Summary of the game against Raiders.

[eel01s]

I missed the first 25min or so, so can't comment about that period of the game.

From what I saw, Poore obviously was trying to prove a point. Good signs there.

Mannah was fantastic! This guy will be our main prop for years to come.

Horo is going very well too. I am pleased because we need our younger guys to step up.

Overall a much improved effort from the forward pack. I will say (hard as it is) that there must be something wrong with Hindy, he has nothing at the moment.

 

[SCoops]

From what I saw last night was that there are quite a few guys trying to offload, however it seems that we have stopped looking for the ball runners offloads.

The rest of the team isn't looking for the offloads, but seem to be looking for the next play.

Another thing that got to me was that it seemed at times that the halves had no idea what to do. At one stage in the 2nd half Robbo was about to receive the ball at dummy half but looked around and raised his hands as if to say... "what are we doing?"

WTF he should know or at least make stuff up.

Still seems we are at 6's and 7's.

Coops

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

Best game of the year so far. If we improve by an equal amount by this weekend then we'll be in with a shot.

 

[mickdo]

Oh and Mannah and Poore need to look for the offload or pass more often.

They need players in support to be able to do that. We only started to run with the ball carrier with about 10 minutes left on the clock! Other than that it was just one-out stuff and the occasional backline movement (of which Reddy massacred two).

Someone posted a comment from one of the players a while back (round 3 I think) where they mentioned that DA's gameplans had so far not involved any offloading! If that's true, then IMO the coach has to wear the blame for every loss we have had. We got where we did last year by playing an offloading style, and what we are trying now just doesn't work. The players must be incredibly frustrated.

 

[forward pass]

I look forward to reading Daniel Mortimers quotes on the game this week!

 

[bartman]

I cant agree on his second stint. I thought he continued with the commitment he showed in the first half. At one point, making 3 tackles in a row - 1 on Tongue from marker showed how much he was putting in. Those 3 tackles were made by Caylo & Hindy - everyone else watching. The poor bastards were trying to show the way.

Once again, I think Cayless showed up his detractors last night. (Everyone sees Mannah come on after the first 15 minutes, when the game is starting to loosen up a bit, and make ground, maybe swap them, so that people can see how hard it is to make ground in the first 15)

Cayless IMO, does not get the recognition that he deserves a lot of the time, & instead is made the scapegoat a lot of the time.

Poore impressed me for the first time, last night - he really put in. Just needs to learn to offload now, and somebody needs to follow, so he can slip them a pass.

Yeah, fair enough. I didn't mean it to come across as negative.

Just that his first 30mins was first rate, and in the 2nd stint we as a team were going backwards by then. Your comment about he and Hindy tackling 3 in a row makes you wonder why so many of our players seem to clock off during the game, instead of when they're on the bench or after the siren? Is it fitness, motivation, or both?

 

[NorthShoreEel]

It shouldnt be fitness Bart, it shouldnt be, but???

As for motivation - I think it has to be the main issue. Similiar to what the aussie cricket team used to be like, I think Parra for a long time, need to score first in games & lead to win. (Having said that, there has been some memorable games where we have not scored first to win - last years semi against Saints.)

A clear & convincing win could quite possibly turn the tables for the boys. But, someone else needs to be the match winner/turner - other than Hayne. Maybe Tahu or Inu - someone needs to show some magic.

 

[Ike E Bear]

Hayne - lack of commitment in defence and positional play, poor game
Burt - good positioning earnt two tries down his side, we didn't look like doing too much else
Reddy - will cop a suspension
Tahu - a couple of better touches in attack, a couple of good bits in defence. I think he's getting there, would like to see him take more of the early hit ups like Eric because TT has the build to do it.
Grothe - tried hard, even when it was hurting. Left the line wide open on one occasion and was lucky Ben Smith stopped the try.
Mortimer - a bit out of his depth at the moment.
KK - tried to get things going. I'm happy with him picked for starting/80min in the halves.

Cayless - had a great first 30 mins and lead by example, probably his best stint all year. Had a not as good second stint of around 15mins, when we were on the back foot and time was running out.
Robson - thought we looked best with him at dummy half, kind of lost the plot after he was subbed off.
Moimoi - probably his best game this year? Still some way to go until he's back to peak form though.
Hindmarsh - think he should restrict his hit-ups to tackles 1, 2, or 3 and let the attacking guys do the job for the rest.
Smith - a good 80min effort, covering Eric's arse defensively as well.
Mateo - was surprised he went for as long as he did in the first half, was making the effort but then the mother of all defensive mistakes/slowness led to the try before half time. Got hooked instantly. Should be an 80min player but isn't fit/focussed enough.
Poore - probably his best game for us so far? Had a real go I thought, happy for him to do that from the bench each week.
Mannah - he's coming on, another good effort. DA should look at a 3 prop side one week, to give Mannah more minutes and maybe use Hindy in a different way.
Horo - looked ok at this level, had a go. I can see him doing a 50% rotation with Mateo, getting the best out of both of them this year while Mateo is still with us.
MK - not a happy 30 mins. Seemed like he came on just at the time the rest of the guys decided it was all too hard and stopped trying to match it with the Raiders.

Changes for next week:
Inu for Reddy (suspension)
Start Horo in 13 and bring Mateo on for impact either side of half time
Leave Robson at dummy half for 80mins, and give MK a week off
Add Oake to the bench in MK's place, to give Hindy a rest in the back row
I'd swap Burt and Hayne (especially in defence), but that won't happen...

Regarding Hindmarsh, I noticed twice Hindy take a hit up on the fourth tackle ... but he was so slow in running and then playing the ball that it took any sting out of our fifth tackle play. It was excruciating.

I also thought Robson was good at dummy half.