LIVE GAME Round 9 vs. Bulldogs

Live Game Discussion
Some positives -played really good 1st half ( 2nd half a bit of a shambles )
Also 11 vs 13 kept our line intact about 10mins
Bula was ok .Staines best game of the year for him ,Naden starting to look better
Galvin had little room to move as Sezer did due to Dogs constant offside
Forwards Steph and Klemm good but going off after 20 or so mins we lose momentum as the replacements poor .Pole but best game for a few weeks
Papalii poor slow .Bateman loses the plot and his cool
Simpkin played well as when he went off the dummy half service was not very crisp
Sam Fainu getting better each week .
Subs were poor Twal ,Seyfarth ,Latu
We need more depth so when bench comes on we don't lose momentum but where do you find them ? Our Cup side is so bad they offer absolutely nothing
I think the whole issue of our reserve grade needs to be addressed its a pointless rabble that are just cannon fodder for the rest of the comp
Must recruit ,recruit !!!
 
Some positives -played really good 1st half ( 2nd half a bit of a shambles )
Also 11 vs 13 kept our line intact about 10mins
Bula was ok .Staines best game of the year for him ,Naden starting to look better
Galvin had little room to move as Sezer did due to Dogs constant offside
Forwards Steph and Klemm good but going off after 20 or so mins we lose momentum as the replacements poor .Pole but best game for a few weeks
Papalii poor slow .Bateman loses the plot and his cool
Simpkin played well as when he went off the dummy half service was not very crisp
Sam Fainu getting better each week .
Subs were poor Twal ,Seyfarth ,Latu
We need more depth so when bench comes on we don't lose momentum but where do you find them ? Our Cup side is so bad they offer absolutely nothing
I think the whole issue of our reserve grade needs to be addressed its a pointless rabble that are just cannon fodder for the rest of the comp
Must recruit ,recruit !!!
Depth is the biggest issue, particularly bench depth. We are caught between the development of players & immediate results.

Our bench is a bunch of the same player, over & over.

We require impact. Just a guy that plays 15 minutes of rampage. Someone quick that makes teams look for them on the field. Something that changes what we offer.

Our starting group is generally competitive. But we offer nothing in variety if the starting side doesn't dominate.

As much as he is ridiculed on here, Kepaoa offers size & speed- he might offer the impact we lack. Sione Fainu could be interesting too.
 
He tries harder.
Its debateable whether he plays better.
His decision making is starting to get shown up. Not a critisism- what do you expect at this stage? He should be option 3 at best. He's generally option 2 at the moment.

Weirdly, having seen him play more in juniors, I think Latu Fainu is a better immediate option. He's more complete at this stage. But we play him out of position in a role he is barely competent in.
 
I would like to know what happened at half time in the sheds. Whatever the coaches said to them should be bottled and thrown from a cliff.

That break right on the verge of halftime was classic Tigers.
What wasnt classic Tigers was our reaction to it. Naden, Staines, Bula and Olam turned and chased and all combined to stop the try. Right on their heels were Pap, Bateman and Fainu. When Staines then olam combined to save the try, there were at least 5 Tigers in picture to the Bulldogs 1. I was confident we would win that game based upon this chase and the reaction from those who did chase.

To say that they played like a soggy pair of solied undies in the second half would be an understatement...very disappointing. What happened to that committment?
 
Some positives -played really good 1st half ( 2nd half a bit of a shambles )
Also 11 vs 13 kept our line intact about 10mins
Bula was ok .Staines best game of the year for him ,Naden starting to look better
Galvin had little room to move as Sezer did due to Dogs constant offside
Forwards Steph and Klemm good but going off after 20 or so mins we lose momentum as the replacements poor .Pole but best game for a few weeks
Papalii poor slow .Bateman loses the plot and his cool
Simpkin played well as when he went off the dummy half service was not very crisp
Sam Fainu getting better each week .
Subs were poor Twal ,Seyfarth ,Latu
We need more depth so when bench comes on we don't lose momentum but where do you find them ? Our Cup side is so bad they offer absolutely nothing
I think the whole issue of our reserve grade needs to be addressed its a pointless rabble that are just cannon fodder for the rest of the comp
Must recruit ,recruit !!!
Some very good points, except Seyfarth only got on the field when the game was all but over, can’t see how the result was any fault of his.
 
I would like to know what happened at half time in the sheds. Whatever the coaches said to them should be bottled and thrown from a cliff.

That break right on the verge of halftime was classic Tigers.
What wasnt classic Tigers was our reaction to it. Naden, Staines, Bula and Olam turned and chased and all combined to stop the try. Right on their heels were Pap, Bateman and Fainu. When Staines then olam combined to save the try, there were at least 5 Tigers in picture to the Bulldogs 1. I was confident we would win that game based upon this chase and the reaction from those who did chase.

To say that they played like a soggy pair of solied undies in the second half would be an understatement...very disappointing. What happened to that committment?
Whatever Benji said at half time could not have been all that inspiring.
 
Jake Simpkin- could he be used similarly to an old Steve Walters? A hooker that plays a little bit of backrow? Like that guy from Manly- Karl Lawnton.

I don't know how strong his running game is, but his defence is fantastic. If he's on the bench, covering hooker, lock or second row- I wouldn't be against it. Start Bateman at #13. Simpkin can slot in at #13 at times, giving Bateman/Ice or Fainu a rest, and giving a dual dummy half attack. Api can move slightly wider. Galvin could slip in at #13 and Api slip to #6 for a spell.

It offers a lot of flexibility. It's not how Penrith do it. But that's ok.
I think this has the added benefit of both Latu and TDS getting some proper game time together in reserve grade.
 
His decision making is starting to get shown up. Not a critisism- what do you expect at this stage? He should be option 3 at best. He's generally option 2 at the moment.

Weirdly, having seen him play more in juniors, I think Latu Fainu is a better immediate option. He's more complete at this stage. But we play him out of position in a role he is barely competent in.
Ive been saying it for a while now and the reply on here is usually "he is a kid what do you expect from him"? "youre being too harsh, he is showing up players older than him", "hes young, cant carry the team every week"...etc.
My reply is simple. He is a kid. He has been carrying our attack. He has been out enthusing those with more experience.....I didnt pick him to play in one of the most crucial positions in the toughest comp in the world, expecting him to back up week after week against seasoned hardarses. The coaching staff are putting this pressure upon him.
It is not sustainable.
 
How does Sezer get a 4 week ban and Tago got 1 week for the same offence
It was graded as a 3 and Tagos was graded a 2. They are also claiming he has loading added for priors and this is a third/fourth dangerous throw offence. I don’t recall him being cited for one this seasons so presumably the priors are from 2019 or earlier.
 
Last edited:
Ref killed is no doubt . But why don’t we keep going to naden and Staines when we killed them in the first half. Sezer is not first grade standard. Stef must be believing his own hype back to normal for him.
I was at the game and agree with these comments.

The Dogs had a very compressed defence which we exploited early. They continued with the same defence but we stopped spreading the ball. Made it easy for them to pin us down our end.

Sezer’s kicking game was pretty poor. He seems to be kicking his clearing kicks from the wrong side, looks very awkward.

Stef has been fairly ineffectual a few weeks in a row now. I thought Klemmer showed a bit of extra aggression in Defence, maybe his frustration!
 
Olam’s defence is a little concerning …. comes up and in out of the line at a million miles an hour but never seems to wrap up the opposing player … didn’t lead to a try today but could have been a couple …
Same with Sezer, rushes out of the line and ends up in front of the ball and leaving a gap I could run through.

I know you want to have line speed, but useless if the line doesn’t move up together
 
I've heard a lot of comments complaining about Sezar kicking from 'the wrong side'.

I think that's just how he kicks, side on with an exaggerated round-the-corner type of motion.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top