Round 9 V Storm

[possm]

Sorry to be a broken record but Josh Dugan is simply a standard 1 grader. Signing him on huge money will set us back years on the cap. He has lost the rip and speed of his youth.

I would have liked to see Dugan's contract extended but not at the cost of losing Packer, Lafai, Mann and Milne.

 

[Overseas dragon]

Well Mr McGregor you had the balls to hook aitkin now leave him in Reggie's for s while and put milne in his place you can also consider a replacement for the legend Jason nightingale I love him but his lack of speed is too much for experience to replace go for speed speed speed speed Duffy,Field,Garrick or any other young flier unfortunately you won't do it such a pity even Aitken to wing Milne centre would be worth a try

 

[Overseas dragon]

To all my friends in Sydney any free. Time drop me a line my email kingqueen4884 @gmail .com go the mightys. rick

 

[Lovemedragons]

Aitken hasn't learned or is being coached poorly. But he still brings many positives to the team and perhaps should be used as an interchange swapping with Milne as he can cover in the forwards where his longer term future lies. Any talk of Nighty being dropped is unfathomable and shameful in my mind, he adds so much every week and any deficiencies such as lack of blinding speed should be accommodated by a cleverer backline defense strategy.

 

[giboz71]

Aitken hasn't learned or is being coached poorly. But he still brings many positives to the team and perhaps should be used as an interchange swapping with Milne as he can cover in the forwards where his longer term future lies. Any talk of Nighty being dropped is unfathomable and shameful in my mind, he adds so much every week and any deficiencies such as lack of blinding speed should be accommodated by a cleverer backline defense strategy.

It's not the structure. It's Aitken and his poor decisions.

Lafai and Nighty don't get exposed nearly as much on the left edge. As they know where and when to jam in and when to slide.

 

[Minh]

Melbourne were very well coached and executed perfectly to expose us and now its the opportunity for Mary to review that defensive liability and fix them. I can see improvement in Nene Mc Donalds reads so the same can be done for Aitken too with good coaching....

 

[possm]

It's not the structure. It's Aitken and his poor decisions.

Lafai and Nighty don't get exposed nearly as much on the left edge. As they know where and when to jam in and when to slide.

Unfortunately, Nighty and Lafai who are both good defenders were exposed and Storm tries scored as a result. Mary will find it hard to drop Aitken and/or Flo mainly because he ordered them to play to this defensive pattern.

 

[BennyV]

It's not the structure. It's Aitken and his poor decisions.

Lafai and Nighty don't get exposed nearly as much on the left edge. As they know where and when to jam in and when to slide.

It's both. The defensive structure and up-and-in pattern is poor and very open to being exploited. It was brought in 2015 to try and limit the damage of us having a small forward pack, and it's outdated!

However, Aitken's decision making compounds the problem. His rate of reading the play and sticking to the right man is very low, and his communication is lacking. Instincts not great. Needs to be fixed as well.

 

[giboz71]

It's both. The defensive structure and up-and-in pattern is poor and very open to being exploited. It was brought in 2015 to try and limit the damage of us having a small forward pack, and it's outdated!

However, Aitken's decision making compounds the problem. His rate of reading the play and sticking to the right man is very low, and his communication is lacking. Instincts not great. Needs to be fixed as well.

Still don't think it's our structures. Even with Aitken and MacDonald providing a freeway on our right edge, we were the 3rd best defensive team before yesterday.

And our structures were good enough to stop sides like the Roosters, Manly, Tigers, Warriors, Sharks Panthers, all decent attacking sides who failed to score more than 2 tries against us.

And Lafai and Nighty seem to manage ok on the left. Very few tries have been let down that passage.

 

[possm]

Still don't think it's our structures. Even with Aitken and MacDonald providing a freeway on our right edge, we were the 3rd best defensive team before yesterday.

And our structures were good enough to stop sides like the Roosters, Manly, Tigers, Warriors, Sharks Panthers, all decent attacking sides who failed to score more than 2 tries against us.

And Lafai and Nighty seem to manage ok on the left. Very few tries have been let down that passage.

The thing is we have not adopted this structure many times this season. The two times that stand out are round 2 against the Eels and again against the Storm yesterday.

Both the left and right edges were caught in-field yesterday and tries resulted. In the second half the pattern was changed and Milne came on for Aitken. No more leaks, no more outside back caught infield with no defence down the sideline.

 

[giboz71]

Unfortunately, Nighty and Lafai who are both good defenders were exposed and Storm tries scored as a result. Mary will find it hard to drop Aitken and/or Flo mainly because he ordered them to play to this defensive pattern.

That had nothing to do with structures.

Vunivalu just burned Nighty for speed. Its an issue every week Nighty comes up against a speedy winger. And both Vunivalu tries were from super human efforts that are beyond 90% of wingers.

Generally, our left is pretty solid defensively.

 

[Dragon Revival]

I think that Aitken probably came off due to a hamstring problem which
ruled him out of playing for Country.
Milne was probably only brought on as a result of injury.

 

[Dorothy the Winowhore]

Roosters lose Cecchin last round and cop it deluxe from the refs against Warriors. Robinson off to HQ to cry about refs again this week. Interested to see if they get Cecchin again in round 10.

 

[possm]

That had nothing to do with structures.

Vunivalu just burned Nighty for speed. Its an issue every week Nighty comes up against a speedy winger. And both Vunivalu tries were from super human efforts that are beyond 90% of wingers.

Generally, our left is pretty solid defensively.

I'm fairly sure you are wrong with this one however, I'll have another look at the game and see if my eyes are letting me down even further. What I recall was Nighty and Lafai being way in-field trying to shut down the Storm backline and with a simple kick over the top the Storm caught Nighty out, the ball caught by the Melbourne winger and a try scored.

 

[giboz71]

I'm fairly sure you are wrong with this one however, I'll have another look at the game and see if my eyes are letting me down even further. What I recall was Nighty and Lafai being way in-field trying to shut down the Storm backline and with a simple kick over the top the Storm caught Nighty out, the ball caught by the Melbourne winger and a try scored.

I know the play you're talking about and still don't believe our structure was incorrect.

Yes, Nighty and Lafai played compressed, but that's because Cronk and Munster were on the other side of the ruck so it was unlikely a kick was coming. Nkghty and Lafai were right to jam in. Just so happens that the Storm have an exceptional FB and Winger who pulled off a miracle play. Very few FB's can execute that kick, and very few wingers could have caught that ball. Just so happens that Melbourne have some exceptional players most teams don't have (including us).

We played the percentages right and they still got the best of us. Fair play to them. Not gonna blame Nighty and Lafai for that one.

 

[possm]

I know the play you're talking about and still don't believe our structure was incorrect.

Yes, Nighty and Lafai played compressed, but that's because Cronk and Munster were on the other side of the ruck so it was unlikely a kick was coming. Nkghty and Lafai were right to jam in. Just so happens that the Storm have an exceptional FB and Winger who pulled off a miracle play. Very few FB's can execute that kick, and very few wingers could have caught that ball. Just so happens that Melbourne have some exceptional players most teams don't have (including us).

We played the percentages right and they still got the best of us. Fair play to them. Not gonna blame Nighty and Lafai for that one.

Look I can see your point but will just have to agree to disagree.

Mary has been around the block a few times and knows the very high talents that Slater possesses. He also is aware of the size and speed of the Storm wingers. From what I saw there was no need to jam in and to me the Storm move seemed to be planned. Knowing our fetish for a compressed defensive structure, Slater would have been told to do just that when the opportunity became available.

Anyway, good post! At least you are brave enough to support your opinion.