Woeful Woeful Woeful!!!

[Sydney_Raider]

I thouhgt Zillman was fine and he should stay. Goodwin should replace Kelly, with Kelly possibly going to centre rather than Purtell.

As much as I have been a Purtell bagger in the past, he has been one of best backs since moving in to the centres. That may be only due to the ordinary level of play of the others but I don't think you will see him moved in the short term. One thing for certain the current structure of the backline is not right. For me Goodwin (FB), Graham & Best (wing) Kelly and Purtell (centres) Zillman to bench would be the preferred option. That would open a whole lot of options for the use of Zillman throughout the match.

 

[dubby]

I cannot remember the last time I seen a Raiders team so flat. Was it the short turnaround? Was it the numerous concussions the boys received last week?

For me, it was a mental thing. The team did not look at all confident or interested at any stage during the game. It must be hard to mentally prepare for another game in another town with only 4 days to recover from your injuries and prepare yourself mentally.

IMHO the Roosters game sucked the life out of the team. It was a physical and emotional game in front of a big home crowd. Then we go to a nearlly empty Shark Park after 5days carrying alot of niggly injuries and a shortened preparation. Is that any excuse? Maybe, maybe not but it would have to make it harder.

Think about it. The lack of desperation in defence, the sluggish attack from the forward pack which really lacked impact and barely any offloads plus slow PTBs. The backs looked disjointed and bored and tired. Zilly was still affected by his concussion IMO and so was TC. They were passengers all night but can you blame them?

Given a good week to prepare, recover and train hard the boys will lift against the Panthers. Many of them will have a point to prove to supercoach and will be keen to lift after such a lacklustre effort.

While I was bitterly disappointed with the game on Saturday (it ruined my weekend actually) I firmly believe the Monday night game followed by a Saturday away game is very hard for any team to prepare for (Maybe not a Sydney team in Sydney where the travel is not as big a factor).

It should be mandate that Monday teams play on Sundays.

 

[hrundi99]

The Sharks defense was phenomenal and we were off our game. Put those 2 things together and there's your result.

 

[Leethal]

Dubster, I don't accept the short turn-around thing. Look at Cameron Smith for the Storm, or the Broncos vs Knights, etc. We've got a team full of 20 year olds that should recover quicker that most.
I think these young guys still get stage fright away from the safety of Canberra Stadium. A challenge for Neil Henry.......

 

[Walt Flanigan]

Yeah but alot of our blokes were injured after the Roosters match and had to be rested, I think Dobbo and Graham only had one training session between games. Anyways can't use that excuse this week, we'll be showing the old coach what he walked out on.

 

[sydraider]

The Sharks defense was phenomenal and we were off our game. Put those 2 things together and there's your result.

Yep thats how I seen it also.


The game was over for mine after that first set of 6 after the sharks knocked on. Heads went down after it.

A couple of things I couldnt comprehend...

Why is Carney feeding scrums, its obvious he is more of a running player, he should be recieving the ball from a scrum and looking to create.

Also on scrums, this buisness of tonguey breaking away, was tried over and over, we were so predictable and we based most of our attack on the short side, when that didnt work, they tried it again and again.

No urgency for the ball is what really got me though. They were pedestrian in that area.


We couldnt get any go forward basically because the sharks were overwhelming in defence and we kept playing to it.


Hope horse is ok, poor bugger.


Still, it is a young squad experience wise and we will have games like that, its early days, they have time to rectify.

 

[thickos]

Ugh, terrible display.

I picked it was coming though - short turnaround, away from home, half our players were busted at the end of the Roosters match. They were all fatigued and it was no surprise the 'fresh' player in Troy Thompson stood out with his go-forward.

We're a young side and this is all part of the ups and downs... and the downs are pretty down. I didn't expect us to be so flat physically and also in attacking structure though... on the whole disappointing.

 

[dubby]

Dubster, I don't accept the short turn-around thing. Look at Cameron Smith for the Storm, or the Broncos vs Knights, etc. We've got a team full of 20 year olds that should recover quicker that most.
I think these young guys still get stage fright away from the safety of Canberra Stadium. A challenge for Neil Henry.......

You cant compare a whole team backing up with a few individuals in another team. Plus, the players you've mentioned are seasoned internationals. They are on another level professionally and that is what is against our boys at this stage.

 

[Chachi]

I'm just glad I only heard the last 30 minutes of the game on radio as I was out of town.

On the upside, we could have been smashed after being down by 18 after 25 mins. To play so badly, but only let in 8 points in the final 55 minutes is a positive considering how bad our defence has been so far this season.

The zero points is a worry, but we have already proven that we can score when on our game. Now we just need to get the two aspects together for a decent 80 minutes.

I have a feeling our boys will be up for the Penrith game to prove a few points. While we may not win I'd expect our best away performace by far this weekend. On top of that, the panthers are fairly inconsistent this year so they may just underestimate us a little.

We're a very young and inexperienced team that has come up against the 2 form teams in the comp and has also had to back up after 2 big Monday night games. I think we need to have patience.

 

[shear_joy9]

I'm pretty sure it was Purtel not Best that continually came steaming out of the defensive line.


I'm starting to get very disgruntled with Neil Henry. The onus of this defeat IMO falls on him. It was so obvious big changes needed to be made from the previous game to allow for fatigue and injuries. I'm seeing nothing specfial in terms of tactics and organisation, especially following his half-time talk.

Another point, I bet a mate that Weyman would get injured in the Sharks game.
Got to be the most unsatisfying $20 I've made.

 

[Macko8]

I'm pretty sure it was Purtel not Best that continually came steaming out of the defensive line.


I'm starting to get very disgruntled with Neil Henry. The onus of this defeat IMO falls on him. It was so obvious big changes needed to be made from the previous game to allow for fatigue and injuries. I'm seeing nothing specfial in terms of tactics and organisation, especially following his half-time talk.

Another point, I bet a mate that Weyman would get injured in the Sharks game.
Got to be the most unsatisfying $20 I've made.

You bet a mate that one of our most promising younger props would get injured????

Did i read that correctly????
Sounds like you have some crazy punts,lucky his only out for 2-3 weeks now

 

[shear_joy9]

Haha, nah it wasn't like that. I just mentioned it at the begining of the game and he took me up on it.

Not like I bet on how many metres are made on every hitup haha.

 

[trev]

I didn't see the game on Saturday night. However, I have seen some replays where the Raiders' defence looked very average and have read match reports and the other posts on here. I have mad a few observations.

There's no doubt that there are travelling problems this year for the team. A couple of seasons ago, Matt Elliott took the team away early to get them more prepared for the game. That tactic seemed to work more often than not. Possibly Neil Henry could use a similar tactic. I'm not here to bag either coach, I like both of them, I am just commenting on something has worked previously.

In contrast, Wayne Bennett took the Broncos to the Knights game not long before kickoff, so they wouldn't get caught up in the hype of the send-off for Andrew Johns.

In addition to the travelling aspect, the Monday night game may have had a too big an impact on some of the guys, especially the ones that were heavily injured. If they weren't fit enough to play, maybe give someone from Premier League a run, the club has great depth with the Premier League team.

However, Monday night games are part of the NRL draw, so the guys need to be mentally tough to put in a good performance and be more competitive.

There are times when the team plays brilliantly, then they fall in a heap. I think it won't be too long before they get it all together and show some consistent form. I believe they can do it.

 

[julian87]

I'm still hanging out for a second centre to cement their position tbh. Purtell has looked okay in attack, but not great and his defence has been woeful. If we are going to put our halves out wide then I reckon Campese or Chalk deserve a crack out there because they will be able to handle defending one more man in.

 

[trev]

Campese had a great game a couple of weeks ago, I think he played in the centres when he came on. Would be good to see him have another go. I think Chalk has been playing well.