tkday said:
We need 4 unanswered tries, all converted, for us to win tonight... lol
Little did you know...
Our defense killed us tonight.
Despite some bad decisions from all ball players and also Gillett's bad offloads, we scored 30 points. At this stage of the comp, that has to be enough to win! How the hell did that SKD nuffie score so many easy tries? [icon_non
Instead we came close in a game where we looked like we had NFI what was going on for 60 mins, while the Chooks studied us well, saw how easily the Titans dominated us through the middle and came with a clear but "simple" game plan to explore our weaknesses:
- Slow line speed in D, which allowed Carney to carve us up by repeatedly running the width of the field without anyone putting a hand on him, so he could pick the hole to put someone through.
- We don't dominate in D, which allowed them to eat up meters through fast play the ball.
- Our lack of aggression in the forwards, allowing them to dominate us and slow our play the ball.
- Kicking the ball out the side line every time they didn't make enough meters to keep them fresh and stop our kick return danger from Hoff and Yow Yeh.
- Make sure they gang up on the high balls towards Folau.
FFS, when we actually got agressive and dominated them in tackles and ran hard at them both in attack and D, we put 4 tries on them in 15 minutes! [eusa_doh
I heard that the Folau try was a dud, but IMO it was a strip in goal with a loose ball being grounded simultaneously by Kenny and a Rooster, ergo… TRY! At least that was the impression I got at the game, watching the repeats…
On the other hand, it seemed like their 80 mtr try was preceded by a knock on by SKD, but I might be wrong and letting my Broncos bias get the better of me.
We obviously cannot have Kenny and Tronc in the forwards at the same time. Tronc was solid as usual, has awesome offloads and justifies his prop jersey, but Kenny didn't bend their players over a single time, either in attack or defense. Dodds D was good as always, and even his attack was better than Kenny’s! Get rid of him and bring Setu, Sims and/or Anderson back. We need mongrel and he just doesn’t have it.
After we lost Te'o, only Parker, Thaiday, McGuire and... Folau! pushed through the Roosters defense.
I thought McCullough was much better than Hunt today, but he is so slow he exasperates me. Twice did a Roosters player come from behind him to snatch a loose ball ahead of him in the space of a few meters. I still remember how that also cost us the game against the Tigers. He seriously has the urgency and reaction speed of a snail.
Winterstein needs to lift his game, especially in D where he’s a liability, but he did score a very good try.
All our playmakers were sub par tonight, but once again were put under too much pressure because of our lack of go forward.
Our second row really is awesome and Gillett a superstar in the making, but he’s trying too hard.
Glenn and Yow Yeh were average while Hoffman’s did some amazing last ditch stuff, another superstar in the making!
The Roosters deserved the win and probably by more, because they wanted it more and showed more urgency to get it.
Can someone explain to me why they play a short kick off to Folau’s side and win it (no one was there to help Izzy), and when they have to defend a short kick, Izzy is again alone trying to win the ball against 3 of them!
I think that pretty much summarised the night… [icon_confu