Why are we lacking in attack ???

[eelandia]

It is pretty obvious that the defence is making that extra effort to wrap the ball up on almost every occasion. You can often see the eels struggling to unload the ball, but the opposition seems to be pretty effective at stopping our second phase play.

Not much we can do....I think the other teams have worked us out.

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[Poupou Escobar]

It is pretty obvious that the defence is making that extra effort to wrap the ball up on almost every occasion. You can often see the eels struggling to unload the ball, but the opposition seems to be pretty effective at stopping our second phase play.

Not much we can do....I think the other teams have worked us out.

No support.

At the start of the year when we were playing poorly we had nobody for the ball carrier to offload to. Then when we won 4 in a row we had players behind the tackle waiting for the offload.

Now we're back to two weeks in a row of blokes looking to offload and the nearest guy is 5 metres to the right or left waiting to be first receiver on the next play.

If anything we've got too much width right now. Opposition teams are definitely aware of the offload, and there's usually somebody marking Robson in case the ball is popped out to him - so we need more options for the offloader.

One problem is that the team seems to think that "look for the offload" means "spread it wide". Last year when we were playing well we made all our breaks up the middle on the back of offloads. Mortimer, Keating and Hayne should be sniffing around the middle of the park instead of looking to spread it wide from first receiver.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I think in order to get our offloading game back into the play we need to have more then one player running up for the ball before the impact. Eg, if its just Cayless running up to the line for the ball, he will definatly have 3 defenders on him, if its both Cayless and Ben Smith, those 3 defenders will be split and the recipiant will only have one or 2. I think thats a good way of gettign the offloads going and I think thats what Sterlo was saying earlier in the year about us.

 

[Bigfella]

We got massively outpointed last night while the game was still in the balance by their outside backs bringing the ball off their line far more intensely.

IMO that came down to effort and commitment. Burt tahu inu and wright were very weak in that department. Grothe was a big loss but the 3 big blokes in particular were a bit soft in picking up the slack. Morris and nightingale were exceptional and I think that told after 30 or 40

 

[lingard]

We got massively outpointed last night while the game was still in the balance by their outside backs bringing the ball off their line far more intensely.

IMO that came down to effort and commitment. Burt tahu inu and wright were very weak in that department. Grothe was a big loss but the 3 big blokes in particular were a bit soft in picking up the slack. Morris and nightingale were exceptional and I think that told after 30 or 40

Yeah. Add Reddy and Grothe and Hindmarsh to the mix, and it would have been a different game. Not saying we would have won, but it would have been closer for longer. Inu looks like he`s gone. Looks like a broken down race horse. And Wright, I think, will end up being very good. Needs more time in first grade. I`d have him as the 18th man from now on and leave Inu alone.

 

[The Engineers Room]

It isn't just the offloads, it is the one out running, 5 hit up and kick is what St George wants the opposition to do. They were plugging up the middle, if we passed at the line or had multiple players running angled options the defence would thin and getting out of trouble would become a lot easier.

The key is getting players one on one with defenders, this creates more opportunities for second phase and line breaks, which also allows faster play the balls and a back pedalling defence.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The key is getting players one on one with defenders, this creates more opportunities for second phase and line breaks, which also allows faster play the balls and a back pedalling defence.

True. In a one-on-one situation the attacker nearly always wins. He'll at least poke through the line and get his hands free.

And as you say, you'll never get that one-on-one if you don't have support runners drawing defenders away from you.

 

[Des Hasler]

You have a team of individuals. There's your problem.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

You have a team of individuals. There's your problem.

Every team is full of individuals. That's what groups of people are composed of.

Remember, we made the grand final last year and the team is pretty much the same - we beat your side twice already this year. Our problem is with consistency, nothing else.

The issue is one of motivation - they're just going through the motions and waiting for the finals to roll around. I suspect they'll keep putting together patches of good form when they look like missing the 8, interspersed with poor form when they get comfortable.

You could say it's a coaching fault, and that's certainly part of it, but I think some of the senior players are mostly to blame. A few very influential blokes at the club - I reckon Hayne, Mateo, Ben Smith, Grothe and maybe Cayless, Robson and Moimoi - just can't get up unless they're under pressure.

 

[hindy111]

Well they say 1 7 9 are most important positions in attack..Hayne is going well but nothing like last year.
Morts is running on empty and robson-mk are creating peanuts

 

[Stagger eel]

Our problem is that the halves don't have much in their bag of tricks and the forwards fail to give decent field position.

On the rare occasions that we are in an attacking position, we have no f**king idea. No plan. Just hit it up for a few and maybe kick it to a winger. Don't we practice a grubber through to a running back ? Don't we have rehearsed plays with decoy runners ?

It seems that our only attacking options are tackle 5 bomb, tackle 5 chip to winger or give it to Jazz.

that's exactly how I see it G man, I think bringing in Humble and shifting Krip to 7 might do the trick and fire off some creativity in that area, but I wouldn't put my hard earned on that working either..

we're simply rudderless at 6 and 7 atm.

 

[hindy111]

lets just hope KK and morts come good because i think we are stuck with them for a few years now!

 

[yy_cheng]

that's exactly how I see it G man, I think bringing in Humble and shifting Krip to 7 might do the trick and fire off some creativity in that area, but I wouldn't put my hard earned on that working either..

we're simply rudderless at 6 and 7 atm.

It's also how I see it and what I have been saying since day one. But yes, there is no simple solution at the moment.

People say WHY BLAME THE HALVES when the forwards are not working.

Well we do get into the opposition's red zone but mostly come back with nothing unless Hayne does something.

Our halves do not get us into good field positions with kicks because they have pop gun kicks and finds the fullback more than the ground.


The only short term fix that I can see is, KK and Mortz should just give the ball to Hayne ASAP on the 5th. He is the one that is most likely will create something.

If we are ahead by 8+ then KK and Mortz can take some plays but atm Hayne or nothing.

 

[hindy111]

i will also say thou that we have a good front row and its doing its job..BUT i think our second rowers dont help them out.Sure they are great deffenders but they dont make meters....Looks at penrith with lewis-pritchard and waterhouse who will all give you close to 100 mtrs a game....We can bag cayless and poore out but the others are making there job tougher

 

[yy_cheng]

i will also say thou that we have a good front row and its doing its job..BUT i think our second rowers dont help them out.Sure they are great deffenders but they dont make meters....Looks at penrith with lewis-pritchard and waterhouse who will all give you close to 100 mtrs a game....We can bag cayless and poore out but the others are making there job tougher

it's also why Grothe is somewhat important.

If Fui, Mannah, Caylo, Poore can get their work rate up, I would really, really start 3 of the props.

The first one who gets tired gets replaced. Then 10 mins later, he comes back on to replace another prop.


13. Hindy in 11 jersey
12. Benny
11. Poore/Mannah
10. Fui
8 . Caylo

20 mins - Fui off, Poore/Mannah on.
25 mins - Mateo on for Smith to take on tiring defense
30 mins - Horo on Caylo off - Poore, Mannah are props

Poore used to play alot of game time at the drags.
Hindy plays prop but using the offload more.

If our bench becomes

14. Horo
15. Poore/Mannah
16. Mateo
17. MK/Humble

 

[Stagger eel]

i will also say thou that we have a good front row and its doing its job..BUT i think our second rowers dont help them out.Sure they are great deffenders but they dont make meters....Looks at penrith with lewis-pritchard and waterhouse who will all give you close to 100 mtrs a game....We can bag cayless and poore out but the others are making there job tougher

you may have stumbled on something here, could this be the reason why we're looking as signing a wide running backrower?? :sarcasm:

 

[Eelementary]

lets just hope KK and morts come good because i think we are stuck with them for a few years now!

I honestly think they will. In my opinion, Mortimer, though he has for the most part struggled, has shown glimpses of becoming a good halfback. It will take some time, but he will get there IMO, and when he does, he'll be the next boom halfback. Hell, even next year he'll have a whole off-season training as our First Grade halfback, so that itself will help him.

Keating is a pure 5/8 in my opinion. If he and Mortimer can develop a good combination, and Keating can do a "Finchy" and chime in only when he sees fit, we'll be better for it.

Right now, the best thing to do is be patient. We have young halves who are erratic, but they are certainly talented. Give them time.

This is why, in my opinion, we should bolster our forward pack before looking at our halves and hooker. Try and get a prop or second-rower who runs like a train (Sika Manu would be perfect).

 

[yy_cheng]

I honestly think they will. In my opinion, Mortimer, though he has for the most part struggled, has shown glimpses of becoming a good halfback. It will take some time, but he will get there IMO, and when he does, he'll be the next boom halfback. Hell, even next year he'll have a whole off-season training as our First Grade halfback, so that itself will help him.

Keating is a pure 5/8 in my opinion. If he and Mortimer can develop a good combination, and Keating can do a "Finchy" and chime in only when he sees fit, we'll be better for it.

Right now, the best thing to do is be patient. We have young halves who are erratic, but they are certainly talented. Give them time.

This is why, in my opinion, we should bolster our forward pack before looking at our halves and hooker. Try and get a prop or second-rower who runs like a train (Sika Manu would be perfect).

I understand what you are saying but how long? 2 years, 3 years?

The thing for me is we have 2 rookies running the show. Yes it worked last year for 1/2 a year but they definitely will not be consistent. 3 including our hooker.

 

[tresurehunt]

did we sign Danial for the number 7 or did we sign him for his last name and the fact that the dogs wanted him so bad ? i think our forwards are going pretty good atm,but as stagger said we are like a rudder less ship atm.that's why when we throw it around a bit it cuts out the 6 & 7's game and we go better,but when its time to play with a bit of structure,then we have massive problems atm.

 

[The Engineers Room]

Well they say 1 7 9 are most important positions in attack..

Don't trust what they say.

Sure if you want to play a territory and possession based game it is true but I think the front row and second row are vital as well as wide runners, we need to worry less about the so called experts and play the style of play we can with more depth to the attack.