hardbaby
Coach
- Messages
- 17,017
Only a brave man questions Wayne Bennett but I just don't think those tactics are good enough to win a comp. I know we towelled Parra in the forwards last week so I guess the temptation was to go that way again. But in terms of winning a grand final that just won't work.
Busting up through the middle all day and relying on a great kicking game is all well and good...when it works. Last week the Dragons forwards were 9/10 and the kicking game was 9.5. But unless the cards fall for you it is a huge risk to play in such a conservative fashion.
In the old days you used to wear a pack down and rip them in the second half but it is very hard to do with unlimited interchange. Sure you need to gain forward ascendancy but you also need to sow a seed of doubt - there was no doubt. You also need to create second phase play - there were no offloads (again).
We were unlucky today. With a start like that you would often be up by 6 or 12 points. Parra won the game with a lucky bounce back from a bomb, an intercept, a brilliant field goal (what a great kick) and some Hayne magic. But that's my point. Against the better teams (look at Melbourne) they are going to score points. To win you need to score more points than them. We had no points in us today and it is a massive concern.
As a footnote, none of our players were bad today. If you look at the stats we should hold our heads high. But every player played within themselves. It was all percentage football. There was no adventure. Utterly predicatable - again.
I thought it was quite boring and we deserved to lose. Not beaten by a better side. Beaten by a team who played a better style of football.
Busting up through the middle all day and relying on a great kicking game is all well and good...when it works. Last week the Dragons forwards were 9/10 and the kicking game was 9.5. But unless the cards fall for you it is a huge risk to play in such a conservative fashion.
In the old days you used to wear a pack down and rip them in the second half but it is very hard to do with unlimited interchange. Sure you need to gain forward ascendancy but you also need to sow a seed of doubt - there was no doubt. You also need to create second phase play - there were no offloads (again).
We were unlucky today. With a start like that you would often be up by 6 or 12 points. Parra won the game with a lucky bounce back from a bomb, an intercept, a brilliant field goal (what a great kick) and some Hayne magic. But that's my point. Against the better teams (look at Melbourne) they are going to score points. To win you need to score more points than them. We had no points in us today and it is a massive concern.
As a footnote, none of our players were bad today. If you look at the stats we should hold our heads high. But every player played within themselves. It was all percentage football. There was no adventure. Utterly predicatable - again.
I thought it was quite boring and we deserved to lose. Not beaten by a better side. Beaten by a team who played a better style of football.