Completions!

[Nicola Tesla]

Despite our courageous season and the adversities, one thing that can not be glossed over is our poor completions and ball control!
Not sure what the answer is here or the breakdowns but so many were just simple dropped balls from reasonable passes or during a tackle…. What is the excuse for this? Sometimes it’s fatigue or pressure but many times they were early in games!
There are some that were through lack of cohesion and timing which to a degree you understand with ever changing rosters, but even then the cohesion and timing of runs and passes should have been a lot better!
These are things that do not rely on athleticism or being the best players … are these coachable or trainable issues that need to be reviewed?
If they don’t improve these things then we are in for much of the same next year. Is this on the coach?
I don’t see the storm drop as many balls as the roosters despite their positional changes!

[Johnny Tobin]

We have been terrible at completions as long as I can remember but with the new rules making it so hard to get momentum back it’s a killer.

[ROC181]

Despite our courageous season and the adversities, one thing that can not be glossed over is our poor completions and ball control!
Not sure what the answer is here or the breakdowns but so many were just simple dropped balls from reasonable passes or during a tackle…. What is the excuse for this? Sometimes it’s fatigue or pressure but many times they were early in games!
There are some that were through lack of cohesion and timing which to a degree you understand with ever changing rosters, but even then the cohesion and timing of runs and passes should have been a lot better!
These are things that do not rely on athleticism or being the best players … are these coachable or trainable issues that need to be reviewed?
If they don’t improve these things then we are in for much of the same next year. Is this on the coach?
I don’t see the storm drop as many balls as the roosters despite their positional changes!

I said it last week after I went to see the All Blacks play and it’s not like I haven’t seen it before on TV but this time it was live. You cannot be amazed at how every pass the All Blacks make just sticks. At high speed, low, high, under pressure and the most outrageous passes, they stick. It’s like it’s scientifically impossible YET they wouldn’t drop one. You would think they’re using some illegal method to achieve that but obviously they’re not…so how the hell do they do it?

I wish we can have what they have!

[Chook Norris]

We have been terrible at completions as long as I can remember but with the new rules making it so hard to get momentum back it’s a killer.

This ^

For anyone saying who cares about completion, it matters a lot in the new world. It seems like we get smashed in games where our handling has let us down, or we've massively let in teams back into the game through poor handling.

Couldnt hurt to focus on three things in the off season:

- ball handling
- defence
- quick play the balls

[King Salvo]

I bang on a bit about completion rates and other areas where stats are poor.

It will be interesting how these are addressed in the off season/pre-season and also what new ideas a new trainer/high performance person and new defence coach in Ryles will bring to the team as they no doubt will have their own ideas and will want to implement them rather than just maintain the same systems and processes of the previous people in those roles.

Also during the year Robbo was saying Fitzy and Kingy were in charge of the attack so will that fall solely on Kingy's shoulder or will someone else come in?

[Mickie Lane]

I said it last week after I went to see the All Blacks play and it’s not like I haven’t seen it before on TV but this time it was live. You cannot be amazed at how every pass the All Blacks make just sticks. At high speed, low, high, under pressure and the most outrageous passes, they stick. It’s like it’s scientifically impossible YET they wouldn’t drop one. You would think they’re using some illegal method to achieve that but obviously they’re not…so how the hell do they do it?

I wish we can have what they have!

Do you ever think they will have to change the name All Blacks?
Would a team called the All Whites be allowed?

[ROC181]

Do you ever think they will have to change the name All Blacks?
Would a team called the All Whites be allowed?

There is a team called the All Whites...It's their soccer team BUT apparently that is now racist...Go Figure!

[GateKeeper]

I got to agree with you Nicola. Poor ball handling and consistent infringements each game are costing the Roosters bigtime.

[Waylander]

I like their basketball team name the “Tall Blacks”.

It would be PC gone made if they have to change the name since it’s predicated on their uniform & pre-dates the high involvement of Maori players in the side.

[Kramer]

My old man used to say to me, always keep your eye on the ball. It works. Too many guys have a look when the pass is on, and subsequently, drop the ball. Also trying to offload in traffic, not always a good idea.

[King Salvo]

There is a team called the All Whites...It's their soccer team BUT apparently that is now racist...Go Figure!

I remember in the 2010 FIFA World cup they had to obtain permission off the All Blacks to wear a Black Kit in their final game of the group stage that if they won they would have advanced to the round of 16 knockout stage - Actually they were the only undefeated country in that world cup - 3 draws in the group stage

So White is out and Black is in - what could they be called in relation to the game of football if they wont be able to wear white even as folk will still call them All Whites.

Black Shirts - obviously not - Black Feet - nope either as there is an Indigenous American tribe with that name - Black Balls - ah no - Black Heads - nope- Black Socks- mmm Baseball World Series 1919 Scandal and its the name of their men's softball team

Black Boots perhaps?

The NZ Football team had to wear white due to a former FIFA regulation reserving black for referees.

If white still - can't be white ferns as that's the NZ Womens Cricket team

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/football...055533599.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ze...re_based_on_th e_%22All_Blacks%22

[Nathan Aboud]

Yes!!!!! The skill set is there, the fitness too is also there, they all know each other well enough and the combinations are there..... This team & club is looking at a successful 5 years now...

SO WORK ON THE BLOODY COMPLETION RATE AND BALL CONTROL IN THE OFF SEASON. STICKY TAPE THE BALL TO THEIR HANDS EVERYDAY, I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY DO JUST WORK ON GETTING OUR GOD DAMM COMPLETION RATE TO BE ABOUT 80%!!!!!!!!!!

[ROC181]

Yes!!!!! The skill set is there, the fitness too is also there, they all know each other well enough and the combinations are there..... This team & club is looking at a successful 5 years now...

SO WORK ON THE BLOODY COMPLETION RATE AND BALL CONTROL IN THE OFF SEASON. STICKY TAPE THE BALL TO THEIR HANDS EVERYDAY, I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY DO JUST WORK ON GETTING OUR GOD DAMM COMPLETION RATE TO BE ABOUT 80%!!!!!!!!!!

I agree that something has to happen but it’s not that easy to build the combinations. There has been 6 hookers, 6 halves, one fullback/5-8/half back, 5 centres, 3 fullbacks, 6 R wingers, and I’m not counting the rest of the forwards. Too much to tally of how many players played a certain position. The ONLY player who stayed in his position was Toupo. He’s very lazy. He should of had a go as a hooker I think.

I hate seeing all those drop balls but in fairness, the situation did not allow for the squad of 34 players or so to have any connection like Cleary Luai, Reynolds Walker and so on. The understanding they have sometimes takes a generation. The only way we could accelerate this understanding process is if Robbo gets all the players in the spine to share a home over the summer and just talk and play footy in the backyard, but I’m not sure Mrs Keary and baby and the other partners would like that.

We are not going to win the comp next year with combinations. We will win it with skills, and leadership much like we won it in 18/19 but we will still have to put up with being one of the worst sides at holding the ball. All we need to do is to score more points than what we drop and it will be sweet, bro!

[Headless Chook]

Roc is spot on in his post. The other thing you need to take into account is how many players we had who were either in their first season or usually only fill in for a few games here or there eg Hutch, Marschke, Lam etc. These guys can normally do a fair job for a short period of time but they're not used to the increased intensity of the NRL and don't have the abilaity to execute their skills under pressure as consistently as the hardened pro such as Jarrod, Teddy etc. The senior players understand this and they try and increase their output to compensate and this leads to them making more errors then they normally would too. The good that comes out of this is we have half a dozen players now who have racked up an extra 15-20 games in the NRL and are starting to get used to the level they must play at. Our depth next year will be off the charts if we get a fair crack on the injury front

[Red.]

I bang on a bit about completion rates and other areas where stats are poor.

It will be interesting how these are addressed in the off season/pre-season and also what new ideas a new trainer/high performance person and new defence coach in Ryles will bring to the team as they no doubt will have their own ideas and will want to implement them rather than just maintain the same systems and processes of the previous people in those roles.

Also during the year Robbo was saying Fitzy and Kingy were in charge of the attack so will that fall solely on Kingy's shoulder or will someone else come in?

I read yesterday that Nathan Cayless was looking for a new job and that Brett Morris and Jason Ryles will be added to thew coaching team.