What do you think we need to win a premiership??

[T-Boon]

Is there a reason we didnt make a play for Hynes? He plays a position of need and seems like a weapon.

 

[T-Boon]

He has OK pace, OK footwork and is a good defender. He'd be OK, but not if Opa is the other centre. Body shapes are too similar.

I'd be fine with us not building the centre positions around Opacic.

They certainly need to try to find the best fit for Brown. He has some good attributes.

 

[Glenneel]

Yes, der.

But why? We have a pack and spine that is as good as the others. Panthers being at present the yardstick, but they too could be beaten by us if we could unlock that something that at present is alluding us. Why are we inconsistent. It isn't because we don't have the individual player quality. But as a team we just can't find the consistent polish to our game defensively or offensively that the other 3 top teams have mastered.

Like I said, it is a mental thing that the coaching staff have yet to resolve. That and our game plan/style of play is my opinion that needs to be tweaked/fixed.

As someone earlier said we're passive in defence. If we moved up quickly we achieve 2 things. We hinder their momentum and cut down their playmakers thinking time. That completely disrupts their attack. Oh and quicker ptb's would improve our attack. Those two things would make us a premiership threat.

 

[Glenneel]

I agree with Pou. We don't have the side. It isn't good enough and it is what it is. No coach is taking this squad to the GF.
I was annoyed and I do hope BA makes changes or a few young juniors just burst onto the scene. But its unlikely. Lets hope we sneak into the top 8 and run into a bit of form come finals and a fit squad. Lets hope we atleast address our issues.

If we keep BA he needs better assistants. Kidwell has to go, our defence is still poor and not up to finals standard, and a better attacking coach. Ciraldo at Panthers would be a good start, get him before Fitzgibbon does.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Is there a reason we didnt make a play for Hynes? He plays a position of need and seems like a weapon.

maybe because we have our whole spine under contract.....

 

[T-Boon]

If we keep BA he needs better assistants. Kidwell has to go, our defence is still poor and not up to finals standard, and a better attacking coach. Ciraldo at Panthers would be a good start, get him before Fitzgibbon does.

Ciraldo would be next cab off the rank for a head coaching job surely.

 

[T-Boon]

maybe because we have our whole spine under contract.....

That is true but only Reed is definately in his proper position. At the least the "jury is out" as to whether Brown's best position is at 5/8.

 

[TheRam]

I would improve the spine so we don't need to be as reliant on Paulo, then I would play him for shorter minutes. While he's on the field though, he would make a lot more carries. Maybe play him in three stints. I would also go with two safe defensive centres rather than requiring strike from either of them. I think we need more speed at fullback as well, just so he can get away from such heavy contact from the kick chase. A surrender tackle is better than being driven back by three middle forwards.

Oh so you would be over the cap in an instant. Good one. Basically, find better spine players, find defensive centres and piss off our captain and best most consistent player and bring in a new million dollar player to take his place. Two defensive centres, again who are they? They won't be cheap and if that is all they are good at, we will still be the slowest backline in the NRL

You're talking about a comprehensive reset or our roster and probably throwing our salary cap right out of whack. But what would really change anyway if our coaching stays the same?

I don't think that there is that much wrong with our roster. Realistically all we really need is a quality centre and winger with speed to give us that strike out wide that currently we lack. The type I'm referring to is the ability to turn half chances into full ones. But besides that our roster is pretty freakin great. What I believe is holding it back from its full potential is the coaching. If that doesn't change we will not go to the next level.

Our forward pack is very talented and full of creative players, not just bash and barge types. Better coaching would have utilized those gifts not ignore them. I'm not talking about ill thought out and desperate offloads in every tackle. I'm talking about footwork just before the line, which allows strong runners to get their nose through the line and then support players(what a joke with our team other then Gutho) knowing that an opportunity is always possible hanging off the ball carriers shoulder in anticipation.

That alone would transform our attack immensely and create way more opportunities. The back rowers still don't know how to hit a hole, but thank Christ we have Papalii and Cartwright that have enough natural talent to create things on their own.

But anyway, our coaches need to mine our boys talents to the last drop. At present they are only getting about 80% out of them. We need to go to 100%.

 

[T.S Quint]

That is true but only Reed is definately in his proper position. At the least the "jury is out" as to whether Brown's best position is at 5/8.

You don’t think Moses is a half?
And what is Gutherson if not a fullback? It’s easily the best position he can play.

 

[TheRam]

Ok. Our current defensive structure / issues:

It’s called up and kill (different from up and in / umbrella defence) . But we are too flat. We need more staggering in the line. A flat defensive line gives attackers too much choice and leaves defenders flat footed. Most defensive patterns have some zig zag pattern to it (we currently do not) which can confuse attackers and gives defenders choice on who will cover who. Flat defence works to stop the inside man but doesn’t allow much if they fall for an inside decoy / block runner and then spread it wide which is what keeps happening to us.

Good attacking teams can take this kind of defence to the cleaners (as we have seen lately) where as poor attacking teams can't take advantage as easily.

So if the defender "falls" for the decoy on the inside, and the ball is then passed out the runner receiving the ball will have a larger and easier hole to go through since the next defender is standing deeper and all he needs is to hit the hole with speed and a little footwork and he is through and if his outside man is coming with him he will have a two on one situation and we are cactus. Try baby try!

Doesn't sound to good to me the way you have explained it. Have you got a video example of this in action?

 

[Gary Gutful]

At present they are only getting about 80% out of them. We need to go to 100%.

I reckon they are getting at least 90% but I don’t think we should be happy with anything less than 110%.

 

[T-Boon]

You don’t think Moses is a half?
And what is Gutherson if not a fullback? It’s easily the best position he can play.

Moses would be good at 5/8 and Guth would be good at centre. Guth is a bit slow. You could easily find a position for Hynes.

 

[Gary Gutful]

Anyone thinking our spine shouldn’t be improved has rocks in their head. Throw in a top line player in either 1,6,7 or 9 and watch us immediately improve.

We’d be a better team with Turbo or Papenshuizen over Gutho.

We’d be a better team with Munster, Luai or Kesey over Brown.

We’d be a better team with Cleary, DCE or Reynolds over Moses.

The only area where I doubt we’d see much improvement is a replacement for Mahoney.

Talk of our squad being good enough is bollocks. It’s quality and capable of beating the best teams (occasionally), but it needs improving if we are to go to the next level.

I don’t see too many coaches doing better than BA has with this squad.

 

[TheRam]

As someone earlier said we're passive in defence. If we moved up quickly we achieve 2 things. We hinder their momentum and cut down their playmakers thinking time. That completely disrupts their attack. Oh and quicker ptb's would improve our attack. Those two things would make us a premiership threat.

Yes we can all see it, we have a squad of very high quality players by anyone's standards, even if it isn't the the best overall roster in the game. So why are we consistently failing to nail this part of the game at the very least, even against lesser teams when we win which is the very definition of what a quality teams game should be based around?

Anyone? Anyone?

My guess...coaching. Others will say player quality. I don't think so. We are failing at the basics. These guys know how to tackle, but as a team they get lost out there. Why? It can't be that they forget how to play and what makes them win games.

Constantly we don't -
Support as a team. That is a basic must do. We don't wrestle, another basic must do. We don't run plays/lines with our back rowers, another basic must do. We don't defend well out wide or understand what's needed to defend well, another must do. We don't have players in motion for the majority of our set, another must do. To many one out hit ups, a must don't.

All these things aren't talent based, but more on how we play our game. Which is the domain of the coaching staff. All these players were brought to the club because they saw something in them and they had talent. So why are they failing to consistently do all the little things right that makes for a consistently good game. Not referring to just winning games, because we will win most of our games on the natural talents of these players against the lesser teams even when we have fade out moments during games.

But why can't we play well at the fundamentals of the game? Their natural talents will then flourish. We need coaches that can get the basics right and then we may see a team that can be a serious title contender.

 

[TheRam]

I reckon they are getting at least 90% but I don’t think we should be happy with anything less than 110%.

No excuses.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Oh so you would be over the cap in an instant.

No, because I also said this:

I would have patience and spend more money there when it comes available.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yes we can all see it, we have a squad of very high quality players by anyone's standards, even if it isn't the the best overall roster in the game. So why are we consistently failing to nail this part of the game at the very least, even against lesser teams when we win which is the very definition of what a quality teams game should be based around?

Anyone? Anyone?

Because we've built our roster based on size, rather than mobility, which is exactly what you were calling for in 2018. Now we've done it you want us to have smaller, faster players like Ma'u and Bevan French. Make up your f**king mind, but understand there needs to be trade offs.

 

[Twizzle]

Is there a reason we didnt make a play for Hynes? He plays a position of need and seems like a weapon.

$1.3 million reasons over 3 years

 

[T.S Quint]

Moses would be good at 5/8 and Guth would be good at centre. Guth is a bit slow. You could easily find a position for Hynes.

5/8...halfback...not much difference. Just play on opposite sides of the field. I would think your classic halfback would do most of the kicking, right? Well that’s what Moses is best at.

As for Gutho, yeah he could make a good centre. We’ve seen him play there and gone ok. But he’s better at fullback where he can utilise his best assets - his fitness and ball playing. If we were to grab a top class fullback who is better than Gutho (not many of them around) then I’d be happy to move him, but who will that be?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

$1.3 million reasons over 3 years

If true it's probably what he's worth but less than I thought he would get.