Good call. Definitely part of Ciraldo’s defensive system, whenever we have two or three in the tackle the last guy usually is there to wrap up the ball. Parra have a bunch of good offloading forwards and although they got a few away yesterday most of them weren’t to advantage or just dribbled along the ground.
We did well it’s obviously a tactic and it’s funny you say because every time they did get one away I was like ahhh fuck here we go…
The thing is though, our third man helping stop the offloads is so fit he (whoever he is) is then sprinting back into the line and not breaking our system. There are so many 1% things happening like that at the moment, that’s what Ciraldo means by trusting the system.
Imagine saying he is a carbon copy of T Baz …
And FIT! The boys look so much fitter than other teams, the Eels were cooked with 20mins to go.The best is the people that still want to hate on Ciro. They are like well lets see what he can do next year or its still early this year
You take over probably one of the worst in the comp, now 8 years since a finals appearance and 20 years since a grand final win. a team that ran last 2021 and probably should have had the spoon in 2020 aswell. A team where the last coach said he ran out of ideas. He walked into a poor roster and a poor culture. He culled the club captain amongst others who werent prepared to do the hard work to improve. We had the worst for and against last year. One of the worst defensive teams in history.
To see us now, only behind penrith in defence. Not allowing more then 20 points a game. Its the bulldogs spirit of old. Not the if they sore 30 we will score 40 type of mentality. But the we wont give an inch and hang in there. The man in the bin we lift type of spirit and resilience. I still remember after our first win of the season maybe in 2020. Averilo said it was the hardest thing in his life to win that game...... No wonder he isnt here anymore. Now we have people in the team (fair enough not many enormous names) that puts in for the team mates and is held accountable of their actions. We had a horrendous penalty count, we had countless tries bombed or disallowed. Teams from the last 5 years fade away. Our line speed was incredible all game, lost 2 players to HIA and 1 to an injury. Yet we still ran up every play. We made meters in defence. We stayed in the game and rolled over them the last 12 mins.
The bulldog spirit is gritty, tough, hard. First time in a while we can say we are playing like bulldogs. Fair enough we are a long way off being polished and perfect. But cirro is 18 months in. He has a handful of other club rejects that he is patching together to create a dynasty. The longer he has at the helm the better we will be.We were nothing, now we are relevant again..... take a min to let that sink in......
Exactly. He held back Sexton because he wasn't ready. All of us hated it.
Before you do that please order a fresh shipment of Pom Poms. Apparently a few of us use them regularly and they might be wearing out. ThanksYeah I will be doing the same today, Allways do to pick up the stuff I missed while bouncing around the lounge room
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Yep Ciraldo has made him a better player by holding him back, I think everything he does has a longer term strategy behind it. Defence is confidence and sexton’s defence was terrible at the start of the year he was given time to work on it and build his confidence and that will pay the dividends for the team in the back half of the season. And as I said earlier in the year bringing Sexton in now completely changes our attacking structure and makes the HB the focal point of our attack where as hutch was just a ball distributor to our edges so teams like the scum that we have already played have to change the way they defend us……. If they are awake to it.
Expect your shipment soonBefore you do that please order a fresh shipment of Pom Poms. Apparently a few of us use them regularly and they might be wearing out. Thanks
It’s an interesting one tbh, because if you look at his career so far, he has never been given a long run in first grade to really hone his game and form good combinations. I would be surprised if he’s had more than a dozen games in a row. This is so important for a halfback. You must give them the experience to work on their game (in first grade) to have any chance of reaching their potential. I always thought he had potential from the day he debuted for Titan.
Incredible tbh. A record crowd for a regular season game for clubs placed 14th & 12th or thereabouts before the match. Imagine if they were both top 4.
I think the adjustment they need to make is to pressure the halves. But I don't think the Eels team has the gas tank to keep that up for 80.
we really missed kikau's kick pressure las night, if he plays Moses would have gone missing in the first half instead of the second, kiks has made every HB we have played this year his bitch, Glad he is back after the bye.
I will admit i was critical last year, but im glad to be proven wrong
You were more than critical along with a few others who have since changed their tune.
You live and you learn bro... Patience and processors.