Defence Line Speed-Major Problem

When Beau Scott came to Parra he brought with him experience, mental toughness but most importantly he brought in really good line speed in defence. Between Scott and De Gois our defensive line speed was excellent forcing rushed decisions from the opposition and mistakes. No one does it better than Cronulla. They did it to us, they did it to Storm and they just did it to Penrith. Their tactics are simple, move up very fast, get 3 in the tackle, slow the play the ball down and a mistake will happen. The closer to the tryline the opposition gets, the more they slow the play the ball down and they don't care how many penalties they give away-in fact the more the better as they get a chance to regroup, no one goes to the bin and gallen tells the ref about how lop sided the penalty count is.With Scott not starting (seemingly injured) and de gois all but gone, our line speed has suffered big time and is one of the huge differences between parra for the first 2 rounds and that over the last 5. We don't have big enough bodies slowing down the play the ball which allows the opposition quick play the balls and then tries like those scored today by mcilwrick and sue result.Those 2 tries that were scored today were disgusting! We've seen tries scored this easily every week for the last 5 games and it's pathetic. Cronulla did not let up for a second in their d yesterday and neither can we. The best attack will come on the back of great defence-it happened for us today when we were down 22-10. If we want to get back into this comp and be a real threat we have to be so much better in defence

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Replies

Muttman April 17, 2017 at 11:56pm

Could not agree more. I was at the game today and our line speed was seriously pathetic. It's a massive issue that does not seem to be getting resolved. We have become so passive this year and soft tries are the result.
We used to be a team that had a well organised and enthusiastic defence. Now our defence is probably bottom 4 standard. They need to fix the line speed and they need to fix it this week.
- Daz Sul > Muttman April 18, 2017 at 1:56pm
  
  Do you think it's a fitness issue?
  
  They've looked pretty lethargic / shambolic in all areas of D. Marker defence doesn't required line speed but we're leaking points there too :(
FAT GUY April 18, 2017 at 2:51am

Spot on Muttman,mate they are expecting to win without doing the hard grind and tough stuff in the middle this is why we look so flat and our timing is so off.We were very lucky today and won't win f all games with this attitude.But a win is a win......
Wile E. Coyote April 18, 2017 at 6:37am

Great blog
hindy April 18, 2017 at 6:46am

Beau Scott must start every week, you don't see guys like Lewis and Gallen starting on the bench. And brown to hooker is hurting us as he is having such a great season in the middle then he is put to 9? We need some spark off the bench so I don't understand why BA is stubborn to make a change.. kaysa actually played better in yesterday with a break..
- Wile E. Coyote > hindy April 18, 2017 at 6:52am
  
  With the back rowers playing 80 min each
  And the forwards 20- 30 min each
  We should be able to play two hookers
Xman April 18, 2017 at 7:19am

Totally agree and it's also evident in our kick chase. It's all over the place no straight line inconsistant if any chasers and both of these things come down to attitude. As most have said we were lucky yesterday but if we don't fix these two things we have no chance of competing
The Captain April 18, 2017 at 7:41am

Definitely missing that line speed. Not sure whether it's a fitness thing or an attitude thing but there sure does seem to be a lack of attitude on the field. It was great to see Taka barking orders to get the forwards into a scrum before half time, but disappointing to see some of them still amble on over. If it were James Graham barking those orders the boys would've been there in under a second. We need that battle hardened, slightly unhinged leader of the pack and we need them on the field as much as possible.
JonBoy April 18, 2017 at 7:42am

Beau off the bench is confusing? Is it punishment for performance or injury management? He seems to have aged a lot over the off season as the difference between Beau 2016 and Beau 2017 is dramatic. there was a shot of him waiting to pack into a scrum where he looked completely out of breath and he was only on the field for 20 minutes yesterday.

Let's hope King is close to an NRL comeback / recall. I am a big Kaysa fan but not as an 80 minute player. With IDG seemingly gone I think it's time to rethink the hooker strategy, as Hindy said, Brown to dummy half is hurting us.

Still, very happy to be back in the winners circle.
jjeel April 18, 2017 at 8:01am

Spot on Alfred. I was saying the same thing at the game yesterday. Degois is a huge loss for us. I also think our players are unfit they really dont have the legs that they had last year