Tigers game

[The Commissioner]

Wheres the sycophant posse?
Do they surface later in the week?
Bit early to pop their heads up?

 

[SaintPeter]

The most disappointing thing for me last night was the Benji Marshal factor.

I know he does some good things but ? the (Benji) mistake rate, that resulted in an almost constant turnover of possession cost us the game. Fair dinkum, does anyone (including himself) know what he's going to do ? The angle running and short passing to Leeson or Tyson at some reverse angle, at a hundred miles an hour - please ??

He seems to have the same problems now at saints that saw him dropped at the tigers two years ago.

 

[dino2170]

i was at the game last, my second in succession for some 10 years- the only reason being that i received free tickets on both occassions. I can report that on both times getting into the ovals were a breeze in terms of traffic and parking (I parked with a red V member in the club premises on the first occasion and some distance from the venue on the second) BUT going home was ridiculous The powers that be SHOULD look at the traffic management around the venues. Im sure this is one reason why we are getting poor crowds.

Another and main reason is our woeful attack. Our defence is average considering we havent played the top[ tier teams of penrith, canterbury, easts or souths. We cannot get momentum as our forwards are one out and cannot offload and when they do, they offload in ridiculous situations and they force errors.

Last night there was no structure, no plan of attack and sorry to say this but the tries were scored on nightengales side. BUT did the coach adjust this. NOT until half time when the damage was inflicted.

On this forum Mata uti was heralded as a successor of dugan at fullback. He didnt show anything last night AND he even cramped up at one stage. From what I dont know because he didnt run through any gap.

We made the tigers look like premiership contenders and i can tell you guys they are not.

The centres we have are only park level and not first grade standard as I indicated earlier in the year on this forum. UNFORTUNATELY my assessment of the team is proving spot on early on and some respondents poo pooed me and shouted me down and wanted me to leave this forum BUT it is the same respondents that now are yelling for some bloodletting of the coach and players.

thats life

 

[Mr Angry]

The most disappointing thing for me last night was the Benji Marshal factor.

I know he does some good things but ? the (Benji) mistake rate, that resulted in an almost constant turnover of possession cost us the game. Fair dinkum, does anyone (including himself) know what he's going to do ? The angle running and short passing to Leeson or Tyson at some reverse angle, at a hundred miles an hour - please ??

He seems to have the same problems now at saints that saw him dropped at the tigers two years ago.

Yep, Benji was awesome outside Scott Prince, who did all the directing of the team and that let Benji be the attacking guru he is. Burden him with directing, and last night you get.

Whilst I tend to agree, Widdop is a 5/8, he is the best option to direct.

But dead set the game plan to kick to Kevin has to change too.

 

[Hutty1986]

The thing that stuck out for me was that even when the clock got to 10-15 minutes to go and being behind by 16, not once did the dragons look like they were chasing points. They still kicked for territory, they didn't chance their arm. Surely you'd rather cop a few extra tries by throwing something at the defence and possibly making a mistake then just meekly surrendering. It made no sense. The tigers were playing terrible yet at no time did I feel like the dragons were going to chase them down.

Just completely inexplicable. You can bet if the Tigers were down by 3 tries they'd have been throwing it around.

2007 was bad, 2012 was terrible, 2014 had some hope at the back-end.

2015 is f*cked.

 

[The Charlatan]

Benji's biggest problem is that he has never been a halfback. Sheens tried to manufacture him into one and it's been an unmitigated disaster for the Tigers, and now the Dragons.

Fair play he was trying, but with Widdop marked and Rein/L'Estrange offering little he was simply overwhelming and forced into the error riddled footy he plays when the pressure is on. How many times did he late time the pass to the inside runner resulting in errors?

I feel for the Saints fans at the moment, because they're looking a lot like we did in 2012-2013.

 

[Mr Red]

I have never (in all my time watching RL) ever witnessed a team more devoid of spirit and passion than St George tonight. There was not one player out there that looked pissed off, passionate, angry, or determined. They ALL looked like they couldn't care less, and that's so sad. Even when we got trounced 70-0 against Melbourne in 2000, you could see disappointment; not tonight. It's like they're a team of strangers that have never met each other before....like turning up for the first game of touch football at the local park for the season, and meeting the motley crew that you're bosses mate put together for the year.

This.
losing is one thing, but seriously there are players just not having a dig..

 

[bottle]

The thing that stuck out for me was that even when the clock got to 10-15 minutes to go and being behind by 16, not once did the dragons look like they were chasing points. They still kicked for territory, they didn't chance their arm. Surely you'd rather cop a few extra tries by throwing something at the defence and possibly making a mistake then just meekly surrendering. It made no sense. The tigers were playing terrible yet at no time did I feel like the dragons were going to chase them down.

Noted. Was screaming for them to just try something, anything. No trick shots, no adventure. They were like roos in headlights.

 

[twinkletoes]

Benji's biggest problem is that he has never been a halfback. Sheens tried to manufacture him into one and it's been an unmitigated disaster for the Tigers, and now the Dragons.

Fair play he was trying, but with Widdop marked and Rein/L'Estrange offering little he was simply overwhelming and forced into the error riddled footy he plays when the pressure is on. How many times did he late time the pass to the inside runner resulting in errors?

I feel for the Saints fans at the moment, because they're looking a lot like we did in 2012-2013.

Widdop to fullback, Dugan to centre with Aitken to stiffen up defence, Marshall to 5/8 his natural position and Crook to half

 

[bottle]

Widdop to fullback, Dugan to centre with Aitken to stiffen up defence, Marshall to 5/8 his natural position and Crook to half

Worth a shot. Need to try something ffs.

 

[grouch]

Widdop to fullback, Dugan to centre with Aitken to stiffen up defence, Marshall to 5/8 his natural position and Crook to half

Deckchairs.

 

[saint06]

Ordinary, over paid, over rated, no ownership of their roles, or their performances. Since most of them have been brought to the club, none of them (bar Nightty and prob Merrin) bleed red and white.

Coops, Young, Hornby, Gaz, Morris, have all moved on - and none of the current crop will feel the loses like players of the recent past.

No one bleeds for the jersey, there's no ticker. It just looks like they don't give a rats about their performance and the result.

At least Nightty showed the rugby league world, that you can play the ball to yourself....

 

[twinkletoes]

Deckchairs.

We're already halfway under....

 

[dragonreddy]

Yep, Benji was awesome outside Scott Prince, who did all the directing of the team and that let Benji be the attacking guru he is. Burden him with directing, and last night you get.

Whilst I tend to agree, Widdop is a 5/8, he is the best option to direct.

But dead set the game plan to kick to Kevin has to change too.

That was 10 years ago ,time marches on .

 

[blacksafake]

Widdop to fullback, Dugan to centre with Aitken to stiffen up defence, Marshall to 5/8 his natural position and Crook to half

This or at least play Marshall at 2nd receiver with Widdop at 1st.
The "game plan" of passing well before the line is a deadset recipe for disaster as shown the last two weeks.The halves MUST straighten up & take the line on, not pass before the line or drift across field.FFS it's not hard to do Mary but hey he has been a part of the problem for the last three years so it aint going to improve anytime soon by the looks of it.

 

[Get2dachopper!]

Lol, we can all babble on about moving players from one position to another, won't make a difference. The squad has been so badly mismanaged, you really need a Phil Gould to come in with a 5 year plan and re-structure everything regarding the footy team. It's actually a bigger job than Penrith, because Penrith were obviously in a much better financial position than us, even though they were performing poorly on the field.

I can only think of Brian Smith to be honest, maybe not to be the head coach, but to be some sort of director. Their might be some ill feeling between them, maybe he could work alongside someone like Mick Potter, who I think considering injuries, did a fair job at the Tigers. Taylor has a lot to thank for.
- 1-2 years, Give Brian Smith mandate to clean the place up. He was originally an Illwarra coach, so he should appease the Illawarra half of the board
- 3-4 years, go for another proven coach. Hasler, Robinson and Maguire will all be coming off contract. If the Rooster have 1 lean year, watch how fast they will ditch Robinson. Robison has already won his comp with the roosters, you get the sense if Hasler wins one with the bulldogs, he will move on.

 

[giboz71]

I think the problem goes beyond coaching and the squad now. The problem is environmental, with the culture and attitude within the club as a whole.

Gus Gould said it in the Souths game...they have just forgotten how to lose. Even when they were down against the Roosters, there was no panic, they just knew they would get the points. We are polar opposites in that respect and have been that way for 3 years. They play like winners and we play like losers.

And this comes out in the way we play, no aggression, no slickness, no impact, no care, zero evidence of a well prepared, motivated and well drilled side.

Can we put all the blame on Mary or Price. Maybe not. Dugan, Benji, Widdop, Frizell, Thompson, these are recruits most teams would take in a heartbeat. Are they playing to their potential...absolutely not. No one that comes to the Dragons does.

What's the point of talking about Burgess, JWH etc etc...they'll just come here and forget how to play like our other expensive recruits.

 

[Mudgeedragon]

Where can I watch the post match interviews? On my foxtel it goes straight to the Matty Johns show.

 

[The Charlatan]

Widdop is best at fullback. You then need halves that will service the outside backs. They had nothing last night because Widdop and Marshall were under pressure. Marshall should be moved to 5/8, and Mary should threaten to cut his hands off if he doesn't take on the line.

1. Widdop
2. Nabuli
3. Dugan
4. Neilsen/Farrell
5. Nightingale
6. Marshall
7. ?

That backline looks like it has a bit more sting in it if you've got a young half who is good foil for Marshall.

 

[Niko1980]

Farrell and neilson gotta go. JDB so far, his gotta go too. These guys are not upto first grade.
20 mins in and we have shown absolutely nothing.
This is embarrassing!!!

I agree mate, but I think our hookers are rubbish aswell. Widdop goes missing. Give Aitken and glymin a go.