Alan79
Kennel Legend
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2007
- Messages
- 13,481
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A lot has been said about the negative aspects of friday afternoons game but i thought there were a few positives to be taken out of the game. I've been pretty critical of Keating at times but i thought his kicking game was pretty good last night and showed massive improvements to last years repeated attempts at cross field bombs to the forwards. Early on he put some nice rolling kicks into the in goal that had Inglis running 30 or 40 metres to recover the ball and he was noticeably absent in attack during the first 40. When the side put in good efforts at chasing the ball we were keeping the rabbits in their own half for long periods.
Another positive was the short passing game our forwards were playing. We'd often draw 2-3 defenders and have another forward back up for a short pass and make an extra 5-6 metres. If we'd kept this up i think their forwards would have run out of gas early in the game. Unfortunately the refs allowed them easy metres through penalties and at some point the weight of defense we were doing stopped us from sticking with this strategy.
The third big positive i took out of the game was the form Josh Morris is showing. Every time he got the ball in his hands he looked pretty dangerous. He'd go to the line and hit 2-3 defenders spin back and step round to make another few metres before being tackled. There were a few occasions where i wished he'd have headed back in field with the defenders on him and passed to Goodwin but overall i thought he deserved about a 9/10 mark for his effort. He was one of our best at putting pressure on defensively for the in goal kicks too. I only took 1 half mark off because he doesn't help to screen Goodwin for the bombs and for not looking to put Goodwin in space more often (I don't want him to become the ball hog that he was at some stages over the last couple of seasons).
I thought Ennis controlled the forwards pretty well this week and had the right players getting the ball at the right times. I think he's getting his confidence back slowly after a neck injury that i'd think would make many players play tentatively. He's still got a couple of areas where he can improve but i think he's on his way back to being at his competitive best.
I also should give a big kudos to Barbas tackle on Inglis when he made that big second half break. It showed some wisdom for him to have tried wrapping him up with the higher tackle rather than going low in that situation. I think most of the better defensive fullbacks are able to do these style of tackles and i'm confident that Barba's on his way to becoming a well rounded fullback rather than just a pure attacking machine.
Those were the main positives i took from the match and while i won't rehash the poor refereeing that many of us witnessed, i still think that we had the game within reach if we'd played with more composure. A few things cost us dearly in the match with the main two being the two bombed tries down the right hand side of the field. I was pretty dirty about the dropped ball when it happened and was shaking my head about the pass that went behind a flying Wright and Turner. I think that had either of these resulted in points we'd have stayed composed and gone on to win the match.
The main issue with our composure i think stems from having a young halves pairing. At times this can be beneficial but at others i think that we need Ennis to just tell them to calm down and keep the pressure on the opposition with smart plays rather than trying to score off every touch of the ball. I'm confident that the side will become more composed as the season goes on though.
I think the mark of a great football side is being able to shake off the errors and stick to the game plan. Sides like Melbourne are great at this and last year Manly were too. Others like the Tigers and Dragons can be put off their games completely by having a horrible 15 minute stint. I think that to become a great side we've just got to get into the habit of putting those fifteen minute poor stints behind us.
Another positive was the short passing game our forwards were playing. We'd often draw 2-3 defenders and have another forward back up for a short pass and make an extra 5-6 metres. If we'd kept this up i think their forwards would have run out of gas early in the game. Unfortunately the refs allowed them easy metres through penalties and at some point the weight of defense we were doing stopped us from sticking with this strategy.
The third big positive i took out of the game was the form Josh Morris is showing. Every time he got the ball in his hands he looked pretty dangerous. He'd go to the line and hit 2-3 defenders spin back and step round to make another few metres before being tackled. There were a few occasions where i wished he'd have headed back in field with the defenders on him and passed to Goodwin but overall i thought he deserved about a 9/10 mark for his effort. He was one of our best at putting pressure on defensively for the in goal kicks too. I only took 1 half mark off because he doesn't help to screen Goodwin for the bombs and for not looking to put Goodwin in space more often (I don't want him to become the ball hog that he was at some stages over the last couple of seasons).
I thought Ennis controlled the forwards pretty well this week and had the right players getting the ball at the right times. I think he's getting his confidence back slowly after a neck injury that i'd think would make many players play tentatively. He's still got a couple of areas where he can improve but i think he's on his way back to being at his competitive best.
I also should give a big kudos to Barbas tackle on Inglis when he made that big second half break. It showed some wisdom for him to have tried wrapping him up with the higher tackle rather than going low in that situation. I think most of the better defensive fullbacks are able to do these style of tackles and i'm confident that Barba's on his way to becoming a well rounded fullback rather than just a pure attacking machine.
Those were the main positives i took from the match and while i won't rehash the poor refereeing that many of us witnessed, i still think that we had the game within reach if we'd played with more composure. A few things cost us dearly in the match with the main two being the two bombed tries down the right hand side of the field. I was pretty dirty about the dropped ball when it happened and was shaking my head about the pass that went behind a flying Wright and Turner. I think that had either of these resulted in points we'd have stayed composed and gone on to win the match.
The main issue with our composure i think stems from having a young halves pairing. At times this can be beneficial but at others i think that we need Ennis to just tell them to calm down and keep the pressure on the opposition with smart plays rather than trying to score off every touch of the ball. I'm confident that the side will become more composed as the season goes on though.
I think the mark of a great football side is being able to shake off the errors and stick to the game plan. Sides like Melbourne are great at this and last year Manly were too. Others like the Tigers and Dragons can be put off their games completely by having a horrible 15 minute stint. I think that to become a great side we've just got to get into the habit of putting those fifteen minute poor stints behind us.
