We are all watching the same games unfold, so give me some analysis on what each of you think is the problem with our attack at the moment.
In summary last year we largely agreed we didn't have the attacking weapons to put on points. Since then we have acquired some of the comps top try scorers in Matt Burton, Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Dufty, along with the likes of attacking weapons such as Tavita Pangai Junior and Brent Naden. So far in 2022 our attack remains pedestrian against two of the worst sides in the comp. What happens in Manly today remains to be seen, but what does it boil down to.
Well looking back at our first two games there have been a couple of things that are apparent issues with our current style of attack;
1. Jackson has been given the Yeo role and simply doesn't pose enough a threat to the defensive line, result = defence shifts left and shutdowns any impact had by Jackson engaging the line. Why did Barrett think giving Jackson a ball playing role would work?
2. Waddell in Kikau's role. Whilst his work rate has been remarkable he doesn't run the right lines. We actually had some space in Round 2 for him to take on the defence and either break the line or get a late offload away to Naden of JAC, he did neither on multiple occasions and actually ran Naden and JAC out of play. Why is Waddell being given so big a role in our attacking sets?
3. Okunbor lack of speed. This really cost us both offensively and defensively in Round 2. Hopefully we get some some speed put on that wing, his runs out of our half are valuable but we need both speed and size. Simply just a dud selection by Barrett, should never see first grade unless we have major injury crises in the backline.
I'm by no means a fan of Barrett, but I need to give some credit where it is due. He has clearly identified Burton and Dufty as the best two play makers in the side and from what I've seen in the first two rounds is setting up Burton to make the right plays on the left hand side of the field and Dufty on the right hand side of the field. I agree this is our best option to proceed with but the guys inside them simply aren't threats to the defence. We need to use guys like Pangai in the way we are trying to use the likes of Waddell in attack. We don't (currently anyway) have the luxury of a Kikau on the edge to be playing Pangai at prop.
Another success I think has been Hetherington on the right edge, he has only been really running decoys for Burns and Dufty in these early rounds but sooner or later will cause some damage there.
Let me know your thoughts..
