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
Ok, Two of my unhappy friends.
I don't think I can offfer any more than i have in the blog. I was hardly complimentary.
Moses maybe world class, but there are a lot of world class halfbacks. Yes he is a good one, but the relevant points stand.
I think context in terms of errors, and there forward dominance is the only excuse.
Bluey, you are critical of us losing Galvin by the sound of it.
It's a dangerous game when we never had him to lose in the first place. The conspiracy of how he has ended up at the dogs is pretty well documented.
His time on the field was hardly relevant yesterday. We were shot at that point and the statistics summary of Brown is hardly fair. I reckon he saved a minimum of two tries and tell me a Parramatta player that made a line break?
Halves playing behind a pack being dominated hardly ever look good. Ask Cherry Evans?
I would maybe ask the question why our kick chase is so poor, Dogs ran it back 20 metres before our defence got there, when they kicked to us our receiver was always under pressure. Why is this so? happened previous weeks as well.
Maybe in this particular game we may need to be more complimentary to our opponents of being too good. Whilst it happens that all teams make some errors, it appeared yesterday that the Dogs hardly made any. The dominance of their possesion indicated that, i.e. limited errors from the dogs, plenty from us.
"I would maybe ask the question why our kick chase is so poor"
we were knackered defending and going one out.
Our knockons and intercept (though they probably saved potential tries) which gave them more possession tired us more.
When the dogs did make a mistake we threw the ball over the sideline or just couldn't execute
Isn't it funny how when someone else questions Moses they're haters and know nothing, and then all of a sudden when he sniffs one or two of his cool kids posters querying parts of Moses's game , he gets the courage to start to have a little negativity creep in.
Fast forward a few weeks and Moses plays a blinder on a flat track team , and it'll be back to " Silly Wiz even said Moses ain't perfect ...... and we all know he is " all over again 😂😂
All it tells you is what I been saying for years you have to spend big coin on certain parts of the team.What it does tell you is that things around him need to function to see his true value.
Now go back the last 2 seasons and ask consistently if this is happening.
Moses isn't Superman he can't do what is expected if the key parts around him aren't functioning much like DB last year and this it's same same.
As for cap spend well you have to spend it somewhere.Unfortunately what we are seeing now is both of our halves are victims of a team that pretty much isn't doing what's required for them to flourish.
It is difficult to accept that so much of our cap is tied up with halves that have no ability to play what is in front of them with creativity or flair. We desperately need a ball playing 5/8 (with speed) to compliment what Moses has to offer - time and time again an opposition loses a player to the bin or has a player carrying an injury on one side of the field and Moses and Brown play the rehearsed moves with a total inability to run to the weakness , ball in hand and exploit the opportunity offered.
I also find it challenging to think that Russell finds his spot in the team when his skill set is so lacking and that Ryles cant find someone else in the club to trial in that spot. Yes Penisini has some errors in his game but the bloke has a go. Russell brings nothing to the table in attack and his hit ups are so pedestrian that opposing teams are just lining him up to whack him. This season is gone so Ryles should be putting some of theses younger blokes up to see just what they offer and then how much more cleaning out needs to be done.
So now your saying DB has no speed or ball playing even though that's what his game is based on.Ask the question how many times this year have we dominated possession or had a field position advantage for these halves to do as mentioned.
All good teams have a fair portion of there cap tied up in there halves,some more than others.
Pops whose talked about here errors longer than me.
I was talking this obvious stuff after the Newcastle hit out and yet here we are 3 months later.
I even understand why because in some spaces players have license and one who has learnt his lesson more so than Katonga as an example.
The problem with this license and JR is correct the more time they spend passing and moving the ball closer or through and in contact the more automated it becomes.Players are still learning that.
But what JR has to understand much like his selection he has to dial it down because we cannot consistently pull his game plans off with how he wants us play.The last coach was run hard and play through the contact and off load earn that option by running hard.JR is width based move continually moving the impact point.
I have also mentioned this if he wants to play this way he has to have better talent than the other side we don't we still making to many errors and bottom 3-4 is where we shall stay.
I haven't even gone into defense yet because we don't have the first contact to force errors another blight that needs attention.Our edges look ALOT better but it's at the cost of getting arseholed in the middle.
Like BE mentions Moses isn't going to be in his prime forever would Parra offer Izzy Katoa a monster deal I know I would.
Yes Dylan was again silent in the match...but I have to say one thing he does a lot of the messy scramble defensive work that no ones sees or credits....Yes he is not doing enough in attack but we will miss his mop up work next year ......
You're corrrect again Parra Greg cheers mate
At the beginning of this year I was very critical of DB. He most certainly has turned his effort areas around.
What we are realising now of course is that Dylan in attack is a shadow of his best. I honestly believed he is slower, presumably because of his ACL tear and what I have been saying for a while i.e. burnout.
He even misses a few tackles these days where once he hardly ever missed.
He has been one of my favourite players since he came into grade. I don't envy Newcastle trying to get the rediculous value they have offered to pay him.
Honestly believe we have had a windfall in losing him on the evidence we see.
One last thing that came home to me last year. The season he was asked to do it all.
He had been attacking (supporting) at the far right on the opposition quarter and the ball went in another direction resulting in a try being scored against us on the left at the other end of the field to where Dylan was
He was the only bloke chasing at the end of that play......I have seen racehorse's run into the ground. I saw Ray Price do it and get away with it.......unfortunately Ray Price's only come around once in a lifetime !
Maybe he will refresh with Newcastle, I hope he does. If they manage to turn him into an effective playmaker (7) they will certainly show up our coaching personell prior to Ryles.
Ryles is not to blame from this, its sits squarely on mismanagement from BA. Sorry Chiefy, I know you love BA but this kid with so much ability has been poorly managed and yes I understand his personal short comings.
Unforgiveable that a 23 year old kid had a high sex drive and touched a woman's boobs when pissed at a night club after midnight. He was probably one in a thousand young RL Players that have done some similar things and worse over the years, but getting caught hopefully will improve his character.
I hope he has never read the one eyed eel.
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