The game against warrington

[Dragon66]

Thank god Benji Marshall is in our side. So much for an off season of training with the ball. Not to much to get excited about.

Farrell excellent in defence. Marshall brilliant kicking game. Dugan was always in the game. Most of the side tried hard but still uninspiring with the ball. Maybe the greasy conditions can be used as an excuse. Not sure what that game means as we head towards Rd1. undefeated I guess.

I'm with Benny. Good try to Dugan but MOM. Not sure how that happened. Marshall or Thompson were my pick.

 

[The Damo]

As a game, it was awesome to watch. Few penalties, little wrestling shit, and plenty of ball movement despite the rain!
Our defense is still not that great, slipped into habits of sliding without moving forward. In dryer conditions it could have spelt danger.
Our attack looks improved, but still missing some depth there, hopefully gets a bit smoother as the season goes on. Doesnt help that our centres were pure ass, neither should be there rd1.
Halves looked flash, Benji especially looks dangerous but Widdop also looked good. Kicking game was amazing. Would like to see Dugan running some lines off them, not enough of it. Not sure how Dugan got MOM.

Forwards still an issue. I mean, Thompson and Friz are great to have on the edge, and Creagh is nessecary. I also liked Marketo. But the other guys are just adequate, and guys like O'Brien, Ah Mau, Rose, even JDB arent going to catapult us into the 8. Need something there.

And credit to him, Mitch Rein was good! Hit hard in defense, passing lifted, good scoots and best of all, NO DUMB DECISIONS. Well done.

All in all, good game...still think we are looking 8-11th at this stage, but will be a much more fun season!

Agree with all of this, have to change centre pair for sure. And we're gonna need more from our props to do better than scrape into the 8... Ah mau dèf better in the middle than on the edge and obrien adequate as you say, but looks like there's some improvement in him too.

 

[SaintNewy]

Reasonable hit out for a trial match on the other side of the planet.

Frizz was on fire until he left the field. Also good to see O'Brien with another game under his belt, he can only improve as the year goes on.

 

[kit66]

As a game, it was awesome to watch. Few penalties, little wrestling shit, and plenty of ball movement despite the rain!
Our defense is still not that great, slipped into habits of sliding without moving forward. In dryer conditions it could have spelt danger.
Our attack looks improved, but still missing some depth there, hopefully gets a bit smoother as the season goes on. Doesnt help that our centres were pure ass, neither should be there rd1.
Halves looked flash, Benji especially looks dangerous but Widdop also looked good. Kicking game was amazing. Would like to see Dugan running some lines off them, not enough of it. Not sure how Dugan got MOM.

Forwards still an issue. I mean, Thompson and Friz are great to have on the edge, and Creagh is nessecary. I also liked Marketo. But the other guys are just adequate, and guys like O'Brien, Ah Mau, Rose, even JDB arent going to catapult us into the 8. Need something there.

And credit to him, Mitch Rein was good! Hit hard in defense, passing lifted, good scoots and best of all, NO DUMB DECISIONS. Well done.

All in all, good game...still think we are looking 8-11th at this stage, but will be a much more fun season!

Came on to give basically the same summary as this.
I'd stress the Centres being very poor - Nabuli will never get good ball with Farrell and Thomson playing along side him. Runciman has better hands and knows how create space for his wing and I'm a fan of Mata'utia. I'd also like to see Aitken out there from Round 1.

Duges got MOM because they couldn't give it to Benji after that high shot I think.

 

[dragon-83]

Does the team play and rely too much structure in attack?

 

[kit66]

Good points-
Best refereeing I've seen in yonks. See - the Poms don't overreact and change the rules every year and they don't listen to every man and his microphone.
Great crowd and small ground atmosphere - except I couldn't hear the commentators too well. This is what footy is all about - in case you forgot ( Aussie administrators and promoters )
Georgie Rose - I take back my criticisms.
Great defence won us the game - our structure is a huge improvement on 2014.
Well, great defence and Benji's boot, he's baaack.
Footy's back.

Not so good -
Our Centres
Our forwards not making enough metres ( defence good though ).
" we had no interchanges left for the last 14 minutes " says our coach. WTF !
JDB, could end up in Cutters very soon.

Great win though and any momentum going into round 1 against the Storm is massive.

 

[jenninga]

Thought it was a very professional performance with a hostile crowd against us and difficult conditions we are not used to.
We should take plenty of confidence from this trip.

And thanks Ashton Sims for giving us the perfect start.

 

[rainman44]

Good points-
Best refereeing I've seen in yonks. See - the Poms don't overreact and change the rules every year and they don't listen to every man and his microphone.
Great crowd and small ground atmosphere - except I couldn't hear the commentators too well. This is what footy is all about - in case you forgot ( Aussie administrators and promoters )
Georgie Rose - I take back my criticisms.
Great defence won us the game - our structure is a huge improvement on 2014.
Well, great defence and Benji's boot, he's baaack.
Footy's back.

Not so good -
Our Centres
Our forwards not making enough metres ( defence good though ).
" we had no interchanges left for the last 14 minutes " says our coach. WTF !
JDB, could end up in Cutters very soon.

Great win though and any momentum going into round 1 against the Storm is massive.

JDB, hurts other players in just about every tackle and you want to play him in the cutters team?

 

[kit66]

JDB, hurts other players in just about every tackle and you want to play him in the cutters team?

Does he though ? I didn't see anyone struggling to get up after a JDB hit and I didn't see any massive one on one shots like we used to get from him. Offers nothing in attack and his hit ups go nowhere. He should be running lines and hitting gaps hard to make breaks - he's that sort of forward or at least he should be but he's not.
Will Matthews hits harder and makes more metres, I'd rather see him out there thb, at least untill JDB steps up.

 

[BalmainBoy_1969]

JDB, hurts other players in just about every tackle and you want to play him in the cutters team?

Pretty sure a few of them Wolves will be coughing up bones tonight. He's a weapon !

 

[blacksafake]

I thought under the conditions it was a solid effort as a whole,we appear to still be lacking some go forward but certainly the heavy ground probably played a part in this.Noticed some nice touches from Dugan which will only get better & shows they have been working on this part of his game.For me Thompson was MOM,Capt BLood as usual was strong,Rein much better & as mentioned elsewhere no DUMB options.Nabuli was pretty solid & should only get better in better conditions.

 

[ellskimore]

JDB, hurts other players in just about every tackle and you want to play him in the cutters team?

To be fair he was outplayed by Marketo who plays a very similar style. If Marketo keeps up his form then JDB could be the one to make way for him.

 

[SaintPeter]

My two bobs worth.

Over all pretty good. Most of our guys had a go.
Pleasing to see out team looking like a coached team, post the Steve Price debacle.
Team structure in the first half was solid but tended to fall apart a bit in the second.
We need a couple of centres. Neilsen lazy and not in the game at any stage. Jury still out on Farrell.

George Rose is going to be fun to watch this year. Still think is a Rein stinker but he wasn't toooo bad.

JDB ... ?? what is doing with the hair.

Is the affect of Ben Horby and Deano on the team showing ?

 

[Sti154]

Over all as a trail game I seen a lot of positives.

Our centres were terrible, they should be seeing a lot of time in the cutters.

I thought our forwards showed a lot more promise than this time last year, although I think Ah mau player better than Merrin.

We would of lost a game like that last season

 

[ellskimore]

My two bobs worth.

Over all pretty good. Most of our guys had a go.
Pleasing to see out team looking like a coached team, post the Steve Price debacle.
Team structure in the first half was solid but tended to fall apart a bit in the second.
We need a couple of centres. Neilsen lazy and not in the game at any stage. Jury still out on Farrell.

George Rose is going to be fun to watch this year. Still think is a Rein stinker but he wasn't toooo bad.

JDB ... ?? what is doing with the hair.

Is the affect of Ben Horby and Deano on the team showing ?

Okay. I am questioning your objectivity. If his performance tonight was "not too bad" what does he have to do to get a pass mark? Ridiculous statement.

 

[Get2dachopper!]

The forwards were adequate, did their job. We now have the size with O'Brien and Rose. Just need some more aggression.

As others have stated, the centres were woeful. I'd be putting Aitken on the right with Runciman on the left. I see them as our long term centre pairing, with matatuia likely leaving next year.

Marshall's kicking game and defence all class. Rein was good, can't take that game away from him. But he looked to have tired in that second half and we really lost some direction. We need someone like Le'strange coming off the bench to offer something different in attack.

Overall a good entertaining game. Wish the NRL games flowed the same.

 

[Puff2010]

Just the type of trial match we needed. A great work out and all the boys looked committed. Still plenty of room for improvement and no doubt Mary will work on that. Anyone who thinks we will end up at the bottom of the table will end up with egg on their face in 2015

 

[Cagey Mac]

Original centre selections were Aitkin & Mata'utia don't know why the switch.
Nabuli answered some more questions and didn't let us down. Marshall excellent MOM IMO.
The forwards all did pretty well with Thompson stepping up. Widdop solid.
Don't know why they didn't go the FG sooner in better position and Marshall' s flick pass at the death was a rush of blood that we can do without.
Great preseason hit out
Go the Dragons

 

[BlackDuckSaint]

My two bobs worth.

Over all pretty good. Most of our guys had a go.
Pleasing to see out team looking like a coached team, post the Steve Price debacle.
Team structure in the first half was solid but tended to fall apart a bit in the second.
We need a couple of centres. Neilsen lazy and not in the game at any stage. Jury still out on Farrell.

George Rose is going to be fun to watch this year. Still think is a Rein stinker but he wasn't toooo bad.

JDB ... ?? what is doing with the hair.

Is the affect of Ben Horby and Deano on the team showing ?

It is the hipster top bun!!! See it everywhere in Surry Hills.
Although I think JDB didnt play his best, this was his very first trial, he didnt play againts the Cutters or in the 9's and he was in the hospital for 2 days during the charity shield. So, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. P.S. whoever thought he didn't think he hit hard... Look at the first tackle he made when he came on, 1 on 1, front on, player put straight on his back after he hit his concrete shoulder, so it is definitely still there.

I have been really impressed with Jake Marketo in both the charity shield. He seems really hard to put down, he bounces of defenders and keeps going. He must have a really low centre of gravity.

And yeah, gotta love gorgeous george!! It was his run that put them on the back foot in the set paving the way for Rein to make that break.

 

[ellskimore]

Overall a good entertaining game. Wish the NRL games flowed the same.

Totally agree. I'd give credit to the way it was officiated. This had a real old school feel about it. The sides had to fight for their territory and the game saw natural momentum shifts (Wolves dominant metres in the first half contrasted with Dragons dominant in the second). The NRL has far too many piggy back penalties every match over contentious things like stripped ball and 50/50 ruck rulings, that result in tries.