Match thread; Roosters v Storm @ Aami park.

[John Corey]

Whats amazing that you can be critical for someone like Mini having a go and making an error or two but say bugger all about JWH and FPN costing us penalties and probable suspension. Obviously your focus is a little skewed

Cmon ROC, the reason they are critical of Mini is because he has never been able to catch that short inside ball for as long as I can remember. Even when they hit him in the bread basket he always drops it. Always has and always will.
And believe me when I say that I love Mini. He is a champion of our Club but his handling of these short passes has always been very poor.

The only reason RTS is not fullback fulltime is coz he is not yet consistent enough under the high ball.
And that is the area Mini excels. There is no one better.

[Johnny.]

That was a Storm side that was just about under the cap. If Smith wasn't there, they'd have 250k to pick up an Isaac De Gois or Paul Carter level player.

[Bansai Pipeline]

Friend or Maloney ought to have gotten MoM.

Pearce isn't offering a lot.

Although we won comfortably, and it was an improvement, I still don't think we look like we're in control. Completions and penalties still a problem. Can only hope we'll keep improving.

It's also getting harder to remain objective about the penalties we don't receive. For example, Maloney cops a head slam, no penalty. A few minutes late, we get penalised for it. It's infuriating.

[Darkone]

Jake Friend - Wow. Just, WOW.

Our next captain.

He's in for the Morons for sure,

[Bansai Pipeline]

[QUOTE=John Corey;375584
The only reason RTS is not fullback fulltime is coz he is not yet consistent enough under the high ball.
And that is the area Mini excels. There is no one better.[/QUOTE]

RTS is brilliant from a standing start. Other than that he hasn't been setting the world on fire. Let's be honest.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Yeap, 65% completion rate and yet still win by 20 can be viewed as either a very good thing or very bad thing.

The opposition was very ordinary. We should have put at least 40 on them.

[stephenj]

I really thought jake was mom!

[Guest]

i thought SKD was mom

[John Corey]

Friend or Maloney ought to have gotten MoM.

Pearce isn't offering a lot.

Although we won comfortably, and it was an improvement, I still don't think we look like we're in control. Completions and penalties still a problem. Can only hope we'll keep improving.

It's also getting harder to remain objective about the penalties we don't receive. For example, Maloney cops a head slam, no penalty. A few minutes late, we get penalised for it. It's infuriating.

I think Pearce lacks the ability to control the team. Bring some composure to the attacking game when it is needed. There were times in that first half when Pearce needed to settle the boys down and stop them from trying to score from every play. I think thats the weakness in his game. To take control.
Im not saying he is not a very good player. He is. Id just like to see him lead this team around more and take control of the attack.

[ROC181]

Cmon ROC, the reason they are critical of Mini is because he has never been able to catch that short inside ball for as long as I can remember. Even when they hit him in the bread basket he always drops it. Always has and always will.
And believe me when I say that I love Mini. He is a champion of our Club but his handling of these short passes has always been very poor.

The only reason RTS is not fullback fulltime is coz he is not yet consistent enough under the high ball.
And that is the area Mini excels. There is no one better.

NEVER??? ARE YOU SURE???? Well I'm not that middleton guy from the Footy show that can remember way back to bring you examples just to refute your answer BUT I can remember one time last year against the Raiders in Canberra when SBW did a short inside pass at Minis shoelaces and Mini bent down without missing a step, caught it and dived forward to get the try...I'm sure you can remember that? I agree with Cockadoodledoo that focusing on 1 players mistakes when he gets involved a lot to get a result, yet not bag those that have a discipline issue is just ridiculous. Pearce kicked on the full and bombed a try, yet they said nothing. JWH got reported & FPN sin binned...nothing. RTS a 'bombed' a try with a bad pass to SKD who caught it...oh wait he got ankle tapped so he gets an excuse. Come on JC, lets be fair. Mini makes more mistakes than a jennings for example because he gets more involved. Sometimes you don't see Jennings at all so he does nothing wrong to some.

[Bansai Pipeline]

I think Pearce lacks the ability to control the team. Bring some composure to the attacking game when it is needed. There were times in that first half when Pearce needed to settle the boys down and stop them from trying to score from every play. I think thats the weakness in his game. To take control.
Im not saying he is not a very good player. He is. Id just like to see him lead this team around more and take control of the attack.

I agree. You see it when we panic when we're on their line. Happens a lot. I'm never confident we'll score from 10 out. We're better off 30 or 40 back.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

i thought SKD was mom

Not sure if you are joking Merlin but skd was a big contributor to their tries.

I thought Mini was outstanding... Seriously how does the mountain cat keep doing it?
Looks fitter than most and is also older than most.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

The opposition was very ordinary. We should have put at least 40 on them.

Hey Glum..they gave a real dig for 80 minutes the Storm I mean despite being outclassed.

Good game.

[bondi paul]

I think Pearce lacks the ability to control the team. Bring some composure to the attacking game when it is needed. There were times in that first half when Pearce needed to settle the boys down and stop them from trying to score from every play. I think thats the weakness in his game. To take control.
Im not saying he is not a very good player. He is. Id just like to see him lead this team around more and take control of the attack.

Yes John well said the other part of our game in the mid field area is to be slightly deeper in attack which second phase play can eventuate. The shallow attack with teams defending well against has in my opinion caused a lack of go forward in some of the games this year. JWH often takes the ball standing still unlike last year when he was faster and lighter whereas Napa is really yet to impress me in attack this season as he too seems slow. It's my observation not criticism.

[Rooster_6]

Beating Melbourne in Melbourne is a very good achievement regardless of who's in and out. Don't forget they beat Manly without Cronk & Slater earlier this year.

I thought we were great right up the guts. In fact a huge wrap on a lot of players coming out of this game.

SBW - Finally playing off the back of a team who dominated the go forward & it showed. MOTM. Superstar. Freak. Legend.
JWH - Back to his best, lead the pack like a champ.
Moa & FPN - Real powerful runs up the middle. Bending the line every time.
Napa & Casty - Real competitors, defence is brilliant and gave us good go forward.

The halves pairing is interesting, I'm not sure if Pearce is just in a bit of a slump or if we've changed our structure. Maloney seems to be playing both sides of the ruck as a genuine second receiver and Pearce seems to be playing very central as a traditional first receiver. Need to go back and watch a few of our games over the last month or so, may just be over-reading it.