If some of you people can check in your hipocracy after last week, it may be you will be able to see your own biases.
Have a read of what Pro Daz said about scapegoats. You called it well Daz and it showed up how people change given circumstances and whinging.
I suggested we would possibly not win another game this year, but it does not stop me from supporting them. Most of our stalwarts were in that position and a week is a long time when you have blue and gold blood.
I would like to say that our middle is much more capable than we have given credit for. We played like a hunting pack and moved up behind Moses kicks in the backline and some of you owe an apology or two to Junior and JDB. Of course MON has been extended for 10 years with options, but everyone now supports that and the ones that said Jason Ryles cannot coach are out in their backyards looking for holes to hide in BUT we all know "they will be back" wagging their tales behind them.....next time!
Moses literally strangled/suffocated them to death, those Dog forwards must have been sick and tired turning around after Moses kicked them to death.
Look nobody expected us to win that, and I didn't bet on the game, but I would not of backed us with gifted money, styles of play that various teams play makes a big difference to our team.....we currently struggle against any team with pace and dogs showed today they are short in that respect.
Regards to Mallee57 who put shit on us all week as part of his coming on to this site, knocking everything he could about the coach and admin staff......a week in a Rugby League comp is showing up like a week in politics........ back to the Kennell for you Mallee and a special call out to Sir Col The Mushroom (up in the sky) who was a great character and had some wonderful relationships with the Dog's supporters.
Some one said Parramatta is a boring side, not bloody likely, we are rocks and diamonds but never its ever a boring experience supporting Parramatta.
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Nah wouldn't do that to him lol
Volkman is grade 2
Did anything come of his wrist or arm complaint?
Poppa how did you feel about Pryke. Mataele was great but Pryke i felt just tackled anything that wiggles.
I am embarrased to say it LB, I could not judge him. I looked for him and everyone said he tackled everything that moved so all I can say, that is exactly the sort of player we need....he seems a little slight, will he fill out? I think I was too busy worrying that we would start making mistakes, so the fact I didn't see him make any is a positive.
The good news is that we showed we have middles, that does not mean we have to rush out and spend 1.2m on a Keon .....yes that authority is important, but at the end of the day, its stack e'm up and knock them down. Moses kicking turned them around and I can remember Ivan Cleary going back a few years ago after Parra beat them saying "we got kicked to death" have never forgot that....hopefully they won't have to have a crisis every second week to do what they did today.
Today we went back to the grind, a combination of that grind and the good attack we developed last year put us in good stead.....we had forgotten that the "grind" is hard work.
We still need a weapon against against teams like the Titans and Dolphins (regardless where they sit in the comp) who can run around us, notwithstanding the grind.....there is one other thing about this modern game, players like marky marky, coates, warbrick etc are match winners, we had our version with Lomax last year and whilst I am not going back there we have to find these players some where because we haven't got them in our juniors, Coryn is the answer, finding the formula builds's the answer, no point in reverse engineering it without the formula.
Marky Mark I am now seeing as nearly impossible to stop. Latrelle is of course another one of those freaks that is hard to mark out....I don't like the man but he has a skil set which is nearly incomparable.
Interestingly if those player's are lost due to injury it really brings them back to a mortal world. A bit like Manly with Tommy Turbo, different team with and without him.
Sorry about the convulted answer about Pryke, I will trust you guys that he was impressive!
He came on and was running back and forth like a jackrabbit. He even went from side to side chasing the ball. Just a goer on defence and it is what we badly need. If anything i do not think he would go a miss starting at 13.
Mataele even showed we have some depth there for middles. As you say yeah still go out and get a top middle but our depth is maybe not as bad. Pryke and Mataele performed when many gave up on them coming through. We also have Brown to debut.
In terms of kicking, even Volkman kicked well. Had a beautiful stab kick to the corner with JAC chasing down Montoya.
Pops, nailed it Moses' 'kicking them to death', was great to see.
But when you say we’ve ‘shown we have middles now’, who do you mean?
Yeh! I just see our middles as better than we think.....I am not sure how we lost the middle (is that official ?), Dogs had no one go over 100 metres.
Back to Keon, to me he is nothing other than an authority that our young middles will be up to with some pack leadership.....I think we have to note that the absence of Kelma and Kautonga did not seem to hurt us and our defensive edges seemed stronger or more secure....Volkman's line speed impressed me. amd we had/have had none from this position all year. I am not saying Volkman is the answer, other than a developing back up for Moses. I believe he is a better player with more future than Pevitt for example.
I actually heard that after TPA's that Keon was on around 1.5m, probably the reason he gave Dragons some reassurance. Check it out with someone you know and see if that is possible? I was as shocked as you!
Am I thinking Moretti as a starter yes, Sam probably needs more time, a fully fit unit and it could be an embarrassment of riches maybe, I would still go after "Loco Pacifica" (no idea of his spelling) and JDB still has a role to play.
Those meters you quoted, had not seen them other than Junior's, Penisini didn't surprise and I thought Kelly went ok,but I didn't think 174 sounded right?..........All in All. I think I am getting too old to keep up, but I have always believed my eyesight over statistics and I read so much "fake news" these days, I am not sure what to believe......I suppose my eyesight is a naturally failing thing or I am going back to being so nervous when I finally thought we could win, that I lost objectivity? who knows....I will always trust your judgement over mine Nos, basically you are one of the best judges on here, and my days are numbered......Christ I cannot even see who is winning the war in the middle east, I watch 3 or 4 You Tube Channels and between talking heads and AI.....I walk away knowing less LOL
Yeah Pops I was as surprised as you, I thought we'd won the metres battle, but the fact we didn't shows how behind we have been, as it looked so much better yet still behind.
100% with you on the defensive edges, Williams made a huge difference here, you called that perfectly - with Su'a & Williams there, we are in great shape imo.
Ok got you, I see where you are coming from with what we have, and like you, would definitely love to see us sign Loko Pasifika, he looked great.
1.5m for Kaeon is crazy money if that is correct. Pops, I still see a missing hole post-Paulo, someone who can take over from him as our dominant forward - what we are asking of Junior seems a bit unfair to me, he's done his time in this role, he'd be a weapon from the bench.
But, lets see if our middle can reproduce yesterday over the next month, with the changing of the ruck refereeing hopefully here to stay. I definitely see your angle, thanks for clarifying Pops. It will be great to see how these guys go for 2026 with great opportunities.
Haha I hear you, like to watch the game again afterwards these days because so much is missed live.
NOS, Pops. Why are we surprised? The Dogs are about control and strangle. Very Panthers, Cleary-esque.
So, win or lose, they consistently come out on top in yardage, territory and possession.
I made the point before the game yesterday that in every game the Dogs have lost or nearly lost (Dragons), the opposition has not won the yardage and territory game, but have done these three things:
1. Kicked them to death (800–1000m+) with a strong kick chase (we kicked almost 900m).
2. Forced them into more errors (we did that by being in their faces and targeting the right players).
3. Converted their chances (we did).
In the games the Dogs win, they win those three additional areas as well. The whole kit and caboodle.
That’s what pleased me yesterday. Yes, it was built on guts. But importantly, it was also built on brains. That’s the part most people have missed.
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