2025 Round 1 vs Canterbury

[Dave03]

I was watching it live & the dogs were noticeably better. I thought the score line flattered us, some flukey tries brought it back to a respectable margin.

Agree with comments regarding lack of line speed & kick pressure, the latter was a big worry as it was an issue last season too. Our lack of line speed is evident on replay from the start. Dogs players meeting us with their defensive line (their middles aren't big) while we waited for them with our defensive line.

I think moving forward we need to offload the ball through the middle a bit more but also use Gutho's ability to play short side. E.g. Kikau is lazy getting back into the defensive line after making a tackle, we could have played short side on those occasions. Our kicking game was predictable & ineffective but dogs were predictable but effective due to the lack of kick pressure & advanced field position. We need to let Kyle kick the ball more or utilise kicking from dummy half when we're lacking yardage imo.

Hopefully getting Klemmer will help & provide a couple of different combos for our middle. E.g. could go with Klem/Guler/Couchman or Klem/Couchman/JDB etc.

Liddle was a great spark, hopefully he plays more mins moving forward as Cooks effectiveness diminishes rapidly when fatigued.

 

[Dave03]

Atmosphere was electric, just hate losing to the dogs.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

I don’t understand how the coaching staff could watch the NRL last season and not think our line speed had to improve. Panthers/Bulldogs/Sharks/Storm all move up so quickly teams can barely get over halfway while we concede 60-70m a set and it puts us on the back foot.

Tick tock Dean young, pressures on

 

[Dave03]

Re Illias I don't mind his kicking game issues, I was a bit harsh. Our field position was poor for a lot of the game but he has to improve on his ball playing. We've got the overlap, he needs to recognise the pass has to go to Gutho but he passed it into Su'a. Reading the opposition defensive decision is crucial for ball players. This is the area I want to see Illias excel. If he makes this pass we score imo.

 

[Dave03]

Re Illias I don't mind his kicking game issues, I was a bit harsh. Our field position was poor for a lot of the game but he has to improve on his ball playing. We've got the overlap, he needs to recognise the pass has to go to Gutho but he passed it into Su'a. Reading the opposition defensive decision is crucial for ball players. This is the area I want to see Illias excel. If he makes this pass we score imo.

This entire set summed up what we should've tried to do more often, there was a good off-load from Couchman earlier in the set then we hit Leilua later on who found CT in some space which allowed us to shift the ball back to the right resulting in the overlap.

 

[jodragon40]

I was watching it live & the dogs were noticeably better. I thought the score line flattered us, some flukey tries brought it back to a respectable margin.

Agree with comments regarding lack of line speed & kick pressure, the latter was a big worry as it was an issue last season too. Our lack of line speed is evident on replay from the start. Dogs players meeting us with their defensive line (their middles aren't big) while we waited for them with our defensive line.

I think moving forward we need to offload the ball through the middle a bit more but also use Gutho's ability to play short side. E.g. Kikau is lazy getting back into the defensive line after making a tackle, we could have played short side on those occasions. Our kicking game was predictable & ineffective but dogs were predictable but effective due to the lack of kick pressure & advanced field position. We need to let Kyle kick the ball more or utilise kicking from dummy half when we're lacking yardage imo.

Hopefully getting Klemmer will help & provide a couple of different combos for our middle. E.g. could go with Klem/Guler/Couchman or Klem/Couchman/JDB etc.

Liddle was a great spark, hopefully he plays more mins moving forward as Cooks effectiveness diminishes rapidly when fatigued.

People were getting overly excited pre season. It appeared that we had improved markedly in our defensive line speed for one area. However in those 2 games against weakened competition we were able to readily roll down the park in attack this translates to field position and fatiguing the opponents. We were able to stop those teams from doing the same which again translates to apart from the 2 tacklers the defensive line is already set as they play the ball. This giving the impression that we had improved. On Saturday we didn't manage to do either well or consistently hence the result which I agree somewhat flattered us.

 

[jodragon40]

Re Illias I don't mind his kicking game issues, I was a bit harsh. Our field position was poor for a lot of the game but he has to improve on his ball playing. We've got the overlap, he needs to recognise the pass has to go to Gutho but he passed it into Su'a. Reading the opposition defensive decision is crucial for ball players. This is the area I want to see Illias excel. If he makes this pass we score imo.

People have been harsh on Illias but let us not forget this was his first competition game in a long time he was always going to be rusty add fatigue leads to wrong decision making. I agree his kicking game wasn't that bad. He will only get better

 

[jodragon40]

I don’t understand how the coaching staff could watch the NRL last season and not think our line speed had to improve. Panthers/Bulldogs/Sharks/Storm all move up so quickly teams can barely get over halfway while we concede 60-70m a set and it puts us on the back foot.

Tick tock Dean young, pressures on

When people not versed in the intricacies of what and how to achieve your defensive line speed its easy to be judgemental not saying you are, but there are a number of other goals that have to be achieved and fall into place before you can improve your line speed. Effective tackles, slow the play the ball are just two.

 

[Dave03]

When people not versed in the intricacies of what and how to achieve your defensive line speed its easy to be judgemental not saying you are, but there are a number of other goals that have to be achieved and fall into place before you can improve your line speed. Effective tackles, slow the play the ball are just two.

It was from the start of the game, it's not like we dropped off. We never had it at a similar level to the dogs from the start. Maybe it just won't happen with the likes of JDB/Guler/Cook. Hopefully it's just nerves or an attitude that changes against the bunnies.

 

[Edward]

I don’t understand how the coaching staff could watch the NRL last season and not think our line speed had to improve. Panthers/Bulldogs/Sharks/Storm all move up so quickly teams can barely get over halfway while we concede 60-70m a set and it puts us on the back foot.

Tick tock Dean young, pressures on

Is he the defensive coach?

 

[Mailroomsgi]

Yep, was the cowboys defence coach from 21-23 as well

 

[Illusion]

Is he the defensive coach?

Think he is .......

 

[Edward]

Yep, was the cowboys defence coach from 21-23 as well

Well, yeah. Needs to improve.

 

[Red T]

Saying the Grubs were “noticeably” better. I cannot agree. Has anyone mentioned that Tupouniua’s two tries for the grubs were forward ? Even Matty John’s said his first try was obviously forward. So take them away and we win !….But the intensity for a season opener was awesome….If they play in Vegas next year it will suit them as they like to throw “gridiron” passes.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

They definitely were noticeably better, won the yardage and territory battle quite easily. The only way we got into the red zone was through a Canterbury error or penalties. We didn’t actually ‘earn’ our way down there through winning the grind like they did. The kick chase was poor and the difference in line speed was staggering.

It’s one game so we can forget it and move on to south’s but a result is very important this week as it’s Melbourne the following week after the bye and we don’t want to start the season 0-3

 

[Chris M]

They definitely were noticeably better, won the yardage and territory battle quite easily. The only way we got into the red zone was through a Canterbury error or penalties. We didn’t actually ‘earn’ our way down there through winning the grind like they did. The kick chase was poor and the difference in line speed was staggering.

It’s one game so we can forget it and move on to south’s but a result is very important this week as it’s Melbourne the following week after the bye and we don’t want to start the season 0-3

If this goes on much longer, forwards being domInated, does Flanno go with JDB, Couchman, Tonga and Latu in the middle rotation?

Something I think we could be happy about was the way the young forwards played in NSW Cup.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

As talented as the young guys are, they aren’t ready for first grade just yet ( Maybe Loko but not Latu/Halangahu)

The dogs reserve grade were cutting through them at several points. Can you imagine that against top 8 sides in the NRL? It would be 40 points a week like tigers last year.

As annoying as it may be, long term we will be much better off by letting them play 20+ games this year in cup against men learning the trade and improving without first grade pressure.

Maybe a late season debut for one of them if they are carving up in Reggie’s

 

[Chris M]

As talented as the young guys are, they aren’t ready for first grade just yet ( Maybe Loko but not Latu/Halangahu)

The dogs reserve grade were cutting through them at several points. Can you imagine that against top 8 sides in the NRL? It would be 40 points a week like tigers last year.

As annoying as it may be, long term we will be much better off by letting them play 20+ games this year in cup against men learning the trade and improving without first grade pressure.

Maybe a late season debut for one of them if they are carving up in Reggie’s

It looked to me they began slowly, like they lacked confidence. But as the game went on, they realised, "Hey, this isn't too hard at all." By the end they were dominant.

 

[Red T]

But the line speed of the grubs….i thought they were offside most of the day…Lots of wrestling and slowing the play-the-ball down…And a few forward passes into the bargain…

The highlight of the match was Liddle’s try ! What an effort it was ! I loved how when he broke into the clear, he then changed direction to score.

So last year we won round one and hope sprang eternal in Dragon Land—-only to be brought crashing back to earth the next week at the hands of Wayne Bennett’s ‘fins.

This year it’s Bennetts bunnies !

 

[TheRev]

As talented as the young guys are, they aren’t ready for first grade just yet ( Maybe Loko but not Latu/Halangahu)

I didnt realise until the weekend that Stewarts strength was his defensive work.. which we can make use of.. even though there is still a lot of work to go for him offensively (i.e. 5-6m carries & getting pushed back).. but ive no doubt that if Tonga or Latu had been asked to do 43mins, 21 tackles, I think they would have been exposed.. not the 1 miss like Stewart had.. but.. I also think we would have used them differently....

However I doubt Stewart was ever meant to do 43mins, nor was Toby meant to do 70mins.. but this sometimes happens that things dont go to plan... and thats what the best clubs have.. they have middles that can do 60 or even 80mins if thats what it takes due to injury/HIA/sendoff.. and I think Toby (and Ryan when fit) will be fit enough to do it.. but we dont want to be doing that to them too often at this age.