Dragons v Storm Round 2

[Frank Facer]

I will add this to my comments after just watching the replay which I do its just a habit. I would not be surprised if both our play makers were playing injured in that 2nd half as a result of two separate tackles in the 1st half.

They both were playing injured. Both had to get their ankles strapped at halftime and both will be sent for scans this week. Hopefully they will both be right to play next week, especially Acko, who was showing some very good signs this evening.

 

[Illusion]

I keep hearing the same thing , the presser today the coach seems lost for words ........ He kept repeating " We were good for 60 min " ......... Yep 60 min don't win you games .......... Keep saying the same thing if everything goes our way as did yesterday for 60 min we can be still in the game but soon as it doesn't, they fall apart and they don't have speed or players that can go long range to get them out of trouble ........ Loooong season ahead ...........

 

[puff]

They both were playing injured. Both had to get their ankles strapped at halftime and both will be sent for scans this week. Hopefully they will both be right to play next week, especially Acko, who was showing some very good signs this evening.

They were both clearly faking in order to draw a hip drop penalty. I hate that players do this. Both will play next week.

 

[puff]

I keep hearing the same thing , the presser today the coach seems lost for words ........ He kept repeating " We were good for 60 min " ......... Yep 60 min don't win you games .......... Keep saying the same thing if everything goes our way as did yesterday for 60 min we can be still in the game but soon as it doesn't, they fall apart and they don't have speed or players that can go long range to get them out of trouble ........ Loooong season ahead ...........

We were not good for the first 60. We put ourselves in a hole at the beginning of the game with unforced errors and stupid penalties. We had a good passage when Ryan Couchman and Hamish came on. Then we handed another soft try to them just before halftime. We came up with another 4 errors in the first 20 or so minutes of the second half, the last of these being Cook's out on the full. If we had played better and more ruthlessly in the first 60, the last 20 wouldn't have fallen apart so badly. The first 60 influence the last 20. You earn dominance in the last 20 by grinding the other team into the ground in the first 60. We weren't serious enough to do that.

 

[Eric]

They were both clearly faking in order to draw a hip drop penalty. I hate that players do this. Both will play next week.

I was thinking, if Kyle's ankle isn't right, we have LKT on the bench! Is Kyle so vital to the teams chances?

 

[puff]

I was thinking, if Kyle's ankle isn't right, we have LKT on the bench! Is Kyle so vital to the teams chances?

If they were actually impaired, he would have come on for one of them.

 

[redv4life]

Kyle genuinely holds this team back

 

[Eric]

Positives from yesterday are the usual suspects:

• T. Couchman
• R. Couchman
• H. Stewart

These are 3 to build a team around. Su'A and Luciano were also very good. I think it's too little too late for Luciano but these 3 plus Su'A plus KK next year, it must be one of if not the best pack in the competition.

 

[RufusRex]

Honestly if we hold onto LPT and with KK coming the pack is going to be good enough to match it with most teams.
No co-incidence that the roll on started with the Gutho head knock AND stewart being off the field.

With Jake/Egan we have the edge forwards coming through ...

KK hooker Toby
Sua Egan
Stewart

Loko, Ryan, Jake, hooker

That is a pack that can be competitive for a long time.
We just dont have the hookers or backs to match

 

[Eric]

Honestly if we hold onto LPT and with KK coming the pack is going to be good enough to match it with most teams.
No co-incidence that the roll on started with the Gutho head knock AND stewart being off the field.

With Jake/Egan we have the edge forwards coming through ...

KK hooker Toby
Sua Egan
Stewart

Loko, Ryan, Jake, hooker

That is a pack that can be competitive for a long time.
We just dont have the hookers or backs to match

Isn't Liddle signed for 2 more years after this?

 

[RufusRex]

yeah .. was just talking about running forwards

 

[Dragon David]

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.

Agreed with you Frank. I like your thoughts of the swapping our spine with the Storm's. Haha.

I'm going to start a Thread on the Storm without interferring on this thread

A formidable/dominant attacking spine allows a team the capability of scoring points when needed. A team is more solid with great 1,6,7 and 9 combination. That's what Bellamy has as his ultimate starting point and then he builds his team around them.

Honestly if we hold onto LPT and with KK coming the pack is going to be good enough to match it with most teams.
No co-incidence that the roll on started with the Gutho head knock AND stewart being off the field.

With Jake/Egan we have the edge forwards coming through ...

KK hooker Toby
Sua Egan
Stewart

Loko, Ryan, Jake, hooker

That is a pack that can be competitive for a long time.
We just dont have the hookers or backs to match

...and spine.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Ban effing short drop outs. We NEVER can recover the leather. So mess up the short kick Gutho then CT leaving his wing simply invited them to score the opener. Brainless!!!

 

[Dragon David]

Sorry, rather than start a separate Thread on the Storm I'll include what I want to post in the Other Clubs 2026 Thread although I'm wanting to cover other years as well, but this Other Clubs one should suffice if Eric/Jo think it OK?

 

[TheRev]

Rly am looking forward to Egans return also, he was on top of the world before he got injured.... mind you Leilua has been good, hopefully we can use both.. Liddle obviously will be huge also... plus we need no serious injuries moving forward...

I was alright with Kyle last year tbh, he does save a couple of tries in most matches which is worth a lot to me.. I dunno if LKT is the answer though.. ill leave it to better minds to make the call.. it is a shame we couldnt land that 2026 fullback though.. could have run Gutho @ 5/8 and some young legs at the back.. and had backup for injuries.. anyway coulda shoulda.. probably we are still trying but unlikely I would think at this late stage to get players released.

 

[Dragon David]

Ban effing short drop outs. We NEVER can recover the leather. So mess up the short kick Gutho and get em away. CT leaving his wing too to leave us short simply invited them to score the opener. Brainless!!!

I agree with you RVH. Unless our success rate is high with recovering the ball after a short goal line drop out, then I would not attempt them. I would opt for a long drop kick down the field in all cases and defend and hope the opposing team makes a mistake. I don't want to say too much as we could sway away from this Thread so I'll leave it at that.

 

[TheRev]

Players generally prefer to defend on their goal-line vs having to retreat 10m then move up on every play, especially when tired... its much easier for fast players to cause chaos when their opponent is retreating.. that + even if its a 20% chance of getting the ball back, its generally worth it to go short.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Where was Hamish and wasnt Lidds supposed to return. What is Sele doing in as a receiver???

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Hamish splits em onto Ryan and pulled down metres out. But then the ball was in Atkos court and he pulled out a screamer of a cutout on the chest of Val to stroll over.

 

[RedVHeartbeat]

Got a backline panting for the ball and another try and Flanagan dummies. Brainless! Just as well we scored mins later.