The best thing about the head signing

[madunit]

Only Melbourne IMO....

the other teams have a weak spot.

Our 1,6,7,9 is very nice.

I rate it allover number 2.

Hodgson and Benji are both very poor defenders, Benji's kicking game isn't the greatest, Hodgson, Benji and Head have all suffered a number of injuries which have sidelined them for more than 1 or 2 games.

So I'll stand by my comment.

 

[simon says]

And teams pick their 1,6,7,9 on their defensive abilites...

Not.

 

[madunit]

Thats a fairly stupid comment.

13 guys on the field that can tackle are going to be a hell of a better defensive team than 9 or 10 who can tackle.

No one should play Rugby League if they think they'll never have to tackle.

 

[innsaneink]

It didnt stop Scott Prince.

 

[simon says]

Thats a fairly stupid comment.

13 guys on the field that can tackle are going to be a hell of a better defensive team than 9 or 10 who can tackle.

No one should play Rugby League if they think they'll never have to tackle.

You have to score points to win games......2005 ring a bell????

 

[madunit]

Teams can score 30 points nowadays and lose.

Souths made the finals based Almost entirely on their defense.

I think a 16-0 Victory week in and week out is more convincing than a 46-30 win.

 

[Vicious]

Teams can score 30 points nowadays and lose.

Souths made the finals based Almost entirely on their defense.

I think a 16-0 Victory week in and week out is more convincing than a 46-30 win.

Personally i don`t care if it`s 60-58 or 4-2 as long as we win, but the more points we score the more fans that will turn up at the games , that`s for sure.

 

[madunit]

Looking at this seasons performances and crowd figures, getting fans through the gates isn't a problem.

 

[innsaneink]

I think it is a problem as crowds this year were down on last year

But yes, our defence across the park needs work

 

[themanonthehill]

I think our crowds will suffer a fair bit this year, save for the fact we are guaranteed 2 very big crowds at the SCG which will somewhat distort the averages

 

[Vicious]

In a perfect world, obviously you don`t really want any poor defenders in your side, but in reality, it`s nearly impossible to have a side full of good attacking players who are also good defenders. The reality is that if you have such a good attacking side, when on song like us in `2005, they can run the opposition ragged and this really takes away for the opposing sides attack therefore helping our defence.
At times in `2006 our attack was that pedestrian that you could just sense the opposition relaxing when we had the ball and therefore conserving energy for when they were attacking us.

 

[madunit]

same happened in 07 Vish.

Souths went from being wipping boys to finalists and they did it on the back of solid defence.

Something they haven't had since 1989.

Look at how many finals series they made in those years.

Obviously its difficult to get 13 starters that are all great defenders. But to dismiss that our 1, 6 and 7 don't need to be good defenders if they are good attackers is ludicrous. The halves defend in the middle of the field where the majority of the games are played. If you put them on the wing, who are you going to bring in to defend for them? Lawrence and Collis? Hardly good defenders themselves.

And having a fullback who misses more tackles than he makes is a liability if he is the last line of defence.

They don't need to make 40 tackles a game, they just need to be effective at stopping the opposition. Something they aren't capable of.

The last thing you want is to have all your poor defenders being pushed out to the wing in defence and then have to in to the middle of the park in attack. It makes our defence in the middle thin and very vulnerable.

 

[super_coach]

A great defence will beat a great attack. Souths didnt pass the ball for the first two months of the comp last year. Just kept it simple and tackled tackled and more tackles. Than they started to chance their hand once they got their defence in order. Now with mr swiss cheese in charge of defence what hope do we have--holes everywhere

 

[themanonthehill]

We have been very pedestrian in attack since the GF. Slower play the balls, less bodies in motion and the loss of Prince, Marshall and Hodsgon for long periods is the cause of this. We were more dangerous from 50 last season than from 10 ... we looked very very ordinary when close and struggled to get it over yet you just knew when they got down our end they'd put one on

 

[crouching_tiger]

A great defence will beat a great attack.

Spot on 1000%. But fools, monday's heroes and armchair experts will tell you differently.

 

[Vicious]

Spot on 1000%. But fools, monday's heroes and armchair experts will tell you differently.

That`s an old adage and is correct to a certain extent. You won`t find too many better halfback/ 5/8 defenders than John Morris, but as we found in `2006, it`s not much good to us if he can`t get our attack going. `2005 is the proof that a great attack can help in defence. Prince and Marshall were obvious targets for all opposition defences, but because we ran all opposition ragged when we had the ball, it enabled us to have the necessary energy levels to have plenty of numbers in defence, hence the reason it proved extremely difficult for opposing attacks to successfully target either Prince or Marshall. Nothings changed except for the fact that our attack over the past two seasons has been pedestrian and this has put extra pressure on our defence, except for the Cowboys flogging at Leichardt, we`ve mainly been the team that`s been run around.

 

[crouching_tiger]

Attack comes naturally to NRL players. Most of the key positions and the players who play NRL 1st grade dont get to where they are with crap attacking abilities. Defend your line and the points will come when the opportunity arises. The cases you are talking about is not lack of attack within the individuals but as a team cohesion. 2007 proved to be a total disater in attack simply because they ran themselves out of options when failing to finish off a set with a good attacking option. a 0-0 scoreline has more merit that a 54-54 cricket score. Yes it can be boring but it shows that you can defend your line against a 1st grade NRL team to keep them scoreless. Your example of 2005 is incorrect as it was not the attack which made them a better defensive unit, it was their mobility, enthusiasm and ability to work laterally and scramble against bigger forward packs. Yes they will gain better field position from their attack. But for them to continue to keep oppositions pinned in their own red zone comes from determination and enthusiasm rather than skill based.

 

[madunit]

the one thing, more than anything that has caused our poor performance this season is the kicking game.

You can't expect the hooker to have the time to accurately put a kick in open space, but this was the situation we were stuck with, as Benji isn't a consistently strong kicker and Hodgo doesn't like to kick anymore, with his 90 year old knees. Our kicks were generally straight to the backs, which gave them instant momentum.

We need to turn the backs around when putting kicks in, give our forwards time to get down to defend as deep into the oppositions territory as possible.

A great attacking unit is only good against poor defensive sides. The Cowboys are the best attacking team in the comp, but they can't defend for sh*t, so they have to rely on themselves to score 36 to 40 points a game to ensure they get the win. That alone puts a sh*tload of pressure on your attacking players to perform, because if they don't, then they can end up being flogged by any team in the comp.

Defence will win you big games and the close games. How many close games have the Tigers lost in the last few seasons? sh*tloads.

Defence has been an issue with this side ever since Junior left the coaching ranks. He wasn't very innovative as an attacking coach, but he was good at defence. I think he should be approached to replace Royce, or at least work with Royce.

 

[themanonthehill]

There's an old saying that attack wins games but defence wins trophies that a lot of soccer mangers adhere to. I thought Benji when he came back had an excellent boot on him .. accurate, found space more often than not. Even with Prince in 06 our kicking was sh*t and we found fullbacks and wingers on the full all too often. Still I guess the kickers aren't helped by a pack of pillows that get dominated and ensure that defences are on top of our kickers as soon as the ball is in their hands forcing us to kick under pressure. We really need someone with an Anasta/Monaghan sized boot that can whack the bejesus out of it and get us out of trouble in those sets where we don't make big yards

 

[madunit]

Or, take on an old school approach and kick for touch at the end of every set if the oppositin has all their backs ready for a kick.