The reality is we were simply not good enough.
The Bulldogs smashed us in the forwards. They were relentless.
We did a remarkable job in line defence up to 20 minutes to go, but the writing was on the wall well before Galvin came on.
The Delusion
Many on here were crying in their soup because we missed getting Galvin. Sure enough, the Doomsdayers were in force.
Image (getty): The Galvin Show reached a climax yesterday when the young rockstar scored; the cherry on top
Some believe he would have made a difference for us. BUT if the negotiations went the other way, we still would not have won that game with the errors we made. The fact that our halves were playing behind a completely dominated forward pack.
The Wake Up Call
Today was a wake up call we needed, while the dogs showed they are the real deal. Low error rate, strong discipline and a commitment to a plan.
Now that is complimentary to the Dogs and fair enough, but Muttman made the relevant point — it was always about "errors".
We made 15 v 5 errors (Foxlab). No team can win a game with the amount we made. And many were yardage errors coming out of our end in our red zone.
Image (getty): The Dogs' won the middle and the grind
The High-Speed Grind — Again
The Dogs, as the Panthers last week executed the high-speed Grind last — good go-forward (1999m v 1176m run metres), ball control (90% v 66% completions) and aggressive kick chases to reduce pressure in their defence and fatigue.
It increasingly tightened their dominance on the game as it wore on, as it gradually slipped from our hands.
The Dogs dominated field position, territory (58% 1st half, 68% 2nd half) and possession (55% 1st half, 64% 2nd half).
The Dogs had 47-6 tackles in our red zone. Incredibly, we had 0 opportunities in their red zone in the second half. Those stats are almost unheard of. Did they break any records?
The stats match the eye test. As the game wore on, the grind continued to tighten the noose around our necks.
Our resilience would eventually fail through shear exhaustion and lack of oxygen. It's very Panthers 2020-2024.
The referees certainly helped the Dogs' cause with possession and territory — set restarts and penalties were 12 v 6. We have historically one if the poorest long-term records against Atkins and Sutton. Whoever selected them for this game, didn't miss their mark. Nothing to see here, obviously.
How we stayed in the game at half-time and in the game for 60 odd minutes despite the Everest-like mountain of possession, officiating assistance and territory defies belief.
Is it Us, Them or both?
The real issues are two-fold.
One, did the "dogs" make us do them or was it just poor play and discipline and the lack of any imagination in our game plan?
Two, who is responsible for that? Whether it is Moses or Ryles is not the point. I am not looking for scapegoats. We have plenty on this site that will do that for me every day of the week 24/7 as a full-time profession.
Images (Getty): The longer the game wore on, the more Mitchell Moses was on the back foot — in Dylan and Moses' 100th game together.
Moses is a very good half. World class and essential to us — but he is not the superstar some may believe. I would drop him from the Origin side as he offers nothing to compliment that team. If Cleary was injured, I would have no problem with him stepping back in. But he is on a hiding to nothing playing 5/8 to Cleary.
The Final Word
The ongoing "tease" has now been exposed and it is up to Ryles now. He needs to recognise this in his match day plan and his selections. What happened to Matterson?
Personally, I think the wakeup call showed we were over-confident that everything we were doing was ok — on the right track. Sure, the "effort" was there as was the goal line resilience and defence. But, once again, the execution and polish— as it has been on many occasions this year — was poor.
What's next?
"We'll continue to work on our roster", Ryles added in addition to the theme of consistency and gradual improvement. Perhaps, Ryles hinted at it right there. The cattle he has has put in and showed resilience and unity beyond their experience levels — and we're a work in progress. How long until we cash in on that?
Replies
You Wiz, would hate to be my wife or daughter......if you were my son, I would kick you up the arse. I would be so disappointed in your constant negativity and fear of failure.
Now I have a wife and 9 grandchildren, one of my granddaughters is 15 years old and had a very negative situation in her school.
That said I feel that DB was in someways lucky because the "life lesson" he learnt should hold him in good stead and make him more empathetic in such circumstances.
There are a lot of people on this planet that have leant to forgive, it seems to me your unforgiving response is not something I would be proud of if you were my son. I would understand that you may "punch him out" or be vengeful, but the reality has to be questioned, who is the bigger fool, you or him?
Afterall Wiz, we both know you "are no angel".
Get over it son and move on. Try and be constructive, rather than tearing everything down. You will get more out of life that way.
we will be a poorer team with Dylan gone, no doubt. Shame we couldn't get him for us in his prime years and prime form, happy and mind on his role.
Yes he does put in at the defence stuff. He's good at not having to be creative. Hes like the best brickies labourer on the job site. Everyone loves him cause he works hard. But he couldn't plan a job to save his life however gets paid foreman wages. He should actually be in head office marketing the sale of the building though , because some how he's come out as the best salesman in the business.
That's better! good lad!
Its always good to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses when judging human beings.
I look forward to an enlightened Wizard who I genuinely like (sometimes anyway) LOL
Footy has a long way to go before it can get to a level of cohesion, discipline, harmony to some of the other accomplishments in teamwork. We can learn a lot from the way others prepare to present their skill base
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kuae_bCT8cV_BpJSyR9...
How do you get team synchronicity? Have some fun and build a coordinated flow by doing some team building training exercises to Beethoven s 5 th symphony . I am sure it would help in lots of ways. Ha ha ( I am serious)
Good write up Poppa, yes our exacution needs to be better but so does our kicking out of trouble, every 1 blows their bolts over Moses kicking and yes his kicks are long but the problem is they aren't good kicks as most go straight to the winger or fullback and they make 10 to 20 mtrs before they get to the defense. He needs to change up his kicing and not go so long so the defence can get up in their face, chalaging the kick or findig the turf between fullback and wing. Another issue is when in the red zone they stick to the structure but sometimes they need to play eyes up footy to get the out come. Defense and structures are so much better but maybe a couple more good experience forwards would go along way in solving our problems.
Thanks Shane, I think you have identified the right things.
Game 1 of the 24 season we did exactly the same to the Dogs completed highly and choked them.Oh how far we've fallen.
Gameplans to are the cause of these errors as it's quite clear some are more suited than others.So JR is in a catch 22 continue along in what he believes in and potentially get the spoon or adapt the mentioned and continue experimenting.The errors have been there from the jump though and they just haven't gone a way.
I even heard him during the presser he's even saying now he needs more of his types of players.Right now we are a finesse team that no longer has a physical enough edge to it and teams especially the good ones just target us around the ruck stay patient and we wear down and enter the errors that's the formula right now against us.
This team completed at 70% against the Dogs with 12 or so errors and the opponent's completed at 90 you get the picture.
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