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Match Discussion Round 27: Rabbitohs vs Roosters

Prowsey

Prowsey

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I think we should start tallking about the game in an actual thread.

I've been thinking about the Newcastle game a lot over the last few days.

If you remember, we held the Knights to 25 metres or so on our first defensive set.

And then we rolled down field in our first attacking set, making 70 odd metres.

Shortly after that Lachie made an error in the end of set kick, giving the Knights a 7 tackle set.

And then the wheels fell off. The Knights marched up field making at least 50 metres and Ponga tore our right edge to shreds, seemingly without breaking a sweat.

The Knights made good metres on their next set and it ended with Latrell - legally - putting Young over the touch line (around 40 metres out).
Of course our old mate, didn't agree and penalised us.

And the Knights scored on the next set, tearing our right edge apart again.

Why am I bringing this up...because those two examples demonstrate that the squad has lost their resilience.

Their heads seem to drop when things go against them, and they fold like cheap tents.

The rest of the game was kind of a repeat of that opening 10-20 minutes.

Promising signs in attack, that were killed by somebody.

And little sign of resilience in defence.

The talent is there, no doubt.

What we need to see Friday week is the return of the resilience we saw in the opening 11 or 12 weeks.

It comes down to wanting to play for each other.

It comes down to the 1 or 2%'ers being done by everyone in the team.

And it comes down to refusing to let those scummy bastards score on us.

Funnily enough...and yes I'm delusional, I think we are going to win this game.

Bring it on...so we can get bundled out in week 1! 😂
 
Certainly true that the boys seem to drop their heads when things go against them. Their intensity is inconsistent and that indicates to me that their belief has slipped.

A big win against the Chooks would do wonders.

Frankly, our side has been found out by the rest of the comp and the Knights aren't the first team to exploit our weaknesses, especially down our fragile right edge. The Roosters will look to do the same and run their shapes down that side as well as kick high to both their high leaping wingers. They'll also look to win the possession and field position stats and put more fatigue into us than we do to them. Can we turn that around? Please???

Munro simply has to play not only to increase our chances of scoring points but also to challenge Tupou in the air. As for defending their shape when they go through the hands, I think we, of course, concede a try or 2 there BUT my best remedy for that is to do it back to them at least 1 time more than they do it to us!

Fingers and toes crossed that the spleen venting of recent days releases some of the tension and triggers a reset for the entire coaching and playing groups. Something had to change and now it has, let's hope they steel themselves and go for it out on the field.

Any internal frustrations must be taken out on those petty coat wearing prima donnas from Bondi Junction next Friday night!!!
 
Our right hand side defence has more holes than swiss cheese

On the left, Tass will be going up against Manu and Tass can struggle against quality centres
 
Had a quick squizz on the Chookpen for 3-4mins they are in stitches they’ve laughed so much over what a mess we are in currently.
 
Shauno said:
Do you expect any different?
Just like we do at them.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure there is a lol@roosters thread on here when they were struggling at the start of the season and sacking their assistant coach.

Christmas come early for them, only thing that can shut them up is if we beat them in two weeks.

If we do, I'll be letting every rooster fan know about it on social media
 
Again leading into a derby clash that actually decides the fate of both sides the dirty laundry gets aired but thankfully perhaps a week too early...no excuses nowhere to hide for our team or coaching staff in front of our home crowd. Actions speak louder than words and that is all that matters. Let's get our shit together and regroup to focus on what really matters...putting those chooks to the sword. Sure, plaster over the cracks but there is only one thing that we must agree on....keep those pellet peckers in Our shadow. ***k the Roosters. Glory, glory
 
The main problem with the Newcastle game was our 58% completion rate. I was disappointed that we didn't defend the set-backs (as Prowsey says a lack of resilience) but Ponga was magic in those first 30 minutes. In those early tries three elements were present, Graham missing a tackle, Milne rushing in and Mitchell proving to be a poor last line of defence. I doubt that we would see a repeat of that from Campbell. JD coaches seems to coach the wingers to run in so there's little we can do about it and Latrell is out for the Roosters match. Then trailing 0 - 12 Cook scores adjacent to the posts but Latrell misses the simple conversion - that would sink anyone's morale. Then we had the extra tackle set and all sorts of things went wrong.

We lost two tries on their line. JD should sort that out.

Latrell made a good contribution in terms of tackle busts and metres gained. But his handling cost two tries. Maybe for this game we are better off without him. As Latrell said Taaffe is killing them in State Cup. He's not a game breaker but we almost won a grand final with him at the back.

To state the obvious need to get our completion rate up.

Tatola and Sele are barely averaging 100 metres game. They need that to improve on that. Shaq is not a big metre gainer but he is solid in defence and at least is a big body in the middle of the field. Murray will play the whole game and we need that. Duncan is looking good. Arrow will provide a bit of toughness in the middle. Koloamatangi might be the key - he needs to do more in attack. We'll take the field with three SOO forwards (and it would have been four except for the injury to Arrow) - if they play like it, that gives us a formidable pack. I am encouraged by Cook's recent performances.

We have to hope (and I think hope is the right word) that Cody can do something creative behind a good pack. His halves partner could be the key. Lachlan's confidence might be down a bit but we need a mistake free game from him.

That's a lot to click into place, especially the completion rate. If it does we win.

Cheers
 
bigbopper said:
The main problem with the Newcastle game was our 58% completion rate. I was disappointed that we didn't defend the set-backs (as Prowsey says a lack of resilience) but Ponga was magic in those first 30 minutes. In those early tries three elements were present, Graham missing a tackle, Milne rushing in and Mitchell proving to be a poor last line of defence. I doubt that we would see a repeat of that from Campbell. JD coaches seems to coach the wingers to run in so there's little we can do about it and Latrell is out for the Roosters match. Then trailing 0 - 12 Cook scores adjacent to the posts but Latrell misses the simple conversion - that would sink anyone's morale. Then we had the extra tackle set and all sorts of things went wrong.

We lost two tries on their line. JD should sort that out.

Latrell made a good contribution in terms of tackle busts and metres gained. But his handling cost two tries. Maybe for this game we are better off without him. As Latrell said Taaffe is killing them in State Cup. He's not a game breaker but we almost won a grand final with him at the back.

To state the obvious need to get our completion rate up.

Tatola and Sele are barely averaging 100 metres game. They need that to improve on that. Shaq is not a big metre gainer but he is solid in defence and at least is a big body in the middle of the field. Murray will play the whole game and we need that. Duncan is looking good. Arrow will provide a bit of toughness in the middle. Koloamatangi might be the key - he needs to do more in attack. We'll take the field with three SOO forwards (and it would have been four except for the injury to Arrow) - if they play like it, that gives us a formidable pack. I am encouraged by Cook's recent performances.

We have to hope (and I think hope is the right word) that Cody can do something creative behind a good pack. His halves partner could be the key. Lachlan's confidence might be down a bit but we need a mistake free game from him.

That's a lot to click into place, especially the completion rate. If it does we win.

Cheers
Click to expand...
I’m an eternal optimist, but even I think you’ve got the rose coloured glasses on there Bopps.

In an isolated performance, sure.

But coming off:

- A game against a weak and understrength Dragons side where it was 20-14 with 15 minutes to play (Dragons have won 5 games all year, one of them against us in Round 15);

- A convincing loss to the Sharks (who up to that point we’re struggling for form) where we were simply outplayed;

- A win against the last place Tigers where again, with 15 minutes to play is was 20-18 and the game was well and truly in the balance; and

- A heavy defeat by the Broncos where we were outclassed.

The stuff you’re saying ‘we can fix up’ has been a problem for weeks now.

If they could ‘fix it up’, they would have already.

There is no recent improvement in this side, despite poor performances dating back months.

We said it was injury. We said it was players missing for Origin. We said it was blowing out rust and finding some cohesion.

It’s been none of those things.

We’re poor in defence and sloppy in attack, with a general lack of urgency across all aspects of play.

Our completion rate across those 4 games has only gotten above 66% once. I don’t think they just fix that with some bye week training and a pow wow.

We’ve also lost both games following the bye this season.
 
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Do we think JD will bring Munro in for Milne?

I wouldnt mind seeing Arrow play on the edge next to Lachy to stiffen up the defence.
 
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