Bunnies V Roosters *score spoiler in first post*

[Dexter]

6/7!!!!

6 7 1 9 sod ordinary. The bunnies have it backwards. Good pack good enough backs and hardly any creativity.

 

[Twiztid]

Been home for about 30 mins now and finally got some words together.

No structure in attack and when it was tried the line was very flat. Sandow and Sutton where getting in each others way and had nothing happening. The forwards were going forward but it was all one out stuff and getting tackled, submitting very easily and getting a slow play the ball. We also dropped a hell of a lot of ball early in the tackle count.

Roosters did everything I wanted to see my boys do. Fast off the line in defence, fast play the balls and easy metres up the middle, offloads and pass it around a bit. Once the bigger units on Souths were tired then Carney and Pierce had a go themselves.

The turning point for me was Merritt dropping that ball with the line open. That sealed our performance right there. I knew Carney would come back with a solid game but it was millimetres in his freakish flick back, that is up with Inglis to Gasnier stuff.

Ahh well the beers have worn off and I have calmed down. Next week is the Titans and we better pull our finger out. If this flat attacking structure keeps on we will need to bring in a faster 5/8 as Sutton is too slow for it to work.

 

[Coxy]

Titans were ordinary today too so you probably have a chance to regroup.

 

[Twiztid]

On another note, how farking fit did the Roosters look? You had the fat players from last year lose shit loads of Kilos (Myles, SKD, Paea) and the smaller guys put on some muscle mass (Perrett, Pearce). Smith must have absolutely hammered them in the off season because I don't think I've ever seen a team look (and play) so fit in round 1. Ever.

Agreed. Hopefully for them (even though I hate them), it doesn't mean they are peaking too early in the season.

 

[ethos]

I though Dave Taylor was Souths best player, which says a lot about the lack of consistancy and application in the rest of the team.

And I reckon (before this game mind you :P ) that the Roosters are set for a top eight season.

 

[rod78]

I though Dave Taylor was Souths best player, which says a lot about the lack of consistancy and application in the rest of the team.

And I reckon (before this game mind you :P ) that the Roosters are set for a top eight season.

dave turned up in the second half but done little in the first

 

[Twiztid]

I though Dave Taylor was Souths best player, which says a lot about the lack of consistancy and application in the rest of the team.

And I reckon (before this game mind you :P ) that the Roosters are set for a top eight season.

Taylor (2nd half was his better half), Luke, Burgess, and Merritt (besides his dropped ball) were our best players and with the amount of errors some of them had, it shows how bad we were across the park.

Roosters will have a better year with Carney if he continues to stay off the booze and plays like he did today. Though Carney was never tested with bombs or line break tackles so who knows how good in attack he will go next week if he has more work to do at the back.

 

[lynx000]

My thoughts for what they are worth. Burgess looks like a good player but he is trying too hard and trying to do too much each time he has the ball. He has to be more selective in when he offloads. He also seems to try the big hit regularly and he is often missing. The game plan seemed to be pretty much try and run over the top of them with our big forward pack and when that did not work there was no plan B. Dave Taylor seemed to fairly involved in the second half and I thought played quite well. They need to learn to have a player following him when he runs as a support.

I don't know if the Sandow/Sutton is the right combination for the halves. The sides that seem to do well have that strong spine of 1, 6, 7 and 9. There just does not seem to be the variety and direction coming from that group at Souths. Whereas the Roosters with Carney, Anasta, Pearce they have that playmaking variety. If they can stay fit I could see the Roosters making the 8. So work to be done for the bunnies but Lang is a cluey coach. Hopefully he can sort it out, otherwise it might be another long year.

 

[Beachy]

Souths may have a great pack of forwards, but their backs are decidedly average IMO. They'll find it hard to make the 8 with Sandow and Sutton as their first choice halves combination. Sandow's chase on the Kenny-Dowell try in the first half basically sums him up for me

 

[Black Philip]

TBH I find Sandow to be a bit of a grub. He seems to love dropping his shoulder into people when they are already on the ground.

 

[WayBDay]

i think you'll find Sandow is quick over 20-30m but Kenny-Dowall once he got striding would have started to pull away again. On a side note, Merritt is a gun

 

[Coxy]

i think you'll find Sandow is quick over 20-30m but Kenny-Dowall once he got striding would have started to pull away again. On a side note, Merritt is a gun

Sandow shouldn't have just stopped though. 99/100 times, he won't be caught and he won't drop the ball BUT just by giving chase gives the team a lift and sustains confidence within the team. Completely stopping just shows lack of confidence and poor attitude and it runs off with the team.

Exactly. Look at Merritt. If nobody had bothered chasing him he wouldn't have been running so hard and knocked the ball out of his own hands. He shouldn't have anyway, but if there was no pressure he definitely wouldn't have.

You just don't give up the chase.

 

[lynx000]

How impressive was that from Nate Myles though, he has ripped off the weight during the off-season.

 

[Meat77]

Must be all that fibre he eats...

 

[lynx000]

Yeh, that is why Merritt dropped the ball, he was concerned about what Myles might do if he caught him. (j/k)