Not too hard to see that:
1. We never have possession - so we get tired
2. We make mistakes because we are tired
3. When we get in the red zone we don't know how to convert and often lose the ball early in the tackle count. - so we lose motivation and possession and get tired. We often seem to try everything, every tackle with seemingly no organisation or plan. We try lots of set plays - one each tackle of the set compared to teams who choose one and set it up for it late in the tackle count
Why don't we follow simple game management - such as the Cowboys strategy that will be even more effective with the new rules.
1. For the first 60 minutes play low risk football and try to keep as much possession as possible to tire the opposition out.
2. If get in the oppositions 20m, play low risk footy for the first five tackles (do not risk losing the ball before at least making the opposition do a bit of work), and centre the ball on the 4th keeping both halves available for the 5th play (too often do we end up on the wing on the fifth with our playmaker playing the ball). Early in the game favour trying to get another set of six rather than trying to score.
3. In the last 20 min when it will be much easier to beat tired opposition, that is when we bring out our attacking plays. Take risks when we are more likely to get a reward. Also in the last 20 minutes, this is the time to make sure we support or forwards like Mau and Scott and Junior who seem best at creating opportunities for offload in space - that were likely to result in a break. I don't see Pritchard helping in the last 20 minutes. I never saw him break the line - he may be much more useful early on to get the forwards on a roll.
I don't pretend to be an expert or be saying anything new, but we don't seem to follow simple game management - whether Sandow is here or not - Maybe I am jumping the gun as haven't seen Foran guide us around yet.
Replies
I agree with your ideas and man Peats was out on his feet last night. Made sixty odd tackles and played 80 minutes first round.
Foran will make a massive difference. I've watched the replay twice today and there were many times we had opportunities that Foran would have helped consolidate.
Hope Foran can save us
The first round is where you play a full 80mins and knock out some cobwebs.
And don't forget we were playing this years favourite without our two halves, so let's not neck ourselves just yet.
Also, I think the suggestion of very low risk "march up field" might sell the Eels short a bit. Through the middle 40 of the field we played with a lot of skill in the first half against the Broncos. We attacked the Broncos fringes by running angles and decoys and having supports on either side of the runner. And we got ourselves in good field position that way.
Why should we under-sell a slightly expansive game that actively seeks to test defenses, just because, with only Norman out there and him having to deal with Kelly's lack of polish, we thus lacked some composure as we approached the opposition 25?
I think, instead, we should build on that challenging play thought the middle 40. Add to it a preparedness to play the long game in the opposition quarter. Don't push it in the opposition quarter just because you're there. Have we considered that the Eels, in the first half, found themselves surprised by their progress through the middle 40 of the field and thought they had to up the game a bit as they approached the line? Maybe they unearthed something that is in fact going to trouble teams, but in game one they had not yet realized it?
Let's wait for Foran AND Norman to be steering the ship, especially in the zone. We may see more composure. And maybe they will have looked at the first half video and seen that they marched down the field by throwing good structures at the Broncos. The whole "low risk then pounce" thing assumes the opposition will cave. What happens when they don't? Shouldn't your game style be about forcing them to cave not waiting and hoping or expecting that they will cave?
Exactly Coyote. We just didn't control the ball well enough and only got 45% possession. What do people expect with both halves out?
There's no reason for wrist-slitting or even soul-searching after this game. We got unlucky with injuries and were beaten by the better team on the day. End of story.