We have the 3rd best attack and the 4th worst defence in the competition. I was again amazed during our Warriors game the amount of times our tacklers are last off the ground leaving us short while the other team plays the ball. I watched the storms game as a comparison and was really surprised during their tackling they were hardly ever the last off the ground. The man with the ball was nearly always the last up. There were a few exceptions but nothing like our team where it occurs in just about every set of six and more than once at times. It's not rocket science and one only has to watch how the storm make sure the defender on top is last to let go and the defender on the ground is first to release and jump up into position. The third man always retreats back to his line. We have let through so many tries by our defenders lying in the ruck and being last to get up and playing no part the next defensive play. Who is our defence coach he dead set needs a rocket because we are terrible in this regard and it's fixable. Can we fix it in time for the semis.
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Don't worry I'm sure BA and Kidwell are working on this and other game changing strategies as we speak...........
Yeah ruck defence and halfback kick selection are our two major problems. Our second problem has improved but our ruck defence is atrocious. If teams get on a roll and have a bit of leeway regarding their play the ball we are shot. The refs end up missing a lot because they can't keep up and our opposition pushing through the ruck compounds our issues. It's a cycle. Sadly I don't think could be fixed short term.
I don’t think greater numbers are the answer, it’s poor technique that’s the issue. I’ve lost count of the number of times we have 3 players in the tackle, but not one of them are locking up the ball.
If you watch Melbourne, they are the masters of this. Cam Smith hits and sticks front on, locks up the ball or at least makes it more difficult and therefore more risky to offload, then the second man, usually Dale Finucane comes in with power from the side and knocks the ball carrier off balance, and then finally the 3rd man goes low and takes the legs with the first two turn him in his back.
It isn’t a fluke or an accident, it’s a science that they have practiced time and again to the point it is second nature. They are perfect in it and they know that in balance their defence will hold up. They simply take away the option of you beating them through the middle.
It just reduces your options.
I thinks it’s 2 things.
1) Technical: Wrestling technique, front on contact , line speed
2) (Most importantly) Personnel. Apart from Brown we don’t have anyone who wants to stamp their authority on the game with defence. Or maybe they simply don’t have the ability.
I don’t think we can fix this before the semis unfortunately. We’re about 3 forwards short and I’m not sure our defensive systems are up to scratch
Just my 2 cents
I agree we don’t have any guys with mongrel apart from Brown. Even Paulo who is scary big and strong isn’t that type of player. To be honest one of the few guys in our side who tries to get himself into the game with his defence is our 85kilo number 6.
Our defence is atrocious at times . Most of it stems from not pushing off the line and meeting the ball carrier instead we wait for the ball carrier to come to the defence losing the tackle , then the ruck.
Against Manly we as I call it tread water for most of the game where your doing a jig in the one spot not pushing up or moving back . Defences that do this get steamrolled.
If we push forward continually it’s easier to make defensive reads because your working in unison with the men outside and in and you ask the attack to make a decision not the attack asking the defence to make a decision .Never is this more evident when defending your line.
The reason teams score soft tries on our edges is because we simply don’t push up. You’ll fix a lot of the first up contact and the rubbish around the play the ball by moving forward as a defensive line . You can’t be a passive defensive line you must show intent.
We can’t slide. We can’t defend a simple backline play. We can’t make good decisions in any part of the field.
Not sure why we’ve gone backwards under ba the longer he has coached.
At the start of the year with marata and lane we were looking ok but the wheels fell off and now we have no idea.
We’ve moved from 16th to 6th in the space of less than a season.
How that can be viewed as backwards is beyond me. Yes we have lots to work on, clearly so do the 10 teams below us.
An issue I've picked up on is when our middle third is on the back foot, no one is smart enough to give a penalty away in order for our defensive line to reset. Better to give 2 points away than a try that you can see is coming. We need more smarts from our forwards which I'm constantly failing to see. I see other teams give away penalties on the 1st or 2nd tackles when they are all over the shop, but we don't do this simply waiting for the inevitable.
ok... you can't shout out to "hold the ball player" cause the refs hearing this can find probable cause for a proffesional foul and send a player to the bin but they can have a code name a player will shout out to the tacklers to ride a fine line for a penalty if were short on either side of the ruck and the opposition a pass or two from scoring.
Hopefully we can gain some football intelligence that Cam Smith has plenty of.
I see what you are saying, but I don't like that type of play. In past seasons we gave away a lot of penalties which inevitably led to the opposition getting better field position and tries. The team has addressed this to not give away penalties, which has gone some way to fix the field position issue, but we are getting steam rolled through the middle at times. I'm not sure if giving away penalties for a breather will fix this - it really needs players to step us in defence when the going gets tough, but easier said than done.
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