I'm bothered by the same thing. Our back three always hit up tackle 1-3. By the time the props get involved we are looking to push a few passes wider and stretch their edges, which means the props are sometimes shovelling it on before hitting the line. In the middle of the field were we need them the most they are doing very little work. No doubt we have a talented ball running back three, but we are relying on them too much. They cannot take up the slack of the props forever. And what happens is that guys like Mannering and Tevaga start taking on too big a ball carrying role, which is hurting us. The stats may have showed us making more metres as a team, but when watching the game live I always felt the Dogs had the upper hand in the middle. There were very few moments in the match where I noticed one of our props standing out by bending the line or swinging momentum in the ruck.
Also (it took me a long time to realise this) we often go for really dull options on tackle 4 and 5 because our wingers are not in position. All this time I've been so frustrated when we get a roll on, and then on tackle 4 we just go to an inside ball to Papali'i or something like that. Only just occurred to me that that's all part of the plan because our standard set of 6 mitigates against going wide late in the count.
So our back three are getting their hands on the ball when our props are meant to and so our props are needing to get their hands on the ball when our back three are meant to.
Nice.
Essentially yes this is how our team works and what the game plan is all about.
The times where this variation in the old standard works is when the Warriors defend it at their maximum capacity.
We trade big props for faster backs in the hope that they have a faster ptb speed and therefore we get the opposition back pedaling in the early tackles...the ones that set the balance between the wrestling opposition and the Warriors roll on.
So even if our backs are not the same as a George Burgess..the thinking is if they get to the ptb faster than a forward the roll on happens for far less Salary cap investment (a George Burgess cost close to a Million on the open market) the savings in the cap, in a team with a multi Million spine is key.
It worked against the Bullfdogs in the opening exchanges, their bigger pack was getting rolled back.
The problem comes when the opposition ramps up its ;line speed and the Refs allow a shallow ten.
The Warriors get flakey when our back three are being dominated...thats when the early shift and the going too lateral happens.
This is why Kearney blamed the loss on taking short cuts...short cuts means not earning the right to shift the ball.
They need to be more patient and accept they wont win the ruck in every phase of games.
They need to dig in and keep punching through the middle when even when they are losing ground....and most of all they need Luke to show up in games like the Dogs loss..where he had a great platform from the opening.
