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Rumours and Stuff

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
4,004
You don't go from top 17 at a top eight club to not good enough for first grade. I can understand if our club weren't going to offer him a contract but there are plenty of clubs needing experienced middle forwards. It would all depend on his price.

David Gower's an electrician and he would rather sit near the bottom of a 30 man squad than go and get a real job. Mannah's plumbing business must be going pretty well if he would rather work than keep playing footy at only 31 years of age. Maybe he got an apprenticeship with 1800PouMan?
As you know Pou if you're in the top 26 players the minimum wage is $100k. That's a lot of power points to fit to make that sort of money so of course you'd like to play as long as possible.
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
4,004
As a 4yld some of my favourite memories where running up huge piles of manure. Id roll ssroundnin it. Chicken shit. I grew up on a vege farm to my defense and well it was that or stuffing rotten tomatoes in letterboxes
Did you have a growth spurt every time you did this?
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
4,004
But it's not 'do or die' so it would be foolish to, for example, play an underdone top 17 player with an increased risk of re-injury. It's early in the year, and you still want the two points, but it's still early days, with a long season ahead. We have 21 games left to win the 13 required to guarantee a finals spot. Between this time and round 26 last year we won 14 games.

At least this week we've got a team who were shit last year. Their wheels could be about to fall off just when we need them to. Otherwise we might just be good enough to grind out a win anyway.
Right Pou time to get your stats out. When was the last time a team made the top 8 after losing the first 4 games?
Think we might win this week to give us some hope for next week against a red hot Panthers side.
 

emjaycee

Coach
Messages
14,538
Right Pou time to get your stats out. When was the last time a team made the top 8 after losing the first 4 games?
Think we might win this week to give us some hope for next week against a red hot Panthers side.
Cronulla in 2015, which was the same year the Cowboys lost their opening 3 games, finished 3rd at the end of 26 rounds and won the GF.
 

Happy MEel

First Grade
Messages
9,917
Are you serious? You think the Manly result and the Cronulla result were the same? Look at how Cronulla defended this week. Melbourne couldn't even score one try against them, despite their supposedly giant pack. At least we scored one. More to the point, we only conceded one, despite the Sharks making 164 runs. This week they only made 137 runs.

But it's not 'do or die' so it would be foolish to, for example, play an underdone top 17 player with an increased risk of re-injury. It's early in the year, and you still want the two points, but it's still early days, with a long season ahead. We have 21 games left to win the 13 required to guarantee a finals spot. Between this time and round 26 last year we won 14 games.

At least this week we've got a team who were shit last year. Their wheels could be about to fall off just when we need them to. Otherwise we might just be good enough to grind out a win anyway.
The problem is though, we are very much a confidence team. If we can jag a win I can see us going on a bit of a role. Similarly, another loss or two and I can see us being stuck in a rut and not being able to get out of it.

Approaching this week as a must win game could just be the catalyst to turn our season around.
 

lingard

Coach
Messages
11,525
I think that's probably true as well, but to our credit we got back into the Panthers game instead of letting them run away with it (though we were very fatigued). Against Manly we crumbled very quickly. The Seagulls played their best but they are not a 54 point better team than us.

Except the Sharks loss was disappointing and nobody blamed our attitude in that one. Coach and players have been very positive about it.

I'm not talking about the Sharks game. I'm talking about the previous two - where 'attitude' was trotted out as the main reason for the poor result. It's an easy out for coaches, but pretty unfair on players. 'Forget about the heat, forget about lack of possession, forget about my tactics and structures and team selections; it all boils down to your poor attitude'. And I think fans and sports journos buy into it.
 

lingard

Coach
Messages
11,525
I understand that BA has tried to develop a culture of 'no excuses', and that's fine - up to a point. But sometimes there actually are excuses, and if you keep that hard-line approach going, it can really backfire on you. Instead of breeding toughness, you can breed resentment in your players. That's why sometimes harping on about referees decisions and other pieces of bad luck can sometimes be a sign of support for your players. I know Arthur has his heart in the right place, but there's a delicate balance to aim for - and I just wonder whether he's got that balance right at the moment.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
16,023
I understand that BA has tried to develop a culture of 'no excuses', and that's fine - up to a point. But sometimes there actually are excuses, and if you keep that hard-line approach going, it can really backfire on you. Instead of breeding toughness, you can breed resentment in your players. That's why sometimes harping on about referees decisions and other pieces of bad luck can sometimes be a sign of support for your players. I know Arthur has his heart in the right place, but there's a delicate balance to aim for - and I just wonder whether he's got that balance right at the moment.
A definite fine line Ivor. Constant complaining hasnt worked for R Stuart.
I was very surprised by Belamy last night. Sounded exactly like BA for better or worse.
Season starts tomorrow .Lets go boys. If we see a much improved performance from the boys it will surely promote further Hayne Storys. Cant wait. Lol.
 

Avenger

Immortal
Messages
35,779
A definite fine line Ivor. Constant complaining hasnt worked for R Stuart.
I was very surprised by Belamy last night. Sounded exactly like BA for better or worse.
Season starts tomorrow .Lets go boys. If we see a much improved performance from the boys it will surely promote further Hayne Storys. Cant wait. Lol.
Season starts Monday.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
95,662
I'm not talking about the Sharks game. I'm talking about the previous two - where 'attitude' was trotted out as the main reason for the poor result. It's an easy out for coaches, but pretty unfair on players. 'Forget about the heat, forget about lack of possession, forget about my tactics and structures and team selections; it all boils down to your poor attitude'. And I think fans and sports journos buy into it.
I'm a pretty knowledgeable fan and I certainly do. Attitude is massive in our sport (perhaps every sport). You see it all the time in the way some talented athletes end up with shit careers.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
95,662
I understand that BA has tried to develop a culture of 'no excuses', and that's fine - up to a point. But sometimes there actually are excuses, and if you keep that hard-line approach going, it can really backfire on you. Instead of breeding toughness, you can breed resentment in your players. That's why sometimes harping on about referees decisions and other pieces of bad luck can sometimes be a sign of support for your players. I know Arthur has his heart in the right place, but there's a delicate balance to aim for - and I just wonder whether he's got that balance right at the moment.
Well in the most recent presser when one of the journos asked about the Sharks' first half discipline he mentioned that he saw them offside a couple of times. He also praised our attitude, despite the loss.
 

lingard

Coach
Messages
11,525
Well in the most recent presser when one of the journos asked about the Sharks' first half discipline he mentioned that he saw them offside a couple of times. He also praised our attitude, despite the

Yes. There was no talk about a poor attitude in the Sharks game. I know. It was only spoken of in the previous two games. What's your point?
 
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