The coach is not the problem

[broncos2010]

Its the players that go out every week on the field that is the problem and your poor recruitment over the last couple of seasons and no real class juniors coming through.


You guys can go and blame Kearney every week after you lose but he can not work miracles if the team does not put out on the field every week.

First off you guys have to go and buy a impact forward (Gillett) throw the kitchen sink at him you guys need some decent forwards at the moment you only have 1 decent forward in the pack and that is Hindy but he really offers little in attack and when he goes next year just imagine how bad it will get.

Hayne is freak and yes he is a great talent but he can not win footy games himself he needs sandow and roberts to step up but its very had for them when the forwards are doing a shocking job and when you have guys like ESI TONGA and BLAIR in the backline who are NSW cup players at best !!!

Another problem that Kearney has is he does not really have much to call on in the reserve team so its not like he can make many changes also seeing your Toyota cup team is not really full of superstars is another problem.

I really feel for the coach as he really does not have much quality stock to work with at the moment so he is trying his best.

Kearney should have heaps of cap availalble after he clears out dead wood like shack,poore,hindy,birt and others.

So he should have enough money to make a buy at some class forwards in the next season or two you would hope not washed up players.

 

[Snoochies]

Fui.......I reckon he goes alright.

 

[84 Baby]

It's chicken and egg. The players aren't responding to Kearney, but it is also Kearney that the players aren't responding to. It's up to Kearney to make the players respond otherwise it's his job on the line. In the same respect, it may take a few more years, but it is also the players' jobs to respond to Kearney or it's their jobs on the line

 

[Gronk]

Chayse Blair has been going great for a rookie.

 

[broncos2010]

Ask yourself what is happening to Manly right now when they have a couple key players out ?

Same goes for eels at the moment when Hayne is out they are totally shocking but the problem is he is the only key player on the the team that is the problem he can not win the game himself.

 

[natheel]

Chayse Blair has been going great for a rookie.

Agree he's starting to run harder at the line bringing the ball back and starting to break some tackles just needs to be a bit more quicker in finishing off a movement

 

[Grail]

when you have guys like ESI TONGA and BLAIR in the backline who are NSW cup players at best !!!

This is one of the reasons why it is the coaches fault. He continues to pick players that shouldn't be near the team, and is leaving players who should be getting a run in firsts out. 7 weeks of tripe and we pretty much get the same team week in week out.

SK has no capability to coach a team or even select a team. He has those he likes and those he doesn't. If he likes you, you're in for the full term regardless of how the team is performing.

Now, whilst the reggies aren't performing great, there are players there that should be getting a shot. Burt definitely needs to come back in for E.Tonga at the least. Horro should be in the side as should Shak.

Even give a player that's not doing heaps well in reggies a shot, what's the worst that can happen? The coach needs to make changes when things aren't working.

 

[DeanPay98]

Kearney picks the team and he devises the game plan. My observations from this weekend are: (1) Sandow needs to handle the ball more in the opposition 20. Last year this was our major problem with Robson and Mortimer. We had great field position a lot of the time because we had a great forward pack, but we couldn't get over the line. Sandow needs the ball more whenever we're in the opposition half and in particular the 20. Roberts is great at running the ball and setting things up mid-field and in our end, but Sandow is the guy for us in attack. Hopefully he's fully fit next time. (2) Poore needs to play 45-50 minutes. Giving Poore 24 minutes, during which time he ran 80m, isn't enough. We bought him to be our forward pack leader after Cayless. That isn't going to happen if he's managed badly. This comes down to Kearney. I think Poore is getting back to his best, but he can't prove that on the bench. (3) Our team cannot carry three of Blair, Sio and Esi Tonga. All three are learning the game. Blair is a fine prospect. He's going to be a champion in future years, but at the moment I think Luke Burt offers better value in attack. Put it this way, when Eric Grothe was coming through the ranks in 1999, Brian Smith only gave him a handful of games. It didn't mean that he wasn't going to be a regular first grader, but it helped manage the transition even though he went a bit haywire in 2001. Also, Ryan Morgan might be a better defensive centre than Esi Tonga. (4) Kearney seems to want to turn Matt Keating into an 80 minute player like Cameron Smith. But the Eels have seen this issue before. When Keating gets tired in games he makes mistakes. It happened in 2010 and its happening again. What has worked for the Eels since 2005 has been the hooker rotation. But Kearney keeps having Keating and Mcguire on at the same time. It means the forward pack is affected because we lose a backrower each time. Interchange them, don't deploy them together unless Mcguire is filling in for Sandow at half, as he did for ten mins yesterday.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Grail and DeanPay98: you guys are both drunk.

Blair and Sio might be rookies, but they're offering a helluva lot more leadership, defence and impact on the footy field than Luke Burt would be.

Burt is done.
Take off the 2005 glasses for long enough to see it!

There is simply no question about our football team that can be answered by "Burt" this year.

 

[DeanPay98]

Grail and DeanPay98: you guys are both drunk.

Blair and Sio might be rookies, but they're offering a helluva lot more leadership, defence and impact on the footy field than Luke Burt would be.

Burt is done.
Take off the 2005 glasses for long enough to see it!

There is simply no question about our football team that can be answered by "Burt" this year.

Oldmancraigy, I sure wish I was drunk. 2005-2007 seems like a lifetime ago. Has it really been that long since we were competitive on a regular basis?

But seriously, I can accept that Blair offers more in defence than Burt. Yet, Burt has a better football brain and would likely have scored the tries that Blair failed to score yesterday. That said, there have been games where Blair's size and strength was clearly an advantage over Burt.

Also, I'd definitely stick with Sio for the entire season.

 

[Bigfella]

Oldmancraigy, I sure wish I was drunk. 2005-2007 seems like a lifetime ago. Has it really been that long since we were competitive on a regular basis?

But seriously, I can accept that Blair offers more in defence than Burt. Yet, Burt has a better football brain and would likely have scored the tries that Blair failed to score yesterday. That said, there have been games where Blair's size and strength was clearly an advantage over Burt.

Also, I'd definitely stick with Sio for the entire season.

Yes, all of them.

 

[Gronk]

Chayse Blair has an angry face. You can't teach that.

 

[forestfan]

for me when we get in their 20..its not happening obviously

shift the ball side line to sideline..hayne cut out pass..works once a game

otherside roberts-tonga-sio...hmmm that f**ked out against the sharks

whats wrong with fui charging at the line and then a quick offload= try!

we are more dangerous outside the 20 i.e spreading it wide in own half than in it arent we

very very frustrating isnt it

another 2 points gone

 

[Gronk]

for me when we get in their 20..its not happening obviously

shift the ball side line to sideline..hayne cut out pass..works once a game

otherside roberts-tonga-sio...hmmm that f**ked out against the sharks

whats wrong with fui charging at the line and then a quick offload= try!

we are more dangerous outside the 20 i.e spreading it wide in own half than in it arent we

very very frustrating isnt it

another 2 points gone

Scoring tries when you are camped in the opposition 20 is not easy. What you need is repeat sets to increase the odds in getting over the line. I would think that we'd have the worst stats in getting a repeat set in the NRL. It's not that hard dribbling the ball into the in-goal, creating a 50/50 for the ball and a high chance of a repeat set if you miss the try.

#skcallmefortipsbro

 

[SDM]

I liked the look of the Roberts - Tonga - Blair combo yesterday. Sure it didn't come up with the points, but the sharks scrambled very well. Blair got close a couple of times and if it was off a quicker play the ball there would have been one less defender scrambling accross and he would have scored. Also, if Roberts had of realised that Tonga was switching to an insisde line late in the game and hit him on the chest, I think he would have scored. They will get there.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Oldmancraigy, I sure wish I was drunk. 2005-2007 seems like a lifetime ago. Has it really been that long since we were competitive on a regular basis?

But seriously, I can accept that Blair offers more in defence than Burt. Yet, Burt has a better football brain and would likely have scored the tries that Blair failed to score yesterday. That said, there have been games where Blair's size and strength was clearly an advantage over Burt.

Also, I'd definitely stick with Sio for the entire season.

I think the try Blair scored, Burt would've been pushed into touch - the defender did get a pinky onto him.

You can't fault Blair, he had very little space to work in, and the Sharks are the second best defensive team in the entire competition. Currently they are well drilled and on top of their game - the 18 points we scored happens to be the highest score any team has had against them this year.

Not easy to score tries against them, thought our overall attacking performance was fine. It was that brain dead 9 minutes where they scored 3 soft soft tries that killed us.

The positive that comes out of the game is that we didn't drop our bundle after that period. We kept competing and got right back in the match. I do blame SK for not having the team in this mindset for the opening rounds - had we played this way for the first 4 rounds we'd have another win or 2 under our belts right now.
Hopefully we remain 'competitive' and polish up the rusty spots of our game. It only takes a 3 game win streak to be a 'contender' in this day and age.

 

[oldmancraigy]

I liked the look of the Roberts - Tonga - Blair combo yesterday. Sure it didn't come up with the points, but the sharks scrambled very well. Blair got close a couple of times and if it was off a quicker play the ball there would have been one less defender scrambling accross and he would have scored. Also, if Roberts had of realised that Tonga was switching to an insisde line late in the game and hit him on the chest, I think he would have scored. They will get there.

I'm more worried about our right side defence!!!!! E Tonga looks as clueless as Morgan et al.

 

[Hutchy86]

it's not just Esi though.. Willie makes a lot of ineffective tackles and his lateral movement in d isn't as sharp as it once was. The Sharks were making good metres out of both sides yesterday!
Plus Joe Paulo isn't exactly an effective tackler himself - he gets brushed away alot and isn't quick enough to cover the likes of Sandow. Ryan looked really solid yesterday - big, strong and technically sound. Surely he could be Sandow's protection out wide?
We are definitely missing big Benny Smith!

 

[DeanPay98]

I think the try Blair scored, Burt would've been pushed into touch - the defender did get a pinky onto him.

You can't fault Blair, he had very little space to work in, and the Sharks are the second best defensive team in the entire competition. Currently they are well drilled and on top of their game - the 18 points we scored happens to be the highest score any team has had against them this year.

Not easy to score tries against them, thought our overall attacking performance was fine. It was that brain dead 9 minutes where they scored 3 soft soft tries that killed us.

The positive that comes out of the game is that we didn't drop our bundle after that period. We kept competing and got right back in the match. I do blame SK for not having the team in this mindset for the opening rounds - had we played this way for the first 4 rounds we'd have another win or 2 under our belts right now.
Hopefully we remain 'competitive' and polish up the rusty spots of our game. It only takes a 3 game win streak to be a 'contender' in this day and age.

I see what you're saying and I don't mean to be too critical of Blair. I think he's our long term winger and every game he plays is a useful investment for the future. Its just that I wonder if there's a bit too much inexperience in this team and/or too many players like Esi and Paulo who are fringe first graders playing alongside declining first graders in Hindy and McGuire? Its why I think Burt's exclusion, Poore's lack of game time and Shackleton's continued exclusion aren't great for the team. But as you say three weeks can turn this all around.

That said, to make the 8 we can withstand about a maximum of 11 losses. We're getting close to that already.

 

[PJ Marshal]

it's not just Esi though.. Willie makes a lot of ineffective tackles and his lateral movement in d isn't as sharp as it once was. The Sharks were making good metres out of both sides yesterday!
Plus Joe Paulo isn't exactly an effective tackler himself - he gets brushed away alot and isn't quick enough to cover the likes of Sandow. Ryan looked really solid yesterday - big, strong and technically sound. Surely he could be Sandow's protection out wide?
We are definitely missing big Benny Smith!

no we are f**king not , he's worth 5 more penalties per game