The title says it all.
Last night we won by playing simple football. There were no flashy plays, no silly passes and simple pressure building kicks. there was no chance the arm, throw it up in the air and see if it sticks plays, which have there place in the game but they should be used sparingly.
I know there are a lot of Sandow haters on this site, and at times he seriously frustrates me as well, but when he is on, there is no better. Hopefully tonight he, and the entire team, saw exactly how applying constant pressure and not going for the flashy low percentage pass, kick or play, will eventually brake any team, even the best of them.
We have been guilty over the last few weeks of wanting to win to much and at any cost, thus forcing passes and going for low percentage plays. Yes some of that can be attributed to Sandow, he is our chief play maker, if he isn't going to do it who would? The blame does not, and should not, fall souly on his shoulders. Almost every player in the team has been guilty of that, not just Sandow.
Johns hit the nail on the head when saying that when confidence is down it can really effect a team. Parra have been the poster boys for that.
Hopefully the team can sit down together, watch this game and see how there was nothing flashy about the win and there is nothing wrong with that, a win is a win. Hopefully they can realise that if they ALL stick to the plan, don't force plays, run through teams and not continually try to go around them, we can and will grind out a win.
The only blight on last nights game was the lapse in defence early in the second half where we let the Panthers back in. It was good to see that the boys didn't just drop their heads, which they have been guilty of this season, and they rallied to come back and take the game.
Long story short, well done to Brad Aurthur and the boys. Hopefully this can be the start to the rest of this season. I don't care if we don't make the eight, it would be nice, just as long as we show we are learning from our mistakes and what hanging in there for each other can do.
Grate game and go Parra!!!
Replies
Usually we are playing catchup and therefore taking more risks.
BA had them switched on from the kickoff.
Nice blog Matt, agree, back to the basics.
They also played better because the halves played together on the same side a lot of the time - not split. They also played worse once Seffa started to try and ball-play. When he first came on he was just running straight and hard, I was both amazed and impressed! Then he started to ball-play and things went bad and Sasndow went quiet....coincidence much?!
What was the difference between last night and the past 2 games? Not very much imo. Just want to hear people's thoughts on that. I thought we've played a very similar game in the past 3 but only 1 ended up with a win.
Same defensive effort against the Cowboys & the eels will get taught a lesson.
Semi has also been returning to form. Looks like he's got some confidence back, which had been slightly lacking the last 2 games.