Foremost, greetings to all fellow Parra fans, this is my first post here. Please forgive me for making a belated blog on an issue from last week's loss to the Cowboys.
To opt for a shot at goal with a huge lead of 28-6 can interpreted as the players prematurely taking their foot off the pedal. I can understand taking 2 points when 4 or 6 up, but in our position of sheer dominance, our team's mentality can be perceived as; we're absolutely killing them, but take 2 to extend our already "unassailable lead" and we'll simply cruise home any how. If it was the coach's call, how do you justify relinquishing the momentum with the conservative option when we could well have finished the game then and there with another try?
It sounds like I'm venting my anger, but from a level headed perspective, we are not playing atrociously. Crucial lapses in concentration, lack of confidence and experience under pressure is robbing us of some very winnable games. Hopefully we can turn things around and I urge our fans to stick with the team.
Some other thoughts:
- Our much maligned halves are not the problem. Defence is our major weakness. It is no coincidence that in our wins particularly against Manly and Souths, our line speed was formidable, our first up contact was fierce and directly in the opposition's face, which ultimately allowed our halves to calve up. If there's any criticism of the halves, it would be their lack of composure in building pressure in attack. Our attacking and last tackle options are built on frantic all or nothing, "must score" plays, rather than patience, when I believe our backline has enough offensive potency.
- Over the past few years, there's no doubt that Sandow has not lived up to the standard that we expected. However, this year, having lost a lot of weight and showing signs of refound confidence, he has actually been one of our livewires (albeit somewhat inconsistently) and is far from our worst performed players. I believe he is being made a scapegoat for our poor results, when yet we can easily name a bunch of other players, eg. Hopoate and Watmough who have been arguably more underwhelming for what they demand in salary. Releasing Sandow, our most dynamic player prematurely can only further hinder our fortunes, and dare I say, even our much frowned upon goal kicking.
- Nathan Peats has really been growing on me. His aggression and technique in defence can be measured far beyond his size. His vocality, line speed and energy around the ruck makes him a natural leader and an invaluable asset. I hope the club does everything in their power to retain him as part of our core spine, which is lacking a quality fullback. However, I can't help but think that our impending degree of success may have a profound influence on the length of his tenure at Parramatta.
I can draw just enough positives and encouragement from our performances over the past month to continue being optimistic...
With Slater and a handful of Origin Representatives out of the Storm team this coming Monday night, now is the time for us to stand up.
Replies
As you said the fifth tackle options are built on all or nothing plays. That chip and chase by sandow shows this. He pointed for the bomb and changed his mind with no chasers following him. I don't mind if he chips into open space in their in goal with chasers following or grubbers for himself in the in goal with chasers following, as you can get a repeat set of those kicks but don't do it when nobody knows it's on. I dont mind that 40/20 attempt as long as chasers know that he's kicking it, it gives us three or four tackles where we smash their backs. A kick is only as good as its chasers.
On a good day, I love watching chrissy sandow play, just needs to improve his decision making, his defence and limit his poor performances.
Did you read Matt Elliott summary on NRL website? Watmough, Robinson and Hoppa mentioned as reasons why Cows scored 5 trys, but Sandow not mentioned, funny about that.
His attack does not outweigh his defence and that is why I think we shouldn't resign him. When he's on his game, great to watch but how often is that?
In saying that I wish him all the best and hope he works hard on his game and transforms his game the way a benji marshall has, controlling the game, making high percentage plays and showing enthusiasm in defence.
But Sandow's chip kick, if it had of came off, would have been hailed as brilliant. The spontaneous point scoring and X factor we need, etc. Sometimss plays come off, sometimes not. Too structured is as bad as not structured enough.
Also, if you watched the Matt Elliot piece dissecting our capitulation, what you will see is a more complex picture than just Sandow leaking points. For instance, Robinson was out of position three times on kicks. Hoppa was asleep on two plays. Our players were not showing any urgency or fight to get in position. Behind the line they were all off in their own world of self-pity rather than gathered by a leader laying down the law. We simply went to sleep and did not have the ball in hand for 10 minutes. It was a compete mental shut down across the park. That's bad coaching and no leadership.
Reckon your right PK it was a no-brainer to take the two with that scoreline.
Possibly the person in the know has the gift of hindsight that we don't ;)). Don't see how could anyone foresee that taking the two points was a mistake?.
I don't think this was a game where any one player could be hed responsible they were all to blame (including the dopey linesman and ref who allowed that first try off a forward pass)