LIVE GAME Round 8 vs. Broncos

[Kelce68]

We also stripped them on the outside many times - but they had the pace and class to cover our relative lack of speed...

Never enough runners coming back on an angle to counter the sliding defence...

Frustrating to watch - but something to be worked on

This isn't getting enough airtime.

Our backline plays actually created space plenty of times last night and we didn't quite have the polish to capatilize. An ongoing issue. Slickness, precision and finishing needs to be fixed and immediately.

Also, the Broncos cover defence is and was incredible. Another point that has gone under the radar.

Plenty of work to be done, but plenty to work with.

In the last 5 years we've lost games in the 50s, 60s and even the 70s. Playing the grand finalists back to back, without much luck, and we've kept them to 20-odd and 30-odd respectively.

Without context, that's average. But with the context of the low base we're coming from, its not head-on-trainline stuff.

 

[Tucker]

I want to see Fainu play a full game in the halves.
Galvin is being afforded every opportunity to grow, why isn’t Latu?
Many who watch a lot of juniors consistently state he is the more polished player.

 

[Kelce68]

Something not right with TDS he’s only played about 10 minutes off the bench in each of our last 2 games for our NSWCukvteam and has done next to nothing in his time on the field.
Too much expectation too soon for some of our young players.

I think Benji has recognised that and deliberately pulled them out of the main squads to get some dev done down lower. Kit in RMC, Matamua in Cup, TDS in Cup stints.

It's a hard one for Tallyn, because Simpkin, who played well yesterday, is older, more physically developed and at this stage, still no. 2 hooker, so he needs game time too.

If be playing Tal in Flegg for big minutes.

 

[Kelce68]

I was there and wasn't impressed with Latu's dummy half work. Very slow.

Latu was fine. Played his role.

 

[Tiger-ferret]

This isn't getting enough airtime.

Our backline plays actually created space plenty of times last night and we didn't quite have the polish to capatilize. An ongoing issue. Slickness, precision and finishing needs to be fixed and immediately.

Also, the Broncos cover defence is and was incredible. Another point that has gone under the radar.

Plenty of work to be done, but plenty to work with.

In the last 5 years we've post games in the 50s, 60s and even the 70s. Playing the grand finalists back to back, without much luck, and we've kept them to 20-odd and 30-odd respectively.

Without context, that's average. But with the context of the low base we're coming from, its not head-on-trainline stuff.

Exactly.

Like last week there is a lot of higher than average negativity on here. Both weeks I wasn’t able to watch live but rewatched after reading comments here and I am perceiving a disconnect with what I’m reading and what I saw.

We haven’t been absolutely flogged yet which I’m impressed with. The bounce of the ball and some calls going our way and the result would have been even closer. We always knew we were going to be a bottom 4 side…the 2 great wins may have raised the expectations of some on here.

 

[Kelce68]

2nd half:

Started with two fresh (unused) players on the bench. Despite this we appeared a bit flat out of the sheds and put pressure on ourselves early with the unnecessary penalty on Pole which lead to a try.

That was the game over there less than 5 mins into the half.

This was then backed up by multiple errors in possession putting us on the back foot and ultimately leading to the second Walsh try. At this point, according to Ennis, even the WT ball kids have Reece Walsh socks on.

Then down 0-28 Api comes off with back tightness with 23 mins to go. Latu on.

At this point we look out of ideas but we are still trying.

Latu knocks it on with 15 min to go in a try scoring situation leading to Walsh picking the ball up and running 60m at a faster pace than anyone in our team can despite having a calf issue. This led to the Haas try.

Galvin highlighted the team continuing to try when he got on the outside of Walters to create the opportunity for the Staines try.

We played with more freedom late in the game and some razzle dazzle on a last tackle led eventually to a kick from Naden than bounced fortuitously for Staines second try. Alaimolo going for a HIA late with Staggs on report but not penalised highlights our fortune with referees.

Full time, 10-34: in summary we were willing and played with some good intent but found ourselves on the wrong end of almost every key moment in the game against a clinical Broncos team where Carrigan, Reynolds and Walsh in particular were excellent. We lack some class, polish and execution but we’re better than the score line suggests. Also, the commentators loving the Broncos was hard to listen to.

This is it at the moment.

The side is playing better than the results. Which is why it's so frustrating.

Whether it's a ref decision, a simple one on one miss, a bounce of the ball or a percentage point off in execution, nothing is falling our way right now.

There's some decent foundations there, but we've got to mature into winning key moments, or we're cooked.

The Walsh break summed it up. Latu fought hard and got within a cm of the line, only for it to come free and Broncos just float down field in broken play and score off the back of it.

We just can't take a trick. But all things turn. Hopefully bloody soon.

 

[Kelce68]

I want to see Fainu play a full game in the halves.
Galvin is being afforded every opportunity to grow, why isn’t Latu?
Many who watch a lot of juniors consistently state he is the more polished player.

In fairness he's returning from lingering hamstring issues and the team list hasn't opened up for him yet.

If (when) Sezer goes down, he'll be up.

I'd almost be tempted to play him at half and Sezer at lock (for parts).

 

[Krammy]

I want to see Fainu play a full game in the halves.
Galvin is being afforded every opportunity to grow, why isn’t Latu?
Many who watch a lot of juniors consistently state he is the more polished player.

I have thought the same thing, Tucker. To be honest I have not seen enough of him and his time in 1st grade has been limited and out of his main position, but I do know we need to address our attack in the opposition 20. He really couldn't do much worse than what we have offered in this area lately. Galvin looks like he has a decent kicking game??

 

[Tucker]

We always knew we were going to be a bottom 4 side…the 2 great wins may have raised the expectations of some on here.

I think the win against Cronulla certainly did

 

[Krammy]

This is it at the moment.

The side is playing better than the results. Which is why it's so frustrating.

Whether it's a ref decision, a simple one on one miss, a bounce of the ball or a percentage point off in execution, nothing is falling our way right now.

There's some decent foundations there, but we've got to mature into winning key moments, or we're cooked.

The Walsh break summed it up. Latu fought hard and got within a cm of the line, only for it to come free and Broncos just float down field in broken play and score off the back of it.

We just can't take a trick. But all things turn. Hopefully bloody soon.

If we can ask more questions of the opposition defence in their 20 metre area it will take pressure off our defence. I agree with many on here that the team are trying hard in defence, but if your attack is poor it gets hard to keep it up. It reminds me of when my daughter played netball one year. Her team had great defence, but the attackers had a poor scoring percentage. Eventually it wore on the defence as they were constantly trying to make up for lost chances. I see correlations with our team at the moment and am hoping things turn for our attack. Getting some help from the referees might help as well.

 

[Tucker]

We are getting our fair share of possession and despite the protests on here, our fair share of penalties.
We aren’t being screwed by anyone, we just aren’t classy enough yet to turn opportunities into points. The guys coming next year will boost this so we need to keep exposing all our talent to the top grade and stop running Api into the ground.
Simpkin has to take the 14 for the next few months and the others need to rotate more.

 

[Oldman]

What's up with Stephano ? 2nd game in a row poor stats this game 8 runs 53m !
Is he putting in ? Or is positioning for an early move to Penrith .I've been a big supporter but can't see much effort . Klemmer ran 127 m !

Needs Time
To much difference between his best game and worst game at the moment.

 

[Vicious]

Needs Time
To much difference between his best game and worst game at the moment.

I hate to say it, but could he be trying to get out this season ?
He’s too good of a player to be so uninvolved.

 

[Oldman]

We are getting our fair share of possession and despite the protests on here, our fair share of penalties.
We aren’t being screwed by anyone, we just aren’t classy enough yet to turn opportunities into points. The guys coming next year will boost this so we need to keep exposing all our talent to the top grade and stop running Api into the ground.
Simpkin has to take the 14 for the next few months and the others need to rotate more.

Agree
Except I’d like to see young TDS given more games from the bench in front of Simpkin.

 

[twentyforty]

Yes but is shape any good without any running threat or ability to break a tackle ?
I believe Bateman at 13 helped with our shape, but he does not look up to it defensively in the middle.
I think Bula was our only player to effectively bust a tackle and make a line break late in the second half, but aside from that one good play he was very poor as was most of his team mates.

Bateman must be thinking he’s changing momentum, but he’s just being a nuisance.
This is the first time I’ve seen our backline look anything like a pro footy side. If Benji reckons they haven’t been working on attack he’s full of bs. We just need the inside backs to square up the defence more. Why did Galvan stop doing that? Even when he gives a short ball to Samuela he is crowding.
Anyway, it’s a start, and hopefully they build on it.
We‘ve been outclassed these last 2 games let’s hope we’ve learned something.

 

[fibrodreaming]

seyfarth - reserve grader at best

It is pretty common on here for people to say that player X “is a reserve grader at best”, or “not up to NRL standard”, only for that player subsequently to join a quality club and do OK.

Last night two of the Donkey’s spine played for us and when they left most were pleased to see them go because they were “not up to NRL standard”.

I think that most of our game day 17 are first grade standard in the sense that if you put them in a quality team - like the two last night or Garner at Penrith – they will do a job for the coach and earn their keep.

The problem is, if you have 17 of these types playing week in, week out, you are not going to win many games.

So, by all means get rid of Seyfarth, but not because he is a “reserve grader at best”, but because you can sign someone who is a clear upgrade.

 

[NJLM78]

It's difficult following League as we'll get yet another official apology this week for Api's no try. Things are hard enough on the field for us without getting a fair rub of the green and for 2 weeks in a row no less against the grand finalists, which is already a tough hill to climb.

Not saying we could have won, but to not be given a fair chance just continues my slide down into caring less and less about the game. At 10-6 the side would have had their confidence lift certainly, the try being denied would just be deflating and on the back of the Panthers game too.

At this stage, I've gone from watching as many games as possible to just watching us. All I want is for decisions to be vastly more fairer than they are now.

They scrutinised that try to find whatever they could to deny it. Yet Charlie Staines first try when it was 34 nil, not at issue; the game was well decided. Staines definitely grounded it for a try but after the way they looked at Api's...

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

Few thoughts:

- 13 is a huge weakness for us. It’s not Bateman, Seyfarth or Pole fault however. Bateman isn’t the answer at lock if Benji wants structure to be the focus as he is an unstructured style player. He isn’t a player to run at the line straighten it up and then pass out the back. Multiple times he actually broke our shifts down. Put him in a direct man on man situation and he has value. Put him in the middle and unless he can spot something he circles, crabs or halts play. Bateman also just needs to peg it down and earn the right to be chippy. He is becoming costly, undoes alot of good things & for an experienced player isn’t the right influence on the park for the kids.

- For any set play be it a backline shift or even Sezer kick to Bula etc we always stop, step then action which takes half a second of each play and result becomes ineffective. This happened at least 12 times during the game. We would shift the ball and pass to where the player is now and not allow them to run onto the ball which takes any momentum out of it.

- Stefano has failed against both the Panthers and Broncos, he needs to pull his finger out. If people think he is in line for SOO he will be lucky. For him to be our Haas he can’t make 64mtrs & 75mtrs from 9 hitups. He needs to be making 12-14 hitups a game and 120mtrs+ a game.

- Benji either has no idea how to use our bench or has zero confidence in our bench. Again we used only 6 interchanges and only just clocked 100mins from the bench players. If he thinks our starters need the time he should just bite the bullet and put kids on the bench for impact/blooding.

If we can improve on these areas over the next few rounds we will win a game or 2.

 

[Vicious]

It is pretty common on here for people to say that player X “is a reserve grader at best”, or “not up to NRL standard”, only for that player subsequently to join a quality club and do OK.

Last night two of the Donkey’s spine played for us and when they left most were pleased to see them go because they were “not up to NRL standard”.

I think that most of our game day 17 are first grade standard in the sense that if you put them in a quality team - like the two last night or Garner at Penrith – they will do a job for the coach and earn their keep.

The problem is, if you have 17 of these types playing week in, week out, you are not going to win many games.

So, by all means get rid of Seyfarth, but not because he is a “reserve grader at best”, but because you can sign someone who is a clear upgrade.

Seyfarth has been one of our better performed players this season, he’s far from our problem.

 

[Enmore_Tiger]

We were nowhere near good enough, however you have to wonder why a ball that was slammed down so hard for a try, was even looked at. Are they trying to disallow tries from the tigers. Are all tries examined in such super slow motion or just ours. Reminds me of THAT decision some time ago against the Cows.

The incident with the Cows the ref went looking for their captain to ask if they wanted to challenge, in a scenario outside the rules of the challenge. I cannot believe gambling is not involved. If the underdogs win against the odds, on average, does it cost the pokies more?

PS I really hate the NRL