Sloan

[Old Timer]

We're still blaming the fullback for not stopping the tries that 12 other players in front of him let happen?

He is being called out for the lack of effort in tries he should be making a much better effort to stop.

If you can’t see that at times his casual attitude is an issue in the last line then you are not watching close enough.

 

[Saints Forever]

Their line speed was far better than ours

The side started tentatively as if it was intimidated by the Roosters.

Initially the referee kept us in the game.

In the last 30 minutes the referee took us out of the game.

In simple terms the Roosters have a top 4 side.

We are on the other hand have an average to below side.

If the opposition plays below average and we play our best we have a chance to win.

Outside of that scenario We can’t beat the top 6 teams because we cannot play well for 80 minutes.

40-60 minutes is our best case scenario.

no point blaming the coach. We simply don’t have the cattle.

 

[since77]

He is being called out for the lack of effort in tries he should be making a much better effort to stop.

If you can’t see that at times his casual attitude is an issue in the last line then you are not watching close enough.

I'd prefer to fix the casual attitude and poor defence from the other 12 players in front of him that puts him in that position. Problem largely solved.
BTW I'm not deliberately ignoring his weaknesses. Agreed he has some. People are looking at the wrong problem though. Blaming Sloan for not stopping a try that the 12 teammates in front of him allowed is so shortsighted. Its so easy for the average fan to watch a try scored and curse Sloan without bothering to critique the reason why the line break was made initially.
How many top echelon fullbacks would look good behind our team's defensive shortcomings? My guess is they would look fairly ineffective too.
Replace Sloan yesterday with say Tedesco, Walsh, Ponga or even Billy Slater. Do we win? No. Do we lose by less? Maybe 1 try less. Maybe.
Sloan is an easy scapegoat. Fix the 12 guys in front of him and their defensive resolve and people are talking about Sloan a whole lot less.

 

[Dragon David]

I'd prefer to fix the casual attitude and poor defence from the other 12 players in front of him that puts him in that position. Problem largely solved.
BTW I'm not deliberately ignoring his weaknesses. Agreed he has some. People are looking at the wrong problem though. Blaming Sloan for not stopping a try that the 12 teammates in front of him allowed is so shortsighted. Its so easy for the average fan to watch a try scored and curse Sloan without bothering to critique the reason why the line break was made initially.
How many top echelon fullbacks would look good behind our team's defensive shortcomings? My guess is they would look fairly ineffective too.
Replace Sloan yesterday with say Tedesco, Walsh, Ponga or even Billy Slater. Do we win? No. Do we lose by less? Maybe 1 try less. Maybe.
Sloan is an easy scapegoat. Fix the 12 guys in front of him and their defensive resolve and people are talking about Sloan a whole lot less.

Another way of putting it is if Sloan played for the Roosters, he would not need to do as much defending (I am sure that Teddy is not doing that much) and his attack would be much better with the forwards and halves they have.

 

[justadragon]

I'd prefer to fix the casual attitude and poor defence from the other 12 players in front of him that puts him in that position. Problem largely solved.
BTW I'm not deliberately ignoring his weaknesses. Agreed he has some. People are looking at the wrong problem though. Blaming Sloan for not stopping a try that the 12 teammates in front of him allowed is so shortsighted. Its so easy for the average fan to watch a try scored and curse Sloan without bothering to critique the reason why the line break was made initially.
How many top echelon fullbacks would look good behind our team's defensive shortcomings? My guess is they would look fairly ineffective too.
Replace Sloan yesterday with say Tedesco, Walsh, Ponga or even Billy Slater. Do we win? No. Do we lose by less? Maybe 1 try less. Maybe.
Sloan is an easy scapegoat. Fix the 12 guys in front of him and their defensive resolve and people are talking about Sloan a whole lot less.

I think we missed 55 tackles yesterday, that says it all.

 

[Old Timer]

I'd prefer to fix the casual attitude and poor defence from the other 12 players in front of him that puts him in that position. Problem largely solved.
BTW I'm not deliberately ignoring his weaknesses. Agreed he has some. People are looking at the wrong problem though. Blaming Sloan for not stopping a try that the 12 teammates in front of him allowed is so shortsighted. Its so easy for the average fan to watch a try scored and curse Sloan without bothering to critique the reason why the line break was made initially.
How many top echelon fullbacks would look good behind our team's defensive shortcomings? My guess is they would look fairly ineffective too.
Replace Sloan yesterday with say Tedesco, Walsh, Ponga or even Billy Slater. Do we win? No. Do we lose by less? Maybe 1 try less. Maybe.
Sloan is an easy scapegoat. Fix the 12 guys in front of him and their defensive resolve and people are talking about Sloan a whole lot less.

So easy to say it’s the 12 in front of him and just keep ignoring the specific tries he is responsible to stop.

Jogging, loping along across the field with little sense of where he needs to be let alone getting their with dire intent and little regard for his own well being.

No doubt he is lovely young man with a great disposition but that is not enough and 50 games in if you ain’t willing to do the hard stuff all the time then sadly you will end up in the ESL or playing FB at a busted arse club like us where almost close enough is more than good enough.

 

[since77]

So easy to say it’s the 12 in front of him and just keep ignoring the specific tries he is responsible to stop.

So we're not going to agree. That's fine. And hey you may very well end up being right about Sloan and his ability to cut it in the NRL. That is definitely possible in this particular case. I am very prepared to concede that.
But your sentence above shows just how blinkered your tunnel vision analysis is. Sloan is such a minor problem in this team compared to the 12 guys in front of him and their woeful defence and inability to be mentally strong and resilient. Fix them and their defence and the Sloan issue is largely gone. Simples.
It amazes me that people watch the Roosters game and their conclusion is that Sloan was one of the root causes.

 

[Old Timer]

So we're not going to agree. That's fine. And hey you may very well end up being right about Sloan and his ability to cut it in the NRL. That is definitely possible in this particular case. I am very prepared to concede that.
But your sentence above shows just how blinkered your tunnel vision analysis is. Sloan is such a minor problem in this team compared to the 12 guys in front of him and their woeful defence and inability to be mentally strong and resilient. Fix them and their defence and the Sloan issue is largely gone. Simples.
It amazes me that people watch the Roosters game and their conclusion is that Sloan was one of the root causes.

The criticism of Sloan is not identifying him as the root cause

Moreover it is pushback that he is not as good as some portray him and identifies those things that he has ownership of that he does not do well.

I like others have levelled plenty of criticism regarding poor defence by Hunt, Leilua, Lawrie and others including those offloaded this year so their deficiencies are not lost on me.

If you wish to play in the spine then that comes with extra responsibility and more scrutiny and of course a much larger pay packet.

 

[Gourley's Socks]

The role Sloan had to play yesterday versus the role Tedesco had to play was vastly different. They may have been wearing the same number on their backs but that was where the similarities ended.

The Roosters were constantly rolling through our pack such that they were able to put up attacking kicks from the Dragon's 40. Sloan was having to leap to take these while under pressure from multiple chasers.

Our kicks were coming at best from halfway (except for that period in the first half where we were camped on their line and didn't look like we had a clue what to do). As such, Tedesco is taking a comfortable end-over-end midfield bomb with both feet planted on the ground and not a single chaser near him. Roosters sets are then starting on the 30 or 40. Rinse and repeat.

Sloan may have well-documented deficiencies in his game but there are twelve blokes in front of him that are making his job a lot harder than it is for other number 1s.

 

[Lovemedragons]

I'd prefer to fix the casual attitude and poor defence from the other 12 players in front of him that puts him in that position. Problem largely solved.
BTW I'm not deliberately ignoring his weaknesses. Agreed he has some. People are looking at the wrong problem though. Blaming Sloan for not stopping a try that the 12 teammates in front of him allowed is so shortsighted. Its so easy for the average fan to watch a try scored and curse Sloan without bothering to critique the reason why the line break was made initially.
How many top echelon fullbacks would look good behind our team's defensive shortcomings? My guess is they would look fairly ineffective too.
Replace Sloan yesterday with say Tedesco, Walsh, Ponga or even Billy Slater. Do we win? No. Do we lose by less? Maybe 1 try less. Maybe.
Sloan is an easy scapegoat. Fix the 12 guys in front of him and their defensive resolve and people are talking about Sloan a whole lot less.

Hunt's lame kicking game is a major priority rather than anything Sloan is lacking. We are at a disadvantage before the whistle even blows because our kicking game is terrible, so demoralising seeing fullbacks wait under a fluff kick which was directed right where they are standing. Many times we are on the back foot due to it. Get this working first and foremost.

 

[Kolum Kid]

Hunt's lame kicking game is a major priority rather than anything Sloan is lacking. We are at a disadvantage before the whistle even blows because our kicking game is terrible, so demoralising seeing fullbacks wait under a fluff kick which was directed right where they are standing. Many times we are on the back foot due to it. Get this working first and foremost.

Totally agree. Add in Hunts poor game decision making, his seemingly reluctance to question the ref in his capacity as captain with over 300 games experience is something that needs addressing. Whilst I am on the flanno wagon, I will be disappointed if next season we don't have a new captain if hunt is resigned.

 

[maestro1]

Yes Tedesco was having constant conversation with Klein. Hunt was using sign language to communicate with Klein, or so it seemed

 

[JamesRustle]

Sloan has made 108 tackles and missed 17, Kini has made 39 and missed 14.

Those stats don't provide the full picture as they don’t include the numbers for tackles not attempted that should have been, being so far out of position that you can't attempt a tackle and not getting under the ball when tackling on the try line.

 

[Old Timer]

Those stats don't provide the full picture as they don’t include the numbers for tackles not attempted that should have been, being so far out of position that you can't attempt a tackle and not getting under the ball when tackling on the try line

Very astute.

 

[Carlton]

Those stats don't provide the full picture as they don’t include the numbers for tackles not attempted that should have been, being so far out of position that you can't attempt a tackle and not getting under the ball when tackling on the try line.

Looking at those stats it pretty well says Sloan is attempting tackles, its nonsense to suggest his is not attempting them.

Also, this idea he is so far out of position is unreasonable when the majority of times he is "caught out" is the play after he has had to help make a tackle on a big forward on the line and stuck at marker. What I see as a bigger issue is, when this happens, whats Lomax doing to help cover the kicks that are then put in.

Sloans not perfect but he is nowhere near as poor as some are making out and to compare him to Dufty is a joke. Sloan is getting into tackles, Dufty was an absolute avoid contact turnstile.

 

[JamesRustle]

Looking at those stats it pretty well says Sloan is attempting tackles, its nonsense to suggest his is not attempting them.

Also, this idea he is so far out of position is unreasonable when the majority of times he is "caught out" is the play after he has had to help make a tackle on a big forward on the line and stuck at marker. What I see as a bigger issue is, when this happens, whats Lomax doing to help cover the kicks that are then put in.

Sloans not perfect but he is nowhere near as poor as some are making out and to compare him to Dufty is a joke. Sloan is getting into tackles, Dufty was an absolute avoid contact turnstile.

It is easy to focus on his negatives or positives, and I certinly have a feeling that he lacks footy smarts which impacts his positioning and timing to get to tackles, and that he doesn't love contact. I'll have a fresh look at his and other FB play this weekend.

He must know decent halves will look to exploit any FB that has made a goal line tackle and being alert to where they are, preferred foot, how the numbers are stacked and get moving ASAP.

Nobody is perfect. I didn't compare him to Dufty. I would compare him to the Wicked Witch of the West as water is the antithesis of both.

 

[Parko1310]

I personally love what Sloan could be as a player, but my gut feel right now is that he is just not going to cut it. But you do have to keep in mind he only turned 22 last month, it is easy to lose patience with him because he's been around for a while now, but people forget just how young he is. There is no need to give the spiel about Reece Walsh and Ponga and what they were doing at that age, they are generational talents, and I don't think anyone is suggesting that is what Sloan is.

The positives are Sloan is improving, he's going into contact harder than ever before, he's starting to take all the high bombs, and is showing he has the attitude that he is willing to learn.

The negatives are his lack of game awareness, he seems a little afraid of contact, and I don't know if it's just me but he seems a bit unco. Now I hope these things can be solved. I don't know how much football Sloan watches apart from his own game, but if it isn't much he needs to watch a lot more to improve his awareness. It will assist him heaps. Being shy of contact may be helped by bulking up a bit more (keep in mind he missed his chance to do that this pre season with an injury). This is my main concern with him though, you can't be as timid when it comes to contact as he is. It doesn't mean he isn't making tackles (when players run straight at him in our 10m), but he's certainly losing the contact because he steps to the side of them and jersey grabs and allows a quick play the ball. Being a bit uncoordinated may also be solved by some extra muscle. I hope he makes it, but it's definitely up in the air at the moment

 

[TheRev]

I think Sloan is a means to an end currently.. to be honest if I fast forward 3-4yrs, I dont think any of this squad is necessarily still there... bar the Couchmans which I think are longterm first graders and still young.

Of course probably half a dozen of them will still be here.. lets be realistic.... but none of them I am actually attached too.. they are just doing a job until maybe one day we can recruit real game breakers or maybe more kids develop.

It's very different to say the Tigers, where I look at about 6 of their young players, and im sure they are the nucleus of that side as it evolves.. I reckon a lot of their kids are rep players in years to come.. so 'if' they can retain them, and thats a big 'if', Galvin in particular I think might get poached.. then I think their roster is in a really good place.

Our path is different.. were gonna have to find more journeymen (even though its not what Flanno said he wanted) and try to tread water until the seas are more fortuitous for us to move forward.

 

[sammymills]

I personally love what Sloan could be as a player, but my gut feel right now is that he is just not going to cut it. But you do have to keep in mind he only turned 22 last month, it is easy to lose patience with him because he's been around for a while now, but people forget just how young he is. There is no need to give the spiel about Reece Walsh and Ponga and what they were doing at that age, they are generational talents, and I don't think anyone is suggesting that is what Sloan is.

The positives are Sloan is improving, he's going into contact harder than ever before, he's starting to take all the high bombs, and is showing he has the attitude that he is willing to learn.

The negatives are his lack of game awareness, he seems a little afraid of contact, and I don't know if it's just me but he seems a bit unco. Now I hope these things can be solved. I don't know how much football Sloan watches apart from his own game, but if it isn't much he needs to watch a lot more to improve his awareness. It will assist him heaps. Being shy of contact may be helped by bulking up a bit more (keep in mind he missed his chance to do that this pre season with an injury). This is my main concern with him though, you can't be as timid when it comes to contact as he is. It doesn't mean he isn't making tackles (when players run straight at him in our 10m), but he's certainly losing the contact because he steps to the side of them and jersey grabs and allows a quick play the ball. Being a bit uncoordinated may also be solved by some extra muscle. I hope he makes it, but it's definitely up in the air at the moment

he needs whatever supplements they take at canberra. I saw a close up of Kayo Weekes the other day kid is RIPPED. Timoko is the same.

 

[Veteran Dragon]

Is Cody Ramsey any chance of making a return any time soon? If so and he quickly gets back to his form before becoming unwell he will on Sloan‘s current form be putting pressure on Sloan to maintain his spot.
In saying that it’s been a tough couple of years for Cody. I hear he loves the Dragons. Above everything else including football I wish him good health.