1EE`s blog " What Does Sandow`s Dropping Mean"? I replied that it means that : The baby has been thrown out with the bath water. So it proved yesterday. Sandow would have kicked one of those goals at least. It is not the first time the coach has gone into games without a goal kicker. He did it last year. We lost two games because of missed goal kicks. Sandow was brought back from NSW Cup and we then started to win some games. If we had won one of those two games we would have been in the eight last year. Yesterday showed the general incompetence in the side. Early on, we had a penalty at close range virtually in front. There were cries from the crowd, including me, to take the two. They did not do that,they took the tap kick and lost the ball on the first tackle! This from a team that lacks attacking ability and options. We would have won the game with that goal--even Kelly had a good chance of kicking that goal. Last night even Souths and the Storm took early points via penalty kicks. It`s OK for the leading sides to take early easy points but not OK for the team coming near last!
We have very little attack because we lack speed in important positions. Our two centres, Will Hoppa and Tarra are not fast enough. Neither is Norman or Roberson at fullback--who is fast as a winger but does not produce it at FB. Our only attacking option is Semi Rad who needs a good inside man to put him away. It happened once only last night and Semi delivered. Given that Kelly has no real speed, our backline has no real attack to it and bog us down.
Could it be that Chris Sandow knows this instinctively and goes for the low percentage options trying to initiate some attack, any at all? He has paid the price for that, if so, but so has the team as a whole which was boring to the extreme last night.On our home ground we meet a team down on troops going into the game and who lost, for the game, two other important members in the first half. We still could not win in those circumstances because of no real attack. Every team we will meet from here on will be much better equipped than were the Warriors against us last night.
Sandow should return to the NRL side to bolster the attack. We just have to cope with any defensive problems from him.
I don`t think Tepai M is playing well enough for 1st grade--not too many are! He should be in U20 trying to eliminate his demons brought on, I believe, by a too early introduction into NRL. Many, including our coaching brain trusts, are itching to make the same mistake with Bevan French. It is unfortunate to make that mistake once, to do it twice is reprehensible.
Replies
We have little attack because we lost the greatest attacking weapon in the game. I agree that the Sandow dropping was harsh when you consider how many others are playing worse than he is. BA's honeymoon period is well and truly over now. Time to start making some tough decisions.
1: B French
2: S Radradra
3: W Hoppa
4: J Folou
5: R Robinson
6: R Matterson
7: C Norman
8: D Wicks
9: N Peats
10: T Mannah (c)
11: M Mau
12: A Watmough
13: B Takairangi
14: Jr Paulo
15: T Moeroa
16: P Pauli
17: P Terepo
French and Matterson and Folou, were great for wenty yesterday deserve a shot
Takairangi would be better suited to back row... Four big boppers on the bench for impact
2- Radrada
3- Morgan
4- Hopoate
5- Robinson
6- Norman
7- Kelly
8- Mannah
9- Peats
10- Wicks
11- Mau
12- Moeroa
13- Watmough
14- Gower
15- Pauli
16- Terepo
17- Fa'aso
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