What is needed?

[Delboy]

Ok, I was at a committee meeting last night, got home, watched the first half and then deleted the nightmare that was the second 40 minutes.

What is needed, well fairly obviously some hard working forwards, when we look at the Dogs and even the Storm, they are built around a bit of size up front, some hard nosed hard working backrowers and a running ball player. Once they cement that and have fielld position, they have average backs (Ok and Barba) who take care of the game with the space that is created.

I am a bit disappointed that we seem to have neglected recruitment in that area, we fall short of most teams from the poor retention of the past. Our younger players are a couple of years away from stepping up, and 2013 isnt looking good. Our front row lacks size, and Ben Smith is the most penalised backrower ( think of Ryles ). We will miss Hindy big time, and Ryan hasnt stepped up like I thought he might, jury is out on Paulo as a starter.

Hopefully we pick up a couple of forwards to make us more competitive, as they wont sell season tickets purely on the back of a new coach .

A positive ( if there was one) was the comments from Brad Arthur, no more pussyfooting, they didnt do what I asked and they may as well be at Wenty, refreshing

 

[benkustosgrandmother]

I think that the forward rotation last night sucked a bit.

Mannah keeps getting reduced minutes? Dunno why because he started out well.

They kept Ben Smith on the field after mistake after mistake? Paulo looked good i thought again last night.

Matt Ryan came on late after the game had swung and the momentum was with the Tigers.

I think our forwards depth isn't as bad as it looks but we do need a marquee player to replace Hindy . Even if we got someone a bit cheaper like Stagg would be good.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Relying on Ben smith, that's a paddlin.

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

Stagg would stiffen up the D abit for sure.

 

[Parra Pride]

Stagg would stiffen up the D abit for sure.

No Stagg for me.

#BenSmith>Stagg

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

No Stagg for me.

#BenSmith>Stagg

The chances are we wont sign him, but thats a big call.

 

[Craig Johnston]

the penalty count was stacked but our forward pack got steamrolled last night. woods heighington ellis etc made massive metres when our best was something like 90 from timmy, and as admirable as that is, we're missing timmy mannah's efforts from earlier in the season where he was making 150+ metres regularly. we just need some toilers that will lay a platform. the expansive licence went overboard last nigth

 

[hineyrulz]

Relying on Ben smith, that's a paddlin.

:lol: He was woeful last night.

 

[Maroubra Eel]

Good post Delboy. We need to do something about our forwards. We need to be more like the Rabbitohs.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Honestly, Ben Smith is a penalty just waiting for an excuse to make itself known.

He rarely runs the ball either (whether through the middle or out wide). I'm not sold on him as a first grader....

Matt Ryan looks "ok" - he has potential, but looks like the kind of kid who will need 20 more games to get used to the 'level'.
Maitua looks "ok" as an edge runner. He looked a little frantic last night, trying to push passes, but overall he's a keeper.
Paulo is a handy bench guy, but never a starter. Has good size, footwork and skill and can come on after 25 minutes to bring some 'spark' to the contest.

What we're really lacking is that 'big unit' type player. Someone who can bend the line back (whether from prop forward or otherwise). And also someone who can bring a bit of sting in defence (without giving away a penalty BSmith).

 

[Parra Pride]

the penalty count was stacked but our forward pack got steamrolled last night. woods heighington ellis etc made massive metres when our best was something like 90 from timmy, and as admirable as that is, we're missing timmy mannah's efforts from earlier in the season where he was making 150+ metres regularly. we just need some toilers that will lay a platform. the expansive licence went overboard last nigth

In Mannah's defence he is being criminally underused.

#NeedsMoreGameTime

 

[Tommy Coco]

I notice Junior Moors is still off contract, he seems to struggle to get a run with the tige's, thoughts?

 

[Craig Johnston]

I notice Junior Moors is still off contract, he seems to struggle to get a run with the tige's, thoughts?

makes ray cashmere look like usain bolt

 

[eel01s]

Relying on Ben smith, that's a paddlin.

Love that!

Problem with Benny is he has a bad rep with the refs, you could hear the crowd baying for a penalty early on, but the refs didn't give one until Big Bad Benny got involved in a tackle. Mind you it would have been nice if we got the same treatment from the refs!

Agree with Delboy, our pack is not intimidating at all. Sure, they can put on a good performance every now and again, but that doesn't cut it in the NRL.

If Stuart can do one thing for us next year, it would be to harden the pack up and get them moving forward. I hope Lussick can add some mongrel and go forward, otherwise we are in trouble for 2013.

To think a lot of us were saying that our front row rotation was up there with the best in the comp....

Timmy and Allgood have to step up next year, that is for sure. I wonder if Poore is in Stuart's plans?

 

[spiderdan]

we scored five tries without our best attacking player on the field and all of a sudden we need all these things?

our attack has been ok the last little while. our defence, like almost every game this year, is awful. fix that and add a healthy hayne and we have a decent football team.

 

[Fathead]

Perhaps what we need is a captain that is always asking the ref for explanations. The tigers were laying all over us last night and we just accepted it. We needed the captain to start complaining like Cameron smith does. Yeah it might not be in the spirit of the game but refs are human. Every time the storm are penalised Cameron walks to the ref and asks for an explaination. This does two things, it allows the defence to set and it keeps the ref on his toes. The storm are the masters of this tactic and they continue to lay on the player knowing that they may get penalised once or twice but they will always gain an advantage later on as the refs are reluctant to keep penalising.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Our forwards are about as intimidating as Mr Chow from "The Hangover"

 

[Ratchy]

we scored five tries without our best attacking player on the field and all of a sudden we need all these things?

our attack has been ok the last little while. our defence, like almost every game this year, is awful. fix that and add a healthy hayne and we have a decent football team.

So you honestly think having Hayne in the team would all of a sudden make them a top 8 team?

 

[spiderdan]

So you honestly think having Hayne in the team would all of a sudden make them a top 8 team?

no. i think having having hayne in the team and fixing our defence would make us a top 8 team.

shitty defence has been our biggest problem this year. when we concede heaps of tries by default we concede heaps of possession. makes it harder to score points and tires the side so they are more prone to defensive lapses.

our attack seems significantly better than it was the first half of the season, and realistically, how often does a side score five tries and lose? i don't think it happens that often.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

So you honestly think having Hayne in the team would all of a sudden make them a top 8 team?

He never said that - he said if we fix our defence in addition to a fit hayne we would have a top eight side.