Round 9 vs Storm

[Saints Forever]

Realistically we beat the Warriors 28 -16, the Storm beat them 70-10. Realistically we beat the Knights 21-16, the Storm beat them 50 - 2. Realistically the Storm have all positions covered.

The only chance we have is that our boys play it as tough as hell for the whole of the 80 minutes with NO mistakes/errors whatsoever and our defence and completion rates are 100% and our attack is 100%. Is this mission impossible? I'd say so but play with plenty of pride, lets not get thrashed and play to the best of our ability is all I can ask.

We can’t beat the Storm, Bunker and Referee.

but the team can sure as hell try

 

[Harry Bath]

Occasionally over the years, fears of a thrashing have brought out the best in the Dragons. Additionally even the best teams find it hard to consistently thrash opponents. I have not watched either of their last two wins but I am assuming that a lot must have gone their way to register so many points.

For our team there seem to be some selection headaches. Burgess is one of the new boys yet to show any value. Even if he recovers from his injury does he deserve another game? Will Bird play - it seems likely. In that case where will he play? Junior seemed to have a better game. If Bird is picked at 5/8 what happens to Amone? Back to the bench - what happens to Sullivan who played an important part in yesterday's victory? Or does Bird push Tariq back to the bench?

Mbye didn't show much vs the Eels but has got better and better with every game since. Meanwhile Tyrell Sloan had a field day in NSW Cup yesterday displaying the spark and speed that appeared missing in the NRL win.

Against the Storm, do we stick with the conservative options that have got us better defence and some tight wins? Bird 5/8, Mbye FB and Amone on the bench, Bud back to NSW Cup? Then make some more adventurous changes - Bird to edge, Mybe 5/8, Sloan FB, Sullivan bench, Amone to NSW Cup. That would be tough on Junior though giving him some time to work on his game.

Is Burgess injured ? you would not know the club used to have an injuries list and the previous fitness bloke gave updates this has all seemed to fade into the ether!

 

[kit66]

It'll be tough going for the boys for sure but Hook's spoiling tactics, control the ruck, kick early, don't give them much broken field play, defend like lunatics and most of all, low errors and good ball control etc might work well against the highly disciplined and structured Storm. They get frustrated when they don't meet their KPI's for Bellamy, they know he won't be happy if they don't stick to their game plan. We need to mess with their game plan and mess with their heads. They also give away penalties when they're off their game. It's weird but if we can do all that and play for the full 80 minutes as we've done for the past 3 weeks we're in with a chance I reckon. Keep fighting and don't give up even if they put a couple on us, just keep going. What we really don't need is a capitulation and the resulting blow out.
If we can minimize more damage to our for & against we'll be well on our way to the finals because our draw from round 10 is very favourable. Titans, Warriors, Bulldogs (all winnable) Bye, then the Cowboys 2 days after SOO 1, Rabbits, Canberra then Broncs 3 days after SOO 3 etc. If all goes well we'll be well and truly in the Top 8 by Round 17 with a pretty favourable draw from then on in for the last 8 games.
Hopefully we keep our injury and suspension rates down and also get Su'a back around Origin time.

 

[mickeylane]

You'd think we have to be at our best and the Storm off their game for it to be close but, funnily enough, we got closer to the Panthers than anyone else so far this year, so who knows.

Aggression will help here roughing them up w work as will early kicks in the set to turn them around especially forwards going back 50m just to move forward upfield again

 

[Dragon David]

And you will win Lotto ))

Hallelujah to that, yes please!

 

[Dragon David]

It'll be tough going for the boys for sure but Hook's spoiling tactics, control the ruck, kick early, don't give them much broken field play, defend like lunatics and most of all, low errors and good ball control etc might work well against the highly disciplined and structured Storm. They get frustrated when they don't meet their KPI's for Bellamy, they know he won't be happy if they don't stick to their game plan. We need to mess with their game plan and mess with their heads. They also give away penalties when they're off their game. It's weird but if we can do all that and play for the full 80 minutes as we've done for the past 3 weeks we're in with a chance I reckon. Keep fighting and don't give up even if they put a couple on us, just keep going. What we really don't need is a capitulation and the resulting blow out.
If we can minimize more damage to our for & against we'll be well on our way to the finals because our draw from round 10 is very favourable. Titans, Warriors, Bulldogs (all winnable) Bye, then the Cowboys 2 days after SOO 1, Rabbits, Canberra then Broncs 3 days after SOO 3 etc. If all goes well we'll be well and truly in the Top 8 by Round 17 with a pretty favourable draw from then on in for the last 8 games.
Hopefully we keep our injury and suspension rates down and also get Su'a back around Origin time.

Very positive post kit. Let's all be positive this week guys. It might just give us the ammunition to wipe the floor of the Storm. We put up the barriers to stop the invasion so that nothing can get through us.

 

[Dragon David]

Is Burgess injured ? you would not know the club used to have an injuries list and the previous fitness bloke gave updates this has all seemed to fade into the ether!

Yes I wonder why? Nathan Pickworth used to but he has moved down to the Shire and tending to the Sharks' players. Don't know if he does it for them - not caring to check.

Ben Haran the Football Manager for the Dragons used to also give us updates but all faded now into oblivion and all we get is a list of the injured players for all clubs on Fox Sports.

 

[SGMax]

Put up bombs and send Fui to lead the charge for the first tackle.
Paps is probably having a nervous twitch already at the thought of Fuimaono coming for him again.

 

[Harry Bath]

Put up bombs and send Fui to lead the charge for the first tackle.
Paps is probably having a nervous twitch already at the thought of Fuimaono coming for him again.

we need an elephant gun to stop big Nelson

 

[Dragon David]

we need an elephant gun to stop big Nelson

I think we need a cannon!

 

[baggygreen man]

realistically what are we expecting, all i want is a good never give up effort,

About all we can expect given our lack of creativity in the middle and out brittle defense up the middle. The Storm are one of those teams with quality halves while most of the time we look like headless chickens. Storm by 20.

 

[HenryTatana]

realistically what are we expecting, all i want is a good never give up effort, but I want to see something different in this game, we have nothing to lose. Taking a close look at the storm they have so much attack that you can see we will be defending most of the game and when we do finally get the ball, we will be gassed and they wont even blow a candle out defending us. So my theory is lets fight fire with fire, lets go all out attack and get the storm moving around and defending in an unstructured defensive pattern, and we need to do this from the start of the game. Give the young boys a go in the halves, bring Sloan back into it, hunt at 9 and Mbye back at 14 or maybe swap him and Amone. Like who cares, as was mentioned above we are $9 to win, and you call that an even contest. Yep get the young forwards in there, switch the whole thing around, who cares. Of course this is my insanity coming to the fore, it wont happen but gee I would like to see something different. Anyway I will still cheer them on regardless and go wow we only got beaten by 30, thats great.

If you look at last years game in magic round we swung the ball from sideline to sideline and ditched the one out crap. We were in the game at half time even when we were down 2 men (if memory serves me correct). Unfortunately the second half was a different story again due to the NRL’s head high crackdown and lack of discipline. Hence, me thinks Hook will throw out the one out plan this week. Unfortunately for such a game plan to work you need spark and Sloane will not be there.

 

[justadragon]

I think we need a cannon!

We have one its called a molonator !!!!

 

[kit66]

we need an elephant gun to stop big Nelson

Kerr did a great job on him the last couple of times we met, no-one noticed cause they were too busy criticizing but Nelson was getting up and looking around to see what he ran into.

 

[justadragon]

If you look at last years game in magic round we swung the ball from sideline to sideline and ditched the one out crap. We were in the game at half time even when we were down 2 men (if memory serves me correct). Unfortunately the second half was a different story again due to the NRL’s head high crackdown and lack of discipline. Hence, me thinks Hook will throw out the one out plan this week. Unfortunately for such a game plan to work you need spark and Sloane will not be there.

Yep I remember that game and everybody went WTF, so I agree with you entirely, throw everything at them and see how it ends up, we wont be able to defend our way out of this one, so lets give it a shot. I will be the first one to fall on my sword if we win with the current tactics and be amazed and happy to do it, but lets get serious our current tactics are not going to put any sort of dent into the storm.

 

[justadragon]

Kerr did a great job on him the last couple of times we met, no-one noticed cause they were too busy criticizing but Nelson was getting up and looking around to see what he ran into.

Nelson must have owed him money because Kerr has not done it to anyone else, more than happy to have him going in all guns blazing, he might get that chance if Burgess is injured.

 

[jeffdragon]

Storm wingers come infield when defending.
Tell Rava and Faegai to stay wide and put cross field kicks or Harbour Bridge passes
At least try something.

 

[Dragon David]

About all we can expect given our lack of creativity in the middle and out brittle defense up the middle. The Storm are one of those teams with quality halves while most of the time we look like headless chickens. Storm by 20.

20 will be fine by me. Let's just give them that and have a week off, haha!

 

[Dragon David]

We have one its called a molonator !!!!

Yeah!

 

[thebigredv]

There's really nothing to lose here but when the whistle blows and we see 13 v 13 men you start to think "why not, why can't we beat the best team going around" and that's when the nerves come.

Unfortunately Storm don't ever get complacent. All the media coverage is already about their upcoming Penrith clash, and I get it. I'm never really overly convinced with us even when we string wins together, but they are simply too good all over the park. If we play physical maybe we can keep it to a few tries the difference and give them a scare.

I'm not seeing them shaking in their boots coming up the likes of McCullough and Mbye who are first picked each week, rightly or wrongly. That's for certain. They will try and toy with us and it will be a matter of pride for our blokes.

Then again I suppose stranger things have happened...