Hi all. I have been a member for a while now but this will be my first blog so hopefully I don't get shot down too hard.
I have been watching all the games and obviously noticing the absence of Choc from the field for large portions of the game so I checked out his minutes per game and they are as follows.
Rd 1 - 61, 2 - 62, 3 -58, 4 -60, 5 -51, 6 -47 & finally 7 - 48. This gives him an average of 55 minutes a game which is rapidly declining in the last few rounds.
When we signed Watmough I was expecting an 80 minute player and i'm confused as to whether he is nursing an injury, its because of his current form slump (compared to his potential), he is being used more as a prop because of our small bench or whether this is just how he will be utilised within our team.
I know a lot of members on here are not happy with his current form and expected more from him but with his declining minutes it seems harder for him to play to his strengths.
If he is going to be used as an impact player between 45 & 55 minutes would it be an option to start him off the bench like N.S.W and the Kangaroos do? Where he always has a huge impact and generally breaks a lot of tackles and the line.
He came off fairly early in our win on the weekend and when Gower broke his finger and Richie went down I was expecting him to come back on and play the rest of the game but there he sat on the sideline until after the 60 minute mark.
Would just like to see everyone's thoughts and whether people might have some more inside information.
Replies
Welcome Josh, nice first blog mate, well delivered if i may say.
I actually think chocs doing ok whilst finding his feet, dont worry about him, he'll be fine.
Good point about using him off the bench, its a good way to use him but the problem is we are starting so flat, BA would be thinking he needs choc to lead the way from the start, we need the aggression and leadership early on from choc, but i do agree he would be good from the bench for us.
Looking forward to some more blogs from you josh, cheers
Liked the way Choc played and the way we used him on the weekend. He started off hard, and only threw one stupid pass, but other than that he looked to do the hard work up the middle and was leading the line in defence. Then we brought him on late in the game so we could use his mobility and aggression in defence to close out the game. As long as he plays like he did on the weekend I'll be happy. We have other players that can be explosive in attack.
His stats have been consistently great - doing a lot hard work in attack and defense.
Maybe that is why he has been making a few mistakes - he has also copped a few hard knocks from his Moanly mates.
Heard Ryan on the radio say that he thought Watmough was trying to be what he isn't - eg playmaker, instead of sticking to what he does best - fast foot work around the ruck.
Spot on Wile E. I think he is trying to play Parra's style instead of sticking to what he was doing at Manly, we have enough ball players in our pack for him to stick to his own game.
Agreed.
Nah, all Manly players are playing shit house... Choc included.
Also our outside back defence has not been great
Personally, I think our defence and line speed have been markedly improved on previous seasons.
The problem as I see it is we're still getting slammed by the refs in penalties. Watching the game on Sunday, by about the third tackle, particularly if we had Newcastle in their own half, I could hardly watch, simply because I was waiting to hear the shrill mating call of the pink fairies in the form of the whistle.
We got belted in the penalties something in the order of 9-2 on Sunday, yet we were doing nothing different to what the Knights were doing in the tackles, and we were no more slightly off side than they were - but as sure as night follows day - the fairies would piggy back Newcastle out of their territory with a penalty on the third or fourth.
This happens every week - and it even happens to us when we play at home! Paul Kent sensibly pointed out on NRL 360 on Tuesday that the refs (despite the fact they reject this) do their homework on teams and look for common areas where teams infringe, and duly penalise them for it.
Now, some of these penalties may well be correct, but if the refs are concentrating on a team's 'known' area of ill-discipline, they're paying less attention to that same area of ill-discipline when committed by the opposition.
Think about it. The Dogs were rigorously officiated against the Bunnies, lost the game, and their players and fans went tropical! If that waste of semen, Top Dawg, was an Eels fan, he would have joined ISIS by now such is the frustration we Eels fans endure at the whim of the pink fairies on a weekly basis!
I'm firmly of the belief that if we are allowed to play on a level playing field against our opposition, our squad is such that we'd win more games than we lose - and would likely make the Top 8.
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