I think everybody here would have heard of BA's expression / ethos of Chasing the Collision. I think this has for the most part in the last couple of seasons worked well for our forwards, although this tactic seems to have maybe tired our forwards out in the back end of the year. But I think our backline using this same method has really kept us on a par below the real players in this years comp.
BA likes his wingers big and strong, to bash their way out of the end zone, and to barge over from close range. I think this tactic has made us extremely predictable and why weve been picked off in the back end of the last two seasons as teams study the tapes and see us doing the same thing week in week out. They all know, that Sivo will run directly into them, they all know that Fergo (or whoever hes replaced with on a weekly basis) will run straight into them. All they have to do is commit enough players to make the tackle and lock up the ball, they know they arent going to step, or jink or jive. Just freighttrain into them.
The wingers in particular, of the best teams in the comp, Melbourne, Penrith, South Sydney and Manly take the hit if they need to or there is no other option, but wherever possible, they are running around like madmen searching for the tinniest of gaps to exploit. Those wingers on those teams are typically smaller and a hell of a lot faster than ours and they make an oppositon pay for the smallest of lapses or misreads. Teams playing against Parramatta rarely get a chance to make misreads, beacuse our guys chase the collision, and if they do happen to get caught out, they are able to re adjust and cover because our guys arent quick enough to exploit their mistake.
Waqa Blake in the centres, Im not a big fan, but several games this year he has stood out, maybe not results wise, but he presents a clear visual differrence to the rest of our backline because he does change direction and search for a hole, I just dont think he has the quality to find or exploit a hole but he does seem to be looking for one more than the rest of his backs. Another standout for me this year was when Will Penisini had his run, he didnt make a straight run all night and he did his thing at a speed that none of our backs have.
I dont know why tactics etc cant be changed mid season, when things have stopped working, it seems BA is unable to adjust. I think he is a great coach at getting his team to do exactly what he wants them to do, but yeah for me, he is no good at recognising that what he is telling them to do is not working and adjustng. I thnk he was spoilt coming into this side when Semi was doing his thing, one of the greatest wingers ive ever seen play, and yes he was a big unit, but he was extremly quick and despite his size, he scanned the line every single run for a weak point to exploit. I think BA failed to see WHY Semi was so devestating, and just chose to believe that his size was his key to success.
So with predictable and slow backs, and a forward pack that has for some reason lost their sting and stopped their offloads, we are being ruthlessly exposed by the oppostion, because despite the results, BA is still ordering his guys to Chase the Collison and not even remotely looking likely of adjusting his teams playing style.
Also side note, I think there are probably several blogs on this so ill keep it short, I think Sivo should personally be told to lift his game. His attitude is terrible , slow play the balls every time, feigning injury every second tackle allowing oppositions to reset, slowly jogging back to retrieve kicks on the ground. His commitment is questionable, his aggression is non exsistant. But yes as I said I respect that there likely plenty of blogs on Sivo so Ill leave it at that.
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