THE GOOD
Despite the fact that we lost I thought there were a number positive takeaways from last night's clash with the Broncos.
I thought Marshall-King was perfect at hooker, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we end up offloading Lichaa to another club to clear out some cap space if his services aren't needed. A team like the Raiders or Eels would be open to bringing him in so we should venture down that avenue just to see if we can help out our cap situation considering how strong JMK was for us. JMK's service was great, and he even broke the line twice with two well-timed runs when the Broncos were in "scramble-mode" on defense.
I thought Rhyse Martin was solid, defended relatively well and was always active around the ball. Had some decent carries getting us out of our own half too and obviously scored on debut which is great for his confidence.
Hopoate was outstanding tonight, I like the idea of getting the ball out wide on 4th/5th tackle and trusting our outside backs to make a play whether it be a kick or just playing through the hands. Worked well and created some opportunities.
Klemmer off the bench was okay, but I still think Woods should be coming off the bench. Klemmer needs to start to soften up and tire out the opposing forward pack, then Woods can come in and play his natural game, creating some second-phase opportunities through offloads against a tired out forward pack. I liked the fact that we changed our rotation and I believe it showed in our performance.
Raymond Faitala-Mariner was one of our best as always. Can't explain how much I love having this guy play for the Doggies, he brings it week in and week out. Win, lose or draw.
THE BAD
Clay Priest seemed like he couldn't give a fuck that he debuted for us last night. He came out and gave away two consecutive penalties and offered next to nothing else. I assume that he only got a run because of his relationship with Pay coming from Canberra, but I have no clue how he got a run over To'omaga. This better change next week. We saw Rhyse Martin's impact coming straight from ISP, so we should do the same thing with To'omaga and he could be a potential starting front rower for us later in the season as he has dominated ISP so far this year.
I thought Matt Frawley was below average tonight. Besides his try he did next to nothing. Two terrible kicks on last tackle in the Broncos' red-zone, didn't even look like breaking the game open and in general just seemed off. I still believe either Cleeland or Lewis deserve a run over this bloke, because in all honesty he offers us next to nothing and I couldn't believe he was playing first-grade again after tonight's performance.
Marcelo Montoya. I was a huge fan of Monty when he first cracked the grade, and I really hate saying this but he needs to be dropped. Our right side is the worst defensive edge in the comp, and he got very fortunate tonight because the the Broncos caught him out three times and only managed to get the bounce of the ball once. He could have EASILY given up 12 points to Corey Oates but we were fortunate that Oates couldn't get a good bounce when he needed it. I don't care what Monty offers in attack, his defense alone is costing us a try a game and he needs to be cut for at least a fortnight until he improves his decision making in defense. Times like these make me wish Moses Suli worked out, but bring on Holland, Reimis Smith or Olive.
Kieran Foran. I know this one will catch you off guard, but every game this season without failure Foran goes missing at the back end of games. Any other halfback on $700,000 per year has the ability to close games out towards the back end, but every week I think to myself "where did Foran go?". Considering he has rookie players alongside him like JMK and Frawley, you would think he would be on the ball and really slowing things down when we need to, especially with a lead in the final 8 minutes. Instead, he goes missing and we play out-of-control footy rather than composed footy. He needs to take ownership of this team and really steer them home instead of deferring to players with less than 26 NRL games played.
GERALD SUTTON. I'm not going to rant and rave but I honestly felt like tonight's game was fixed. The most obvious call that made the game appear to be fixed was the blatant knock-on from Isaako that was ruled as "play on". Sutton has had a grudge against us ever since the 2015 Good Friday game against Souths where he got pelted with water bottles from supporters at ANZ Stadium after sending Klemmer off and awarding Souths the penalty goal from right in front. Combine that with the fact that the Broncos would have lost 3 games in-a-row at Suncorp had they lost tonight, there was something a little bit fishy in the officiating and it felt like they didn't want the Broncos to lose three straight in Brisbane due to the impact it would have on the fans. Put it simply, he's cost us the game. If he rules that Isaako knock-on as it was, we get the ball 10m out from their line and retain our lead. Instead, they end up going down our end and leveling the score with a penalty goal. Huge game changer that cost us the game in my opinion. The final play of the game where Mbye was penalised, I see that type of play every week where players are blocked on the kick-chase yet no penalty is awarded. Tonight that call went against us, but judging by the inconsistency in the refereeing so far this season I can't say that I'm surprised at all by the call.
Next Week's Adjustments:
Here is what I believe our line-up should be against the Eels in Round 10.
1. Moses Mbye
2. Brett Morris
3. Josh Morris
4. William Hopoate
5. Kerrod Holland
6. Josh Cleeland/Lachlan Lewis
7. Kieran Foran
8. David Klemmer
9. Jeremy Marshall-King
10. Danny Fualalo
11. Rhyse Martin
12. Raymond Faitala-Mariner
13. Josh Jackson
14. Aaron Woods
15. Renouf To'omaga
16. Greg Eastwood
17. Lachlan Lewis/Josh Cleeland
We also need to give Jacko more game-time. We looked lost without him and he only played 45 minutes against the Broncos. At the back-end of the second half, we had Klemmer and Jackson on the bench while we had our more inexperienced guys on the field. We need to have Woods, Klemmer and Jacko on to close out games and the coaching staff need to find a minutes-rotation that allows them to be on the field the close out. All three of those guys have represented their clubs in either finals footy or played Origin, and we need their experience on the field in those moments. Montoya, Elliott and Priest get cut, we debut To'omaga as well as Lachlan Lewis or Josh Cleeland. We play our experienced players to close games out, we replace out-of-form players with young hungry talent and we make one last push for a Top 8 finish. Depsite our horrendous record, we're still only 3 games removed from the 8 with 15 rounds of football still to play. If we fire up now, cut off the players who have been letting us down and dig in we can still play Finals footy. Last night against the Broncos was a step in the right direction and we were unlucky. Moving onwards and upwards from here. I expect the Dogs to come out and beat the Eels.
Let me know your thoughts on both the good and bad, as well as the line-up prediction.
Hang in there guys, it's tough but there's light at the end of the tunnel and some adjustments that we can make to get to the end of the tunnel sooner rather than later.
