PRE-GAME Round 4 - Storm vs Broncos

We’ve got a 4 game rough period and the best you can hope for is Kev can keep their confidence in tact, and that the team can do enough good to build off of at the other end because then we have Titans, Cows, Manly which are all winnable or at least a chance.
 
Kevvie needs to give them a bigger picture to focus on. He tells them it's all about defence, it's all about building combinations, it's all about backing up the guy next to you and building team spirit. He acknowledges the challenge ahead and tells them if they can manage at least one win from the next four games he'll be pleased, and if they manage to win two of those games they will be pleased. It's not giving them an excuse to fail, but it is ensuring they're expectations and aspirations are in their own control.

Then for the media he goes back to the worn-out cliches of one game at a time as the vultures only live for the following day's headline. If Kevvie manages to succeed here it will be a miracle as from day one it was obvious he was not going to get a year or twos grace to build the team he wants.
 
Jedhead said:
Kevvie needs to give them a bigger picture to focus on. He tells them it's all about defence, it's all about building combinations, it's all about backing up the guy next to you and building team spirit. He acknowledges the challenge ahead and tells them if they can manage at least one win from the next four games he'll be pleased, and if they manage to win two of those games they will be pleased. It's not giving them an excuse to fail, but it is ensuring they're expectations and aspirations are in their own control.

Then for the media he goes back to the worn-out cliches of one game at a time as the vultures only live for the following day's headline. If Kevvie manages to succeed here it will be a miracle as from day one it was obvious he was not going to get a year or twos grace to build the team he wants.
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This is what it is all about - building combinations in attack and defence AND support play. That is what building a team and playing as a team is all about. It's what makes the best teams do what they do. Every player has self confidence that they know where to be and what to do, and every player has that same confidence in their team mates.

As well, given the awful mess Walters has inherited from Seibold, I don't expect this to happen overnight, and for that reason, I am not expecting a win against a well oiled machine like the Storm, or other top sides but, as others post, it's the measurable improvements week to week which count.

For mine, a big first step in this is to settle on a halves pairing as soon as possible and stick to it.
 
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pagey said:
Would've been nice if he was able to get to play today whilst still being on a high , and really show what he's got.
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He only played 7mins so I'd imagine he can still play ISC
 
I'd keep largely the same side but obvs with Haas and Lodge coming back in. it's a free hit for Kev and helps justify his team selections moving forward -

if milf and croft fail in melbourne which they are largely expected to do, it's a lot easier to drop them after a 1-3 start and another loss than a 24-0 win.

if they do well and somehow manage to steer us to a win, they get a week stay of execution, repeat until they fail and Dearden gets to keep cooking in Q Cup which is better than 7mins off the bench.
 
Renegade said:
I'd keep largely the same side but obvs with Haas and Lodge coming back in. it's a free hit for Kev and helps justify his team selections moving forward -

if milf and croft fail in melbourne which they are largely expected to do, it's a lot easier to drop them after a 1-3 start and another loss than a 24-0 win.

if they do well and somehow manage to steer us to a win, they get a week stay of execution, repeat until they fail and Dearden gets to keep cooking in Q Cup which is better than 7mins off the bench.
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Q cup may be off the table for awhile due to covid
 
Don’t change the side other than bring in the returning from injury blokes.

Brisbane just hit some kind of fluidity in the back end of that game. I don’t think Kevvie seems the type to give in to pressure. Reward those guys with another game, show some faith in them, especially the halves.

This will make Dearden hungrier and Croft and Milf looked to be starting to repay the faith in that second half. Given the Covid issues, keep Dearden in the 14, 7 minutes is better than nothing.

I’d be going:

1. Isaako
2. Coates
3. Farnworth
4. Niu
5. Mead
6. Milford
7. Croft
8. Haas
9. Turpin
10. Flegler
11. Glenn (c)
12. Riki
13. TPJ

14. Dearden
15. Kennedy
16. Lodge
17. Teo

Rest Carrigan and Bullemor, give Asiata another week for his neck to settle.
 
theshed said:
Agreed. Though I think if it is looking like Q cup is done for the foreseeable future you’ll have to make the call and bench Croft
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I'm going against the grain here but I think Croft was better than Milf yesterday, but not by much. Yeah Milf had 100 odd running meters but I can't recall any of them being particularly threatening? There may have been one, but that was about it. He made a few errors, his kicking was pretty average, and for all the running meters hype, I thought Croft did far more of trying to back up half breaks or half openings than Milf did. He floated in and out of the game far too much IMO, whereas Croft at least was trying to get involved. It's a low bar for sure but I'd want to see my under pressure halves trying to make things happen and I felt Croft did more of this than Milf.

edit: maybe saying his kicking was pretty average is a bit unfair, he did cause a couple of errors with his kicks. I dunno, I tried to keep a close eye on Milf at the game yesterday and he just didn't really stand out at all. Croft didn't either to be fair but I do remember him at least making a few good tackles... yeah if we're starting to go this granular drop them both.
 
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1. Isaako
2. Mead
3. Farnsworth
4. Niu
5. Coates
6. Milford
7. Dearden
8. Haas
9. Turpin
10. TPJ
11. Glen
12. Riki
13. Carrigan
14. Lodge
15. Fleglar
16. Asiata
17. Teo (he was superb yesterday IMO)

With Asiata on the bench you have cover for a half anyway and teo or Glenn can cover and outside back position. Very balance side IMO

My concern is our right edge defence. Munster, Olam and Fox might carve us up if we aren’t on point in defence
 
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Renegade said:
I'm going against the grain here but I think Croft was better than Milf yesterday, but not by much. Yeah Milf had 100 odd running meters but I can't recall any of them being particularly threatening? There may have been one, but that was about it. He made a few errors, his kicking was pretty average, and for all the running meters hype, I thought Croft did far more of trying to back up half breaks or half openings than Milf did. He floated in and out of the game far too much IMO, whereas Croft at least was trying to get involved. It's a low bar for sure but I'd want to see my under pressure halves trying to make things happen and I felt Croft did more of this than Milf.

edit: maybe saying his kicking was pretty average is a bit unfair, he did cause a couple of errors with his kicks. I dunno, I tried to keep a close eye on Milf at the game yesterday and he just didn't really stand out at all. Croft didn't either to be fair but I do remember him at least making a few good tackles... yeah if we're starting to go this granular drop them both.
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Yeah both were terrible. Tried hard but their decision making is no good. Milf was so focused on running that he was doing it when it wasn’t the right option and it was almost completely ineffective, Croft was the opposite, he was throwing endless hospital passes when he should have just taken his medicine.

That’s the problem with Croft and Milford. Neither have shown any capacity to play what’s in front of them or adapt to a game. Croft knows he is meant to organise so he shovels the ball on no matter how not on the pass is - the pass has already been decided in his mind and the reality of the situation has no bearing, the past will go ahead. Miflord has been told he needs to run more and so now all he can think is “I need to run”, even when running is obviously not the right option and there is nothing on in front of him. It’s the polar opposite negative outcomes for the halves but the side effect of the exact same issue. The inability to read the game and a reliance on predetermined decisions.

You could argue rightly for Dearden replacing either, for me personally Milford’s bombs are what gives him the edge. Without Milford’s bombs we are stuck with Croft’s end over end weak punts - and if you want to see what that looks like, Flanagan perfectly demonstrated it for us.
 
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