We lost this game due to bad decisions from Kev. Our big forwards did not have near enough minutes as they should have and we lacked players with size due to the bench consisting of 2 dummy halves and a centre. I understand we have a lot of injuries but you need to match dragons forward pack otherwise you will get bullied through the middle (which is what happened). Smoothy was stiched up by playing lock the whole game and got targeted as expected. Billy walters offers zero creativity and average passing and consistently gives players the ball flat footed and can’t drive momentum. We started playing footy once mozer came on and gave decent service to our halves and forwards and seemed to be getting them involved.
I could be wrong, as I often am, but I thought Billy had a great game.
The flat balls were to maximise our meters from our forwards with the rushing defence. I actually thought kevie coached well this week, knowing where the teams at.
We were always going to get monstered by St Merger. I thought Billy threw a couple of beautiful inside passed that allowed players to exploit gaps in the ruck. He scored a Billy kind of try. Put on a great hit, and was constantly wrapping up the attackers legs.
I'm not the greatest fan of Billy, but I'll tip my hat to him tonight. He's no Cam Smith unfortunately.
Smoothy at lock for me was about putting experience in play. We don't have the cattle with our injury crisis. Hetherington was better served as an impact forward than putting him at 13 and hoping Va'a Semu steps up from the bench. I thought kevie was being realistic. Mozer was a positive in another unhappy night.
Pretty happy with Kevin looking after player development in terms of not rushing development players. Blooding them progressively.
I'm happy he told Walsh, first time around to be patient, and trust the process. Walsh suffers from immaturity to this day.
I'm in the acceptance phase of our fate. Accepting not making the 8, has taken out the anger. I'm not happy with our recruitment and retention department. I'd love Gus Gould in our business. Still wondering what the **** went on with Ikin. I'm pissed off with Lee Briers and Kevin around strategy. The arrogance we showed in round 1 pissed me off.
I don't know if breaking the bank for Walsh is in the teams best interests. Horse trading Hass could be though. I'd rather 2 Wilkinson's for the price of one Hass.
Apologies for the big post. Respectable scoreline in a game we weren't supposed to win. Still pissed about the Titans game...