OFFICIAL | PRE-GAME Bulldogs vs Dragons @ jubilee stadium - 8th March 5.30pm

Is Paul Crawley a dragons supporter or is he just another Bulldogs hater. Those comments about the Dogs read very bitter and twisted. Glad I don't live in that idiots head.
 
battered sav said:
Is Paul Crawley a dragons supporter or is he just another Bulldogs hater. Those comments about the Dogs read very bitter and twisted. Glad I don't live in that idiots head.
Click to expand...
He definitely loves sinking the boot into us
 
Harry Oz said:
Even when the dragons took the lead after their first try in 16th minute, I had seen enough to know the Dogs would win.
We were much sharper and better organised.
Still plenty to work on.
I like how Ciraldo is changing the modern game, with players like Tupouniua (101 kg/1.86m), Hayes (102 kg/1.9m) & of course Curran (104kg/1.85m) eating up the middle after the first 20 minutes.
But it was only Saints. As expected they were a shambles.
There is still a lot of work to be done.
I think Ciraldo knows what he is doing with Salmon. The data must be telling him a different story to what we're seeing during the games.
My biggest concern yesterday was actually the NSW Cup game.
It is important to have those guys playing well so players like Todd and Hopoi are ready of they need a call up. O'Neill was a particular concern. Cochrane & Otalaku were also poor.
I can see people are bagging Mahoney. But there will be a problem if he doesn't stay fit.
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I agree. It's crucial that the cup side plays better.
Michael Potter's subbing was horrendous.
If match centre's stats are correct, Potter deserves a 2/10 for that dismal effort.

Positives
  • Amone (22 mins) and Zyon (23 mins) -wtf?- both had excellent power games. We led 14-6 at half time & looked great.
  • Tia was exceptional when he came on late in the 2nd half (Why Mr Potter??).....set up try, scored 1, 3 tackle breaks and 2 goals. NRL material!!
  • Hopoi, Todd and Morrin all played 80. Todd was fairly good - but looked fatigued. So did Morrin. Hellooo??? ....refer to first point.
  • Hutch played ok, but O'Neill is a better kicker. Tia is the best kicker. (But not much he can do from the bench).

On the negative side ...
  • Too many unforced errors. The backs made 14 mistakes all by themselves!!
  • Oskar Bryant (54 mins) looked like an U14 kid playing men - St George targeted him and got the upperhand. Why leave him on for 54 mins?
  • Other hooker Otukolo (27mins) looked promising & strong, but service & D a bit shabby. (How does the 14yo get double his minutes??).
  • What has happened to Jake Turpin anyway?? Or Reuben Moyle?
  • O'Neill and Bryant in the middle together with "Matador Defence" didn't help our cause. Easy to fix Mick!!
 
battered sav said:
Is Paul Crawley a dragons supporter or is he just another Bulldogs hater. Those comments about the Dogs read very bitter and twisted. Glad I don't live in that idiots head.
Click to expand...
His brother was part of the coaching staff before not sure if he still is though
 
Rumdogmillionaire said:
Amone (22 mins) and Zyon (23 mins) -wtf?- both had excellent power games. We led 14-6 at half time & looked great.
Click to expand...

We led on the scoreboard but were lucky to be leading, our forward pack got dominated from the 1st minute to the 80th minute
 
Rumdogmillionaire said:
I agree. It's crucial that the cup side plays better.
Michael Potter's subbing was horrendous.
If match centre's stats are correct, Potter deserves a 2/10 for that dismal effort.

Positives
  • Amone (22 mins) and Zyon (23 mins) -wtf?- both had excellent power games. We led 14-6 at half time & looked great.
  • Tia was exceptional when he came on late in the 2nd half (Why Mr Potter??).....set up try, scored 1, 3 tackle breaks and 2 goals. NRL material!!
  • Hopoi, Todd and Morrin all played 80. Todd was fairly good - but looked fatigued. So did Morrin. Hellooo??? ....refer to first point.
  • Hutch played ok, but O'Neill is a better kicker. Tia is the best kicker. (But not much he can do from the bench).

On the negative side ...
  • Too many unforced errors. The backs made 14 mistakes all by themselves!!
  • Oskar Bryant (54 mins) looked like an U14 kid playing men - St George targeted him and got the upperhand. Why leave him on for 54 mins?
  • Other hooker Otukolo (27mins) looked promising & strong, but service & D a bit shabby. (How does the 14yo get double his minutes??).
  • What has happened to Jake Turpin anyway?? Or Reuben Moyle?
  • O'Neill and Bryant in the middle together with "Matador Defence" didn't help our cause. Easy to fix Mick!!
Click to expand...
Agree Tia has nrl standard written all over him, when is he available for 1st grade?
 
Rumdogmillionaire said:
I agree. It's crucial that the cup side plays better.
Michael Potter's subbing was horrendous.
If match centre's stats are correct, Potter deserves a 2/10 for that dismal effort.

Positives
  • Amone (22 mins) and Zyon (23 mins) -wtf?- both had excellent power games. We led 14-6 at half time & looked great.
  • Tia was exceptional when he came on late in the 2nd half (Why Mr Potter??).....set up try, scored 1, 3 tackle breaks and 2 goals. NRL material!!
  • Hopoi, Todd and Morrin all played 80. Todd was fairly good - but looked fatigued. So did Morrin. Hellooo??? ....refer to first point.
  • Hutch played ok, but O'Neill is a better kicker. Tia is the best kicker. (But not much he can do from the bench).

On the negative side ...
  • Too many unforced errors. The backs made 14 mistakes all by themselves!!
  • Oskar Bryant (54 mins) looked like an U14 kid playing men - St George targeted him and got the upperhand. Why leave him on for 54 mins?
  • Other hooker Otukolo (27mins) looked promising & strong, but service & D a bit shabby. (How does the 14yo get double his minutes??).
  • What has happened to Jake Turpin anyway?? Or Reuben Moyle?
  • O'Neill and Bryant in the middle together with "Matador Defence" didn't help our cause. Easy to fix Mick!!
Click to expand...
Agree with all your points.
Although maybe you are being too kind to Otukolo, one of the worst DH passing games I've seen, and Bryant is years away from being an NRL back-up. If ever. I thought he was the ball boy when he came on. Although he can pass.
If the idea with the subbing was to just get a few of the possible NRL bench players a bit fitter, like a trial match, then I guess that is OK.
But we do look alarmingly thin in back-up spine positions.
 
Rumdogmillionaire said:
I agree. It's crucial that the cup side plays better.
Michael Potter's subbing was horrendous.
If match centre's stats are correct, Potter deserves a 2/10 for that dismal effort.

Positives
  • Amone (22 mins) and Zyon (23 mins) -wtf?- both had excellent power games. We led 14-6 at half time & looked great.
  • Tia was exceptional when he came on late in the 2nd half (Why Mr Potter??).....set up try, scored 1, 3 tackle breaks and 2 goals. NRL material!!
  • Hopoi, Todd and Morrin all played 80. Todd was fairly good - but looked fatigued. So did Morrin. Hellooo??? ....refer to first point.
  • Hutch played ok, but O'Neill is a better kicker. Tia is the best kicker. (But not much he can do from the bench).

On the negative side ...
  • Too many unforced errors. The backs made 14 mistakes all by themselves!!
  • Oskar Bryant (54 mins) looked like an U14 kid playing men - St George targeted him and got the upperhand. Why leave him on for 54 mins?
  • Other hooker Otukolo (27mins) looked promising & strong, but service & D a bit shabby. (How does the 14yo get double his minutes??).
  • What has happened to Jake Turpin anyway?? Or Reuben Moyle?
  • O'Neill and Bryant in the middle together with "Matador Defence" didn't help our cause. Easy to fix Mick!!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insight. Much appreciated
 
albatross said:
Kikau's timing is always off at the start of the year. For some reason he always starts rusty, even at Penrith. His 2 try assists and great kick chase made a difference though.
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Lol, says he starts rusty then goes on to mention how he was a major factor in the win. Hey I get it, I initially thought he was a bit poor, but it’s probably the same reason people shit on Burton, if Kiks isn’t playing like a wrecking ball he can appear to not be doing much. I had actually forgotten about his hand in Tracey’s try before seeing highlights, so really with that and his other (better) try assist and his (normally) very good kick chase, he actually did play very well.
 
chemdog said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1898568651269173487
Click to expand...

I haven’t listened to that but just the title is enough to know that’s exactly what I was thinking. He racing across to try and save a try, he falls to try and get to the diving opponent and his leg contacts him. It’s just one of those things. He didn’t stick his leg out or anything, it was just there. I was fuming actually when they awarded a penalty try for that, but could cop it because he should have scored anyway.
 
[
InGusWeTrust said:
Lol, says he starts rusty then goes on to mention how he was a major factor in the win. Hey I get it, I initially thought he was a bit poor, but it’s probably the same reason people shit on Burton, if Kiks isn’t playing like a wrecking ball he can appear to not be doing much. I had actually forgotten about his hand in Tracey’s try before seeing highlights, so really with that and his other (better) try assist and his (normally) very good kick chase, he actually did play very well.
Click to expand...
His effort was good, his timing was a bit rusty. Same as you said.
 
Rumdogmillionaire said:
I agree. It's crucial that the cup side plays better.
Michael Potter's subbing was horrendous.
If match centre's stats are correct, Potter deserves a 2/10 for that dismal effort.

Positives
  • Amone (22 mins) and Zyon (23 mins) -wtf?- both had excellent power games. We led 14-6 at half time & looked great.
  • Tia was exceptional when he came on late in the 2nd half (Why Mr Potter??).....set up try, scored 1, 3 tackle breaks and 2 goals. NRL material!!
  • Hopoi, Todd and Morrin all played 80. Todd was fairly good - but looked fatigued. So did Morrin. Hellooo??? ....refer to first point.
  • Hutch played ok, but O'Neill is a better kicker. Tia is the best kicker. (But not much he can do from the bench).

On the negative side ...
  • Too many unforced errors. The backs made 14 mistakes all by themselves!!
  • Oskar Bryant (54 mins) looked like an U14 kid playing men - St George targeted him and got the upperhand. Why leave him on for 54 mins?
  • Other hooker Otukolo (27mins) looked promising & strong, but service & D a bit shabby. (How does the 14yo get double his minutes??).
  • What has happened to Jake Turpin anyway?? Or Reuben Moyle?
  • O'Neill and Bryant in the middle together with "Matador Defence" didn't help our cause. Easy to fix Mick!!
Click to expand...
Harry Oz said:
Agree with all your points.
Although maybe you are being too kind to Otukolo, one of the worst DH passing games I've seen, and Bryant is years away from being an NRL back-up. If ever. I thought he was the ball boy when he came on. Although he can pass.
If the idea with the subbing was to just get a few of the possible NRL bench players a bit fitter, like a trial match, then I guess that is OK.
But we do look alarmingly thin in back-up spine positions.
Click to expand...
Spot on, to me this looked like a “trial game”, cycling through as many of the available player options as possible. Plus give some of the younger players time playing against grown men, so they know full well what the next step up really is. What it is going to take for them and from them to move up through the pathways. This is common in NSW Cup early rounds, where the objective is to identify true NRL level potential, not to simply win games

I‘m sure that the coaching staff will spend some time this week reviewing the video of each player‘s performance and over the next couple of rounds we will see a more stable roster with the view of developing those players into potential NRL players.


Team Work
 
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