Bula was excellent. Smith and Wakeham put some nice plays on and executed well. Kautoga and Tumeth were strong and ran some great lines.
Kautoga really featured in the highlights, looks very strong.
Watched the replay last night. Whilst in the moment the result was gutting (after so much optimism, at home at Leichhardt etc) I can see more positives than I saw on first viewing. Our squad is much more talented than the past several years. There were some individual errors that were very frustrating and I am still very concerned with our 1 and 7 and structural weaknesses in their game but there are some easy fixes also (a bit more structure in our attacking red zone) so I am hoping we see a much improved result this weekend.
I saw this elsewhere and made sense to me. The Tigers right side defence is the weakest side and as all teams majority of attack is on their left side (moving the ball right to left more natural) then that’s where we need to tighten up. Would Bateman help in this regard if he was to play on that edge or does Shawn Blore remain there is Bateman used elsewhere?
I saw this elsewhere and made sense to me. The Tigers right side defence is the weakest side and as all teams majority of attack is on their left side (moving the ball right to left more natural) then that’s where we need to tighten up. Would Bateman help in this regard if he was to play on that edge or does Shawn Blore remain there is Bateman used elsewhere?
looking closely at the titans first try and it appeared that Douhie was marking Foran and there was a 3:2 outside, talau makes a choice to take the man out the back but Foran passes short to Fifita who goes straight through. Not sure why we got ourselves in that position because it was a fairly innocuous play but it was a basic overlap.
the 2nd try Laurie is defending in the line behind the ruck and whilst we had numbers he made no effort to turn and run once Brimson put through the short kick. Joffa chases and almost defuses but basically it was poor positional play from Laurie.
3rd Laurie is moving across field at line of the try line and just doesn’t contest the ball. All other players were moving backwards so again it was just poor fullback play from Laurie.
common denominator here was Laurie lacking effort in defence. Perhaps this is related to the fact that he is so tiny for an NRL player that he just has no juice left for effort play that is required when defending st the back
Watched the replay last night. Whilst in the moment the result was gutting (after so much optimism, at home at Leichhardt etc) I can see more positives than I saw on first viewing. Our squad is much more talented than the past several years. There were some individual errors that were very frustrating and I am still very concerned with our 1 and 7 and structural weaknesses in their game but there are some easy fixes also (a bit more structure in our attacking red zone) so I am hoping we see a much improved result this weekend.
i thought this article was really good and I think it explains why we struggled last week.
https://rugbyleaguewriters.com/nrl-2023/heads-in-nrl-round-1-preview/
The play where he describes Will Smiths involvement I think explains why we struggled last week. We didn’t have a quality middle player who was able to draw in defenders and create space out wide.
Brooks and AD both like to play outside this ball playing middle.
Interesting read in my view.
I wouldn’t be changing anything after just the first round, expect for injuries. Team needs time together playing in the NRL… And some catching practice !!!
I felt that the main focus in round 1 was to pass the ball. I like where the style of play is going but they need to spend some real time on executing to score.
I felt that the main focus in round 1 was to pass the ball. I like where the style of play is going but they need to spend some real time on executing to score.
Hopefully the focus for round 2 is catching the ball.
if we lose to Newcastle we are 17th
we won't lose though pretty confident klemmer has a lender and Brooks and AD and Laurie run riot and we win by 20
I’m pretty confident too Jedi but not sure about the 20 pt margin. I say we win a very close one.if we lose to Newcastle we are 17th
we won't lose though pretty confident klemmer has a lender and Brooks and AD and Laurie run riot and we win by 20
