PRE-GAME Round 8 - Warriors vs Broncos

[Footy Fanatic]

I don't think pissing Croft off is any solution. For starters, neither he nor Milford can do much when the structures and shapes just aren't being implemented.

If you look at Croft's game, right at the start, when some optimism on my part appeared (briefly) he was set up TPJ with a nice pass as 1st receiver which led to TPJ dragging in 2 defenders and his offload put Niu into a hole, Niu who was following in support as a good FB ought to. Farnworth was out wide as was Coates. It was a good shape, it was quality edge play. We almost scored except for Niu's inexperience. It used TPJ's power on the edge to perfect effect.

Thing is, why didn't we replicate that throughout the game? That is what pisses me off. We do know what works but we don't do it enough.

Later, Croft put through a nice short kick behind the line for Herbie to score. Why only 1 kick for the whole game?

It's those things which frustrates me so much aside from our shitty defensive style. We have what it takes only we don't do it often enough.

Anyone could have thrown the pass Croft did to TPJ.

Croft does so many bad things that one good short kick is not worth having to deal with the rest of his shortcomings as a halfback.

 

[007]

Anyone could have thrown the pass Croft did to TPJ.

Croft does so many bad things that one good short kick is not worth having to deal with the rest of his shortcomings as a halfback.

i would like to give croft more time under a good system. Currently the pressure to achieve is nuts and there really are not many options for them in game to do or create. Our forwards and play calls involve a forward standing, passed the ball then runs. No one is winding up off the back fence and the defence is on top of us. We probably are lucky to make 5m average per play last game.

 

[Kimlo]

i would like to give croft more time under a good system. Currently the pressure to achieve is nuts and there really are not many options for them in game to do or create. Our forwards and play calls involve a forward standing, passed the passed the ball then runs. No one is winding up off the back fence and the defence is on top of us. We probably are lucky to make 5m average per play last game.

Yep, it's way too early to call for Croft to be sacked. The dude has walked into the hottest mess in the comp. Once we have a somewhat functioning team, we can worry about halves. Halves don't win games when they're behind a total rabble that can't defend, have no structure, and no idea what ruck dominance means.

I'm not sold on Croft yet but I'm not going to judge him until he actually has a chance to do things. There's only one player in the game that could make us competitive and that's Cam Smith. No halfback would flourish behind this shit team right now.

 

[BroncsFan]

Anyone could have thrown the pass Croft did to TPJ.

Croft does so many bad things that one good short kick is not worth having to deal with the rest of his shortcomings as a halfback.

If anyone could then what the **** was Milford doing all night!!

The pass was good... he dug in behind the ruck to work a short side and it should've been a try.

 

[rnabokov]

i would like to give croft more time under a good system. Currently the pressure to achieve is nuts and there really are not many options for them in game to do or create. Our forwards and play calls involve a forward standing, passed the ball then runs. No one is winding up off the back fence and the defence is on top of us. We probably are lucky to make 5m average per play last game.

Absolutely this.
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If anyone could then what the **** was Milford doing all night!!

The pass was good... he dug in behind the ruck to work a short side and it should've been a try.

Maybe Milford was trying to answer his critics by taking on the line repeatedly without any support runners because they were all standing around flat footed, watching

 

[hench2020]

They'll get bagged in the media all week and then try for 30 minutes like they did against Manly.

That's an improvement over what they did last night.

 

[Footy Fanatic]

i would like to give croft more time under a good system. Currently the pressure to achieve is nuts and there really are not many options for them in game to do or create. Our forwards and play calls involve a forward standing, passed the ball then runs. No one is winding up off the back fence and the defence is on top of us. We probably are lucky to make 5m average per play last game.

Croft played at Melbourne in a great system and got dropped, he has had enough chances.

Time to move on.

 

[Nashy]

Croft played at Melbourne in a great system and got dropped, he has had enough chances.

Time to move on.

His kicking game is excellent though. Right on target, in the hands of the opposition player, every time. Except that out on the full, very out of character.

 

[BroncsFan]

Maybe Milford was trying to answer his critics by taking on the line repeatedly without any support runners because they were all standing around flat footed, watching

He had more runs yes... but they were pointless stuttering jinking runs.

His best plays are running left to right, which means his best plays are running from the open side rather than down the blind side... see below from WCC 2016. I think early to mid 2016 was the best I'd ever seen Milford play (other than the 2015 GF) and it looks like it was on display early in the WCC game

His right hand carry is a target for the defence and has him stopping and jinking to get his left hand across to fend the tacklers.

I agree that the second row on his edge is an issue though as they aren't running lines or decoys to put pressure on the defence... but they also need to work on the inside to create space in the first place

If they want to go right to left on a sweeping play then it should be a big long sweeping movement from the far right hand side of the field... this breaks up the line a bit and doesn't allow him to get swamped by the defence. Basically like the Sivo try last week which went Mahoney > Brown/Moses > Gutherson > Jennings , but covered about 40-50m of the field

 

[Morepudding]

The big issue with our team is everyone is flat footed the whole time. No one goes looking for work. Milford darts across the line and if a back or forward was running onto the ball he could put them through but everyone in our team stands still and seem almost shocked when someone passes them the ball. It's pathetic.

 

[rnabokov]

i would like to give croft more time under a good system. Currently the pressure to achieve is nuts and there really are not many options for them in game to do or create. Our forwards and play calls involve a forward standing, passed the ball then runs. No one is winding up off the back fence and the defence is on top of us. We probably are lucky to make 5m average per play last game.

A key issue this. Who is calling the plays out there, in the middle, where it counts? Who's job is it. Given that we so often have " ... a forward standing, passed the ball then runs." nobody is calling any plays.

Usually, it is the hooker, like Smith. You build a structure around a key organiser. Maybe Luke needs to be given that role. I dunno. Back to that old chestnut - we need a game manager, a leader in the middle calling the plays, and we don't have one. I can't see it being Croft or Dearden - too young and inexperienced trying to sort out a dog's breakfast. Milford isn't a game manager - never was or will be. A core issue for mine that needs sorting.

 

[BroncsFan]

He had more runs yes... but they were pointless stuttering jinking runs.

His best plays are running left to right, which means his best plays are running from the open side rather than down the blind side... see below from WCC 2016. I think early to mid 2016 was the best I'd ever seen Milford play (other than the 2015 GF) and it looks like it was on display early in the WCC game

His right hand carry is a target for the defence and has him stopping and jinking to get his left hand across to fend the tacklers.

I agree that the second row on his edge is an issue though as they aren't running lines or decoys to put pressure on the defence... but they also need to work on the inside to create space in the first place

If they want to go right to left on a sweeping play then it should be a big long sweeping movement from the far right hand side of the field... this breaks up the line a bit and doesn't allow him to get swamped by the defence. Basically like the Sivo try last week which went Mahoney > Brown/Moses > Gutherson > Jennings , but covered about 40-50m of the field

EDIT... that video isn't really the best the below shows it better

When Milf is running right to left he generally passes it (because the defender can attack the ball in his right arm carry)... when Milf is running left to right his left hand fend is there.

He needs to be getting himself into position to do this by either running on the open side of a left edge play the ball or attacking behind the ruck on a blindside run

 

[Kyall]

If not 1 of Boyd,Milford,Oates, is dropped this week I'm done with this year.

 

[Unbreakable]

Man, the biggest difference between now and then is determination. I don't think he's that far removed from the player he was there in terms of footwork or speed, a lot of the tries he used to score were from pure desire to get to the line. If you put him in the same scenario now as most of those tries he'd just succumb to the first contact or crab across field and put in a kick. I really don't know why his mentality has turned to shit..

 

[Morepudding]

EDIT... that video isn't really the best the below shows it better

When Milf is running right to left he generally passes it (because the defender can attack the ball in his right arm carry)... when Milf is running left to right his left hand fend is there.

He needs to be getting himself into position to do this by either running on the open side of a left edge play the ball or attacking behind the ruck on a blindside run

This is why Milford was signed on big money. The big difference in these videos is other players are moving. That's why I've been defending Milford this year. When he gets the ball. No one else is there in support of moving.

The whole team is a rabble. Whoever the fullback is needs to be behind milford the entire game. Look at gutho. Has less talent than isaako or niu but so much bloody effort and always there in support. The try Wallace got at the end of the video, running hard onto the ball. None of our forwards do that.

 

[Mitchell_Broncos]

His kicking game is excellent though. Right on target, in the hands of the opposition player, every time. Except that out on the full, very out of character.

Sure is.

Our forwards step up, and if we have a game plan our halves will flourish. Rd 1 and some of 2 before he went off i thought croft looked very good.

 

[Mustafur]

I would be building combos with Niu and Luke, Lukes dummy runs actually do work and he knows when to do the runs, get a quick offload to a fast fullback and forwards have no chance.

 

[Accept]

If not 1 of Boyd,Milford,Oates, is dropped this week I'm done with this year.

Dropped for whom, Kyall? They have basically used everyone on their roster. Who is left? Kennar? Tyson Gamble? That dude with the hyphenated name? Dropping one of your big names will only cause further disruption and disharmony.

Hopefully they can be at full strength soon (or at least near it) and start fielding the same side every week. If that happens, the performances will improve, not enough to save the season but will still improve nonetheless. Making huge player changes won't solve anything especially when there aren't any viable options.