This is a serious side.

[Gareth67]

I am relatively happy at this stage.
But I'm also cautious not to get too over excited, as we all have been burnt many times by incompetence and a refusal to learn from past mistakes (Both Price and McGregor).

Defence worries me a lot, despite the statistics and huge effort so far this year.

My concern centres around our defence structure, this up and stop at 5m and plant our feet. Also we are spread too much accross the field.

This was evident v Manly for one try where Wright threw a dummy and we were stuck in the mud. In the big games this will be the difference and it has happened too many times and our brilliant coaching staff don't even know it is a problem.

Agree BankstownDragon , the defence at times seems to be right on the verge of breaking , only some last minute efforts have stop the opposition from scoring in so many games .
Still in saying that there is a definite improvement compared to previous seasons
which was quite noticeable in Saturdays game - last gasp defence by Duffy ( among others ) certainly helped the Dragons to push onwards and secure the win .

 

[KiamaSaint]

Looking over the teams we have left to play the Storm will be the hardest game. However, if we keep the same team I think we can beat them.

Looking at our run home, even with a few upsets in there, we should win at the bare minimum six games. Honestly, top 4 should be a minimum and that gives us a real shot at going deep into the finals.

 

[Old Timer]

The year is enjoyable as there are many turns and twists
Teams that previously looked more invincible than vulnerable have come back to the field and teams like us look less vulnerable and able to match it with anyone on a given day
The lead into the semis is the really critical time and those coaches who can find ways to elevate team performance under pressure will IMO prove to be the difference.
Ni doubt we have a good roster and playing better (at the moment) than in previous years but I still have an eye looking over a shoulder watching a brewing Storm and will watch with interest how we weather it.

So it is true you can't read.

My tip WAS DRAGONS by plus 24. Spot on!!

Were you? Ha ha ha

And if you can't acknowledge the Panthers are having a good go at it even with 7-8 of their players out injured, you are ignorant.

A Dragon's supporter acknowledges another team is having a real dig under difficult circumstances and you jump up and down like a 2 year old.

Instead of looking at them to help improve what we might do.


Old timer = narrow minded.

Now back on ignore for you![/QUOTE]
Your post just confirms you are complete and utter dill.
You say you have me on ignore, then you come out of the shadows to have a sly swipe and have accused me of something that someone else posted and to top it off you reckon I can’t read and I’m ignorant
Next time take your hand off it and turn on the light to try and work out what you are doing before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.

 

[Saints Forever]

What pleased me most this week was the fact the players looked fresh, sharp and enthusiastic.

The break did the boys a lot of good.

Mary now talking about resting the rep players against Parra.

If he follows through with resting half of those players I will concede Mary is improving as a coach.

Did I say that ? Please feel free to give me an upper cut !!!!

 

[Old Timer]

You said those coaches who can find ways to elevate the team's performance under pressure will IMO prove to be the difference. I would put the ball more in the players court and say that those players who can elevate the teams performance under pressure will prove to be the difference. Players such as Hunt, Widdop, Dufty, DeBelin, Frizell, Sims, Graham, Vaughn and McInnes are the ones I am looking to elevate our teams performance. Games are won on the field, Mary has no control of what happens when the game kicks off, the players do.

The tactics employed will have a huge bearing on the outcome of these games and they are the domain of the coach.
If the tactics and game plan aren’t sound then it won’t matter how much individuals lift.

 

[Frank Facer]

The tactics employed will have a huge bearing on the outcome of these games and they are the domain of the coach.
If the tactics and game plan aren’t sound then it won’t matter how much individuals lift.

Did you ever blame your coaches for your poor performances, or did you take ownership of your poor performances? When I was playing footy, the team with the best players usually beat the team with the lesser players.

 

[Old Timer]

Did you ever blame your coaches for your poor performances, or did you take ownership of your poor performances? When I was playing footy, the team with the best players usually beat the team with the lesser players.

I have no doubt our players can play and can lift but if Mc Fookknuckle picks the wrong bench, uses poor player rotation, picks busted players, uses a conservative game plan, fails to change things if plan A isn’t working, picks out of form players, insists on taking 2 when it is more prudent to keep the attacking pressure on then IMO no matter what the players do the coaches influence will outweigh them.
Don’t underestimate Mc Fookknuckle’s pig headedness and there is plenty of form to suggest it has cost us big time in previous seasons.

 

[Crush]

I have no doubt our players can play and can lift but if Mc Fookknuckle picks the wrong bench, uses poor player rotation, picks busted players, uses a conservative game plan, fails to change things if plan A isn’t working, picks out of form players, insists on taking 2 when it is more prudent to keep the attacking pressure on then IMO no matter what the players do the coaches influence will outweigh them.
Don’t underestimate Mc Fookknuckle’s pig headedness and there is plenty of form to suggest it has cost us big time in previous seasons.

What's your prediction from here on in OT?
Hard to read the future but if you had to bet a large sum of money on where this year will finish for dragons what would you say?
Based on your lack of faith in the coach and the impact that you think the coach has on the team it can't be a good ending this year?
Scrape into 8 and out in straight sets?

 

[Frank Facer]

I have no doubt our players can play and can lift but if Mc Fookknuckle picks the wrong bench, uses poor player rotation, picks busted players, uses a conservative game plan, fails to change things if plan A isn’t working, picks out of form players, insists on taking 2 when it is more prudent to keep the attacking pressure on then IMO no matter what the players do the coaches influence will outweigh them.
Don’t underestimate Mc Fookknuckle’s pig headedness and there is plenty of form to suggest it has cost us big time in previous seasons.

So did you ever blame your coach for your poor performances, or did you ever blame your coach because the team that you played in lost?

 

[ouryears]

Did you ever blame your coaches for your poor performances, or did you take ownership of your poor performances? When I was playing footy, the team with the best players usually beat the team with the lesser players.

Coach makes a big difference.

A team of 17 players might have 6 different game plans between them. Which one then?

Who should play where, whether to play an open style with a strong second phase sort of game ...or a tighter up the middle game.

What set plays to introduce and when.

Whether to play up and in your face defensive style...or sliding defence.

Tens and tens of other things.

Team culture, discipline, it's endless.

That's why some coaches never make it. Should Steve Price be given a go and coach the Storm?

Plenty of best teams don't win the big one because of it.

Roosters twice in the early 2000s blew it, yes, Ricky!

Dragon's 1985 blew it.

When you are young and there isn't many good coaches, the teams with the best players usually win, but that changes with great coaching.

But players should be held more accountable I agree.

 

[Frank Facer]

Coach makes a big difference.

A team of 17 players might have 6 different game plans between them. Which one then?

Who should play where, whether to play an open style with a strong second phase sort of game ...or a tighter up the middle game.

What set plays to introduce and when.

Whether to play up and in your face defensive style...or sliding defence.

Tens and tens of other things.

Team culture, discipline, it's endless.

That's why some coaches never make it. Should Steve Price be given a go and coach the Storm?

Plenty of best teams don't win the big one because of it.

Roosters twice in the early 2000s blew it, yes, Ricky!

Dragon's 1985 blew it.

When you are young and there isn't many good coaches, the teams with the best players usually win, but that changes with great coaching.

But players should be held more accountable I agree.

So if you played footy, did you ever blame your coach for your poor performances? Or did you ever blame your coach because your team lost the game?

 

[Old Timer]

So did you ever blame your coach for your poor performances, or did you ever blame your coach because the team that you played in lost?

The comparison is difficult as you are talking about amateurs and professionals and there are stark contrasts.
A poor individual performance is mostly yourself however if you are picked out of position or whilst injured then it is definitely falling into the coaches domain.
I did play in games where I firmly believed our coaches tactics were poor and the game plan conservative and contributed to losing.
No he didn’t make us miss tackles or drop balls but he didn’t pick our best side nor did he allow us to play with freedom
as he thought defence was our best form of attack.
Did we blame him no not completely but as I say none of us did it for a living.
If our coach becomes arrogant or pig headed don’t you think that can lead to poor performance and outcomes?

 

[Old Timer]

What's your prediction from here on in OT?
Hard to read the future but if you had to bet a large sum of money on where this year will finish for dragons what would you say?
Based on your lack of faith in the coach and the impact that you think the coach has on the team it can't be a good ending this year?
Scrape into 8 and out in straight sets?

I have no doubt our side is capable of playing on GF day and potentially winning it
The key is injuries, team selection, bench usage, and game day tactics.
We have had monumental fails in these areas in previous years however to a lesser degree this year due to less injuries so the coach has been blessed with a rails run
The others key for me is how much has he learnt from previous years?
The answer is obviously some things

1. Mann finally in the starting side but he still retains Nighty in the bench
2. Finally young Host gets some good game time but is 20 minutes really enough and how many more games and minutes will he get?
3. He now has to manage the team through a tricky period has he done enough with the other young players to prepare them IMO no.
4. If we are losing against a really good team can he devise a plan to get us a win? Warriors, Souths and Penrith games were horrible but are they only 1 offs well we have to wait and see.

In my heart if hearts I hope he has finally learnt the finer facets of his trade and if so we can win the comp however if any naivety, arrogance, hubris or pig headedness raises its ugly head we could easily finish top 4 and go straight out or even slide down to 5th and go straight out.
So I don’t know the answer until we get to wherever it is we are going but I harbour real concerns as to the decisions he will make and that fear can unfortunately only be removed after the event.

 

[giboz71]

Agree BankstownDragon , the defence at times seems to be right on the verge of breaking , only some last minute efforts have stop the opposition from scoring in so many games .
Still in saying that there is a definite improvement compared to previous seasons
which was quite noticeable in Saturdays game - last gasp defence by Duffy ( among others ) certainly helped the Dragons to push onwards and secure the win .

We are second in defence with regards to points conceded (Melb have conceded 1 less and lead the NRL).

Agree some aspects need improving but our scramble and goal line defence is outstanding. Manly kept coming down our right and we kept turning them away. Also, every time they made a line break (except 1 time) we had multiple defenders in cover.

We are a very fit side too.

 

[BennyV]

I thought both teams will be depleted by Origin 3? We’ll likely have 5 out and so will they.

Makes it hard to pick.

Looking at the most important players for each team, I would argue that the Top 2 for us are Hunt and JDB, while the Top 2 for Melbourne are Smith and Slater. Having Cameron Smith in the team keeps Storm at a super competitive level.

 

[BennyV]

We were the May premiers while Souffs are the June premiers (apparently). It's good to drop below the radar esp. when managing to win a few. I feel media hype does effect players and all the talking up of the Rabbitohs is fine by me. Maybe Raiders will be the July premiers?

No, we dropped the May premiership to Penriff. f**king chokers.

 

[BennyV]

Did you ever blame your coaches for your poor performances, or did you take ownership of your poor performances? When I was playing footy, the team with the best players usually beat the team with the lesser players.

What a ridiculous analogy!
Of course junior and ametuer football is largely decided by the players - hell, look at the team Mary has when he won his premierships in the Illawarra Comp!
When you get to a semi-professional level and above, the coach becomes important. The coach takes accountability of everything the players do 7 days a week. How the players prepare for the game. How they are motivated. What tactics they employ against each team. How they train. What skills they need to develop and how to go about developing them, and then applying that development strategy to real game situations. What areas are weak. Where do they need to recruit. What type of player to recruit. What culture to create.
These are full time jobs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, not the dad of one of the wingers dropping by on his way home from work.
Yes, the players are a big part of it but in professional Rugby League, like in any business, the coach is accountable for everything that happens below him.

I've said many times, coach and team is like a tradie and his tools. A shit tradie with a brilliant set of tools will do a shit job. A good tradie with a shit set of tools wont do the best job. But a good tradie knows what tools he needs to get the job done, how to maintain them and how to utilise them. Sure, a shit tradie may strike gold and do a decent job every know and then when everything falls into place but given the same set of tools, a good tradie will always do a better job than a shit tradie.

 

[giboz71]

What a ridiculous analogy!
Of course junior and ametuer football is largely decided by the players - hell, look at the team Mary has when he won his premierships in the Illawarra Comp!
When you get to a semi-professional level and above, the coach becomes important. The coach takes accountability of everything the players do 7 days a week. How the players prepare for the game. How they are motivated. What tactics they employ against each team. How they train. What skills they need to develop and how to go about developing them, and then applying that development strategy to real game situations. What areas are weak. Where do they need to recruit. What type of player to recruit. What culture to create.
These are full time jobs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, not the dad of one of the wingers dropping by on his way home from work.
Yes, the players are a big part of it but in professional Rugby League, like in any business, the coach is accountable for everything that happens below him.

I've said many times, coach and team is like a tradie and his tools. A shit tradie with a brilliant set of tools will do a shit job. A good tradie with a shit set of tools wont do the best job. But a good tradie knows what tools he needs to get the job done, how to maintain them and how to utilise them. Sure, a shit tradie may strike gold and do a decent job every know and then when everything falls into place but given the same set of tools, a good tradie will always do a better job than a shit tradie.

Agree with most of that and the tradie analogy is a good one. Ricky Stuart is an example of a shit tradie who happened to strike gold with the best set of tools money could buy that year.

So in light of your analogy, how do you think Mary has gone this year now that Millward has finally given him a fair set of tools?

 

[Frank Facer]

I have no doubt our side is capable of playing on GF day and potentially winning it
The key is injuries, team selection, bench usage, and game day tactics.
We have had monumental fails in these areas in previous years however to a lesser degree this year due to less injuries so the coach has been blessed with a rails run
The others key for me is how much has he learnt from previous years?
The answer is obviously some things

1. Mann finally in the starting side but he still retains Nighty in the bench
2. Finally young Host gets some good game time but is 20 minutes really enough and how many more games and minutes will he get?
3. He now has to manage the team through a tricky period has he done enough with the other young players to prepare them IMO no.
4. If we are losing against a really good team can he devise a plan to get us a win? Warriors, Souths and Penrith games were horrible but are they only 1 offs well we have to wait and see.

In my heart if hearts I hope he has finally learnt the finer facets of his trade and if so we can win the comp however if any naivety, arrogance, hubris or pig headedness raises its ugly head we could easily finish top 4 and go straight out or even slide down to 5th and go straight out.
So I don’t know the answer until we get to wherever it is we are going but I harbour real concerns as to the decisions he will make and that fear can unfortunately only be removed after the event.

Warriors, Souths and Penrith are all in the top 4. The games that we played them and lost were all at their home grounds, they played the best game of the year that they had played, probably the best games that they had played in many years.

 

[giboz71]

Warriors, Souths and Penrith are all in the top 4. The games that we played them and lost were all at their home grounds, they played the best game of the year that they had played, probably the best games that they had played in many years.

Agreed.

Penrith and Warriors have openly said their games against us were the best they played all year. And the Souths game as well, not sure they can play much better. All were away from home as well.

Hence, I wasn’t really too worried at this stage, but we still need to beat these sides.

Looking forward to meeting the Warriors at home where we rarely lose.