I still don’t understand the single trial

[wendog33]

They had a fair dinkum game eg the Charity Shield as well as a trial so just shows that what works for one doesnt work for all.How many clowns on here would have been screaming if Jacko or even Lewis got hurt in a proper trial.Pay was damned if he did and damned because he didn’t.

True exept our team isn't as established as Dragons and has been drastically altered with new combinations, unfamiliar defensive roles and under fatigue, it looked it it.

 

[cookieman909]

I guess there’s pros and cons. I personally believe they should play more then 1 trial to get new players accustomed to the structures. However there’s also the risk of injuries.

The teams that played a few trials have hit the ground running.

 

[Alexander the Great]

The played the tigers behind closed doors whatever the fuck that means. ***** need to harden up this week otherwise my wife is going to cop a verbal breakdown

 

[Bob dog]

The comp is so tight and competitive they have to literally play like their lives depend on it.
The trials proved they can do better and Pay would have cracked the whip this week.

 

[Noeasyday]

I think 1 trial game was a mistake.
Aside from lack of match fitness, it would also be good to have some of the new combinations tested under match conditions prior to being steamrolled by the Warriors.
At least the squad is on notice now

 

[dogwhisperer]

It does look like a stupid move now but hindsight is 20/20.

Personally I am questioning a lot of Pay's decisions and at some stage he is going to have to answer to those.

1. Single trial
2. Not picking Martin (if there is some personal issue then it is ridiculous he is putting that ahead of the team)
3. Moving players to the opposite side of the park than they are used to
4. Sticking with an unchanged squad after being flogged
5. Playing Montoya

I agree with everything except no.4
They deserve another crack.
Changes after one belting sends the wrong message to the playing group. They will lose faith in the coach, and in themelves.
Benefit of the doubt must be given.

 

[JayBee]

To be fair - if you know the first game you have is across the ditch, then it could be cause for consideration about only having the 1 trial.

It may only be a 3 hour flight, but there is a toll on the body whenever you fly, regardless of how close/far it is.

That said, I am also conscious that we held a trial game in Belmore last year against the Pamfers. Why couldn't the same be done this year?

 

[Doggiezbrah]

Our first grade side only played 40 mins of trials. You wonder why we looked off the pace.

 

[Straight18]

I doubt it would have made any difference but I appreciate your seeking the opening round stats. Would be interesting to know. That said, the first round results are not as indicative as the say the first three or four. What alarmed me was not that we lost but that we were not even competitive. To be beaten by 40 points and not score until the game was lost is woeful, plain woeful. Hard to build anything from a 40 point shellacking. What happened to Pay’s mantra of getting the team back to playing aggressively so that once again opposition teams will be apprehensive that a game against the Bulldogs will be a tough game. Mate, on that round 1 performance opposition teams will be licking their chops in anticipation of improving their for and against average. The real indicator of the dogs future this season will be to watch the results of Warriors this round against a different opponent.

There being aggressive but no decent defensive structure. Hence they look like head less chooks. Our backs need to hold there line and let the attack come to them. Do any of these dumb ***** bother to watch bellamys structures, so dumb.

 

[Riggs80]

Its no coincidence that the side we are playing this week , had one trial last year and started off the pace and finished last and this year had two trials and looked super pumped in first round .

As for injuries , yes they are more likely to happen at start of the season due the bodies not being used to the contact , but I see no difference in players getting long term injuries in round 1 compared to a trial match , if anything you rather injuries happen during trials then round 1 as more likely means less actual NRL matches missed as recovery from trial injuries includes couple of weeks of offseason

 

[Straight18]

There is no guarantee that the 2nd trial game would reveal any more than the 1st trial did. I’m sure plenty of clubs regret having more than one trial due to the injuries sustained.

The fact is losing the 1st game is no big deal for any team, the season is long enough already and adding games in hot February, before it starts, just makes it longer. There are pro and cons of multiple pre season games, it’s not simple black and white,

Go Dogs

Its a big deal to melbourne. And roosters. How can anyone even think that, when there is only about 3 or 4 wins from first to tenth. Every fucking win is very vital. Every other team played alot better than us. We were only team to play half a trial. That says alot. And it is simple black and white, its called match fitness. U need 2 points as often as possible to make the finals. Pretty black and white to me. Obviously u have never played the game. Half the rabbits and sharks were running around the bush in january and february playing in knockouts and stuff with there family to get there match fitness up. Souths are already in the grind. We wont be ready for another 8 weeks like last year. Not fucking good enough.

 

[CroydonDog]

That was a practice session.

So are trials tbh.

 

[Dognacious]

It's no coincidence that both last year and this year we have been off the pace from the start.

One trial is not good enough from my perspective, especially when our players only get 40 mins game time. We obviously lacked match fitness last week. Collectively gassed after 10 mins.

You can't deny having one trial was part of the reason we were so poor against the Warriors. We had 3 weeks off between games when most clubs only had 2 and it showed.

We lost round 1 last year after 2 trials

 

[Mr Invisible]

40 minutes of a trial too not even a full game!

Only thing I can think is to avoid injuries.

 

[TwinTurbo]

There's pluses and minuses in playing 1 or 2 or 3 trial games. Souths had a hit out against a Riverina team and played 1 trial, then the Charity Shield and they are doing OK winning 2 from 2. On the other hand StGeorge played 1 trial and the Charity Shield and have injury problems losing 2 from 2. The Chooks had 1 trial game plus the World Club Challenge and now have problems with Cronk having hamstring soreness.

In summary, it doesn't seem to me to make much difference how many trial games teams play.

Go Dogs

 

[vegny]

We lost round 1 last year after 2 trials

We only had 1 last year, didnt we? The closed door against i think knights, would be like the one we had against tigers this year.
I just remember some people discussed this last year

 

[top-dog]

We played one game because he didn’t want anyone to know we are rubbish to soon .

 

[_G-Dog_]

You dont understand the single trial.. i dont understand many things at our club now and before

 

[Dingo]

We lost round 1 last year after 2 trials

Remind me who the two trials were against because I only remember the Canberra trial at Sunshine Coast

EDIT : Ok there was a second trial against Penrith with a reserve grade team, which doesn't really count as a first grade trial. Check out the lineup. I stand by what I've said, one trial doesn't cut it.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Penrith Panthers (trial game)

6:30pm, Saturday 24 February, Belmore Sports Ground

Bulldogs: 1 Kerrod Holland 2 Josh Bergami 3 Lachlan Lewis 4 John Olive 5 Tom Carr 6 Josh Cleeland 7 Jeremy Marshall-King 8 Francis Tualau 9 Fa'amanu Brown 10 Renouf To’omaga 11 Jayden Okunbor 12 Rhyse Martin 13 Greg Eastwood

Reserves: Ofahiki Ogden, Asipeli Fine, Lachlan Burr, Jack Nelson, Jarred Anderson, Bronson Garlick, Joel Luani, D'Rhys Miller

 

[Hot Dog]

True exept our team isn't as established as Dragons and has been drastically altered with new combinations, unfamiliar defensive roles and under fatigue, it looked it it.

Not true. The Dragons are playing with a new spine exactly the same as we are. In fact worse if you factor in that we have different combinations in the spine but all players who have played for the club last year, whereas Saints have Norman whom they bought this year.

In my opinion any amount of trial games would'nt have changed the result last week. We lost because our forwards got dominated by a big scary fast and hard pack. Secondly we had the worst kicking game since the days of Frawley and Reynolds. You give any team as many easy returns as we did and fail to build pressure, and you won't win. If our handling wasn't as good as it was we would've lost by even more.

Even our best defenders like Jackson were missing tackles that led to tries because of fatigue. Fatigue that had nothing to with a lack of trial games but due to a poor kicking game leading to a lack of building pressure, and shying away from numbering up in defence. Although not the the worst player by any means on the day I place the biggest blame on Napa. He waited until the 68th minute to use aggression in a tackle. Not good enough from a player of his reputation. Once again this was nothing to do with fitness, it was a lack of desire.

I place the second biggest blame on Foran. As the senior playmaker he should've done something to help Lewis out. Call for more ball, run a decoy, ask Hoppa to step into the line more, etc to help take pressure off Lewis. This is not a trial, nor coach coaching issue. He is a seasoned veteran and his experience should dictate this. Hopefully both he and Napa do their jobs this week. I have every confidence they will and we will win.