This game should be penciled in at the start of the season by any bonafide premiership contender. If you want to be in the running to win a premiership you not only need to beat the competition heavyweights you need to make it a statement game and announce to the handful of other realistic contenders that you've thrown down the gauntlet.
For mine the teams to beat this year are once again the Storm and the Raiders. Both teams play fast and play with power.
These two sides linespeed in defence and their transitions from attack to defence stifle their opposition and bludgeon them into defeat and it sets them apart from the Roosters and Panthers.
The Storm set the tone in defence on every set no matter the field position by rushing off their line on the first two tackles of the set as though the attacking teams coming off their try line.
What this does is start the attacking teams set on the back foot , struggling for momentum , resulting in an ordinary kick.
They target the first two tackles as they've worked out using up energy early in the defensive set,saves them energy at the backend of the set , in the resulting attacking set as well as gains them momentum which is so hard to wrestle back in the current game.
The Storm start the game this way often skipping out to leads which prove unassailable after 20 mins.
By playing fast this also allows the Storm to paper over the cracks in the rest of their game and theirs plenty
The closest thing the Storm have to a ball player is Papenhuyzen. Munster , Hughes and grant all like to show and go. Munster dummy's and steps inside where Hughes dummy's and skips on the outside.
The Storms long kicking game is bog average and so is their defence outwide it's only the speed of their line that stops their edges getting stripped like ours.
Storm use the speed of their defensive line to bludgeon you with thier big men up the middle, the moment they get the fast play the ball the ball goes wide.
So can we beat them , of course we can.How do we beat them. It's all in our defence. If our linespeed is as fast as what Melbournes and the Raiders is you nullify their strengths and force them to revert to their weakeness.
You do a Storm to them, hunt hard off the line early in the count and sit Nelson and the Bromwichs on their arse you take out the effectiveness of Papenhuyzen.
In attack you have your first receiver switch the point of attack, you use Junior as a surrogate half early in the count . If their defence is going to rush hard off the line you want to make sure you make them do it both sides of the ruck.
You have Mahoney running sideways out of dummy half to the open side turning it inside to a runner who passes the ball back to the short side ,changing the point of attack constantly not allowing either side of the ruck to rest defensively.
When a side defends the way they do one side of the ruck likes to have a rest , they like to target ball runners don't allow them to.
Papenhuyzen has more trouble with the ball on the ground then he does in the air . If Moses was smart he'd put some deft kicks in behind with the express purpose of isolating Papenhuyzen retrieving a retreating ball allowing our forwards to put a shot on him.
Our entire kicking plan should involve isolating Papenhuyzen so our forwards can hit him hard. You want to take an attacking threat out of a game let your forward pack get to him.
Both Melbournes centre's rely on their up and in defence but really struggle laterally so give our edges early ball.
If we don't win this game physically you don't win on the scoreboard. If we want to prove our mettle it's time to show some real intent and set up our season.
You can't win the comp in March but you sure as shit can get the confidence to.It all comes down to both teams linespeed . Win that duel ,win the game.
Close enough isn't good enough anymore the players need to know they can beat them, you start by beating them at home. Then you belt them in their own backyard. It's time we owned the Storm.
Replies
Nice blueprint Bup.
Nice!!
Someone send this to BA....
Great blog mate.
👍
Yep you got that plan CORRECT, now let's see how Parra approach this game.
"Leads which prove unassailable after 20 minutes". I wish we played that way, smart.
Great writeup and a nice plan. Totally agree that our defensive linespeed is going to be the make-or-break in this game. We need to go into this game expecting to keep up that intensity for 80 minutes.
The Storm showed in Round 1 that they lack the game management of Smith which means they'll be more likely to go on-the-tilt if they get unsettled. That never happened when Smith was there. If they fell behind, they'd stick to the gameplan and stick to the grind and wear the other team out of the competition. But Round 1 showed they're suceptible to going off script if the opposition can get them rattled.
We need to go toe to toe and play fast, disciplined football for the first 60 minutes. If we are in the contest with 20 to go it'll be for the taking of whoever has more gas left in the tank as fatigue looks like it'll play a much bigger role in the scoreboard with the new rules.
I definitely agree re defence. My biggest gripe about our defence is that we haven't in the past defended aggressively enough higher up the park. We saw signs of what we can do in this area in the 2nd half against the Broncos, we need to take that aggression from the first play against the Storm, however we need to be wary of Melbourne's offloads. The Bunnies tried to bash NAS with the first tackle and he still got an offload away and they pinched another 10m and they were away.
We must lockdown the ball even if we give away another few post contact ,metres in doing so.
In attack, I don't entirely agree. In the past I might have agreed with the ball movement, but under the new rules, the teams that keep as simple as possible, (especially early in games), are the ones that usually thrive. We need Junior, RCG, Brownie, Lane, Matterson, Niukore, Papa, Oggie & our wingers to kick off the back fence and keep bashing down the front door. Just keep on getting over the advantage line, kick to the corners, play the possession/field position game, get their tackle count up, and back ourselves to get the points we need in the back end of the game.
An interesting trend with the Storm that has developed over the last 18 months is that they have become fast starters, but struggle to score points in the 2nd half. They have only scored 1 try in the 2nd half in 5 of their last 6 games. They clearly love to start fast and then hold on for the win, which was fine in the Cam Smith era, but without his game management they are vulnerable, if, if you don't give them a 1st half head start.
The 1st 20 minutes of this game is absolutely everything for the Eels.
That 15minutes after halftime is the statistically the worst part of their game and that flatness is a direct result of their opening period intensity.
The aim should be to go with them early then get a lead and maintain it till half time using that opening period of the second half to pull away emphasing linespeed, completions and kick chase in that final quarter to close it out.
Yep,definitely agree.
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