 1st Grade #7 without any freaking practice in the lower grades, so at this stage I dont think Price has any serious ideas about that, and im very curious what he has in mind for the kid considering he is now 3rd in line for fullback.

 

[beecww]

Good post Rev. As it really looks like we are not getting a new half, it's time we started to develop one. The toughest half I ever saw was Billy Smith and the quickest was Slippery Morris. Young Quinlan has some attributes of both. I must admit that I do worry that there seems to be little forward planning. I really believe Adam should be offered the opportunity to play there for the Cutters because he is now down the pecking order of fullbacks, and although anyone who watches league knows that Fien is a liability, they are still not prepared to try Drinkwater, so there seems to be no confidence. The days of the safety first footy of Bennett are gone, look what Canberra did to them by playing some exciting stuff.

 

[rasaint]

Hi all great post by Rev. Look we are not going to seriously challenge this year, but today the team really tried hard. The Titans were are full strength, on their home ground, receiving home town penalties galore and met us with some of our quality players out injured.

I have been moaning on this forum since round one that we need Adam Quinlan in the team. Classy and set up the 1st try, then only just got tagged in 1st half when backing up down the centre, matched speed with that quick Titan's winger and headed him off when danger loomed and split a difficult catch in the second half when it was bye bye (darn that was close!) Please mr Price pick him somewhere in the team this week.

We are a Rangi and a fast centre off being really competitive. Cheers and go dragons!

 

[Mr Red]

what an absolute dog of a game... both teams totally inept in attack and rudderless ships. We were just a little more inept when it counted.
Congrats to Price on his pathetic team selections... Prior in the centers... he is kidding.
and once again playing vidot on the left side equalled dropped balls... one more time for the record Price... VIDOT CANNOT PLAY ON THE LEFT!!

the ref was poor, but it did not cost us the game.. apart from fielding the slowest backline in history yesterday, with no points in it, the most dissapointing thing about the the game came in the 60th minute onwards: the game was there to be won for either team, the titans forwards lifted in intensity... ours were no where to be seen.
Hopefully the game yesterday proves for once and for all Dan Hunt is not a starting prop...
without a halfback its gonna be a LONG season again next year.. surely we can reverse the decision and get rid of Price?

 

[BennyV]

G'day guys, look I really must say that we are lacking that killer instinct...

Twenty10, I've seen you say some silly things in these forums but you have 100% hit the nail on the head with this. When we are 1 point down with 10 minutes to go, I have no confidence that there's anyone in the team who can create a try; Sowards creativity is down, Fien tries but lacks execution, Merrin gets contained, Nightingale can't do it all on his own...Dugan will help, but without one of the halves standing up then we are screwed, as seen yesterday and against Manly.

Quinlan looks good - tries things and they often come off. His pass for the try was nothing short of freakish. TheRev is right, you can't just throw him into first grade, but we need to find a position for him by the Bulldogs game in 3 weeks, and I think halfback/fiveeight might be it. Give him a week or two to work on it with Cutters, and then give him a shot - at 3/9 we dont really have anything to lose, do we?

 

[TheRev]

I guess the x-factor in the 7 Debate is whether someone like Williams is poised to sign? Rangi seems to be over (tragic), but we have money in the cap if we can land a deal... if not then definitely agree that Quin is worth a shot, hes a kid you want to put time into and develop.

 

[Twenty10]

Twenty10, I've seen you say some silly things in these forums but you have 100% hit the nail on the head with this. When we are 1 point down with 10 minutes to go, I have no confidence that there's anyone in the team who can create a try; Sowards creativity is down, Fien tries but lacks execution, Merrin gets contained, Nightingale can't do it all on his own...Dugan will help, but without one of the halves standing up then we are screwed, as seen yesterday and against Manly.

Quinlan looks good - tries things and they often come off. His pass for the try was nothing short of freakish. TheRev is right, you can't just throw him into first grade, but we need to find a position for him by the Bulldogs game in 3 weeks, and I think halfback/fiveeight might be it. Give him a week or two to work on it with Cutters, and then give him a shot - at 3/9 we dont really have anything to lose, do we?

Me say Silly things??? Nooooooooo

But regarding the killer instinct issue, it's most attitude adjustments and therefore coaching. Really diasapointing to see the same stupid errors from blokes like chase Stanley (stupid off loads early in the count, trying to play the ball to fast and losing control) then there's the constant holding down of players in the ruck from the likes of weyman and hunt... I mean the killer instinct does not allow these brain fades. In 2010 we were so mentally tough it was unbelievable. Admittedly we are from having the same talent (and that's a separate issue again) but the attitude at training surely is not where it needs to be??

Dugan will make a big difference but he won't solve the above issues. Price needs to drop a few IMO

 

[BennyV]

Me say Silly things??? Nooooooooo

But regarding the killer instinct issue, it's most attitude adjustments and therefore coaching. Really diasapointing to see the same stupid errors from blokes like chase Stanley (stupid off loads early in the count, trying to play the ball to fast and losing control) then there's the constant holding down of players in the ruck from the likes of weyman and hunt... I mean the killer instinct does not allow these brain fades. In 2010 we were so mentally tough it was unbelievable. Admittedly we are from having the same talent (and that's a separate issue again) but the attitude at training surely is not where it needs to be??

Dugan will make a big difference but he won't solve the above issues. Price needs to drop a few IMO

Agreed - need to be more focussed and disciplined. Maybe Price needs to put some guys on notice. They dont look like they are playing to win, the forwards get good roll on but aren't ruthless enough, then they look shakey when we get into attacking position - I stil think this comes from the halves, Soward needs to take control and talk to his players more, show that he is leading and a lot of the other guys will follow...

 

[Saint George of Lydda]

Dont't change the subject....

It relates to this thread; I used the word Titans