Penalties vs ball control

[stsae]

I am of the opinion penalties aren't what decide games.

Last year we barely won a count but won the count in the GF.

Souffs this year were the reverse, won most counts but lost the GF one.

Both sides won their GFs.

In fact it can be argued if you hold the ball you should get more penalties, kinda makes sense.

What Souffs achieved this year, especially in the semis, was straight out of the Bellyache play book.

Ball control. 1 error in the first 1/2 last night and that was in the 39th minute on the attack.

And all year, especially in the semis, we were severely hampered by our lack of ball control and our oppositions near perfect execution, especially in 1st 1/2s which saw us tire and give up leads last season we rarely did.

Souffs again ran away in the last 10. The Boggs had their chances early but let Souffs off the hook by not applying any pressure. Simple errors from ordinary play. And how bad were their 1/2s, MIA all night.

We play a style like womanly. We are a Hail Mary team. We are always in the game cos we can pull off a big play.

Souffs and Melba play a different style. They control and grind teams out of the contest. Then they pounce when you're farked late in matches.

Both styles work and both styles can be beaten. But under different rules, as we've seen this season, both styles aren't always effective.

Going into next season will we concentrate more on ball control???

Will we move to a more conservative structure where we play for 60 mins controlled footy then destroy teams ala Souffs???

Will we adapt to the rules and changes if they occur???

Big off season for our coach IMO. Watching this year he tried to adapt to the rule changes by ramping up our attack when hind site shows a more conservative approach would've been a smarter option.

I know it's human nature to blame others for our failings. The NRL, Smiff, Reffs, Souffs, Ch9, camera angles, Origin, Rothwitt, rules, penalties, $BW, bungers, the piss, housemates etcetcetc.

I reckon if we look at ourselves first and realise we are the number one contributors to our own downfall we will see what we need to do to move forward successfully.

Enjoy your off seasons you bitter twisted morphed into Souffs mentality soft coqqs.

The sookpen is back baby.

[Guest]

Hi stsae,

I believe you are quite spot on with your assessment. It is very difficult to win football matches with low completion rates and far less time in possession of the rugby league football than your opponent. It can be done to win under such adversity and our team themselves in the last 2 seasons have proven you can overcome these obstacles however it is very difficult to regularly win.

I believe that not only does ball control play a part but also where you drop the ball. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs dropped a lot of ball last night inside of their own half which is something that our Sydney Roosters have done. It is one thing to drop the ball a few times when you are on the attack deep inside of your opponents territory but it is another thing to drop the ball consistently inside of your own territory and give up the opportunity to gain control of the arm wrestle. The Sydney Roosters gave up too much ball inside of their own territory and placed themselves under too much pressure in defense and invited opponent teams to either score points or gain control of the territorial battles.

With so much indiscipline concerning the ball handling perhaps the Rugby League World Cup was a burden on our team and the fitness levels were not where they were in season 2013 without the full off season to prepare. Fitness is a contributor to mental attributes and players lacking in just a small amount of fitness decide to take the easier option or the shortcut option. Just an observation. The only thing that was responsible for the teams downfall was the team themselves.

[Tommy Smith]

Good post.

What were our possession stats across the 3 semis? I believe we had something like 47%, 46% and 45%.

And that's largely down to very poor ball control and also our awful habit of sticking a hand out on the 5th and giving the opposition 6 again.

And so we eventually ran out of gas. In rather dramatic fashion, too.

So yes I do believe we need to place a greater emphasis on ball control. But I don't think we should completely copy Souffs.

I'm confident that Robbo can find that happy medium between control and flair.

One thing is for certain, with RTS at fullback and Fergo in the centres, plenty of points will come. But we just need to learn when to play with more control - to read the flow of the game and adjust our style accordingly.

[Guest]

What a load of Facre!

[Guest]

It's about time people are making sense. If ball control, discipline and fitness aren't addressed we'll be headed down hill. In what I see from Robbo, he knows that. He was very happy in our season. Of course he was. The rule changes, lack of off season and injuries made what we achieved huge. He is there to keep us competitive. Two minor premierships and a premierships....I love watching us win most games, beats the past heading to game for a near guaranteed lost.

[Guest]

It's about time people are making sense. If ball control, discipline and fitness aren't addressed we'll be headed down hill. In what I see from Robbo, he knows that. He was very happy in our season. Of course he was. The rule changes, lack of off season and injuries made what we achieved huge. He is there to keep us competitive. Two minor premierships and a premierships....I love watching us win most games, beats the past heading to game for a near guaranteed lost.

I agree with Nudgee/mudgee... Delete the OP and replace it with this. Mate, don't you know how to spell mudgee?

[Johnny.]

I often get penalised for my ball control...years of self abuse have cost me dearly.

[Guest]

I often get penalised for my ball control...years of self abuse have cost me dearly.

[bondi paul]

We rate 3td worst for completions in 2014 therein lays the prob and wingers come fullbacks doing forwards work no wonder we got smashed in the semis

[Guest]

We rate 3td worst for completions in 2014 therein lays the prob and wingers come fullbacks doing forwards work no wonder we got smashed in the semis

Robbo said that he learnt a lot from this year.. Lack of preseason/injuries and suspensions, hopefully this means he has something in mind for the preseason.

[Guest]

Something I noticed during last nights game. Inglis and referee having a muck around. Say what you want about that..... We need a captain and team that get along with referees, souths 3 or 4 years ago were bad in discipline. They changed there attitude towards referees. It doesn't matter if they make the wrong calls, just be on there side. The referees know pre-game that we'll get penalised, that perception needs to change. Time to build that relationship with the referees. The comp is too tight to not tick every box.

[elo]

The rule changes made controlling the ruck as the defensive team much tougher this season, a hell of a lot more penalties blown across the board too which doesn't suit a team like us as we lose more counts than the win by default.

We did well to finish minor premiers, choked badly against Penrith though and that was fatal - would have been a completely different finals series if we win that and get the 2 weeks off, we needed the freshen up badly.

[Guest]

Geez backwards, don't let the truth get in the way of a bagful of excuses lol. The reality was we played some pretty farking shit footy this year and the worst of it was in the finals series. I was looking at those teams yesterday thinking we were as good or better but that does not mean shit. We did not get the results when they were required.

[Johnny Tobin]

The rule changes made controlling the ruck as the defensive team much tougher this season, a hell of a lot more penalties blown across the board too which doesn't suit a team like us as we lose more counts than the win by default.

We did well to finish minor premiers, choked badly against Penrith though and that was fatal - would have been a completely different finals series if we win that and get the 2 weeks off, we needed the freshen up badly.

And we would have been on a great winning streak. That loss totally took the wind out of our sails.

[stephenj]

be very interesting to see who we choose to play in thjre trials? do we compete in the n9ines? if so do we go out to win it?