Sharks gave it up.

[Opes]

Yet again the Cronulla team give the game away though missed tackles and errors.

Where do you believe our biggest fault is?

Defence? Handling? 5th tackle options?

I'm having a hard look at some 1 on 1 defence...

 

[wittyfan]

Defence without a doubt. We leak far too many points in most games.

Today's game was there for the taking.

 

[Sharkie73]

Where do you believe our biggest fault is?

"Phil Bailey"

 

[ali]

We lost that game with our 5th tackle options. At 26-26 we put in 3 shit kicks in a row through Sully and Kent that went dead and lost all our momentum. Then Aitken came on and had all the time in the world on one occasion to put up a massive spiral bomb, and went for a silly chip. Definately the wrong option.

Our one on one defence is still struggling. 2 bad misses by Kent, with McGoldy shakey next to him. Vagana's fringe was probably worse. At least we were solid up the middle. If we'd had a good half on the field in that period of the 3 shit kicks, we would have won the game.

 

[sydneysharkbrisbane68]

How about heart, we didnt play with that from 60th minute, direction tackling, really slack when trying to tackle Mason no tecnique there at all

 

[Special K]

we needed a Peachey or Kimmorley there. I don't know how much you people rate our young blokes but to beat the team coming first in the NRL you need your best players.

The boys should have won but didn't. The season isn't over just yet

 

[sydneysharkbrisbane68]

Hulka the Tigers beat the Bulldogs this year, and just beat the Storm and are behind us, South beat Penrith

 

[shadowboxer]

all the negativity.. I know we should have won the game. We didnt have kimmorley, peachy and the fellas had a great go at it. I think the boys did well and are still looking alright, a hell of alot better than say the tigers who have copped a few 50-0 thrashiuings recently. The media have been talking them up all season whereas the sharks are supposably still suffering from the anderson hangover. haha!!!!!

 

[Special K]

What has that got to do with us?

We build our game around Noddy and Peach. Them not being there really f**ks the team around.

 

[Jonotallica]

I think the biggest problem right now is leadership and inexperience. Someone who can take the game by the scruff of the neck and control things. What's been good is that they have been getting wins lately without it, but against the top 4 teams like the Dogs it comes back to bite you on the arse. 26-26 with 20 to go, thats when it bit them.

Kimmorley is so handy because he has his hands on the ball at all times, he has a great kicking game and is respected by teamates. Having won a premiership and played for Australia helps a bit too.

Where is ET when you need him? Hows about they try and sign a 3 week contract for ET until BK comes back. He'd rev the shit out of them in the huddle if he was out there today.

Once Kimmorley comes back, all the inexperience problems will be swept under the rug, but they still need to get a couple more wins to make the finals run easier. That's my take on it anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not too worried about the loss. It would've been nice to snag a win, but I was never expecting it. 26 all we were in a position to win if someone stepped up to the plate -- without Noddy and Peach it made it that much harder.

I'm more worried about Nigel Vagana. Every time they ran anywhere near him, tries were scored. It was very worrying. I think at this stage that when Noddy comes back, it might be time for Nige to have a taste of Premier League with Kent going into the centres.

 

[Jonotallica]

Vagana did some good things in defense, his tackling style is vicious. He saved one try I think on Tonga. But his combo with Rieck and his positioning and sliding and coming up out of the line etc etc really was shithouse. Not what you expect from the "best centre in the world".

 

[Mr Angry]

26 is enough to win a game.
37 against is not good enough to win a game.

 

[Sheros los Deros]

I don't think Kent is the answer. He defended in the centres today and made three crucial misses. Goldy and Kent could not handle Ryan or Tonga. Vagana's positional play was ordinary. Stinky couldn't even lay a hand on El Masri. The Sharks showed what they are capable of by getting back to 26-26. The spirit and potential is there in the side. Certainly more so than last season.

I think the Broncos at home could be the key could be the key to semi final chances. Particularly if that is the game Noddy makes his comeback. Realistically though this year is about building confidence for 2005.

 

[Jonotallica]

26 is enough to win, but not the way the Sharks play. They have what.. the 3rd worst points conceded in the league?

When Lang left defense went out the window, to more of a Penrith "we might concede 30 but we'll score more then you" type style that they had last year. Since Ando left it has continued on. I agree that it should be fixed but it's been like that for 3 years and you can't fix it overnight. Some of the Sharks best wins have come while still conceding 20 or more points.

Defense is this teams biggest problem, but while Kimmorley and Peach are out, the lack of experience and leadership stands out more imo, but it's both. I guess it also ties in with the different 5/8 and half back combo every week as well.

 

[sydneysharkbrisbane68]

Kimmorley is out 3-4 weeks, so someone better step up to the plate, when Sherwin is out at the dogs others step up, it dosent have to be a halfback, we have a lot of experienced players out there who can should lead the way

 

[fatshark]

The main reason we lost is because of Sully. Kicking the ball over the deadball line 3 times in a row cost us the game. He did not do what a good footballer should do and use the wind to our advantage. :x

 

[wittyfan]

The main reason we lost is because of Sully. Kicking the ball over the deadball line 3 times in a row cost us the game. He did not do what a good footballer should do and use the wind to our advantage. :x

Bailey and Vagana were much more to blame than Sully.

 

[King of the Hill]

agreed sullyfan
but those 3 kicks were SHOCKERS

question - how many bombs did we do into that swirling tornado?

 

[Booyah]

Vagana's defence was crappola because he had to cover the two outside men. Reick was doing very little. His lateral defence and one-on-one ability is very questionable.

Reick seems unable or unwilling to follow the Winger's golden rule - ALWAYS MARK YOUR MAN. It's almost as if he's thinking " Sweet, Nige has this. No need for me to worry."