Official Match Thread - Wests Tigers vs Sydney Roosters

[bondi paul]

Thanks for a comprehensive post Bondi. You covered a heap of good ground and overall I am with you. I've just taken a couple of quotes from your comments to elaborate on.

Re Roosters attack - Apart from a glowing report on Nikorima's debut game with us, the attacking players don't get a lot of post game praise. Even some of Latrell's 'only he could do it' tries have been downplayed in the presser afterwards. While we all appreciate he needed to improve his condition and defensive positioning, a little bit of recognition for his undoubted talent wouldn't have gone astray. The same went for Maloney and Jennings. I think that Trent is more a defensive coach and man manager and in those ares he excels. Innovation and ability to quickly adjust a game plan - the gifts of Gibson - are not so evident. Regardless Robbo is one of the best coaches in the NRL but it's not only Freddie that thinks we're a bit too 'predictable'.

Re - ball playing forwards. The lack of ball playing in the forwards greatly limits our attack. JWH was developing a decent pass out the back and if they back him up, he does at least try these things. Latrell's wonderful try against the Titans in 2016 was a good example of JWH keeping the ball alive and Mitchell sensing opportunity and executing it superbly. In fact I think Mitchell has Beetson like ball playing ability and in days of old may have made a great second rower. You'd remember, Beetson started as a centre and migrated into the forwards.

Nat Butcher has shown he can slip a good ball in traffic. Doing it in first grade is another thing again, but we have to start somewhere. A few coaches have wizened to our gang tackling and are getting their forwards to back into the defence and keep the ball alive. The Tigers made good yards down the middle doing this to us. Our third man in wasn't alert to it. I saw Friend and Liu caught sleeping a few times there. My kingdom for another Sonny Bill. Angus Crichton is a good ball player as well as a great runner. It's probably related to his union days of keeping the ball alive. An attacking forwards assistant coach may help...Stuart had Cartwright for this. And for years we also had Artie on call. I'm hoping FNP might surprise us, or am I 'dreaming'.

Thank you Louie for yiur response and the very valid comments.
Hoping we have a successful/ entertaining style of footy and season free of serious injuries.
Up Easts.