Our Defence

[ningnangnong]

Concerning ......

Bit hard to comprehend why a player making 300K+ for 10 mnths of the year........playing a game they're supposed to love playing, could have this attitude.

Probably speaks volumes about McCullough's consistency problems.

Interesting spot, XXXX.

I reckon you could get away with that type of attitude in a lot of other sports, but because rugby league is such an intense game, if you're not up for the fight, then it's really going to show. The nature of the sport is more of a battle than anything, so it's integral that your players are determined and prepared to lay it all on the line.

Hopefully WB is working to instil an aggressive mindset in each of our players, because I reckon that has a lot to do with our problem of letting teams back into the match - it's like we think 'oh, healthy lead for us, that's our job done for the night then, we'll just go through the motions from here'. I've been watching sports long enough to know that you can never rest on your laurels, hopefully our players know that too.

 

[Morkel]

I can't imagine every player is up for every game ever. Money aside, they still have life to deal with, and by nature, regardless of health & nutrition, your body chemistry is going to have you flat some days.

The positive is that he's not bullshitting and admits it happens. And if it has affected him in the past, it looks like they're working on ways to manage it and minimise it. Seems to be working team-wide so far.

 

[broncos4life]

So here's a question that I have been wondering. What has changed to make our defense so much better.

From all accounts Kearney was the guy in charge of defense the last few years so what has happened?

a) Has someone else taken over defense?
b) Is Kearney still the defense coach but our increased self-belief has made his tactics work?
c) Something else entirely?

 

[Waynesaurus]

I just think it comes back to the teams confidence under Griffin was shot, the previous 3 years had eroded the belief and we had slipped into a bit of losing and negative mindframe and that's how we played.

All that Wayne has tried to do is rebuild the confidence and add a bit of self belief back in the guys........oh and throw out few challenges to players who had dropped off.

 

[Morkel]

With something as intricate as this, it's hard to even speculate. Probably a matter of "all of the above". Remember Gillett was a major weakness last year, but has been much improved so far this year. The lack of arm-grabs and the increase in hard, jolting tackles can be put down to getting his shoulder fixed. Maybe he was rushing out of the line knowing he had to get the runners early, as he didn't have the strength or movement to stop them if they got to him at speed?

It doesn't look to me like our line speed has improved, but we're no longer getting pushed back as much either. We still seem to be quite brittle through the ruck too, especially against the smaller runners, so there is a lot of work still to do with our markers.

 

[Renegade]

So here's a question that I have been wondering. What has changed to make our defense so much better.

From all accounts Kearney was the guy in charge of defense the last few years so what has happened?

a) Has someone else taken over defense?
b) Is Kearney still the defense coach but our increased self-belief has made his tactics work?
c) Something else entirely?

D) Bennett

it's an attitude thing, Bennett has said it many times in the past, on top of wanting to do the work and not letting your team mate down. Near enough isn't good enough for Bennett and while I wasn't privy to the training drills under Griffin etc, maybe it's just the little things in training that make the guys realize you have to be 100% about everything, something bennett touches on in his books (don't stop 3 steps short of a marker otherwise you'll do it in a game, etc).

I mean yes there's other things involved like structure, whether to slide or whether to compress, when to come out of the line to shutdown a backline movement, tackling technique, a myriad of other things, but i honestly believe the number 1 thing is attitude/effort/determination. the same guys who were poor last year and dropping off tackles are now staunch defenders putting shots on left right and centre.

 

[Splinter]

I read an article that said WB made a few minor changes for Kearney to work with them on. Along with a change in attitude it seems to have done the trick but I am still waiting a few more rounds to make judgement on the team just to make sure it is not a false dawn.

 

[rnabokov]

I read an article that said WB made a few minor changes for Kearney to work with them on. Along with a change in attitude it seems to have done the trick but I am still waiting a few more rounds to make judgement on the team just to make sure it is not a false dawn.

Technique and attitude. The next thing is as you say, consistent application.

They are not minor changes to me, at least not insofar as Thaiday was concerned.

 

[mitch222]

The commentators (Johns, Fittler, Gus etc) have started pointing out our one on one tackling technique and how we are hitting in the first point of contact. Its working a treat in making mistakes and I only ask for more of that. The defence is something which Bennett always values extremely highly and puts a lot of effort into building a good defensive unit because good defence normally wins you a game. Also a lot of emphasis on players like Glenn & Gillett over the offseason on their defence is paying off with them missing a lot less tackles now. These guys would usually leak 6-7 missed tackles a game between them which is not good enough for a second rower.