I saw the Raiders play the Dogs last night. Raiders big pack just absolutely monstered Dogs pack easily so by 20 minute mark Dog's forwards had already closed up shop. Replacements Klemmer and Kasiano offered some go forward for a time but even they were eventually dominated.
No way can we defend our way to a win against them, our attack just has to be on and that currently is our problem. It involves a quick solution, something that hasn't happened after 5 rounds. We have to be more creative and imo second phase play is part of the solution. Gower should be used out wide with his offload, not in the middle which just didn't work on Sunday. Bring O'Brien into squad, another big body, and apparently he also has an offload in him and drop Terepo, just too one dimensional.
Additionally the halves have to be more creative, we have yet to see any short kicks behind defensive line to exploit the speed of Jennings or Semi and many kicks into ingoal area to get repeat sets.
Our attack has spluttered along, we have been in positions to score many more trys but continue to drop the ball or be pinged for obstruction. This just has to improve because you cannot continue to defend your way to a win over 24 games during the season. If our defence and attack doesn't work this coming weekend we could cop our first hiding of the year.
Replies
agree Glenn.
Im worried by what I saw last night.
Mannah is a real loss at this stage. What might help us is injuries they suffered last night and the short turn around.
Hi Glenn, I was having a quiet chuckle to myself after reading several blogs/posts that in essence r indirectly very complimentary to RS. A lot of Parra fans r now fearful of next weeks game against the Raiders & r expecting our "little pack" to get totally outmuscled by the far bigger Raiders pack. Funny how our little pack stood up to the Broncs & the Premiers.
During the preseason, 1Eyed fans were carrying on about how strong our pack was, how well we recruited & how BA was our saviour & now, after just one loss by 2 points, the sky is falling in, Armageddon has arrived & BA hasn't got a clue about selecting players into FG. Just amazing how incompetent BA has become after one loss.
Maybe RS was a better coach than a lot of us gave him credit for when he coached the B&G or just maybe he magically improved & developed after joining the Raiders.
Funny game League.
Actually Michael I was never one to laud our pack and definitely didn't say we would be top 4. I am being a realist and after last night's demolition of the Dogs I'm saying we cannot rely on our defence to beat them, our attack also has to be on. If so we have a good chance of beating them but imo cannot do it on defence alone.
This blog is total butthurt.
Bring OBrien into the squad?
All these suggestions for the Raiders as they beat Dogs? Guess what, so did we.
We need to work on hanging onto the ball a bit more but we will be fine. Lets no panic just yet after the weekends loss.
Parra by 12+.
we can't take raiders lightly. they are the real deal this year.
we will rise up.
We keep our penalties way down and play with discipline, we will out do them.
Hopefully last week was a bit of a lesson. Yes our defence is very good but it isn't impenetrable especially when teams like Penrith start playing razzle dazzle footy at the end of a game.
Therefore we have to make sure we take all our chances and apply scoreboard pressure as well as defensive pressure on the opposition. Big test this week but if we pass it one step closer to finals footy.