News Dogs of Poor - Dean Ritchie

[Lost Dog]

It wasn't as bad as the score indicated. Nothing went right for us, even the bounce of the ball. Inmo our defence was strong with front on contact driving parramatta players back not the piggy back in previous years. Our attack needs plenty of work. Parramatta had nearly twice the ball we did

 

[Mr 95%]

Let’s face it the Dogs need middle forwards but they can’t get what is not available. Therefore, Ciraldo has to deal with what he has got, and that means finding out what best works for his team. 2005 (I now it’s a long time ago) but the Tigers had a small pack, so Sheen’s worked their game around speed. Getting up playing the ball quick. Line speed when defending. Hasler in 2012 had ball playing forwards, because the halves combination wasn’t so dynamic. Defence really struggled with the way they played.

Ciraldo is trying to bring Penrith to the Dogs, but as yet the Dogs don’t have the cattle to play like Penrith. (Plus the Bulldogs should play like Canterbury!) Anyway, he should be looking for ways to play the best with what he has got, and at the moment it doesn’t look that way. I dare say how the Doggies are going in round 10 might determine his future.

 

[Raysie]

My biggest worry is our back 3 - All skinny guys compared to most clubs. They just aren't getting the metres we need at the start of our sets, putting more work on our forward pack.

We defended as best as we possibly could, but if you can't get out of your half eventually it takes its toll.

I know the Warriors lost on the weekend, but if you watch them closey, they can sometimes go an entire set without a single forward hitting it up and still make 60m a set. It's what allows guys like AFB to play big minutes and score tries, as he's not wasted hitting it up from his line.

 

[Dogs4eva13]

The prop problem is really bad. We are starting the season with what we called an injury crisis last year. It actually goes deeper in that flegg and ball are also struggling for props. With Seve in ball the only prospect. We have some of the best props for their age in the country in Matt’s but that’s years away till they at NRL ready for a prop. Need 2 or 3 mid season signings/ transfers and even some NSW cup signings so that the cup and flegg teams don’t go to shit when they lose players.

 

[Phalangist]

My biggest worry is our back 3 - All skinny guys compared to most clubs. They just aren't getting the metres we need at the start of our sets, putting more work on our forward pack.

We defended as best as we possibly could, but if you can't get out of your half eventually it takes its toll.

I know the Warriors lost on the weekend, but if you watch them closey, they can sometimes go an entire set without a single forward hitting it up and still make 60m a set. It's what allows guys like AFB to play big minutes and score tries, as he's not wasted hitting it up from his line.

Skelton should be picked ahead of Wilson. Ciraldo loves Wilson.

 

[Chris Harding]

He’s not wrong.. Gus can no longer deflect, he’s been here 3 years now

Gus is well aware that forwards are needed. No team with top forwards is going to let their power players go. All are re-signed well before the NRL's signing season starts.

We just have to wait until our juniors come through the ranks, or find stop gap players - as we are doing.

 

[Tassie Devil]

Haha. What an absolute pile of shit.

The problem is that many of you will swallow this rubbish.

Round 1. If people can't see the improvement then fine. Wait for a few more rounds to judge

 

[Chris Harding]

Skelton should be picked ahead of Wilson. Ciraldo loves Wilson.

I like Wilson, too. He has blinding speed and a great sidestep.

 

[wendog33]

My biggest worry is our back 3 - All skinny guys compared to most clubs. They just aren't getting the metres we need at the start of our sets, putting more work on our forward pack.

We defended as best as we possibly could, but if you can't get out of your half eventually it takes its toll.

I know the Warriors lost on the weekend, but if you watch them closey, they can sometimes go an entire set without a single forward hitting it up and still make 60m a set. It's what allows guys like AFB to play big minutes and score tries, as he's not wasted hitting it up from his line.

If we can't get damaging props at least pick our biggest running backs.

Ciraldo certainly has his favourites and isn't really open to tweeking or deviating from his opinions on players. He is following the Penrith way but did not select our bigger wingers/centres in this first game.

All coaches need to learn and tweek their teams. Hoping he gets more nous about his selections soooner rather than later. The other issue is he had no one playing out of their skin in their best form apart from Preston who won most of our club awards last year and worryingly it looks like no one can play their best talents this early in the new season either.

Looking forward to him ironing out our attacking problems next game.

 

[Chris Harding]

Haha. What an absolute pile of shit.

The problem is that many of you will swallow this rubbish.

Round 1. If people can't see the improvement then fine. Wait for a few more rounds to judge

The imbalance of possession in the first half was the setback. With only 30% of the ball no team can win.

But, we have been on the 30% possession end for years, and it all comes down to our poor ball handling.

Until we can get a fair share of the ball - as we did at the end of the game when the ref suddenly gave us a few lenient decisions - we'll have no chance of racking up a win.

The Sharks will have watched the Parra game, and they will be peppering our backs with contested bombs, and ripping out the ball in tackles on the ref's blind side.

 

[djdeep4172]

Im assuming one poor game makes a season.
Taffe to inspire our attack against the sharks with bounce back factor.

 

[Jonboi]

Ciraldo can only piss with the prick he’s given.

 

[Phalangist]

I like Wilson, too. He has blinding speed and a great sidestep.

yeah I like Wilson too BUT I think Skelton is what we need for this team. Personally I would trade the fox for a prop if it was available to us.

 

[Mitch Connor]

Our only hope is Suluka coming back from injury and holding up the middle.

That kid is more Liam Knight then Taukeiaho. Don’t get your hopes up.

 

[Bazildog]

Personally I would trade the fox for a prop if it was available to us.

This 100%. JAC is the kind of luxury player that you have on the end of a Penrith, Brisbane or Melbournes backline. He is pure speed but lacks power for tough return hit ups from our half and has questionable defence. He would be attractive to other clubs and we should look to trade him for a "quality" prop.

 

[Shire Dog]

Haha. What an absolute pile of shit.

The problem is that many of you will swallow this rubbish.

Round 1. If people can't see the improvement then fine. Wait for a few more rounds to judge

Watching the game live I was super impressed with our defence in comparison to other years, even their big guys were being contained.
How they didn’t score more points was amazing considering they were camped down our end virtually the entire first half.

On a low point our mistakes and not making decent yards of the line need addressing pretty quickly, perhaps a Skeleton type player will come into play at some point.

 

[Shire Dog]

This 100%. JAC is the kind of luxury player that you have on the end of a Penrith, Brisbane or Melbournes backline. He is pure speed but lacks power for tough return hit ups from our half and has questionable defence. He would be attractive to other clubs and we should look to trade him for a "quality" prop.

Unfortunately JAC and Taffe are not making any inroads bringing the ball back.
It’s limiting our meters getting out of the red zone which is ultimately putting more pressure back onto the forward pack.
We just gas out eventually.

 

[KLil]

Sutton/Tetevano/Patolo/Fafita/Knight

Probably would be a different outcome if they were all fit and firing.

 

[Tassie Devil]

Watching the game live I was super impressed with our defence in comparison to other years, even their big guys were being contained.
How they didn’t score more points was amazing considering they were camped down our end virtually the entire first half.

On a low point our mistakes and not making decent yards of the line need addressing pretty quickly, perhaps a Skeleton type player will come into play at some point.

That's exactly it for me.

Without doubt we weren't good enough, with the dropped ball especially. It made it impossible for us to get a result as no team would be able to win it with that little possession.

However, what it did show is that our defensive structure has improved a heap with players finally seemingly trusting the system which for me is what it's all about. I never walked into this season thinking we'd be challenging for the top, or even getting into the semis. I went in wanting to see progression. It seems as though we're improving.

Let's see how we go next game ...

 

[Tassie Devil]

This 100%. JAC is the kind of luxury player that you have on the end of a Penrith, Brisbane or Melbournes backline. He is pure speed but lacks power for tough return hit ups from our half and has questionable defence. He would be attractive to other clubs and we should look to trade him for a "quality" prop.

Pretty solid point there in my mind.