Ok, we are all a bit dissappointed by the form of our team of superstars so far this season, but it is early days yet, and there are some encourageing signs too. Our players dont look fit.. yet. Despite this, we have managed pretty damn well in defence considering the amount of possession our out of focus attitude has given opposing teams.
There are sparks of the brilliance this team can put on when they want to. Hell we even won one of these lazy attitude games after being 20 zip down.
One thing i learnt from my boxing days... Coaches/ Trainers know that the human body can only perform at it's absolute peak for a few weeks at a time, and the goal is to get that peak in the last two games of the year. We all see choking teams/ atheletes that seem to race out of the blocks and then fall in a heap. In this competion, you just want to be fit enough and play well enough to be in the final eight, not burnt out by trying to win every game of the season. With the comp being so tight though, you cant afford to rest on your laurels too long.
Last year Parra just had to far to come back, and by the last few games, even the ones we scraped through, they were tiring, if we had played the grand final 4-5 weeks into that run we would have beat any team on the planet. Melbourne hit the GF right in their sweet peak fitness spot. Bellamy is a master at this.
I dont think we want to get to far out of the eight by round 10- 11, and then stay in it as gently as possible until round 19.. then start going for it, that will get us the grand final. Melbourne will be there for sure, and if we time our run just as well, we will win it.
There are some very confidence inspiring moments of brilliance in our attack, despite the lack of focus and attitude.
Replies
1. Hayne looks the good again this year, he just needs to others to rise to the occasion
2. We have won 1 game and narrowly lost 2, against quality opposition, despite only playing at our 'peak' for about 30mins of the 240mins we've played so far
3. Our entire backline is looking strong and dangerous (including Inu) we just need better ball to them
4. The biggest positive of them all!!! ITS ONLY ROUND 3!!!! We have another 23 rounds til the finals! Give it 3 more weeks and the cobwebs will be blown off and we'll be laughing at how melodramatic some of these stupid posts have been over the past 48hrs!!!
I think its a massive positive that we've not recorded a blow-out against us, like the Dogs did to the Roosters. Based on the weight of possession we've had to concede in all three matches, we really should have got beaten far more badly than we did. The fact that we've done this with many of our players not yet firing augurs well for when a couple of our key blokes find some form.
agree with eels4life - put in 100% every game or put in others that will
At the moment our lads want to do the pretty stuff more than the gritty stuff. That is across the park, no exceptions.
I do think that melbourne are a great example on how to start a season but, they are 3 from 3 and havent played at home yet..............
teams only need 28 points to make the 8. storm will most likely find themselves in a position in a few weeks that they can go win/loss for the rest of the season and still easily make the 8, while staying pretty fresh for the finals coz not each game, especially away games will be must wins. this takes the pressure off them,they take the points while teams are still gelling, then can afford to not have to go nuts every week and save themselves some energy.
Parra do need to up their season starts, we cnt do what we did last year and fire up for the last 3 months.
Usually it is shit at this time of year and gets gradually better.
I think it is going quite well, except for a couple of lapses most notably from Tahu last week, and will be really good by the end of the year hopefully.
I actually Parra is a better defensive team than an offensive team at the moment.
We are not putting any pressure on our opponents by having a pedestrian line speed. We've made it easy for them to have good completion rates etc. The result, not much petrol in our own tanks for dominating runs, brilliant attack. Against the Tigers we played arguably the 2nd best attacking unit in the game and they just ran us of our feet. In the end, a 5 tries to 2 scoreline flattered us.
I believe Ando has to get us back to basics and start playing a bit more structured. A bit of predictability early, no mistakes and hard defence and then let us go.
Our first 20 minutes HAS to be a mental thing and I think this whole set the platform business is the biggest reason behind it.
Agree on the goal-line defence, and while it will stand us in good stead for the future if we keep this side on the park don't undeestimate what a few injuries and then having to bring in some younger blokes does to that. It's why we really need to winning early games, because we have pretty much all senior players and with our greatly decreased depth this year, thats not going to be the case all year.
Therefore on that basis I think that the majority of the focus can be on our attack without too much major concern about the defence at this stage.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next