When will this end? Dragons v Storm Rnd 25

[Slippery Morris]

I thought that this game in particular against a disciplined Storm side that is near full strength (minus Pap) and needing to get points to stay top 4, would be a flogging and severely hurt the Saints especially in for and against. Saints did it tough especially with Sua, JDB and Lomax out. The boys did extremely well if not for that 8 mins at the backend of the 1st half with all those six against where the storm scored 14pts. Saints should have gone in with the lead. To score 5 tries against this Storm side is also a great achievement. I feel Saints played well enough to win that but those silly errors and a bounce of a ball to Katoa in goal straight to his hands get them over the line.

Billy Burns is playing well which is good to see as I have been one of his biggest critics. It is getting much clearer now that some of these underperformers previously should not have been judged as they were poorly coached. Ben Hunt did look like he put in a better effort but in the end hurt us with an error. He should have just passed it earlier. Saints would have then held on to at least lose by 2 instead of 10.

That loss of 10 pts may be the deciding factor for the spoon. This weekend will hopefully make things clearer. I feel Warrirors have'nt not been playing as well and if Saints keep up their effort could sneak a win or at least keep the scores close. Go the Chooks. I hope they smash the Tigers....

 

[Victoire]

The Feagai Freeway is such a great term hahaha. It's a bit of a joke out there atm. DWZ could score 6 out there next week

As far as Tyrell Sloan goes... I just think he's never learnt the right technique. I don't question a player's heart or courage etc as some posters are rather quick to do. If he's ever shown the correct technique then man, it could be a "Happy learnt to putt" moment

 

[Slippery Morris]

Billy Slater on the footy show thinks Sloan has potential to be a star so I would take his judgement. He seems to be a guy who can identify a talent.

 

[Mojo]

Billy Slater on the footy show thinks Sloan has potential to be a star so I would take his judgement. He seems to be a guy who can identify a talent.

Sloan would be a star now if he could just learn how to make a legs tackle rather than swinging his appendages around like the stickman.

 

[Slippery Morris]

I think a lot of the youngsters are like that where their initial instincts are to tackle high and not around the bootlaces like the old days. It's all about slowing down the ruck rather than stopping the player these days.

 

[SEAT 1A]

The Feagai Freeway is such a great term hahaha

What has happened to Matt?

Going from scoring a great try last year, running past half the team to being all lost at sea and not required.

 

[Mojo]

I think a lot of the youngsters are like that where their initial instincts are to tackle high and not around the bootlaces like the old days. It's all about slowing down the ruck rather than stopping the player these days.

Nothing slows down any runner faster or more efficiently than having his legs taken out from under him. Look at Coates v Sloan.

 

[Mojo]

This usually works:



This usually doesn't:

 

[Slippery Morris]

Nothing slows down any runner faster or more efficiently than having his legs taken out from under him. Look at Coates v Sloan.

Yeah but then the player has to roll away so they can play the ball quick or get penalised or 6 again. As soon as the player hits the ground the ref starts counting down and blowing penalties six again as soon as they pass a few seconds (for saints 1 second) hence why the hold them up long enough before dropping them to the ground.

There should be rules to encourage more bootlace tackles not make it a disadvantage.

 

[Dragon David]

There have been lots of changes brought in by the NRL to ensure a faster game and fewer head injuries and the better teams are still able to compete well even with these changes. If someone was doing some stats on which team gets penalised more, has more 6 agains, etc. it tends to balance out over a significant time.

Ever since the change from unlimited tackles to the 6 tackle rule, there are a lot more off-loads being done to keep the ball in motion and to try and gain an advantage. The former no limit tackle rule enabled a team just to hold onto the ball and the players just kept on barging up to tire the team defending and then after having the ball for a significant time, the attacking team passes out to the centre/wing for tries. Now the ball and all tackle is in place to stop the ball being promoted and therefore low tackles become ineffective unless there is someone also holding the attacker at chest height.

The Johnny Raper and Billy Smith bootlace tackles were great to see especially when the attacking team stops their unlimited barging ball progress and passes the ball out to someone on the run. There have been some others like JDB who are great at tackling low. However, now that they are clamping down on hip drop tackles, the defending player has to be more careful.

So what was just a defender or defenders tackling a player (without of course head high) to stop momentum in the old days and play would just meander along, the current "legal" way of tackling has made how a team defends a lot more technical to overcome injuries, illegalities and penalties/suspensions etc.

Technology has come into play a lot regarding many aspects of playing the sports in general and therefore, while a coach like Bennett might have great man management, if he isn't on top of dealing with technical aids available, he will become extinct but I guess he leaves a lot of this stuff to his advisors/assistants.

The times they are a changing to lots of things and a great club has just got to adapt fully with these changes otherwise they remain unsuccessful.

 

[Inisai Toga]

Yeah but then the player has to roll away so they can play the ball quick or get penalised or 6 again. As soon as the player hits the ground the ref starts counting down and blowing penalties six again as soon as they pass a few seconds (for saints 1 second) hence why the hold them up long enough before dropping them to the ground.

There should be rules to encourage more bootlace tackles not make it a disadvantage.

couldn't agree more and they should have done it years ago. Now we have a whole generation who cant tackle low (hips or bootlaces). The one’s who get injured the majority of the time has resulted from poor technique. It is ridiculous that strong leg tacklers are punished in todays (speed bias version) due to the stupid rule changes whilst wrestlers and gang tacking is tolerated. I’d love watching the great tacklers in the game; so sad there are so few with this skill left.

 

[Mojo]

It's still a skill that fullbacks in particular should have e.g.: Sloan v Coates: clean line break, no support to receive a pass, go in hard and fast below the knees - job done - beautiful to watch. I have no problem with penalties for holding a tackled player. It's up to the defending side to get back in position to defend.

 

[justadragon]

The Feagai Freeway is such a great term hahaha. It's a bit of a joke out there atm. DWZ could score 6 out there next week

As far as Tyrell Sloan goes... I just think he's never learnt the right technique. I don't question a player's heart or courage etc as some posters are rather quick to do. If he's ever shown the correct technique then man, it could be a "Happy learnt to putt" moment

He himself would know just like everyone else that his defence is poor if non existent, he could always go to JDB and get some technique, please dont tell me our coaches are promoting his defensive style.

 

[Dea]

What has happened to Matt?

Going from scoring a great try last year, running past half the team to being all lost at sea and not required.

maybe that ONE great try was an unusual and unexpected play and what he has been delivering in his other 40 something games is his standard?

 

[Dragon David]

Well now I have to revise this haha.
The Storm beat us by 10, leaving us 57 ahead. Tigers play Roosters and Roosters win by 18 giving us a lead of 75. We play Warriors and lose by 24, the lead will be 51. The Tigers play the Sea Eagles and now I change it to the Tigers winning by 12 which drops our lead to 39 and we lose to the Knights by 30, leaving us with 9 points ahead.

Now have to see how things actually pan out next week.

Well today we got done by the Warriors 18-6 and it could have been a totally different scorecard had bloody Sloan forced the ball in goal properly and not giving away a try to the Warriors' Fonua-Blake. Anyway, the 12 points loss puts us 45 points to the better and if the Roosters beat the Tigers by 18 points, the diff will be 63. So if the Tigers beat the Sea Eagles by 12 and we get done by the Knights by 30, we will end up 21 points the better after the last round, thus avoiding the spoon. Let's see after next week if I am close or way off. Haha!