A few observations from tonight....

[Guest]

Next year cant come soon enough. It is embarrassing and downright painful watching this club I love play like this.

Freddy please please please resign and give us a coach that knows how to structure defence properly, will play Mason on the fringe where he should be and wont play an ordinary backrower at dummy half. Oh and I forgot will build a team culture and have the respect of his players. Oh how I wish Gus would come back and coach us....if not hello Mr McGuire.

I have only watched a couple of U20 games but if Shhhhandor Earl is better than Luke Towers I will give it away now.

Fark me we need a 5/8th

On a positive Mason is getting better and might be worth a go next year. Jake Friend is going to be a really good number 9 too if he is not in jail. Pezas great again as usual. We have some good young kids which is a positive....just need a couple of centres and a 5/8th.

[Guest]

i hope fred stays
i want gus to come back too
shhhando is good, luke towers is better he'd be awesome in first grade
we'll have carney next year. jake friend is going really well @ hooker
we need good centeres

[Guest]

Next year cant come soon enough. It is embarrassing and downright painful watching this club I love play like this.

Freddy please please please resign and give us a coach that knows how to structure defence properly, will play Mason on the fringe where he should be and wont play an ordinary backrower at dummy half. Oh and I forgot will build a team culture and have the respect of his players. Oh how I wish Gus would come back and coach us....if not hello Mr McGuire.

I have only watched a couple of U20 games but if Shhhhandor Earl is better than Luke Towers I will give it away now.

Fark me we need a 5/8th

On a positive Mason is getting better and might be worth a go next year. Jake Friend is going to be a really good number 9 too if he is not in jail. Pezas great again as usual. We have some good young kids which is a positive....just need a couple of centres and a 5/8th.

Yep..what 'Phin said..

[witty92]

We have some good young kids which is a positive....just need a couple of centres and a 5/8th.

'and a coach'

[Guest]

Earl should stick to throwing ice at people because tonight he was hopeless.

[witty92]

Earl should stick to throwing ice at people because tonight he was hopeless.

at least he was safe, i dont think sonnie or sisa would do a better job, i dont know if its towers time to move up because i havent seen him play much in toyota cup, some ppl think throwing him in too early will stunt his growth as a player...thoughts?

[supermario]

Fark me we need a 5/8th

That is probably the main point of the night, We need a 5/8.

We have Braith yes, but he is gone for the year. We need a 5/8 to play at 5/8, not Sa playing at 5/8.

In the first half, we may have been ahead if we had of had a 5/8 as a second attacking option, rather than having the attack coming from pearce all night.

[Guest]

Earl is just safe and has a good workrate, Towers provides more spark.

1. Minichiello
2. Perrett
3. M Aubusson
4. Jones
5. Kenny-Dowall
6. Kouparitsas (Carney next season)
7. Pearce
8. Myles
9. Friend
10. Paea
11. Shackleton (Sa next season)
12. Mason (if he leaves, Cordner or JWH next season)
13. Fitzgibbon (Anasta next season)

14. Samuela/Tansey (J Aubusson next season)
15. Symonds
16. Cherrington
17. Nuuausala

Koops should start at 5-8, he has natural ballskills but he is NOT a hooker. Samuela or Tansey can provide spark from dummy half off the bench, Sa can at least get the hang of playing backrow too.

Everyone else is where they should be next season, that is the best start. We look more balanced and stronger that way. Sa needs to go back to Jets for a bit, he is looking out of it.

[Guest]

Earl should stick to throwing ice at people because tonight he was hopeless.

He has as much penetration as a 110 yo with no viagra

[supermario]

Mack, you have come up with some wacky sides before, but Kouparitsis at 5/8, that has to be one of the worst options i have seen !!!

if we are looking at the rest of this season, why not look at Jones in at 5/8 and towers in at centre????

[Guest]

Mate, just be like me and try to get some positives out of the games. This year, the results do not matter anymore, it's all about development of combinations and our young players progressing.

I didn't mind the scoreline, i was actually happy that the boys looked a bit more structured in attack and the fact that most dragons points came off a penalty or in broken down play.
I thought their offloads killed us a bit tonight, they just kept on persisting with them. They kept their composure knowing that their time will come, and it did.



I just have 3 questions.

Jake Friend was on fire early on, set up a line break then set-up a try. Why the **** would you take him off and bring on a backrower ? The only thing the bloke did was offload for a try which in my opinion was pure luck on our behalf that the dragons messed up. The play wasn't on and we got a big time break.


After half-time we HAD TO get a perfect 10 minutes to be any chance in the game. On the first set Kouparitsas gives away the penalty for a hand on the ball. Tough call or not, wouldn't you be extra weary and just play it safe ?

Following set off the penalty, we defend the line well, their last play option was poor ( kicking to Soward in the middle of the field is not a high percentage play). HOW DOES A BLOKE GET OUTJUMPED BY SOWARD WHO IS A FOOT SHORTER THAN HIM ? Surprise, surprise, again, number 17.
After that try i knew we were going down, for me it was the turning point. I'm not blaming the bloke for the lost match, however i think those two plays are the story of our season. Stupid plays at crucial times.



I'd also like to go on about our inability to contain players in broken play, however it is getting late and my brain is working slow.

[Guest]

stuppid plays and critical errors. problem with developing combinations, is that if we get a new coach he is likely to twinker with the team. but i do agree that these combinations need to be consilidated

[Guest]

Mack, you have come up with some wacky sides before, but Kouparitsis at 5/8, that has to be one of the worst options i have seen !!!

if we are looking at the rest of this season, why not look at Jones in at 5/8 and towers in at centre????

Koops was a lock/5-8. That is where he played for the Bulldogs PL side for ages.

[Rooster_6]

Next year cant come soon enough. It is embarrassing and downright painful watching this club I love play like this.

Freddy please please please resign and give us a coach that knows how to structure defence properly, will play Mason on the fringe where he should be and wont play an ordinary backrower at dummy half. Oh and I forgot will build a team culture and have the respect of his players. Oh how I wish Gus would come back and coach us....if not hello Mr McGuire.

I have only watched a couple of U20 games but if Shhhhandor Earl is better than Luke Towers I will give it away now.

Fark me we need a 5/8th

On a positive Mason is getting better and might be worth a go next year. Jake Friend is going to be a really good number 9 too if he is not in jail. Pezas great again as usual. We have some good young kids which is a positive....just need a couple of centres and a 5/8th.

Shows how much you know, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that he's the most talented coach when it comes to tactics but he has the respect of plenty throughout the squad. I'd love to see what you're basing it on though... surely you must have some pretty damning evidence.

[Kingbilly]

Shows how much you know, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that he's the most talented coach when it comes to tactics but he has the respect of plenty throughout the squad. I'd love to see what you're basing it on though... surely you must have some pretty damning evidence.

But he doesn't by his own admission have the respect of the full squad.
I have heard him say he wished he could get them to do what they are supposed to do and that he admires the fact that a coach like Bennett has the ability to get rid of people that don't tow the line.