Things are becoming clearer

[Bulldogz82]

This is bang on… the most simple game plan… but we still manage to struggle with it.

I thought we did this well in one game this year particularly using our speed men and surprise… we won the game.

Yep that second half against the cowboys was played with energy and quick play the balls. Been Mia ever since

 

[D.O.W.]

Yep that second half against the cowboys was played with energy and quick play the balls. Been Mia ever since

The first 3 tackles from a kick return should be JAC, Naden and Burns up the guts or TPJ followed by Dufty and JAC targeting the retreating defenders drawn into TPJ

 

[Bulldogz82]

The first 3 tackles from a kick return should be JAC, Naden and Burns up the guts or TPJ followed by Dufty and JAC targeting the retreating defenders drawn into TPJ

There doesn't seem to be any thought in planning our sets, it all looks slow but rushed lol

 

[D.O.W.]

There doesn't seem to be any thought in planning our sets, it all looks slow but rushed lol

And that’s the big difference between the top 4 and bottom 4 teams… we can’t execute a game plan or stick to one. This tells us that we either (a) don’t have enough footy IQ (b) we lack good leadership (c) the issue is in the coaching or (d) all of the above

 

[bulldogsmyte]

Just posted in the Matt Burton thread my thoughts on some of the mental suggestions about what we should do. Dufty to 6 , JAC to 1 Burton to 7 and even the crazy idea of releasing Barrett and putting Furner in charge…

Barrett is the problem and this is a Gus issue. I look forward to seeing how he deals with it.

>"Dufty to 6 , JAC to 1 Burton to 7"
That is something that Baz should have prepared as a contingency in the off season. Avo, Wake and Flange will never be NRL standard HB. Doesn't matter how many games they play as they do not have the natural attributes. They lack fundamental HB qualities that should have been learnt in the juniors let alone NRL.
That leaves Burton by default as 7 and Baz should have built the team around him like Murray did at Nth Qld with Thurston. Thurston was more of a part time bench player #6 with us in 04 before he left.
Considering all the quality HB in the comp that would make a difference to our team (Cleary, Keary, Sam Walker, DCE etc) are already tied up with their clubs and wont be released making Burton our main playmaker makes a lot more sense than relying on repeated proven HB failures Avo, Wake and Flange and expecting them to somehow improve exponentially this season.
The reality is Wake and Flange do not have a future as NRL HB, Avo might elsewhere in the backline. Avo should be sent back to reserves to train as a backup FB and eventually become a versatile utility player.

 

[jordansaba]

>"Dufty to 6 , JAC to 1 Burton to 7"
That is something that Baz should have prepared as a contingency in the off season. Avo, Wake and Flange will never be NRL standard HB. Doesn't matter how many games they play as they do not have the natural attributes. They lack fundamental HB qualities that should have been learnt in the juniors let alone NRL.
That leaves Burton by default as 7 and Baz should have built the team around him like Murray did at Nth Qld with Thurston. Thurston was more of a part time bench player #6 with us in 04 before he left.
Considering all the quality HB in the comp that would make a difference to our team (Cleary, Keary, Sam Walker, DCE etc) are already tied up with their clubs and wont be released making Burton our main playmaker makes a lot more sense than relying on repeated proven HB failures Avo, Wake and Flange and expecting them to somehow improve exponentially this season.
The reality is Wake and Flange do not have a future as NRL HB, Avo might elsewhere in the backline. Avo should be sent back to reserves to train as a backup FB and eventually become a versatile utility player.

sooooooo basically we’re screwed

 

[GoTheDoggies]

Yes it is very clear Barrett cannot coach for those of you who are a bit slow.

 

[bulldogsmyte]

sooooooo basically we’re screwed

Pretty much if Baz keeps using Avo, Wake and Flange all season as the same thing will happen in every game.
1- All the good work done by our forwards to get field position in the red zone will be wasted when those dud HB options do the same predictable plays that go nowhere.
2 - As our attack is so shite the opposition do not fatigue in defence as they are not under any pressure.
3 - The opposition can then easily score against us as they have plenty of energy in reserve.
4 - The team loses morale as our forwards know all their hard work results in nothing due to our shite 7 and 9 spine.

It doesn't matter that the Dogs have more possession than the opposition because they do nothing with the ball.

 

[Bazildog]

>"Dufty to 6 , JAC to 1 Burton to 7"
That is something that Baz should have prepared as a contingency in the off season. Avo, Wake and Flange will never be NRL standard HB. Doesn't matter how many games they play as they do not have the natural attributes. They lack fundamental HB qualities that should have been learnt in the juniors let alone NRL.
That leaves Burton by default as 7 and Baz should have built the team around him like Murray did at Nth Qld with Thurston. Thurston was more of a part time bench player #6 with us in 04 before he left.
Considering all the quality HB in the comp that would make a difference to our team (Cleary, Keary, Sam Walker, DCE etc) are already tied up with their clubs and wont be released making Burton our main playmaker makes a lot more sense than relying on repeated proven HB failures Avo, Wake and Flange and expecting them to somehow improve exponentially this season.
The reality is Wake and Flange do not have a future as NRL HB, Avo might elsewhere in the backline. Avo should be sent back to reserves to train as a backup FB and eventually become a versatile utility player.

Not really. Based on the way Barrett has them left and right he probably should have had a contingency plan of Averillo @6 and Burton @7 but nothing as drastic and panicky as Dufty at 6….

Barrett hatched a plan spending the entire off season practicing it, and then lacked the balls to support it, end of.

 

[Dogzzz of War]

I think a major issue (on top of what’s been mentioned ) is we lack strike centres and back rowers.
each side of the field should have at least one strike player (either centre or back rower) that the 6 or 1 can utilise to suck in defenders.

 

[Doge]

JAC is not a fullback ffs

 

[bulldogsmyte]

Not really. Based on the way Barrett has them left and right he probably should have had a contingency plan of Averillo @6 and Burton @7 but nothing as drastic and panicky as Dufty at 6….

Barrett hatched a plan spending the entire off season practicing it, and then lacked the balls to support it, end of.

yes Avo is more suited to a 6 than a HB but his decision making is too poor to be a spine player. He doesn't seem to know when or where to run or pass which then impacts the rest of the backline. Baz won't put Dufty at 6 as it will be a self admission that he's stuffed up the pre season.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

JAC is not a fullback ffs

This fanbase is totally delusional, only a few more drubbings and the slow folks might finally realise the coach is a myth.

In the mean time let's talk about shuffling the team about and trialing players in absurd positions.

 

[Bazildog]

yes Avo is more suited to a 6 than a HB but his decision making is too poor to be a spine player. He doesn't seem to know when or where to run or pass which then impacts the rest of the backline. Baz won't put Dufty at 6 as it will be a self admission that he's stuffed up the pre season.

No Baz won’t put him at 6 because even a fake coach like Barrett knows that Dufty ain’t a half in any universe. He struggles with D at the back, and would be a turnstile in the halves..

I like what Dufty can bring if he runs around with his nose up the ass of the likes TPJ, Hetho and King. There will be heaps of offload opportunity for him to use his speed and agility. Also linking occasionally in the backs will provide options, but a half he ain’t.

 

[bulldogsmyte]

No Baz won’t put him at 6 because even a fake coach like Barrett knows that Dufty ain’t a half in any universe. He struggles with D at the back, and would be a turnstile in the halves..

I like what Dufty can bring if he runs around with his nose up the ass of the likes TPJ, Hetho and King. There will be heaps of offload opportunity for him to use his speed and agility. Also linking occasionally in the backs will provide options, but a half he ain’t.

Lockyer was a turnstile in D but that didn't stop him from being a legendary 6. Bennett just put a thug next to Lockyer to do all the tackling for him. Avo's D is not much better than Dufty. Our top 5 hooker is a dud and putting rookies Avo, Wake and Flange in our spine making split second decisions just makes our attack even worse. It's depressing that we're stuck with those duds as one of our halves.

 

[albatross]

Time for Flanagan to play the role he played at the rorters but can he?

Keary was pushing Flanno out of the way to organise the Roosters. We can only hope Flanno's improved a lot.

 

[Kung fu man]

he's in form.
- Round 1 against Souths he had a try assist, a line break assist,177 kicking meters and kicked 4/4 in a 24-16 win
- Round 2 against Canberra he had 2 try assists. 2 line break assists, 118 kicking meters and kicked 6/9 in a 48-12 win
- Round 3 against Blacktown he had 2 try assists, 1 line break assist, 311 kicking meters and kicked 5/5 in a 30-0 win
- Round 4 against Mounties he had 1 try, 1 try assist, 2 line breaks, 1 line break assist, 105 kicking meters and kicked 4/5 in a 28-18 win.

Compare that to yesterday, wakeham 0 line breaks, 0 line break assists, 0 try assists, 81 kick meters. Burton 0 line breaks, 1 line break assist, 0 try assists, 348 kicking meters.

Chalk and cheese reggies to nrl.

 

[Philmus]

Chalk and cheese reggies to nrl.

agree, but the form is there compared to last year when he played reggies and did nothing

 

[LoneWolf]

Whilst it’s clear we don’t have a first grade standard 7 to choose.

We could have Cleary or DCE dropped into our lineup and it wouldn’t make much difference.

What they do on the training field totally baffles me. It’s like they don’t practice attacking in the opposing teams 20m.

They run at least four forward settlers each set. Which are not a threat and not followed by a quick play the ball.

Then when the play makers get a shot everyone is basically flat and walking. There is no fluidity. No players in motion. No speed in anything we do. It’s like watching the local under 12s. Catch, pass and hope.

We have players that offload this year. Why don’t the little quick men anticipate this and be there.

The coaching and general player awareness or lack there of is the major issue. Way up and above our lack of a 7

Think about what you just said regarding quick plays in the opponents 20 and then look at who we have playing on the fringes and ask yourself if this is a coaching issue or playing roster issue .

Everyone is expecting miracles .

We got dusted by the best team in the league which is going to happen to plenty other teams but our biggest problem at the moment is scoring points and that comes down to your forwards laying the platform for your 1,6,7 and 9 to create this opportunities .

We’ve played 2 games in torrential rain . 1 game on a dry track when we looked good in attack and yet everyone is meltdown .

Maybe we don’t need a DCE or another quality halfback but a Kikau and Mahoney that can give the halves the space and room with quality service to create the opportunities.

The halfback debate is masking the real issues with no punch and threat on fringes and poor decision and service from the dummy half .