Team List Tuesday - round 3

[Dragonslayer]

So, here we go again!

Are you expecting any changes from last week? or will McGregor just cut and paste?

Has McGregor the balls to make changes? or will he consider last week an anomaly to his power play?

In any case, here is the team I'd like to see listed:

F/B = Dugan
Wings = McDonald and Nighty (on borrowed time)
Centres = Milne and Lafai (also on borrowed time)
5/8 = Widdop
7 = Mann
9 = McInnis
Lock = JDB
2nd Row = Thompson and Friz (if fit, if not Host)
Front Row = Packer and Vaughan
Bench = LAM, Sims, Host (if playing then Leilua) and McCrone
18-21 = Leilua (McCarthy) , Sele, Field, Dodd

Anyway, what do you think our line-up should be?

 

[Saintsified]

LOL, Don't stress yourself out Slayer. Better times ahead, just not yet, ACCEPT lol

 

[Dragon Revival]

Our backline and half are small, sluggish and are impotent offensively and defensively. I believe that if we persist with the same players that we will get the same results. Last week we were monstered and annihilated by the Eels due to poor attacking structures and undisciplined careless play. If we were to play the Eels again this week what would Mc Gregor do to limit Radrada to one try at most. I would contend nothing as he is stupid and is so close to the established players that he is scared to demote them. He pretends to support the young talented attacking players like Mann and Field but gives them 10 minutes game time.
It is clear that Aitken, Mc Crone and Nightingale offer little in attack or defence and should see no further NRL action. I was deplored that a backline that had prepared for four months could be so comprehensively outplayed. The Club constantly promotes Dufty, Field and Mann as aspiring gamebrakers but I doubt that they will ever be given a fair go.

 

[Saint or sinner]

Would love to see Dugan and McDonald one side and Milne and Mann on the other...but it won't happen nothing ever changes with dragons this is our biggest problem...love nighty but him , Aiken and Lafai all too slow for nrl ..would help too if we could hold onto the ball ..

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

This is the same team that blew away one of the competition favourites. They lose one game and all of a sudden they are useless. As much as I have been feeling the pain the last 5 years, people need to relax and stop being so fickle.

 

[SBD82]

4. Milne.

 

[possm]

Yes this team blew away Penrith in round one however, the signs were there and many called for changes to our backline for round 2 even though it was a winning team.

Round 2 we absolutely get blown off the park by the Eels. No surprise regarding the performance of our backline however, no one picked the manner that our forwards would play.

Unlike some on here, I put the responsibility squarely at the feet of our coaching staff who for a week were patting each other on the back thinking 'we have done it', 'finally we have done it'. And you can be sure that all week players were told 'see how easy it is if you try'.

The coaching staff made no significant changes to the 17 even though our outside backs showed signs of not being up to it. More importantly, the coaching staff obviously did not take into consideration that the Eels would have devised a plan to combat the 'power game' and the 'compressed defence'. The rest is history. Let's hope that changes do occur for round 3 against the Sharks. My preferred team would be:

1. Dufty
2. Mann
3. Milne
4. Dugan
5. Macdonald
6. Field
7. Widdop
8. Vaughan
9. McInnes
10. Packer
11. Thompson
12. Frizell
13. De Belin

14. Havili
15. Sims
16. Ah Mau
17. Leilua

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Yes this team blew away Penrith in round one however, the signs were there and many called for changes to our backline for round 2 even though it was a winning team.

Round 2 we absolutely get blown off the park by the Eels. No surprise regarding the performance of our backline however, no one picked the manner that our forwards would play.

Unlike some on here, I put the responsibility squarely at the feet of our coaching staff who for a week were patting each other on the back thinking 'we have done it', 'finally we have done it'. And you can be sure that all week players were told 'see how easy it is if you try'.

The coaching staff made no significant changes to the 17 even though our outside backs showed signs of not being up to it. More importantly, the coaching staff obviously did not take into consideration that the Eels would have devised a plan to combat the 'power game' and the 'compressed defence'. The rest is history. Let's hope that changes do occur for round 3 against the Sharks. My preferred team would be:

1. Dufty
2. Mann
3. Milne
4. Dugan
5. Macdonald
6. Field
7. Widdop
8. Vaughan
9. McInnes
10. Packer
11. Thompson
12. Frizell
13. De Belin

14. Havili
15. Sims
16. Ah Mau
17. Leilua

This is it, this is the team. Apart from maybe trailing Field or Widdop at fullback and running Mann in the halves, I think you are pretty much spot on.

 

[Old Timer]

This is the same team that blew away one of the competition favourites. They lose one game and all of a sudden they are useless. As much as I have been feeling the pain the last 5 years, people need to relax and stop being so fickle.

Its not the fact we lost one game it is the way we lost it.
Uninspiring, insipid, lacklustre, thoughtless, lacking energy and intensity, slow, cumbersome, mistake ridden, unprofessional maybe a few more descriptions can be added by others.
In other words it was a replica of almost every sizeable loss we have had under our glorious Rd 1 winning coach Mc Fookknuckle.
The common denominator is the nature of the losses not the wins.
So it is not people being fickle, it is a case of people joining the dots together and being realistic whilst other people want to hang onto the 1 good win as a turnaround for all the bad losses and performances.

 

[Crush]

Copy and paste.
No changes. Not one single change will be made for this week.

 

[mickeylane]

I'm pretty certain Aitken will be rested for Mann to come in at right centre and Field to also come in on the bench..

I'm pretty certain of Above changes..

 

[Dragonslayer]

Its not the fact we lost one game it is the way we lost it.
Uninspiring, insipid, lacklustre, thoughtless, lacking energy and intensity, slow, cumbersome, mistake ridden, unprofessional maybe a few more descriptions can be added by others.
In other words it was a replica of almost every sizeable loss we have had under our glorious Rd 1 winning coach Mc Fookknuckle.
The common denominator is the nature of the losses not the wins.
So it is not people being fickle, it is a case of people joining the dots together and being realistic whilst other people want to hang onto the 1 good win as a turnaround for all the bad losses and performances.

Agree OT.
You just have to go back to last year and examine the game against the Sharks and then what followed the next week and weeks after that. We even struggled to beat Newcastle in the final round.
The common denominator is not only the nature of loss but also the mental preparation done by the coaching staff. It's obvious we have players who can play football, and after 3 or 4 seasons of top grade you would think they know the basic fundamentals. The next step in mental preparedness and game plan........there's our common denominator right there and it was plainly evident last weekend with Brad Arthur V Paul McGregor.
I reckon that psyche guy will be working overtime this week.

 

[since77]

Changes? Mary made wholesale changes last week - bringing in Kurt Mann to play the 8 minutes Jai Field would have otherwise played. To tinker any further with anything would just unsettle those combinations Mary has spent 3 years working on.

 

[possm]

Many on here could see it and despite it being 'out there', advocated changes to our backline. Changes were not made and the problems identified were proved correct.

My point is, that if forum members can see these things, why can't our coaching staff?

 

[Datramp]

Mann is too good a player to be sitting on the bench and too good to be only a winger as well. We will likely lose him to another team where he will be given a chance and absolutely kill it.

 

[blacksafake]

Its not the fact we lost one game it is the way we lost it.
Uninspiring, insipid, lacklustre, thoughtless, lacking energy and intensity, slow, cumbersome, mistake ridden, unprofessional maybe a few more descriptions can be added by others.
In other words it was a replica of almost every sizeable loss we have had under our glorious Rd 1 winning coach Mc Fookknuckle.
The common denominator is the nature of the losses not the wins.
So it is not people being fickle, it is a case of people joining the dots together and being realistic whilst other people want to hang onto the 1 good win as a turnaround for all the bad losses and performances.

Well said OT.
I'm sick of some saying the team played well last week or the week before so stick with them as they have shown they can play.The problem as you correctly point out is all the bad losses we have to put up with in between.The issue lays solely with L plate who has shown he cannot get a team up for an important clash or even get them to play at a consistent level.How many times under L plate has the team been blown off the park early in a match or been beaten when they should have one.Our so called coach takes the team into games with only one plan which is normally flawed & has no idea how to rectify things on the run like using the bench when things look like going pear shape instead of sticking to his rigid plan of putting so & so on at a certain time/stage of the game.

 

[giboz71]

Mann is too good a player to be sitting on the bench and too good to be only a winger as well. We will likely lose him to another team where he will be given a chance and absolutely kill it.

After Aitken's performance, you can't keep a guy with talent like Mann on the bench

As others have said, Mann got hooked from fullback last year for a whole lot less.

 

[ybur]

Cronulla game Prediction. If no changes to our team, Sharks 38 Dragons 6

If changes to our halves AND centres, Sharks 28 Dragons 14

If Nighty is ALSO dropped, Sharks 22 Dragons 18

 

[Datramp]

If changes to our halves and centres, Sharks 28 Dragons 14
If Nighty also is dropped, Sharks 22 Dragons 18

Just curious who you would think is a winger that will defend better and attack better than Nightingale? Sure he has lost a yard of pace but he is still our best winger defensively.

 

[Old Timer]

Just curious who you would think is a winger that will defend better and attack better than Nightingale? Sure he has lost a yard of pace but he is still our best winger defensively.

How do you work that out?
Anyway regardless of that our wing defence is abysmal so whether he is our best or not is of little consequence.