For me the most pleasing aspect of this season, is that perhaps my two biggest concerns with our roster have proven to be lesser issues than I thought they would be. Specifically:
1. Ben Roberts is proving the doubters (including myself) wrong
Is playing far better than I expected. I had plenty of doubts about Roberts signing and a lot of latent resentment that his signing would prevent Hayne from moving to six, but in the end I figured he needed the chance to prove himself and if he did we'd end up with a pretty nicely balanced spine. Well, he's absolutely proved all of us who thought he wasn't up to it, as wrong and is playing within himself and his game is so much better for it. I give Kearney a big tick on this front, I think he's getting the best out of Roberts.
2. Cheyse Blair is potentially a long-term centre option. My biggest concern about our roster going into this season was the lack of depth in the centres, when it emerged Jacob Loko was out for the season. I think Blair is going to be the answer. As long as Tonga stays fit, Blair will easily hold up another end but more importantly could give us a decent attacking option to work our structures around if Willie Tonga is unavailable.
I know many of you were concerned about the nine position, but I feel Matt Keating has proven that he's capable of making a really good fist of the role this year - I think we've still got problems with 14 but I think we can go into each week, expecting Keating to fulfill his role. This wasn't a concern of mine, but it's probably fair to say that three of the biggest question marks surrounding the side look like they may not be significant problems.
On the flipside, other areas have emerged as areas of concern. Second row has proved to be a bigger issue than I thought, but Lasalo and Paulo's performances tonight were promising. We still really need someone who can punch through a hole outwide, but hopefully when Reni gets to play a proper role we get a bit more thrust there. I think Paulo can potentially play a really important role in the middle that lets Reni get a bit wider (but not too wide!)
And Chrissy Sandow still needs to prove himself a dominant half-back, who really takes control. There are a lot of Kearney bashers, but for me, I'm seeing a lot of individual improvement from a lot of these players already which you have to give the coaching staff credit for. They need to continue to get that improvement from a few other key players and get them playing more cohesively as a unit and this side will start to come together.
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My biggest concern is the fact that we are dropping off in intensity at the back end of matches and it has happened continually over the past year. Is it mental or physical weakness, or a combination? Do we need to work harder on our tackling techniques and slowing the oppositions play the ball down more? Near the end of the game the Warriors were looking far more fit and yet again after a brave effort we dropped off the last 10 minutes and they piled on late tries
I'm not a professional athlete, but I do wonder why we cannot close out games as strong as the other clubs. You look at a club like Melbourne, I despise them, but whatever they are doing is working. They never drop off in intensity at the end of the game, their defense always remains solid for a full 80 minutes. Are they training in a more effective manner than us? do they have a better tackling technique? I know they do a lot of wrestling training, they work hard on slowing the play the ball down. Its pretty frustrating to see your team put in a good effort every week for 70 minutes but let in 3 late tries most weeks. We must be doing something wrong, are we training too hard and burning out match day? I know Stephen Kearney is a fitness freak but not every training tactic works for everyone. Id be interested to see if there are any major differences in the way we train compared to the way the Storm trains
I think we miss a couple of enforcers in our defensive unit. We just don't have those players in our pack who are naturally aggressive and so as the game slips into the ebb and flow, they fall back into their natural game. But you saw out there when Sandow fires up, he brings them with him. I put down a lot of the Storm's success to Michael Crocker - the bloke just had that fire in his belly and when things got tight he lifted the side up to his intensity level. So I think its a mental thing, rather than physical. I think Kearney needs to give that enforcer responsibility to his two senior props - in JP and Fui and at least one of them needs to starts.
"I know many of you were concerned about the nine position". NOT WERE, "ARE!". Phil are you Keatings Manager?
P.S You got some TV time tonight Phil. If you see a replay of the game, they shoot over to you in the crowd after Sandow scores his second try. The Wig looks good with the gold swarm shirt.
Keating wasn't a weakness tonight but as per most weeks his performance was considerably worse at the end of the game. He is not getting rotated properly. I don't think McGuire is the answer off the bench. We need to blood someone for the future. Maybe even experiment Roberts as the backup hooker but I do think he is starting to settle into the 6 well. McGuire is not looking first grade material to me this year. Keating is getting us off to a solid start but when he is tiring we need an energetic replacement who can keep us on the front foot
Let's see, how the great 1Eyed unwashed feel in another month or so - I already feel the tide turning to us Keating believers. Even Colin got on the bandwagon tonight :-)
Michael Crocker now plays for Souths, but I agree he is a good player. But if he was the answer, Souths would have closed out their games and they haven't been able to either. I didn't think it before but I actually think we are burning out. We need to place more emphasis on skills training for the forwards and better training sessions and recovery to ensure we aren't getting gassed at the end of games. It can't be a coincidence that every game we are competitive for 70 mins and then falling apart last 10. They boyys are trying hardest, they just don't have it in them to play at their peak for 80 minutes at the moment
Crocker is a shadow of the player he was. I'd say he pulled Qld over the line quite a few times back when Origin was competitive.
Like I said I honestly don't think it's a physical thing. I don't see any of them huffing and puffing, I just see them fall into "old Parramatta" which means defensively they just try to hang in there, rather than dominating the collisions.
PHIL ,
How can we be positive , we have won including this years trials (6 games out of 30 since round 1 - 2011
we are in for a very long year from what i saw tonight .
sandow was great but we lack communication and attack flair .
injuries aside , we still are having troubles .
Eels cant afford to lose next week , i will say that - they must kick off next week before we get too far behind.
no wonder we haven't won a game then if he is our best! what a joke!
yes i agree what a frikin joke!!
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