Opinion The 1%ers don't exist - why we consistently lose against good and bad sides

[Bluebody]

I have been so confused why we are so consistently crap I started to observe the behaviour of the players on the field, especially when we fail to defend well.

Too many of our players do not do the 1% ers. I watched Dufty avoid covering defence near our goal line for most of the game. It was disgusting to watch.
I also saw most players just content with doing their job in their bubble and not covering each other when the ball went out wider with overlaps.

When one of our players makes a break, we rarely have 4 - 5 players supporting to finish the play with a try. They just couldn't be bothered staying alert and ready to spring into action for those moments that will make all the difference, that other teams do week in week out.

You have to coach the attitude because whatever fitness, skill and talent exists, it is being flushed down the toilet by lazy selfish attitudes who just want the paycheck and think they can hide behind the poor team performance without their individual piss poor contribution being exposed.

They should watch the video replays of all tries and breaks and look at the behaviour of players around it who could have gotten involved if they half gave a fuck. They would have pages and pages of notes to expose these imposters.

 

[repolski]

It’s going to take a tough coach and an honest look at player selection. We need to wake up!

 

[berryboy]

I can't respond to you in a constructive informed way, because i have stopped watching the games. All i do is update the NRL app on my phone, and every week each phone update shows the Bulldogs having a real go, but eventually letting things get on top of them and losing

 

[pillow]

The fact that the nrl make teams spend 95% of their cap means we have to pay mediocre players way more than their worth. This in turn gives those players the knowledge that thelll get paid good money and don’t have to put in 100%

 

[Scoooby]

It’s going to take a tough coach and an honest look at player selection. We need to wake up!

Aka - Flanno !! He’s the tough coach with a very good knowledge of the game. Means business!! He’s our man.

 

[The__GM]

I knew we were toast when we basically stopped any form of kick pressure after about 30 minutes. That shows there's no effort or intent at all from the team.

 

[cookieman909]

I didn’t see any of the game. Only saw the FT score. But looking at the stats. We should of won the game. Then watched the highlights. Some soft tries scored there from individual errors.

 

[DinkumDog]

The fact that the nrl make teams spend 95% of their cap means we have to pay mediocre players way more than their worth. This in turn gives those players the knowledge that thelll get paid good money and don’t have to put in 100%

I know the RLPA will never agree to it and it's pie in the sky stuff but I reckon all players should be on a base wage that increases with experience and the rest of the salaries are incentive based. Metres, tackles, tries, goals etc. The more you contribute, the more you earn. I'm not saying it'd be easy to put together the model nor manage it, but I agree with you that large salaries for players who wouldn't get anywhere near that sort of money elsewhere contributes to an apathetic culture once the money starts coming in.

 

[stingray]

I didn’t see any of the game. Only saw the FT score. But looking at the stats. We should of won the game. Then watched the highlights. Some soft tries scored there from individual errors.

doggies i think 3 tries where soft, suli let in 3 of them

 

[NPC83]

I know the RLPA will never agree to it and it's pie in the sky stuff but I reckon all players should be on a base wage that increases with experience and the rest of the salaries are incentive based. Metres, tackles, tries, goals etc. The more you contribute, the more you earn. I'm not saying it'd be easy to put together the model nor manage it, but I agree with you that large salaries for players who wouldn't get anywhere near that sort of money elsewhere contributes to an apathetic culture once the money starts coming in.

Sounds good in theory mate but too complicated for the NRL it’s been discussed before but I don’t see why you couldn’t front load more. Obviously the player and their manager would need to agree to it but with the right management at the club you front load the Stimson’s of the world and then have a larger slice of the salary cap available for the future years to get into the player market.. pending who is available of course. Regardless of the crappy 95% spend rule I think a lot of it comes done to how shrewd your clubs management is.

 

[Howie B]

I didn’t see any of the game. Only saw the FT score. But looking at the stats. We should of won the game. Then watched the highlights. Some soft tries scored there from individual errors.

Thats the frustrating thing. We were in the game right until the end despite making some comical errors :

- Burton gave away 3 seven tackle sets in the first half. You would think he would have worked out after the first kick that the breeze was behind him
- Burton also had a kick off out on the full
- The score went from 2-0 to 2-16 in a 7 minute period where we didnt touch the ball ;
- We finally got in front at 18-16 then had the ball stripped on tackle 2 from the kick off ;
- We were coming to get them at 24-28 and had a full set inside their 40 only for Thompson to drop it cold on a simple hit up

You would think that with some of those errors we would have got the cleaners put through us. Probably says a bit about the Dragons.

One thing it did show is what a difference a genuine home game makes. Overall penalties and restarts were 10-4 to us. We also made 7 linebreaks to their 6 so there wasnt much in the game at all

 

[DinkumDog]

Sounds good in theory mate but too complicated for the NRL it’s been discussed before but I don’t see why you couldn’t front load more. Obviously the player and their manager would need to agree to it but with the right management at the club you front load the Stimson’s of the world and then have a larger slice of the salary cap available for the future years to get into the player market.. pending who is available of course. Regardless of the crappy 95% spend rule I think a lot of it comes done to how shrewd your clubs management is.

Don't disagree mate but I think there's two issues:

1) How to spend the cost of the player (what you're saying)
2) The total cost of the player (what I was saying)

Yeah - too complicated for the NRL is right - and V'Landy's and Abdo are both accountants! .

 

[Grunthos]

Our biggest problem is that we tend to do a lot of defending in the first 20 or so minutes through silly penalties and 6 again so in the second half we have nothing left in the tank.

 

[Philmus]

Thats the frustrating thing. We were in the game right until the end despite making some comical errors :

- Burton gave away 3 seven tackle sets in the first half. You would think he would have worked out after the first kick that the breeze was behind him
- Burton also had a kick off out on the full
- The score went from 2-0 to 2-16 in a 7 minute period where we didnt touch the ball ;
- We finally got in front at 18-16 then had the ball stripped on tackle 2 from the kick off ;
- We were coming to get them at 24-28 and had a full set inside their 40 only for Thompson to drop it cold on a simple hit up

You would think that with some of those errors we would have got the cleaners put through us. Probably says a bit about the Dragons.

One thing it did show is what a difference a genuine home game makes. Overall penalties and restarts were 10-4 to us. We also made 7 linebreaks to their 6 so there wasnt much in the game at all

100% agree. 16000 screaming dogs fan in an intimate home ground like belmore is much more likely to give a home team advantage as opposed to 16000 at anz where you cant even see the game.

also those errors from burton in the first half were pathetic. ok, benefit of the doubt, unlucky with the first one out on the full. but the rest? fuck me swingin, you gotta be kidding me. try a grubber if you're struggling with the bombs, or let flanno handle the short kicking game. jesus christ it was so hard to watch

 

[ATT]

We have players not up to it. And mix and match players That only suit certain structures. We need to select a coach and players that prefer that structure

 

[Howie B]

100% agree. 16000 screaming dogs fan in an intimate home ground like belmore is much more likely to give a home team advantage as opposed to 16000 at anz where you cant even see the game.

also those errors from burton in the first half were pathetic. ok, benefit of the doubt, unlucky with the first one out on the full. but the rest? fuck me swingin, you gotta be kidding me. try a grubber if you're struggling with the bombs, or let flanno handle the short kicking game. jesus christ it was so hard to watch

Yep even with that kick where Schoupp was running through was poor. He had an acre to land it in but it ended up going behind him. Piss off that no look kick.

 

[Philmus]

Yep even with that kick where Schoupp was running through was poor. He had an acre to land it in but it ended up going behind him. Piss off that no look kick.

yeah really really poor. no excuse for it either to be honest. i like him as a player and want him to stick around, but you cant seriously be asking for more money when you cant kick the ball as a 5/8

 

[NPC83]

Don't disagree mate but I think there's two issues:

1) How to spend the cost of the player (what you're saying)
2) The total cost of the player (what I was saying)

Yeah - too complicated for the NRL is right - and V'Landy's and Abdo are both accountants! .

All care and no responsibility? Typical of them. Would love to see the numbers on the dolphins entry or is that a tax minimisation strategy through accelerated depreciation

I think regardless where the salary cap rules sit you really need red hot administrators at your club. It’s big business these days and some are still stuck in the junior football club mentality.

 

[TwinTurbo]

I know the RLPA will never agree to it and it's pie in the sky stuff but I reckon all players should be on a base wage that increases with experience and the rest of the salaries are incentive based. Metres, tackles, tries, goals etc. The more you contribute, the more you earn. I'm not saying it'd be easy to put together the model nor manage it, but I agree with you that large salaries for players who wouldn't get anywhere near that sort of money elsewhere contributes to an apathetic culture once the money starts coming in.

"Metres, tackles, tries, goals etc."

How on earth do you rate the numerous stats? Is a try worth 5 tackles, or is it 10?

Who does the rating? The Chooks sombrero auditor?

How do you manage to a fixed Salary Cap if a player progresses during the year, how much space do you leave? What if a player regresses and you have Cap space left?

Are we taking multiple year contracts here? So the player wouldn't know from one year to the next how much he was going to get paid. It's OK for you and me, we have 40/50 year earning lives, a professional sportsman might have 10 years if he is lucky. What happens when a player gets a long term injury, like RFM, through no fault of his own he has next to zero stats for a year. So he get's paid minimum rate, how does he pay his mortgage which is based on the value of the multi year contract he signed?

Personally I can't honestly say that we should pay JAC less because he hasn't scored as many tries with us. That's hardly his fault, he's a winger he succeeds or fails mostly based on what service he gets.

Worst of all I can see stat padders (something Tolman was often accused of) that hog the ball instead of passing it. Trying to increase their pay, it's just forcing the "I" into "TEAM". Players would be complaining to the Coaches about their fellow players unfairly causing their salary to drop. Team harmony, out the window.


Always a Bulldog

 

[dogwhisperer]

Thats the frustrating thing. We were in the game right until the end despite making some comical errors :

- Burton gave away 3 seven tackle sets in the first half. You would think he would have worked out after the first kick that the breeze was behind him
- Burton also had a kick off out on the full
- The score went from 2-0 to 2-16 in a 7 minute period where we didnt touch the ball ;
- We finally got in front at 18-16 then had the ball stripped on tackle 2 from the kick off ;
- We were coming to get them at 24-28 and had a full set inside their 40 only for Thompson to drop it cold on a simple hit up

You would think that with some of those errors we would have got the cleaners put through us. Probably says a bit about the Dragons.

One thing it did show is what a difference a genuine home game makes. Overall penalties and restarts were 10-4 to us. We also made 7 linebreaks to their 6 so there wasnt much in the game at all

Everything you said is pretty much spot on. I put it down to those two softest of soft tries on our line late in second half that killed us, that was the laziest defence I've ever seen. I could see it from where I was sitting that we had massive holes on our line and in the middle around the posts, I knew they were going over.