Dragons v Storm Round 2

Dragons Chris

Dragons Chris

SGI NSW Cup
  1. Clinton Gutherson 6/10
  2. Christian Tuipulotu 6/10 did a lot of work
  3. Moses Suli 4/10 very quiet
  4. Valentine Holmes 8/10 by far our most dangerous back
  5. Setu Tu 2/10 far too quiet
  6. Kyle Flanagan 3/10 As expected
  7. Daniel Atkinson 8/10 Really good
  8. Emre Guler 4/10
  9. Damien Cook 6/10
  10. Toby Couchman 8/10
  11. Luciano Leilua 8/10
  12. Jaydn Su’A 8/10
  13. Hame Sele 6/10
  14. Hamish Stewart 8/10
  15. Josh Kerr 7/10 Was good. Best game I've seen him play for the Dragons.
  16. Blake Lawrie
  17. Ryan Couchman 8/10
  18. Lyhkan King-Togia
  19. Mathew Feagai 5/10
 
RedV01

RedV01

SGI NSW Cup
Dragons Chris said:
  1. Clinton Gutherson 6/10
  2. Christian Tuipulotu 6/10 did a lot of work
  3. Moses Suli 4/10 very quiet
  4. Valentine Holmes 8/10 by far our most dangerous back
  5. Setu Tu 2/10 far too quiet
  6. Kyle Flanagan 3/10 As expected
  7. Daniel Atkinson 8/10 Really good
  8. Emre Guler 4/10
  9. Damien Cook 6/10
  10. Toby Couchman 8/10
  11. Luciano Leilua 8/10
  12. Jaydn Su’A 8/10
  13. Hame Sele 6/10
  14. Hamish Stewart 8/10
  15. Josh Kerr 7/10 Was good. Best game I've seen him play for the Dragons.
  16. Blake Lawrie
  17. Ryan Couchman 8/10
  18. Lyhkan King-Togia
  19. Mathew Feagai 5/10
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Another game like that from Tu and it might be time to recall Mr. Tyrell Sloan.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Well that result was not unexpected. The final score most certainly doesn't reflect how close that game was for 60 minutes, but we all know its an 80 minute game.

The performance by Atkinson was very good the 2 tries he set up with those beautiful passes shows that he has what it takes to be a genuine 7, but he can't do it on his own.

There is nothing wrong with our attacking structures when we execute them well, even the Storm were found out. We most certainly can score tries given the opportunity and field position.

I dont think it was a coincidence that we came a cropper just after Gutherson came off in the 58th minute with the HIA. I noticed that there was confusion and a distinct lack of communication in our defensive line.

After that we just turned over far too much ball in the 2nd half . In the 61st minute one of our most experienced players Cook kicks out on the full from dummy half, in his defence he was fatigued.

This will improve when Liddle comes back but after that kick it quickly went downhill from there.

In that period of time we completed 1 set of 6 whereas we gave the Storm 9 sets. You just can't give a top 4 team that much possession. Once they received that possession the errors continued.

In the end of the day we completed at 75% to Storms 88%, we missed 44 tackles, made 12 errors and couldn't match their speed. You simply cannot have those stats against any team let alone the Storm.

I believe that we will be able to grind out wins this season as long as we increase our completion rate, reduce our errors and missed tackle count from today.

I liked the way our young forwards are progressing, they certainly held their own, with 4 running 100m plus led by Su'a with young Ryan Couchman a close 2nd, Leilua also tried hard, exactly the same number as the Storm forwards.

But the reality is that we need more speed in our spine, we have to have attacking structures on both sides of the park to become a competitive top 8 team.

Next week up against the Eels, who will be confident after their upset win over the premiers, another tough game.
 
D

dragonheart

SGI Jersey Flegg
We just dont have any world beaters. Our forwards are fine enough and will get better with KK

Our attack is pedestrian most of the time, with no guile or difference and certainly no speed. We hardly ever make a break from our own 20 and finish it. Dumb mistakes like the grant dummy half try never helps.

We can not keep relying on the forwards to work their butts off all year, they will get fatigued injured and worn out, like last year.

And to see Kyle die with ball on the 5th tackle, just says he has no attacking prowess.

This will be a tough year again unfortunately.
 
Illusion

Illusion

SGI NSW Cup
dragonheart said:
We just dont have any world beaters. Our forwards are fine enough and will get better with KK

Our attack is pedestrian most of the time, with no guile or difference and certainly no speed. We hardly ever make a break from our own 20 and finish it. Dumb mistakes like the grant dummy half try never helps.

We can not keep relying on the forwards to work their butts off all year, they will get fatigued injured and worn out, like last year.

And to see Kyle die with ball on the 5th tackle, just says he has no attacking prowess.

This will be a tough year again unfortunately.
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Even when Kyle went down injured , he should have been replaced at one stage he was on the wing trying to recover ........ This is going to be coaches downfall ........
 
George Sancti

George Sancti

SGI Jersey Flegg
RedVHeartbeat said:
Another. Then if the case Flanagans neck should be on the chopping block.
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I suspect you’ll be proven correct, RVH. If the losses continue, the calls for Flanno to be sacked will grow. The real issue isn’t removing him, it’s finding someone who can do a better job. Our trial and error approach with the previous three coaches didn’t serve us well, and at least Flanno has shown he can deliver a premiership.
 
J

Justadragon

SGI NSW Cup
The same old excuses at the PC, how good we were for 60min. What is KK going to do next year if we retain a backline like that. Where are these players that we are supposed to be getting. So the whole team collapses when Gutherson is off, thats why we have experienced players that are supposed to take charge. The way we finished the last 20min was reminiscent of our last 4 games last year. We are mentally weak, and slow.
 
D

Dragon David

SGI Jersey Flegg
RedVHeartbeat said:
Was out. Sounds like a game of two halves by us. The old Jekyll and Hyde syndrome.
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Yes, I was out too RVH with the wife and friends at the Drummoyne Sailing Club and we were sitting virtually under a TV that had the game on and didn't want to know the score. I did manage to have a peek at the TV and noted that the score was 20-18 in favour of the Dragons and thought you beauty, looks like we are a chance of winning. A while later my wife looks up at the screen and then my mate looked up and they then looked at me with grimaces on their faces and I knew straight away that we weren't travelling well. I had to look up then and saw the score 40-20 the way of the Storm and shit me well and truly.

I don't know when I will bother to look at the lowlights.

We do desperately need a few very good x factor players with speed who can change the course of the game, however, if the players make mistake, after mistake, after mistake then it doesn't matter how good those x factor players are.

We played the team that lost the 2025 grand final and they will want to play in the grand final this year so they will be a hard team to beat for many of the other clubs who are yet to play them. In saying this though they have only thrashed the Eels and the Dragons at this stage of the comp.
 
RufusRex

RufusRex

SGI Jersey Flegg
dragonheart said:
We were fine for 60 minutes, but once the great 1, 6, 7, and 9 of the Storm start doing their thing we were gone, we can not compete.

Wouldn't we love a spine like that, even half of it.

Let's hope Atkinson and Reed later this year can spark something with Liddle back on board.
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Whereas our 1/6/7/9 in the last 20 were
HIA shoulder to head, hip drop, hip drop, HIA

the wheels totally fell off.
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
We really need Acko to be fine for next and the following weeks. He showed some really good signs tonight. Him and Kyle will both be sent for scans this week. If they are both out injured, who do we play as our halves next week? Could it be Reed and King Togia? I read on this forum O'Neil played well in NSW Cup. Could he be called up?

I really think we should be playing Luciano at prop. We lack big props. I have pretty much always thought that should be his position. I would be starting with him and Toby as my 2 props. I would probably give Halangahu a run as the other second rower. I really think think Luciano could make a good prop and be part of a very good prop rotation next year with Koloamatangi and Toby who can both play big minutes at prop. I would like to see Pasifiki Tonga as our other prop in the rotation, but am not confident he will be here next year. As good as Koloamatangi is, he still isn't a big prop. I forgot about Kerr. That is how underwhelming he is as a prop.

Ryan Couchman impressed again. What is his best position? Lock, second row or prop?
 
Frank Facer

Frank Facer

SGI Jersey Flegg
Dragon David said:
We do desperately need a few very good x factor players with speed who can change the course of the game, however, if the players make mistake, after mistake, after mistake then it doesn't matter how good those x factor players are.

We played the team that lost the 2025 grand final and they will want to play in the grand final this year so they will be a hard team to beat for many of the other clubs who are yet to play them. In saying this though they have only thrashed the Eels and the Dragons at this stage of the comp.
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I agree we need some players that add X factor. Some more speedy and agile backs.

As for Melbourne. Numerous times they have lost players and I think they don't look as strong as last season, but they keep on producing and winning and proving the doubters wrong. Having a great spine to work with does make things a lot easier for the other players to come in and perform and they have always had great spine players for the last 20 years or so. Put their spine in our team and I think Flanno would have us playing finals regularly as well. Put our spine in Melbourne's team and they would probably struggle too.
 
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