I am optimistic about our season

[KLil]

I disagree. He stepped inside the defender and therefore there was a player between him and his outside men so the pass was not on. The kick was the right idea, it just had a little bit too much weight on it. Would have been an incredible try assist if he pulled it off.

Hoppa would have fallen over if he popped it up to him... The kick was not on, it was a brain explosion. I'm sure Pay will be telling Montoya and Mbye to pass to Hoppa from now on after the first video sess.

 

[Trafford10]

I hardly think you can assess our defense on our first game of the year against the best team in the comp for the past several years.

We have to be honest the defence was bad.
I was happy with what the guys did with the ball and at fucking last we have an organising halfback!!!
How much better did the team look in attack!!

However I can not get confident until I see they get defense right for at least a whole gane.

Also like many have said the bench adds nothing!

 

[KLil]

Mbye at fb exceeded my expectations by a mile with a bit more time around Foran I think he will be a point scoring machine I knew he was quick but he looked dangerous every time he returned the ball

He had me shouting MOSES! after that first run...

 

[maroondog72]

He had me shouting MOSES! after that first run...

lol and he was parting the purple sea.............and the kennel said it was GOOD Amen.

 

[bcmf]

I disagree. He stepped inside the defender and therefore there was a player between him and his outside men so the pass was not on. The kick was the right idea, it just had a little bit too much weight on it. Would have been an incredible try assist if he pulled it off.

Watch the replay, he could have gone for the corner or passed. The kick was the third and least successful option.

 

[KiwiDog7]

The first kick return from Mbye tells you everything we need to know about what this season will bring (from him in a new position)

I’m also optimistic about our season ahead but we really need to shore up individual defence (attitude) and communication.

The Tigers have done us no favours beating the Roosters

They will get Keary back and will now be awake to any ambush

If we go to halftime in front we will win

 

[bcmf]

The first kick return from Mbye tells you everything we need to know about what this season will bring (from him in a new position)

I’m also optimistic about our season ahead but we really need to shore up individual defence (attitude) and communication.

The Tigers have done us no favours beating the Roosters

They will get Keary back and will now be awake to any ambush

If we go to halftime in front we will win

Which side does he defend on? Get rfm to fucking run at him all game. He will be underdone 100%.

 

[flamebouyant]

Watch the replay, he could have gone for the corner or passed. The kick was the third and least successful option.

So i guess he must be shit then.

 

[flamebouyant]

very positive start to the season. They created momentum and, with an ounce of luck and bit more match fitness, they may well have prevailed. For all those who keep banging the drum on "best defence of the league" last year, I say nonsense. As is known, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. In the last two years the dogs defence has been atrocious. The whole lot were continually back pedalling in defence. Not moving up. Describing it as a sliding defence is a misnomer. Set after set, the dogs defence let the opposition move up-field so far and fast that they were invariably scrambling to defend their own line. By the time the dogs gained possession they were too tired and in a position on the field where they had to work too hard just to clear their line. The tackles so soft the opposition players were never short of puff to snuff out the dogs attack because they were not made to work hard enough when in possession. Even mediocre opposition players were made to look good. One memorable moment was when the entire dogs front row was marched in the tackle back 10 metres by an opponent allowing him to score under the post. Embarrassing. The point is don't get fooled by stats about tries scored against. Its matches won/lost that count. The hallmark of good defence is to make the opposition work hard for field position and to put that little doubt and fear into the minds of opposition players. And on that score this weeks effort was far superior to anything dished out last year.

And paragraphs.

 

[old school dog]

Sorry if this is a downer, but this is a transition year. We develop our spine combinations ( Lichaa, Foran , Mbye ),
develop new players (Ogden, To'omaga, Talau, Lewis ), say a long goodbye to Tolman, the Morris', Eastwood and Elliot and sign TWO great players. I'm optimistic about next year.

 

[Dog Till I Die]

Sorry if this is a downer, but this is a transition year. We develop our spine combinations ( Lichaa, Foran , Mbye ),
develop new players (Ogden, To'omaga, Talau, Lewis ), say a long goodbye to Tolman, the Morris', Eastwood and Elliot and sign TWO great players. I'm optimistic about next year.

You forgot Frawley.
To think it would be anything but a transitional year would be death by a thousand cuts. We saw, unequivocally, on Saturday night just why we won't make the eight. We were full-strength. Storm were without Slater and they still creamed us. I have great hope but not for 2018. And, if Pay is serious, he MUST ALSO shed Tolman, Eastwood and Elliot.
There were good signs in Perth but they're just that. Signs. They won't buy us a premiership this year. Best we reconcile ourselves to the fact and hope Pay will be given full realm to mould this team into what he wants.

 

[silva]

Theres no reason why we cant finish top 4 this year. We have the two Australian starting props, a world class playmaker and a good enough squad across the park. Conceding 36 points was embarrassing. But its only rd 1 so Im still optimistic.
Weak areas:
- Frawley
- Speed out wide. We could use a weapon in the centres or on the wing.

We have depth in the forwards so Im not too concerned with our bench. Id bring up Tualau asap and switch Elliot with fualalo.

 

[M4cca]

Theres no reason why we cant finish top 4 this year. We have the two Australian starting props, a world class playmaker and a good enough squad across the park. Conceding 36 points was embarrassing. But its only rd 1 so Im still optimistic.
Weak areas:
- Frawley
- Speed out wide. We could use a weapon in the centres or on the wing.

We have depth in the forwards so Im not too concerned with our bench. Id bring up Tualau asap and switch Elliot with fualalo.

Agreed, from what i saw from our attack i think we'll be able to trouble a lot of teams this year. Foran going to the line like he does and mbye's speed out the back will be very hard to defend against. The defence on the weekend was more due to individual errors which can be tidied up, the online defence was actually quite good. Melbourne and the cowboys might lead the pack for a while but i don't really see any other teams who have rosters that are that much better that we couldn't beat.

 

[EXPLORER]

I hardly think you can assess our defense on our first game of the year against the best team in the comp for the past several years.

So true
I will give them bit of time, my comments are just based on my assumption
And game 1 supported that assumption

 

[dogbone]

I had a quick glance of stats from NRL website and all our starting running forwards ran for over 100m RFM and Jacko played 80min
48% possession and only made 10 less tackles then Melbourne
When you look at the Munster break that led to Ado-Carr try(Jacko got burned by Munster) and the second Ado-Carr try when MBye dropped the ball. It’s a 6 point difference. We didn’t get much luck our way (which seems to be the norm for most against the storm) I’m interested and optimistic this week against the roosters as they’re forwards I think are on the way to having to return Uncle Nicks paper bags.

Mate I reckon twice Mbye could've had the final pass for a try, when he kicked to montoya and when he fumbles and addo-carr ran the length. Plus the Faulalo knockon 1cm away from scoring... Scoreline didn't reflect the closeness of the match.

But none of that matters if we don't work on our weaknesses and continue to improve. Our bench needs to be fixed asap.

 

[dogbone]

The storm scored on the back of that Mbye kick that went dead.

 

[jpneves]

The storm scored on the back of that Mbye kick that went dead.

Yes it was a massive turnaround

 

[Raikkonen]

Our attack is already 10000000 times better. I could watch that left edge combo of Foran/RFM/Mbye all day

What also pleases me is that Pay seems to back players for their obvious strengths, unlike Hasler.

We all knew RFM should have been starting
Many thought Mbye should shift to 1., but Hasler persisted with the likes of Hoppa, Perrot
We wall knew Lichaa should be allowed to run
We all knew Eastwood wasn't a starting edge back rower (in fact, not an edge forward at all)

 

[Horse]

Wish I could share the same level of optimism.

From what I saw were comfortably accounted for by an understrength Storm outfit.

I thought we looked a bit slicker, but that's about it. Facts are;
- Our defence wasn't particularly good. We conceded more points than any other team for the round.
- We lacked potency throughout. Our bench forwards were ineffective
- Mbye looked sharp on occassions but he still needs to become a more rounded and clinical footballer. He made 2 crucial errors which led directly to Storm trys.

 

[D.O.W.]

Bench strength was a huge issue for us, not convinced about Frawley’s inclusion either.

The other thing that sticks in my mind was did Josh Jackson defend in the centres in that game or was he just out of position? He was caught out several times defending out wide and was beaten for speed.

Mbye surprised us all, fullback could be his true calling & how good was it to see RFM steaming onto balls and play out 80mins and Foran’s direct play/leadership! Promising signs, but gee-wiz we have a tough draw early on... Roosters are licking their wounds, they will be fired up this week and we are travelling from Perth with a shorter turnaround. Huge effort from the lads if they do get up.