Kotoni Staggs Discussion

[BroncsFan]

I get the sense he may be trying to focus as much as possible on his defence.

His defence this year has definitely changed... he's still not perfect but ever since the first half of the titans trial I've noticed a distinct push to be up and in from our edges and getting into the five eight and fullback on the sweep plays.

I think the team as a whole have put attack on the back burner for the time being and are focussing on defence, completion rates and grinding out games. Our completions were horrendous in the first half of the dogs game and down around 69% completion, but by the end of the game we were up around 79%... so we must've only made 1-2 errors in the second half, which is a pretty phenomenal turnaround.

Eventually the defence and grinding will become second nature and the players won't have to dedicate so much of their attention to it during the game, which will open up their attacking play.

At this stage I don't really have any concerns with Staggs ... sure it would be nice if he finished off some of those tries (and I was furious on Sunday when he bombed the Reynolds tunnel ball try)... but on the weekend he might've had 3 try savers that I can think of off the top of my head:
1) Burton hold up over the try line when he looked in for all money,
2) Tackling Nadan from behind about 15m from the try line when he had clear air in front of him and only cover coming across to stop him (might've also had JAC outside him in some space)
3) Shooting out of the line and forcing an error from Burton... Burton had at least a 3v1 outside him and 40m of field to work the overlap if the ball gets out, but you can see the desperation that Staggs puts in to get up in his face to force the error and save a certain try that could've levelled the scores

Dogs were going left all day and Staggs was constantly having to make defensive decisions on when to come up on Burton or Dufty to shut it down... that constant thinking and decision making, as well as the effort required to actually make the tackles can fatigue you mentally so when it does come time with the ball in hand Staggs is probably just taking a breather knowing that another defensive effort is coming up soon.

He'll get there eventually and if his defence can start to get up near his attack, then he will be a real weapon for us moving forward.

 

[theshed]

I think he’s trying too hard in attack to pull of big plays at the moment. Round 1 he forced a few offloads and round 2 he tried a second scramble to the try line instead of take the tackle which saw him go over the sideline. He’ll get this out of his game in time. His defence has been good, and while he isn’t the player you want grinding out runs from your own half against tough defence, I would like to see him come looking for more work.

There was an obvious game plan to target the left side though.

 

[WASSHHH]

I get the sense he may be trying to focus as much as possible on his defence.

His defence this year has definitely changed... he's still not perfect but ever since the first half of the titans trial I've noticed a distinct push to be up and in from our edges and getting into the five eight and fullback on the sweep plays.

I think the team as a whole have put attack on the back burner for the time being and are focussing on defence, completion rates and grinding out games. Our completions were horrendous in the first half of the dogs game and down around 69% completion, but by the end of the game we were up around 79%... so we must've only made 1-2 errors in the second half, which is a pretty phenomenal turnaround.

Eventually the defence and grinding will become second nature and the players won't have to dedicate so much of their attention to it during the game, which will open up their attacking play.

At this stage I don't really have any concerns with Staggs ... sure it would be nice if he finished off some of those tries (and I was furious on Sunday when he bombed the Reynolds tunnel ball try)... but on the weekend he might've had 3 try savers that I can think of off the top of my head:
1) Burton hold up over the try line when he looked in for all money,
2) Tackling Nadan from behind about 15m from the try line when he had clear air in front of him and only cover coming across to stop him (might've also had JAC outside him in some space)
3) Shooting out of the line and forcing an error from Burton... Burton had at least a 3v1 outside him and 40m of field to work the overlap if the ball gets out, but you can see the desperation that Staggs puts in to get up in his face to force the error and save a certain try that could've levelled the scores

Dogs were going left all day and Staggs was constantly having to make defensive decisions on when to come up on Burton or Dufty to shut it down... that constant thinking and decision making, as well as the effort required to actually make the tackles can fatigue you mentally so when it does come time with the ball in hand Staggs is probably just taking a breather knowing that another defensive effort is coming up soon.

He'll get there eventually and if his defence can start to get up near his attack, then he will be a real weapon for us moving forward.

All true, but I look at it this way.

If he was a marquee centre at another club and he had that sort of output, a lot of people would be criticising him for it, saying said club has wasted their money. Sort of similar to how a lot of people are ripping on TPJ now, but accepted it when he was in a Broncos shirt.

Improving his defence is great, and it looks like he has. But that doesn’t excuse him from coming in every now and then and looking for the ball. If he’d done that on the weekend, even half a dozen times, there’d be very little to criticise him about (except the bombed try, that was plain awful).

 

[theshed]

All true, but I look at it this way.

If he was a marquee centre at another club and he had that sort of output, a lot of people would be criticising him for it, saying said club has wasted their money. Sort of similar to how a lot of people are ripping on TPJ now, but accepted it when he was in a Broncos shirt.

Improving his defence is great, and it looks like he has. But that doesn’t excuse him from coming in every now and then and looking for the ball. If he’d done that on the weekend, even half a dozen times, there’d be very little to criticise him about (except the bombed try, that was plain awful).

Who’s ripping on TPJ? He was probably the best player on the field on Friday (edit: Sunday. Force of habit).Completely bullied our pack and had 7 offloads 5-6 of which were good quality.

 

[Jedhead]

Who’s ripping on TPJ? He was probably the best player on the field on Friday (edit: Sunday. Force of habit).Completely bullied our pack and had 7 offloads 5-6 of which were good quality.

I'm not convinced Barrett will know how to best take advantage of TPJ's offloading, but if and when he does the Dogs will win way more games than they did last year.

Having said that, if TPJ plays to type that will be his only good game until we next meet at Lang park. Provided, that is. he has not been suspended by then. Or his hammies are playing up, or he's been caught having a haircut with a banned bikie group, or....well you sort of get the picture.

 

[theshed]

I'm not convinced Barrett will know how to best take advantage of TPJ's offloading, but if and when he does the Dogs will win way more games than they did last year.

Having said that, if TPJ plays to type that will be his only good game until we next meet at Lang park. Provided, that is. he has not been suspended by then. Or his hammies are playing up, or he's been caught having a haircut with a banned bikie group, or....well you sort of get the picture.

Agreed. I am definitely glad he’s someone else’s problem but I don’t think he’s being bagged more now than he previously was like the post I quoted said.

 

[Jedhead]

Agreed. I am definitely glad he’s someone else’s problem but I don’t think he’s being bagged more now than he previously was like the post I quoted said.

Well he’s certainly not being suspended as much either. Last Sunday’s actions would have seen him in deep doo doo. Especially that swing arm on Haas where he had not one but two goes at his head.

 

[Blindside Bronco]

Well he’s certainly not being suspended as much either. Last Sunday’s actions would have seen him in deep doo doo. Especially that swing arm on Haas where he had not one but two goes at his head.

Well he is in the right team for a dog shot!

 

[bert_lifts]

Well he’s certainly not being suspended as much either. Last Sunday’s actions would have seen him in deep doo doo. Especially that swing arm on Haas where he had not one but two goes at his head.

I still can't believe the shit he got away with in his first stint. Late hit on Reynolds kicking too. Just blows my mind.

 

[Wolfie]

Kotoni has always made big plays in defence, but I still feel his general decision making has been ordinary for a center billed as elite. He still missed 6 out of 21 tackles against the dogs, the highest amount of missed tackles in the team. His whole game at the moment just seems off. He probably needs to stop looking for the big plays so much and just do his job, and the rest should fall into place for him.

 

[WASSHHH]

Who’s ripping on TPJ? He was probably the best player on the field on Friday (edit: Sunday. Force of habit).Completely bullied our pack and had 7 offloads 5-6 of which were good quality.

People have criticised him for his early fatigue and at the same time, taking 4 of his teams 8 interchanges. They’re right to do so too, that’s fucking atrocious.

He’d want to be contributing a lot more than he did when he’s getting a breather every 15mins.

 

[theshed]

People have criticised him for his early fatigue and at the same time, taking 4 of his teams 8 interchanges. They’re right to do so too, that’s fucking atrocious.

He’d want to be contributing a lot more than he did when he’s getting a breather every 15mins.

I think that was more Barrett’s terrible game plan.

 

[the_next]

Staggs needs to get his hands on the ball More, he needs to go looking for it, Hodges style. certainly his defensive has improved this year (from memory he saved 2 tries on Sunday) but he looks off in attack.
He looks like a player that is coming off a big injury and might actually be trying a little too hard.
I think he just needs some confidence and hopefully we will see the Staggs we know and love back attacking and causing issues for teams.

 

[Kimlo]

You can make a million excuses for Staggs but 6 runs in 80 minutes is pathetic.

He's on $28,000 a game, it's not hard to take 2-3 scoots per half to provide some threat out of dummy half and help out the forwards. He can also roam around the forwards every now and then to keep the opposition guessing

Not impressed whatsoever, I expect the highest paid players in the team to play a big part every week.
No excuse to be a lazy ****.

10 runs a game should be bare minimum.

I just hope he needs a few games to find fitness, and it's not his norm.

 

[Super Freak]

He hasn't played many games in the past couple of years and he's coming back from serious injuries. Add on to that he's dealing with a new right side combination.

It's going to take him some time to find his feet and get back to being the threat we all know he can be. We're only two weeks in.

 

[Wolfie]

He hasn't played many games in the past couple of years and he's coming back from serious injuries. Add on to that he's dealing with a new right side combination.

It's going to take him some time to find his feet and get back to being the threat we all know he can be. We're only two weeks in.

If he isn't first team ready he shouldn't be playing.

 

[Morkel]

I suspect sometime in the next month we're going to see 3-4 tries in a game between Staggs and Cobbo. They're warming.

 

[WASSHHH]

I think that was more Barrett’s terrible game plan.

In Barrett’s defence, he doesn’t make that plan if TPJ doesn’t need a spell after making 3 consecutive tackles.