This is one of those rounds for me. As much as I loath the pig dog roosters I just can't justify BA"s tram selections. That effort in the semi final loss to the panthers was up there and I give him praise for that. However he always rests on his laurels. Furthermore not one mention of the deplorable D in the presser after the Dogs game got the blood boiling. What works previously doesn't always work in the future. Especially when teams figure you out. I know there's a knock on Carty but BA actually played him in that finals yet he won't give him any regular season time this year. BA too scared to take a risk which I see is his biggest downfall. Our D is already the worst out of all the teams in the top 8 so some might say Cartwright would make it even worse however I don't see him as that big of defensive liability when you put Pair Sivo and Blake; arguably the worst readers of defence the NRL. It was that bad against the Dogs that the centre went in untouched. They both came in that far that the half was almost wide open close to midfield. He should at least give some of these otherep guys a chance. It would be no harm sending guys guys nathan brown n Blake to reserves. Brown especially who is clearly down on form.
We rely on our halves way too much. It's basically all or nothing similar to when we had Hayne. They need some help in sparking the attack. Change is need IMO. This arguably could be out best chance in while.
Thoughts?
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I can agree with that. However in some instances it aslo just terrible reads by winger and centre. Our ruck isnt that bad bro. Reed is a tackling machine. Dylan can usually be left on one on to make a tackle. Papa is good at reading when to help vlose the ruck or stay a little wide. Our props have excellent footwork and motor for thier size. In all honesty with regards to parra specifically our edge D is well below par. Perhaps with other teams it could be the ruck that is to blame.
I musta misssed your blog on our problemds defending near the ruck. Can you re-post it? Thanks in advance Coryn.
Our players aren't connected .
How often do you see a player in our defensive line hold when everyone else is sliding or our wingers fly in when everyone is sliding . We have poor communication , zero trust in each other and guys like Lane have no lateral speed forcing the centre next to him into uncomfortable decisions. BA hasn't been able to fix this since he's been here . We get it right from time to time or get lucky when the other team missed a few chances but for the most part it's exploited . He's tried different wingers , different centres , moved edge backrowers but he refuses to change.
I would say the other big problem is how many late offloads we allow . It's hard to stop a dude like TPJ or Paulo etc when they go into a tackle with intent to offload .. but our dumbass team will have 3 or 4 in the tackle and no one stopping the pass of a guy who didn't even wanna offload but we made the decision for them . God it's annoying . We have guys come into a tackle with no intent but to hold and they don't bother where the ball is . Does my head in.
Yeah nah
Not sure you're allowed to comment with that username but we'll make an exception this once.
I'm tipping parra to win by a lot. 30-6
It's the forwards and the way we defend as a team. We are way too compressed in the middle of the ground. When our forwards get on the back foot (which they often do, note the amount of players lying down while the opposition plays the ball) it's far too easy to expose the edge defence with some quick passing or a kick to a winger, eg Burton to Addo-Carr.
The wingers and centres are coached to come in in these situations. It's then up to the middle defenders who have been by-passed (and Gutho) to run across in cover defence.
It's a very risky way to defend if everyone isn't perfoming their role. Sure you see Blake / Sivo / Simonsson come in off their wing and shut the play down. But it leaves a huge opportunity for the opposition if you get it wrong, and we've seen how easily that can happen.
The idea of the compressed defence is to make it impossible to go through us, you're forced to go around. Problem is, we don't back up and scramble well enough to pull it off. We can pull it off at times, but most of the time, we just make it harder for ourselves.
I don't blame the edge defenders, I blame the defensive style we continue to employ that's been worked out by the opposition. It's so obvious that even the worst team in the comp easily exploited it.
Great post, Acme. Really well explained.
It's also noticeable even when we get it 'sort of' right, and Gutho or Brown make that cover around the back, it looks desperate. As in, there seems to be so much margin for error in this way of defending.
So, why defend this way? Is it due to a weakness we have around the ruck? Guess I just don't understand the persistence with this system that as you say, oppositions have worked out completely.
My guess is we have no other defensive plan. The issue comes in our good performances against the Storm and Panthers. The same defence system worked in those games. It takes 100% commitment and effort from everyone to pull it off (not to mention the disciplined and effective attacking game that needs to be coupled and executed).
"We have to be at our best to beat the good teams". I hear that a lot from our coaches and players. These types of statements can be double edged.
Our mentality suggests we don't think we have to be at our best if we're playing the lower teams.
It's a difficult gameplan to pull off over a whole season. It takes commitment, discipline and relies heavily on a risky yet somehow predictable defence!
No wonder we're a mental basket case!
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