Sharks 3 2 1s

[Valheru]

Argh well that was frustrating. Thought we were a bit stiff there.

Addressing the refereeing and incidents first, I don’t think we were 3 times as bad as them with discipline. The ref definitely could have found a penalty or 2 for us in the 2nd half.

The sin bins - I'm not sure what Butcher is supposed to do there, he tried to make a front on tackle and the sharks player literally ducked under him. Do they just want to let him score a try? The smith one is what it is but it is pretty frustrating to see not more than 2 hours later in the next game a player not get binned for the exact same thing. Radley's was a nothing issue and being blown out of proportion online because it is him, Robbo said he was trying to stop the play so Teddy could challenge, it rates way down the bottom of his sin bin chart.

The worst call against us was the Collins no try, I am convinced that was on the line. The bunker couldn't see evidence it was short and sticking with on field decision is an absolute cop out given they had full view of the ball and the line.

On the performance itself, I thought the forwards were very good and gave us every chance to win. Our defence was also very good when down to 10 men and desperate most of the night. Hynes stepped up in the 2nd half so full credit to him.

The attack was very flat and ultimately why we lost, despite things not going our way we still should have won. The sweeping back plays were too slow and didn't look close to working and kicking to the corners became monotonous. We have weapons in the air on both sides but if it's not working then it's not working and they need to try something else.

3 Collins
2 JWH
1 Smith

Back home for ANZAC Day next. I'm looking for a sizeable bounce back here and if we don't get one we could be in strife.

 

[Captain Apollo]

N. Butcher and Radley may need a spedll in NSW Cup until theyt get the ill discipline out of their games. Whilst I thought the 'hop drop' sin bin was harsh, besides that they both gave away a heap of stupid penalties. Onlyu reasoinb the Sharks didn't punish us, especially in the first half, was the Sharks poor ball co ntrol. Once they got that sorted, it was no surprise they beat us as our discipline didn't improve.

 

[Valheru]

N. Butcher and Radley may need a spedll in NSW Cup until theyt get the ill discipline out of their games. Whilst I thought the 'hop drop' sin bin was harsh, besides that they both gave away a heap of stupid penalties. Onlyu reasoinb the Sharks didn't punish us, especially in the first half, was the Sharks poor ball co ntrol. Once they got that sorted, it was no surprise they beat us as our discipline didn't improve.

That comment is a bit harsh on our defence IMO which is the clear positive the last 2 weeks. Up until that piece of brilliance by Hynes I thought we looked comfortable on our line all night. The only tries prior to that was a scrappy one with more than an ounce of luck when we were down to 12 and then Ronaldo who was a bee's dick from being out and dropping the ball.

Radley also only conceded one penalty prior to the binning which was not square at marker and a pretty pedantic one at that. Butcher I agree gives too many away but nothing we did last night was what I would call silly or egregious and in terms of offside and the ruck it was no different to what cronulla were doing which is why the penalty count is so frustrating.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Valheru, ill discipline leads to penalties. This results in either piggy backing the opposition out of its half, or worse, seeing players sin binned leaving the team short handed. When that happens, you wind up with less possession, and have to do more tackling, which is more energy intensive than running the ball. This means that the side becomes more fatigued, so fatigue, with being stuck in you own half,. or quarter, puts the opposition on the front foot. That fatigue can manifest as missed tackles which leads to opposition breaks, or dropped ball which nullifies any attack.

I mean when Sam Walker is forced into making 25 tackles in a game, that means he has far less petrol in the tank for attack, and fatigue would effect his thought processes too. That is about 40% more tackles than Hynes had to make, and he was not absent his second rower who defends inside him for 10 minutes like Walker was.

The simple fact we conceded 14 penalties to the Sharks 4. That is one of the few big things which jumps out of the stats, and it was that difference which came home to roost in the second half. How much were we camped in our own half during the backend of the game? A lot.

You can argue it anyway, but ill discipline is costing us games. We have lost all 3 road games this year, and in tow of those games it was ill discipline which was the difference which the opposition exploited (the other being the Storm game).

 

[Captain Apollo]

I looked up the stats for p[layers conceding the most penalties this season for the Roosters. Nos 1 and 2 are Sam Walker and Luke Keary having both conceded 6 each. Joey Manu is next with 4. Those are currently are only players in the top 50 players in the entire NRL for the most penalties conceded -

Players

Players

www.nrl.com

When it comes to conceding set re-starts, Sam Walker is joint 3rd in the NRL with Cody Walker having conceded 3 (but Cody has played 7 games to Sam's 6 games). Only other Roosters player in the op 50 is Drew Hutchsion with 1 conceded -

Players

Players

www.nrl.com

My point about citing Radley for ill discipline, is that he's gone to the sin bin in 3 games this season, and we have lost all 3 of those games.