Big shame. But I'm sure 95% of us could see the script coming tonight. As someone said earlier, 'It's like clockwork'.
OBVIOUS on-field concerns:
1. Goal kicking. Enough has been made on here and in the media. We need a dedicated kicker asap. 4 comp points blown in 2 weeks.
2. Sandow in 2015. See 37 other blogs. How can we use him effectively, if at all?
3. Losing/winning culture. See 78 other blogs. We need to 'smart' out wins. The last two were there for the taking.
SUBTLE on-field concerns:
1. The effects of continuous contentious differential refereeing decisions on us. I get the feeling that our ruck, line speed and wrestling mentality has been seriously screwed with by the last few seasons' poor penalty records. Souths exploited us badly tonight and had many, many more attacking kick opportunities as a result of quick play the balls and easy metres. We relied on ball movement tonight to make metres on the edges. Our forwards tried hard, but theirs had the confidence of a well-oiled (disciplined) machine. We're a long way from mastering the subtleties here, and I'm positive a lack of confidence in the referees and grey ruling areas is impacting us.
2. Missed tackles. 28 to 9 or something is a worry, especially when most of the other stats were fairly even.
3. Leadership. Perhaps not so subtle, but I firmly believe Peats is the man to lead us into the future. Possibly Foran in his 2nd or 3rd year.
I'll enjoy reading the rants for the next hour or so, then when the pain eases away, start thinking ahead to next Friday and beyond.
EDITED: Has anyone heard anything about Tepai's injury? There was nothing on NRL or in the presser...
Replies
To be fair, Norman had moments of smarts. Certainly two very clever touch-finders. Peats played with smarts. Foran will likely bring us smarts. Perhaps it's closer then we think?
A well balanced summary mate. The effort was there but too many errors. Also the selection of Sandow as FB was a BA mistake that cost us heaps.
i agree. Great blog.
You joining the Sandow Haters Club Michael?
Sowfs would have scored FIVE tries last night except our FB stopped them cold when he was THE last line of defence.
The ONLY goal kicked last night was from directly in front of the sticks.
Care to balance your argument by showing us HOW much better Keary was as a kicker last night?
A team that ONLY plays 60 minutes REGULARLY ever week cannot claim "some good efforts".
It is either a GOOD effort for 80 minutes, or the 20 minutes they DON'T play makes their entire effort CRAP.
The refs have cost us games but we are not the only team with this problem.
Moreover, I do agree that peats should be captain, he leads the way each week.
Exactly. Peats is the man.
Actually, someone else should've been back-up captain tonight, because Peats should've been in origin camp.
Peats or Choc for me.
Mannah has to go, he is so slow around the ruck in defence and marker its not funny, it gives them momentum up the middle, and Im pretty sure but correct me if im wrong, but when the games on the line he has coughed up the ball twice in the last two weeks from simple hit-ups.
The two people that you really rely on when its crunch time are your captain and your half back, the problem with parra is that ours or shite and can't be trusted.
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