BA has proven he's a great man manager and a coach players enjoy playing under. I also think thats helped massively with our recruitment and retention. He can get teams up physically for a lot of games.
What he hasn't proven in his entire time as a first grade coach is that he has the ability or nouse to help break down good defences.
We've scored 0 in a half over 50 times with BA in charge, and I can recall countless games against top opposition where we didn't look like scoring the majority of the match and might have at best jagged a try or 2. This even goes back to last year. We scored 0 trys against Canberra and 0 against Melbourne in the Semis. We didn't even have chances in these games .Literally were creating nothing. We played the Roosters very early and played fairly well but they weren't close to at thier end of season best and we got pummelled 60-10 by the Storm.
Last week we had a really hard time scoring against Penriths up and in defence , which was very similar to the lifeless attacking displays we had against them and Canberra inparticular in 2019. We hung in and got them with some Waqa individual brilliance. The Roosters have no single digit game players. Theyre all experienced, prepared well and in-sync. Most of them have been together a while now.
So how does BA break them down? For me it'll show where he's really at as a coach. He has one of the better 7's and he's starting to rack up some games with a really good 6. Gutho is experienced and a really handy first grade footballer. he also has the ear of one of the best attacking halves ever to do it. For mine BA needs to get more attack out of Mahoney. Mahoney has great width on his pass and competes all day but I think long wide balls against the roosters will just be easy meat. He has to help get the defence off balance and us moving quickly through the middle. We won't go around the Roosters esp if its a wet surface. I'm looking forward to see how BA has evolved and what we have to offer. Another uninspiring, no idea what to do , panic attack game and we'll get put to the sword.
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I think the trick will be to be able to change the plan on the run. Last week the bombs to the wing were not working but both halves persisted with it. Things changed in the second half however - maybe that was BA giving instructions.
Parra will need to fire across the park and look for any half chances as that is all that Easts will give them. I still believe we are more dangerous at the 30-20m mark than close to the tryline. That's where we'll need to create the breaks.
I agree with this . We're dangerous off 2nd phase a bit further out from the line .
I think Mahoney has to provide an option . An ability to hold or engage the defence rather than just throwing it to Moses on the right or Brown on the left .
Our attack inside the 20 is to go side to side for 5 tackles and then rely on the kicking game. There were 60 mins last week where we ran out of Questions to throw at Penrith it which was all too familiar. Hoping we show a bit more in attack this week. I don't think we'll score 20 but I hope we make their defence uncomfortable and take a few of the chances that come up.
Not really bagging him here. I think it's been a familiar theme with his coaching. He's made changes to his style since 2018 and corrected a lot of things but the we're still very unproven in our ability to score against the better defences. He has the players to , now we have to show more.
All the gun sides have an ability to keep the other gun teams to few points because you know youre not going to run in 4 or 5 trys on them. Our problem is we havent been able to create anything at all against them at times in the past. The 2019 games vs Canberra, Melbourne and Penrith on a dewy Bankwest we couldve played another 160 mins in each and not scored. Saturday is a chance to progess from this, or it will show us we still have a massive hump to get over before we're a genuine contender.
Not sure how you can say we're 3 years away in development. This is absolutely the opening of our window and we need to get alot more right than wrong to be a chance.
Moses the only back? Come on Poppa, our team is better than that. There's no way that I would select Brett Morris over Blake Ferguson (neither would Freddy) or Josh Morris over Michael Jennings. Hell, I'd even take Sivo over Tupou if push came to shove and Brown isn't far away from becoming an elite half. The Eels have an outstanding backline and to say otherwise is just plain wrong. This game will be won and lost up the middle - the back lines are evenly balanced (apart from Tedesco who is just a freak).
The Morris boys are so old, they've got autographed copies of the bible. I'll take Jennings and Ferguson every day of the week.
The Morris boys are perfect for the Roosters and where they're at, and Fergo & Jenko are perfect for where we're at.
I know, I just like stirring Poppa up. I get bored otherwise.
I wonder if some teams are letting us get close to their line as they know we run out of ideas there. If that is the case we need to find a way to exploit that. Certainly having some bigger fowards this season is a start.
Yep he’s never been great w flexibility on the run but maybe Joey giving the halves more tricks will make this easier - let’s hope so !
I flagged this in another blog. Teams are trying to play flat and fast even when they get to the opposition tryline when the defence has more time to reset.
That's where you need to throw shape at the opposition getting body's in motion making defenders hesitate creating one on one defensive reads and ensuring the opposition custodian remains active in the defensive line giving you options in attack including the short kick.
If you offer up slight variations in your shape you create more confusion defensively for your opponents and it creates a situation where they defend on their heels . Then the games yours.
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