News Pleasing performance but plenty to work on: Pay

[Horse]

Pleasing performance but plenty to work on: Pay
Author
Chris KennedyNRL.com Reporter
Timestamp
Sat 29 Feb 2020, 07:39 PM


Bulldogs coach Dean Pay says there were plenty of parts of his side's final trial game that pleased him but cautioned there was still plenty of work to do just 12 days out from his side's season-opener at Bankwest Stadium against the Eels.

The Bulldogs started strongly, completing well early and racing out to a 10-0 lead in as many minutes through tries to winger Jake Averillo and prop Dylan Napa.


The Raiders scored soon after and once more late in the game with reserve grade line-ups on to snatch a 12-10 win, but the Dogs were arguably more impressive while the top sides were on.

"We got through without any injuries so that's the main pleasing part," Pay told NRL.com.

"We started really well, I think we were six from seven (completions) and built a bit of pressure but then we defended strongly in parts of it as well so there were some really pleasing parts of the game.

"[The fundamentals] are something we've been working hard on.

"The way we started, we wanted to start well and we achieved that. But there's still a lot of work to be done. There's a couple of weeks to go before round one so there's some work to be done."

Discipline was a big feature of the Dogs' strong finish to 2019, winning five of the final six games despite not scoring many points through their discipline and defence. However Pay cautioned the fall away in discipline in Port Macquarie and would not be acceptable in an NRL game.


We lost the penalty count again today (by 10-6)," he said.

"We lost it last week as well so we've just got to make sure we're disciplined across the board, make sure we address it. It's an area we can get better at.

"Our completion rate (of 70%) was too low to compete at NRL level so that's another area we've got to get better at.

"We'll get on the bus tomorrow (Sunday) and go home. We've been on the road for a little while now so we'll go home and get ourselves ready for round one."



Source: nrl.com

 

[CanterburybankstownBD]

Yep... i'm hoping that the lacklustre performance and dropped balls are a result of the game being only a trial.
I think they looked the strongest when they had To'omaga, Ogden and Britt on

 

[CanterburybankstownBD]

Britt has been a bit of a surprise for me, hopefully he gets rewarded with a bench spot, he deserves it imo

 

[CanterburybankstownBD]

The worrying signs for me are
- dummy half
- clunky ball movement
- minimum creativity in attack

 

[Scoooby]

There’s plenty of potential and positives.!! That’s all we can go on going into round 1.

 

[Horse]

Britt has been a bit of a surprise for me, hopefully he gets rewarded with a bench spot, he deserves it imo

He’s an absolute lock for a bench spot. He went well for the Bunny’s last year and has backed it up with a big pre-season for us.

 

[DinkumDog]

He’s an absolute lock for a bench spot. He went well for the Bunny’s last year and has backed it up with a big pre-season for us.

No, he was an average buy we never would’ve made if it wasn’t for his old man being a Bulldog and he’s too similar to players we already had - just ask the SuperCoach....

Agree he’s been very impressive and looking forward to seeing more from him heading into the serious stuff...

 

[Horse]

No, he was an average buy we never would’ve made if it wasn’t for his old man being a Bulldog and he’s too similar to players we already had - just ask the SuperCoach....

Agree he’s been very impressive and looking to seeing more from him heading into the serious stuff...

Hahaha. A little dose of that Bulldogs DNA ain’t so bad after all!

 

[DogsOfWar1704]

Katoa did have some silly passes sometimes but he did alright in my eyes last two games he’s had a try assist..
Cogger and Lewis have zero and wakeham has one.
Those passes to Napa close to the line seem to be working.

 

[bradyk]

I just watched the replay back (I didn't get to catch the game live).

I think people were very harsh today in their criticism.

We're vsing a top four NRL team and stayed competitive throughout (but it is their first trial and they didn't bring a competitive side to the 9's).

If it was a NRL game we would of taken the two at least two times (which would of been enough to win the game, but changing the past or present changes the future not necessarily in a positive way).

We're also missing DWZ (massive), Meaney and JMK who would be in our starting 13.

The biggest thing honestly was the handling errors.

If I had to blame a player today it would have to be one that made an error (or gave away penalties), or multiple errors, e.g. CHN. There were probably others but CHN did it multiple times in our own half (he also was lazy at marker for the Wighton try, pretty sure after his error, one of our defenders should of wrapped the ball up too to prevent the offload, CHN was also somewhat at fault for Williams try). If I'm being honest CHN was probably our worst player on the field today (and showed us why he was dropped last year, for performances like that).

We're an effort team that's going to win games in the grind (not sustainable or reliable).

We don't have ANY game breakers in the side.

I don't think we can ask for much more than what we got today (obviously we need to reduce the handling errors but that doesn't need to be said).

 

[Teddybear]

DNA was never is doubt , no lab tests required either

 

[DinkumDog]

I just watched the replay back (I didn't get to catch the game live).

I think people were very harsh today in their criticism.

We're vsing a top four NRL team and stayed competitive throughout (but it is their first trial and they didn't bring a competitive side to the 9's).

If it was a NRL game we would of taken the two at least two times (which would of been enough to win the game, but changing the past or present changes the future not necessarily in a positive way).

We're also missing DWZ (massive), Meaney and JMK who would be in our starting 13.

The biggest thing honestly was the handling errors.

If I had to blame a player today it would have to be one that made an error (or gave away penalties), or multiple errors, e.g. CHN. There were probably others but CHN did it multiple times in our own half (he also was lazy at marker for the Wighton try, pretty sure after his error, one of our defenders should of wrapped the ball up too to prevent the offload, CHN was also somewhat at fault for Williams try). If I'm being honest CHN was probably our worst player on the field today (and showed us why he was dropped last year, for performances like that).

We're an effort team that's going to win games in the grind (not sustainable or reliable).

We don't have ANY game breakers in the side.

I don't think we can ask for much more than what we got today (obviously we need to reduce the handling errors but that doesn't need to be said).

Very sensible and fair post Brady.
We’ve butted heads before but we’re largely aligned here.

There was a lot of poison flowing today for mostly unfair and unbalanced reasons and your summary is very close to the mark from how I saw the game.

Of course there’s improvements to be made - that never stops - and we’re doing OK with the squad we have and the limitations we have for the season ahead. We’ll surprise a few teams once we have our best 17 on the paddock.

We’ve had two proper games and a run at the 9’s - more pre-season footy than we’ve had in a while which we’ll be better for leading into Round 1. Looking forward to the serious stuff now...

 

[DogsOfWar1704]

Chn seemed abit off today.. if he played like he did in the all stars game we would of been right.
But I agree Dwz Meaney and jmk are big losses.
And if it was a premiership match we would of taken the 2 points on a couple occasions.
We did pretty well. In the first 40 our fg side held it down against last years grand finalists

 

[Moey]

Based on 2 trials, our attack is as useless as tits on a bull when both Lewis and Cogger start the match. There was not much 2nd phase play. Hopefully he gets it right for Rd1. Our defense is great but we can't rely on defense for 26rds.

 

[Teddybear]

The attack should come good.
From what i can see , the halves need to be allowed to run and lead the team.around the park.
It appears that tolman and Elliott are making this difficult.

Reminds me back at origin, when Robbie Farah and Gallen did the same thing to the blues halves.....

Based on 2 trials, our attack is as useless as tits on a bull when both Lewis and Cogger start the match. There was not much 2nd phase play. Hopefully he gets it right for Rd1. Our defense is great but we can't rely on defense for 26rds.

 

[Moey]

The attack should come good.
From what i can see , the halves need to be allowed to run and lead the team.around the park.
It appears that tolman and Elliott are making this difficult.

Reminds me back at origin, when Robbie Farah and Gallen did the same thing to the blues halves.....

I hear you and that comes all back to Pay the coach. Its his poor tactics and selections. He hasn't come up with anything new. Its gonna take luck and individual brilliance to win games this year.

Elliot shouldnt be there, Tolman needs to take back seat, im not a fan of Lewis at all either. Pay needs to let the kids off the leash and play whats in front of them.

 

[Scoooby]

Based on 2 trials, our attack is as useless as tits on a bull when both Lewis and Cogger start the match. There was not much 2nd phase play. Hopefully he gets it right for Rd1. Our defense is great but we can't rely on defense for 26rds.

Agree, am very impressed with what pay an co have done with the defensive structures from what I’ve seen, add some better attack an we be on the right track, but that will come as time goes an the combos form an the team gel, will get better each game..!!

 

[mikey]

Yep... i'm hoping that the lacklustre performance and dropped balls are a result of the game being only a trial.
I think they looked the strongest when they had To'omaga, Ogden and Britt on

Didn’t get to see the game but I’ve seen the stats.32 missed tackles!! We miss 32 tackles against the eels and they will put 50 on us.im surprised the score was that close.
Let’s hope this improves or it’s going to be a long season.

 

[Tassie Devil]

Can't fault what he said. A good run out but you're not going to be able to judge how a team will perform based on trial games.

The club won't be winning much this year, let's be honest. A top 8 finish would be a dream, which is the sad reality of our club. But if you have realitistic expectations I think you'll enjoy the season so much more!

 

[Natboy]

I just watched the replay back (I didn't get to catch the game live).

I think people were very harsh today in their criticism.

We're vsing a top four NRL team and stayed competitive throughout (but it is their first trial and they didn't bring a competitive side to the 9's).

If it was a NRL game we would of taken the two at least two times (which would of been enough to win the game, but changing the past or present changes the future not necessarily in a positive way).

We're also missing DWZ (massive), Meaney and JMK who would be in our starting 13.

The biggest thing honestly was the handling errors.

If I had to blame a player today it would have to be one that made an error (or gave away penalties), or multiple errors, e.g. CHN. There were probably others but CHN did it multiple times in our own half (he also was lazy at marker for the Wighton try, pretty sure after his error, one of our defenders should of wrapped the ball up too to prevent the offload, CHN was also somewhat at fault for Williams try). If I'm being honest CHN was probably our worst player on the field today (and showed us why he was dropped last year, for performances like that).

We're an effort team that's going to win games in the grind (not sustainable or reliable).

We don't have ANY game breakers in the side.

I don't think we can ask for much more than what we got today (obviously we need to reduce the handling errors but that doesn't need to be said).

I agree with most of this mate.
If you didn’t watch the game and read the comments here from the usual whingers and armchair coaches you’d think we lost by 80 against the under 12’s Port Macquarie sharks