Great start but!!!

[KiwiDog7]

There was some good and some bad things to the game.

Good.
Our kicking game was vastly improved.
We have an organizer.
The players seemed more confident to throw the ball around.
We now have someone at fullback that seems keen to get involved heavily in attack.

Bad.
Some of the defensive lapses to me highlight the fact that a few of the inexperienced forwards we've promoted could need plenty of work.
We're still being penalized unfairly (look at the penalty for taking out their kick chaser who clearly ran into our own players).
There are still handling issues with the team.
Our support play needs to improve a lot.

Overall I think we saw mainly positive signs, but a 22 point loss is still not the ideal way to start the season. If we have more than a few losses of this magnitude this season it could mean that we miss the finals if the middle of the table is congested.

Agree with most of what you said

But the inexperienced forwards (whomever you referring to) weren’t responsible for the miss tackles that led to tries in fact it was our experienced skipper.

Handling issues too which I thought was worked on off season. We completed for 70% and gave up 36 points which is very in Des like lol

Ps we lose by 18

 

[Bluebody]

I think Pay is going to stick with the same team for a month or 2 simply because you need to if you are going to develop players. Unlike blind loyal Des, I can see Pay making changes but you need the balance of letting players grow in confidence in their positions and the gel factor with the team. If you start ripping individuals out too early you end up with too many inexperienced players in a disjointed team.

 

[KiwiDog7]

I think Pay is going to stick with the same team for a month or 2 simply because you need to if you are going to develop players. Unlike blind loyal Des, I can see Pay making changes but you need the balance of letting players grow in confidence in their positions and the gel factor with the team. If you start ripping individuals out too early you end up with too many inexperienced players in a disjointed team.

Reading between lines of his presser I would say at the very least Tualau is replacing someone on the bench

 

[Bluebody]

Reading between lines of his presser I would say at the very least Tualau is replacing someone on the bench

A change that seems obvious to him won't disrupt the team much - especially if it off the bench - who do you think it is going to be? Eastwood?

 

[GUSLER]

One horrible horrible miss each from Jackson and Eastwood. That’s what cost us game. We’ll be ok if we cut that out. I know jacko will

 

[KiwiDog7]

A change that seems obvious to him won't disrupt the team much - especially if it off the bench - who do you think it is going to be? Eastwood?

Yup Eastwood

 

[Alan79]

There was some good and some bad things to the game.

Good.
Our kicking game was vastly improved.
We have an organizer.
The players seemed more confident to throw the ball around.
We now have someone at fullback that seems keen to get involved heavily in attack.

Bad.
Some of the defensive lapses to me highlight the fact that a few of the inexperienced forwards we've promoted could need plenty of work.
We're still being penalized unfairly (look at the penalty for taking out their kick chaser who clearly ran into our own players).
There are still handling issues with the team.
Our support play needs to improve a lot.

Overall I think we saw mainly positive signs, but a 22 point loss is still not the ideal way to start the season. If we have more than a few losses of this magnitude this season it could mean that we miss the finals if the middle of the table is congested.

Agree with most of what you said

But the inexperienced forwards (whomever you referring to) weren’t responsible for the miss tackles that led to tries in fact it was our experienced skipper.

Handling issues too which I thought was worked on off season. We completed for 70% and gave up 36 points which is very in Des like lol

Ps we lose by 18

I'd had a few beers when the game started and was watching on a pretty small TV from across the room at the pub without any commentary, so I guess I'd missed who made those couple of costly missed tackles. But it was a couple of soft tries that we can't afford to give away at any rate. And some of the handling issues I was referring to were the atrocious attempt to field the bomb by Frawley (I was taught at the age of 9 to keep my elbows together when catching a high ball, his were out past his shoulders), the other was Fualolo not quite putting the ball down well enough. They can both be forgiven early in the season, but the little things can make a huge difference.

I'm hopeful that we manage to win enough games to avoid having to worry about needing for and against to secure a finals berth. But 18 point losses won't help if we're in the pack fighting to make the eight.

 

[Robert61]

Everybody needs to settle down, Melbourne were very up tempo last night and are the benchmark we need to aspire to be , first game folks limited trial time which is a mistake but it’s rd 1 , this team and deans plan will take time to adjust, probably a lot of haslers shit still in the system especially Tolman

Add Eastwood and Elliot to that list. These guys didn't stand up last year so why give them another go not to stand up

 

[CrittaMagic69]

I think Pay is going to stick with the same team for a month or 2 simply because you need to if you are going to develop players. Unlike blind loyal Des, I can see Pay making changes but you need the balance of letting players grow in confidence in their positions and the gel factor with the team. If you start ripping individuals out too early you end up with too many inexperienced players in a disjointed team.

I would normally agree about giving the players a decent run but surely Pay has realised he has made a mistake with his bench selections and rotations on Saturday.

Klemmer only got 48 minutes on Saturday night and didn't return until the final 15 mintues of the game, that's just a bad move by Pay. He also would have seen how ineffective our bench players were, no amount of game time will make them more effective in the short term.

 

[Kiwipup]

No way I’d move RFM to the middle. That combo on the left with Foran is gonna be deadly.

RFM played well.

Everyone is blowing their loads with RFM scoring that try off a Foran pass.

I do remember the entire kennel blowing their loads when Graham put Elliott over last year as well