things we need to fix

[no1bulldog]

1. Aiden Tolman - I've been one of his biggest fans since he joined the club and I've even defended him early on this year but he is trying to step and run sideways on his hit ups now and its just not working, noticed him slipping off a few more tackles lately, not sure if he might be carrying an injury and its on his mind when hitting the ball up? I haven't forgotten about his 4th tackle carries but that's more on Des than him as it is part of our structure

2. Josh Jackson - have noticed this year that he is forcing a lot of offloads and either turning over possession or making us scramble to retain the ball and lose ground and momentum, got lucky tonight with his last one tonight which went out the back to no one and we ended up scoring a few passes later.... seems to be prone to giving a few extra penalties also

3. Josh Morris - for a game where he came out and stated he wanted to stake his claim on the NSW centre position he was very quite tonight, overall this year he seems to me to become more of a ball hog than last year and starves Rona of any ball

4. Mbye & Reynolds - really need to step up or just give away there 5th tackle kicking options, out and out the worst kicking halves in the comp I think they hit the grass once tonight with their kicks, also not sure if they are communicating with the others as we have zero kick chase

5. football smarts - we seem to lack players with any football smarts who can read a game or seize an opportunity some examples are when our halves are rushed and cant get a kick away the other players looked like deer in the headlights and have absolutely no idea what to do with the ball running in circles, playing hot potato etc when all they have to do is put boot to ball.

Another example was tonight in the last few minutes Melbourne threw a loose pass which hit the ground and rolled along the ground for a good distance, Josh Morris was the closest player to the ball it was right in front of him all he had to do was pick it up and game over......instead he stands there waiting for the storm player to run 5 meters forward and pick it up at his feet and points for Rona to cover the winger??

Also I think it was Morris who kicked the ball dead on the last when we were down their end in around the 71st minute? why he ended up with it I don't know the smart thing would have been to kick the field goal and extend our lead to 7


before I get jumped on im very happy we got the win, im not just having a whinge im just looking at where we can improve, I was also happy with Holland's game & klemmer was great also, I think Kas was very unfairly criticised for his penalties the ref said he'd been pinged for 3 but I can only remember 2 the first one no one knows what it was even for? the refs gave no explanation and no one else could figure it out, the 2nd one was also a joke...it wasn't for the arm that didn't connect with the falling player it was for going on with the tackle (which he didn't do) how could he when the Melbourne players ran in and grabbed him as soon as they hit the ground?

 

[Indiandog]

1. Aiden Tolman - I've been one of his biggest fans since he joined the club and I've even defended him early on this year but he is trying to step and run sideways on his hit ups now and its just not working, noticed him slipping off a few more tackles lately, not sure if he might be carrying an injury and its on his mind when hitting the ball up? I haven't forgotten about his 4th tackle carries but that's more on Des than him as it is part of our structure

2. Josh Jackson - have noticed this year that he is forcing a lot of offloads and either turning over possession or making us scramble to retain the ball and lose ground and momentum, got lucky tonight with his last one tonight which went out the back to no one and we ended up scoring a few passes later.... seems to be prone to giving a few extra penalties also

3. Josh Morris - for a game where he came out and stated he wanted to stake his claim on the NSW centre position he was very quite tonight, overall this year he seems to me to become more of a ball hog than last year and starves Rona of any ball

4. Mbye & Reynolds - really need to step up or just give away there 5th tackle kicking options, out and out the worst kicking halves in the comp I think they hit the grass once tonight with their kicks, also not sure if they are communicating with the others as we have zero kick chase

5. football smarts - we seem to lack players with any football smarts who can read a game or seize an opportunity some examples are when our halves are rushed and cant get a kick away the other players looked like deer in the headlights and have absolutely no idea what to do with the ball running in circles, playing hot potato etc when all they have to do is put boot to ball.

Another example was tonight in the last few minutes Melbourne threw a loose pass which hit the ground and rolled along the ground for a good distance, Josh Morris was the closest player to the ball it was right in front of him all he had to do was pick it up and game over......instead he stands there waiting for the storm player to run 5 meters forward and pick it up at his feet and points for Rona to cover the winger??

Also I think it was Morris who kicked the ball dead on the last when we were down their end in around the 71st minute? why he ended up with it I don't know the smart thing would have been to kick the field goal and extend our lead to 7


before I get jumped on im very happy we got the win, im not just having a whinge im just looking at where we can improve, I was also happy with Holland's game & klemmer was great also, I think Kas was very unfairly criticised for his penalties the ref said he'd been pinged for 3 but I can only remember 2 the first one no one knows what it was even for? the refs gave no explanation and no one else could figure it out, the 2nd one was also a joke...it wasn't for the arm that didn't connect with the falling player it was for going on with the tackle (which he didn't do) how could he when the Melbourne players ran in and grabbed him as soon as they hit the ground?

good analysis and observation.

only problem is nothing can be done to fix all this.

these actions are put in place in preseason training , not when we are half way through the season.

 

[Matty]

Tbh I think reynolds actually has a better long kicking game than Mbye but hardly ever takes them. Mbye seems to nail everything straight down the throat of the opposition fullback or winger, and they are always starting their set on the 30-40m. Reynolds I think finds the ground more often and has a 40/20 in him. Almost kicked one tonight by a matter of cm. I'd like to see him taking more of the long range kicks down the field

Also would like us taking the ball forward more before throwing it around too much. We make too many errors trying fancy shit inside our own half. At stages we actually looked quite good in attack on the line. But we only got it down there a few times. I think they said something like we had 8 tackles down there for 3 tries? We seem to play too much footy down our end of the field and a lot of that starts with the kicking game. Our defense has been great this season but you can't expect to defend like that every game and come away with wins.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

- Depth
- Intensity
- Off the ball running
These are the only things i can actually see us improving on. Des won't change shit when i comes to structures or players.

 

[Horny Wog]

I reckon if a bomb went up 1km in the air our kick chasers would still be 20m back from when the ball lands into the hands of the oppositions FB/Winger

 

[Z-Dizzle]

I think Kas was very unfairly criticised for his penalties the ref said he'd been pinged for 3 but I can only remember 2 the first one no one knows what it was even for? the refs gave no explanation and no one else could figure it out, the 2nd one was also a joke...it wasn't for the arm that didn't connect with the falling player it was for going on with the tackle (which he didn't do) how could he when the Melbourne players ran in and grabbed him as soon as they hit the ground?

The 3 penalties were the first one which you have outlined. The second was for something on the line and the third was about 4 minutes into the second half.

I was more worried about his reactions to those penalties. Also that big Munster kick return that put the Storm on the front foot all of a sudden was Kas being lazy in the line and just slipping off. Even with the bullshit penalties it wasn't a great game for him.

Morris was a monster defensively tonight, quite a few times they managed to get away from him and he managed to come back and get them from behind.

I posted in the game day thread that Mbye was standing far too deep and was killing us with his long kicks. I thought Reynolds clearing kicks from our half were much better than anything he dished up between their 50-20 bar that kick for Perret. Mid-range kicking game is definitely a worry for both halves. Mbye long range also left a lot to be desired.

 

[blueyedsamurai]

6. Sam Kasiano - Needs to stop dropping the ball, I don't think I've watched a game where he doesn't drop it at least once. Him and Fifita are the worst culprits.

 

[Z-Dizzle]

- Depth
- Intensity
- Off the ball running
These are the only things i can actually see us improving on. Des won't change shit when i comes to structures or players.

Its amazing the difference a little bit of depth makes for us. Every time the right hand side had a bit of depth to it we were rolling down there. Reynolds and Jackson actually looks dangerous when playing with depth. Then all of a sudden they are back to a flat structure and we are struggling to make 5 metres a run.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

I reckon if a bomb went up 1km in the air our kick chasers would still be 20m back from when the ball lands into the hands of the oppositions FB/Winger

Des doesn't believe in a kick chase lol.

 

[dogluva]

1. Aiden Tolman - I've been one of his biggest fans since he joined the club and I've even defended him early on this year but he is trying to step and run sideways on his hit ups now and its just not working, noticed him slipping off a few more tackles lately, not sure if he might be carrying an injury and its on his mind when hitting the ball up? I haven't forgotten about his 4th tackle carries but that's more on Des than him as it is part of our structure

2. Josh Jackson - have noticed this year that he is forcing a lot of offloads and either turning over possession or making us scramble to retain the ball and lose ground and momentum, got lucky tonight with his last one tonight which went out the back to no one and we ended up scoring a few passes later.... seems to be prone to giving a few extra penalties also

3. Josh Morris - for a game where he came out and stated he wanted to stake his claim on the NSW centre position he was very quite tonight, overall this year he seems to me to become more of a ball hog than last year and starves Rona of any ball

4. Mbye & Reynolds - really need to step up or just give away there 5th tackle kicking options, out and out the worst kicking halves in the comp I think they hit the grass once tonight with their kicks, also not sure if they are communicating with the others as we have zero kick chase

5. football smarts - we seem to lack players with any football smarts who can read a game or seize an opportunity some examples are when our halves are rushed and cant get a kick away the other players looked like deer in the headlights and have absolutely no idea what to do with the ball running in circles, playing hot potato etc when all they have to do is put boot to ball.

Another example was tonight in the last few minutes Melbourne threw a loose pass which hit the ground and rolled along the ground for a good distance, Josh Morris was the closest player to the ball it was right in front of him all he had to do was pick it up and game over......instead he stands there waiting for the storm player to run 5 meters forward and pick it up at his feet and points for Rona to cover the winger??

Also I think it was Morris who kicked the ball dead on the last when we were down their end in around the 71st minute? why he ended up with it I don't know the smart thing would have been to kick the field goal and extend our lead to 7


before I get jumped on im very happy we got the win, im not just having a whinge im just looking at where we can improve, I was also happy with Holland's game & klemmer was great also, I think Kas was very unfairly criticised for his penalties the ref said he'd been pinged for 3 but I can only remember 2 the first one no one knows what it was even for? the refs gave no explanation and no one else could figure it out, the 2nd one was also a joke...it wasn't for the arm that didn't connect with the falling player it was for going on with the tackle (which he didn't do) how could he when the Melbourne players ran in and grabbed him as soon as they hit the ground?

Nothing wrong at all with anything you have said.

I agree about Kas, only one of those penalties was warranted and sometimes I just think that the referees like to look for things they can possibly justify giving a penalty for. After that third one Des hooked him to give him a sit down to help to get his head back in the game, because no one other than Maxwell had any idea why the penalty was given and even then as you say gave no explanation other than 'you went on with the tackle after the tackle' ( that was almost as good as going to the bunker and saying : 'I have a try, the Bulldogs player has maintained control can you check to see if it touches a Melbourne player?'- that was the Sam Perrett one.)

Urgency in falling on dropped ball was another and chasing kicks as well.

Holland did not let us down at all, his goal kicking took a lot of pressure off us in fact as we were able to collect full points from all of our scoring opportunities.

Was pretty ugly but it was good enough to get the win.

 

[Horny Wog]

Des doesn't believe in a kick chase lol.

Anything and everything that constitutes "attack" is a negative with Des

 

[Indiandog]

I reckon if a bomb went up 1km in the air our kick chasers would still be 20m back from when the ball lands into the hands of the oppositions FB/Winger

i swear there was one moment in the last 15-10 minutes when we put a half arsed bomb up in the air near storm try line and i saw dogs player walking back before it was even caught by storm defenders.

 

[Mozzie]

Our kicking game was OK at best and I only say that because I am a glass half full person. Cooper and Cronk showed how it is done. Our Defence was outstanding tonight

 

[Horny Wog]

i swear there was one moment in the last 15-10 minutes when we put a half arsed bomb up in the air near storm try line and i saw dogs player walking back before it was even caught by storm defenders.

Conserving oxygen and energy for defence

 

[Mr Invisible]

I'd like to see, when the bomb goes up, someone like Hoppa absolutely bolting through to chase it. Probably have a good chance of making the opposing fullback drop it.

 

[Beldig]

At 16min 56sec, we set up a play to the right hand side, it ended with Holland running an "in" line when he should've run an "out" line and being tackled by Korobete. This play should be shown repeatedly to Reynolds and Mbye as an excellent example of how playing direct freezes the defensive line and creates space on the outside. Every single time Reynolds plays straight, puts his body on the line (ala Foran and Thurston), and waits til the last moment before passing to his supports on a sweep play, we look infinitely better in their red zone and there is always a mountain of space out wide because of the size of our teams block runners.
I hope to God that Des recognizes this and points it out to him this week.
If our halves learn to play direct and fearless we will be an extremely dangerous side, especially if you factor in the size of our squad and the commitment we obviously have defensively.

 

[south of heaven]

I reckon if a bomb went up 1km in the air our kick chasers would still be 20m back from when the ball lands into the hands of the oppositions FB/Winger

Mate that absolutely burns me no kick chasers very noticeable in the last 2 weeks ive been sitting there thinking is any **** going to chase it down to add pressure

 

[south of heaven]

Conserving oxygen and energy for defence

Yes turn the into 50/50s not just handover the ball

 

[NallaC]

I think our defence is the biggest improvement so far this year. If we can be 7-3 after 10 rounds we could give it shake. Its still early in the year but there is definitely more positives about our start this year than the previous years.

 

[ouwet]

I stopped reading after Aiden Tolman! He was one of our best last night and all year! When he is on our D in the middle is almost unbreakable... Last night when he went off Melbourne got on top and scored two tries!

Yeah he might not punch the line every run but that's not his job! His job is to make tackles and take does runs no one wants to take when on the back foot!

People just love to whinge! 500 first grade coaches write on this website, wait non of you are coaches and your whinging is getting childish and moronic...