Old Habits Die Hard

[Psycho Doggie]

We don't have the team for most set plays, not at the moment. We have the team for more ad-lib stuff, and possibly some line engaged stuff. It is no co-incidence that we've been scoring well with ad-lib play, use of our speed out wide, and some line-engaged with offloads stuff. The last try against Eels was exactly that, and the Morrin try against Tiggers was a simple case of JAC using his speed and known ability to get clear of tackle attempts to create a hole that Morrin did superbly well to hit with perfect timing.

 

[TwinTurbo]

We don't have the team for most set plays, not at the moment. We have the team for more ad-lib stuff, and possibly some line engaged stuff. It is no co-incidence that we've been scoring well with ad-lib play, use of our speed out wide, and some line-engaged with offloads stuff. The last try against Eels was exactly that, and the Morrin try against Tiggers was a simple case of JAC using his speed and known ability to get clear of tackle attempts to create a hole that Morrin did superbly well to hit with perfect timing.

If I may be so bold as to suggest a correction .................
We don't have the teamwork for most set plays . We do have the individuals for the ad-lib stuff.

Teamwork takes time to develop and it's obvious to me that Potter has been working on the first step, trust, players trusting one another. This is most obvious in defence, the players are trusting the guys inside them and the guys outside them to do their job.

Always a Bulldog

 

[Psycho Doggie]

If I may be so bold as to suggest a correction .................
We don't have the teamwork for most set plays . We do have the individuals for the ad-lib stuff.

Teamwork takes time to develop and it's obvious to me that Potter has been working on the first step, trust, players trusting one another. This is most obvious in defence, the players are trusting the guys indie them and the guys outside them to do their job.

Always a Bulldog

Certainly a valid point, and the mention of combinations by JJ at the last presser leans into that. My thought comes from the view that a lot of set plays utilise threats, the knowledge the opposition has about what player X might do, can do, and has done in the past. Penriffs left edge is an example of this, their set plays are more effective when Kikau is there, whether he gets the ball or not. Stick Liam Martin in Kikau's role and you don't get nearly the same amount of success with your set plays.

Your point is valid at this level as well, as combinations help make individual players more potent. But looking at our squad right now, other than TPJ and to a lesser extent Max King, our middles and edge forwards don't have much threat reputation on which to start building an array of set play variations.

 

[xanderalexander]

Just throwing this out there, but when you have forwards like James Fisher Harris, Leota, Big Nelson, Jesse Bromwich, Junior Paulo, RCG, etc your settlers turn into crash over plays and actually are opportunities as well as settlers

Agreed...

"...In today's modern game, the FRF and 2RF should be battling up-field and being staunch in defence through the middle. They should not be heavily involved when a team is close to the try line, unless working a crash play or running a defender-attracting decoy...."

 

[Blueandwhiteblood1968]

While I'm thrilled about the last two rounds, there is one aspect of the game that desperately needs cleaning up.

I'm a big fan of listening to Cooper Cronk analyse games and he makes a point that is has lately been repeated by the likes of Greg Alexander, Andrew Voss, Andrew Johns, Warren Smith and Brenton Speed to name a few. Think what you will of them, but they see each and every game and can see the trends of the top teams in 2022.

The better teams, when in the opponents' red zone (30m from the try-line), rarely see a need for settler plays. Ie., throwing a FRF or 2RF up the middle to attract a few defenders while the attacking line gets set for the next raid. They are able to fall into their set plays, or structures for eyes-up attack, without the need for settlers. They have the ability to go sideline to sideline with decoy runners, cut out passes and inside plays occurring naturally.

In today's modern game, the FRF and 2RF should be battling up-field and being staunch in defence through the middle. They should not be heavily involved when a team is close to the try line, unless working a crash play or running a defender-attracting decoy.

In our last two outings against the Eels and the Tigers, I noticed that while in our opponents' red zone, we had sets that almost always looked something like this:

Tackle One: Waddell takes a hit up
Tackle Two: Jackson takes a hit up
Tackle Three: Stimson takes a hit up
Tackle Four: TPJ is thrown into the line but rarely had anyone backing up ready to take the offload because all focus is on setting up a structure for the next play
Tackle Five/Six: Attacking play, usually directed via Burton but occasionally going through Flanagan.

With Averillo finding a home at fullback and definitely having a passing game in his skill set, I don't know why our team constantly uses up tackles as settlers that do nothing but allow the opposition to set their defensive lines.

We have Addo Carr, Schoupp, Kiraz, Averillo who all have tackle-break and line-breaking ability. We have way more offloads in our attack now that Max King and TPJ are having breakouts, and since being named for the 2023 Dolphins, even JMK is looking less JNK. We have creativity and early kicks in Burton and a crisp passing game in Flanagan.

Potter is doing an exceptional job but this is an area that needs immediate rectification in my opinion.

I think the attack is slowly getting there if anything needs to be worked on is the defence, even though the tigers didn't score points they made plenty of ground coming out of their own half, a top 4 side would have put more points on us on Sunday, just my thoughts.

 

[habs]

The key is ptb speed.

 

[_G-Dog_]

 

[gibbo2]

There has been some subtle tweaks. We aren't using Jackson at first receiver now. It's going straight to the halves . We also look to run backline plays off scrums in the opposition half. Previously it went to a forward for a hit up. I take OP point that we still have to many hit ups. But I do like that we have advanced our attack somewhat