Uncontested bombs

D.O.W.

D.O.W.

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It was obvious to me the players were asked to focus on tackling the kick receiver as he’s catching the ball rather than contest the kick…. This strategy does my head in.

Thoughts?
 
Timing your run to contest one of burtons bombs would be a fucking nightmare, hes not very accurate and the odd one he gets hold of has a hang time of 15 mins and is almost un-catchable .
 
What we have now is much much better than how it was with Mbye kicking high and landing it on the 10 metre line every time, even if we were down by 3 tries.

When the game remains even, I'm more than happy to not contest bombs and try and pin a team in a corner for a few tackles while the rest of the team gets back onside.

If we contest the ball and fail:

- staggered defensive line. Easier for a line break
- knock the ball on, and give our opponents an easier way out of their half.

Not to mention by the looks of the rule change video, refs are gonna be cracking down on everyone in front of kickers, so I'll be happy if we just focus on not being offside, because we were pinged for that WAY too much last year.
 
ricko_29 said:
What we have now is much much better than how it was with Mbye kicking high and landing it on the 10 metre line every time, even if we were down by 3 tries.

When the game remains even, I'm more than happy to not contest bombs and try and pin a team in a corner for a few tackles while the rest of the team gets back onside.

If we contest the ball and fail:

- staggered defensive line. Easier for a line break
- knock the ball on, and give our opponents an easier way out of their half.

Not to mention by the looks of the rule change video, refs are gonna be cracking down on everyone in front of kickers, so I'll be happy if we just focus on not being offside, because we were pinged for that WAY too much last year.
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Good points made and agree with the Mbye’s kicking back in the day compared to what we have now.
 
flamebouyant said:
It was a trial.
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Absolutely, and was a very good trial, the only thing that’s predicated.. trial or not, is when Burton gets the ball on the last for the kick .. opposition knows what’s coming. Now a then he will pull off an uncatchable lol, but it’s all pretty standard now.
 
ricko_29 said:
What we have now is much much better than how it was with Mbye kicking high and landing it on the 10 metre line every time, even if we were down by 3 tries.

When the game remains even, I'm more than happy to not contest bombs and try and pin a team in a corner for a few tackles while the rest of the team gets back onside.

If we contest the ball and fail:

- staggered defensive line. Easier for a line break
- knock the ball on, and give our opponents an easier way out of their half.

Not to mention by the looks of the rule change video, refs are gonna be cracking down on everyone in front of kickers, so I'll be happy if we just focus on not being offside, because we were pinged for that WAY too much last year.
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Isn’t what’s happening now exactly the same as Mbye bombing it to the 10 and holding a strong line?
 
We leaked points last year. If we made a defensive error, we failed to recover the further we went in the season. So if this is a strategy to ensure we're not starting sets in panic mode because we screwed up by contesting the bomb, failing and letting a player break the line on tackle 0. I'm ok with it. We had a few times I remember conceding 18 or more points in three sets of football. If this strategy is to nip that in the bud (going to shit defensively after conceding a break off the kick return) I'm ok with it.

I'm sure as the year goes on we'll see bombs being contested just because our backline are all competitive buggers who won't sit back when they think a try is on. But perhaps we're looking at forcing mistakes from our opponents by taking away their breathing room on bomb reception. Let them either catch it and get tackled safely or drop the ball in their own end.
 
Berries said:
Isn’t what’s happening now exactly the same as Mbye bombing it to the 10 and holding a strong line?
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When Mbye did it, kicks were long but lacked hang time… fullbacks/wingers would make an additional 10+ meters upon return. One good thing about Burtons kicks is he gives chasers time to get down there.
 
Alan79 said:
We leaked points last year. If we made a defensive error, we failed to recover the further we went in the season. So if this is a strategy to ensure we're not starting sets in panic mode because we screwed up by contesting the bomb, failing and letting a player break the line on tackle 0. I'm ok with it. We had a few times I remember conceding 18 or more points in three sets of football. If this strategy is to nip that in the bud (going to shit defensively after conceding a break off the kick return) I'm ok with it.

I'm sure as the year goes on we'll see bombs being contested just because our backline are all competitive buggers who won't sit back when they think a try is on. But perhaps we're looking at forcing mistakes from our opponents by taking away their breathing room on bomb reception. Let them either catch it and get tackled safely or drop the ball in their own end.
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Great points. The positive was Melbourne really struggled getting out of their end, for the entire match.
 
D.O.W. said:
When Mbye did it, kicks were long but lacked hang time… fullbacks/wingers would make an additional 10+ meters upon return. One good thing about Burtons kicks is he gives chasers time to get down there.
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Burtons kicks are garbage, nothing good about them at all.
 
If you are talking about their bombs, I saw a whole heap of bombs by Pezet that were aimed at Skelton or Taaffe, caught.
If you are talking about attacking bombs by us, then, yes, it's shitty.
 
2144superman said:
Agree to this point … he lands 2/10 general play kicks and everyone gets excited and forgets his other deficiencies.
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I'm hopeful that reputation and potential aren't part of the selection process. I know what Burton can produce on a good day. I wasn't excited about him joining until I saw his halves debut for Penrith. As secondary playmaker in a good side he was doing great. Long clearing kicks to corners mainly. But his running was good that day too. And for what it's worth I think another one if his best games in recent times was when Sexton arrived and offered another attacking threat. But we've got 3-4 utilities with playmaking experience, BBO is back. We've probably got the most exciting 6, 7 & 1 combo coming through we've had in years in reggies, with another great pair a year or two behind in development. If he's not cutting it and someone is out performing him he'll lose the 6 jersey. Theres just too many good halves behind him for the first time in years. And I really love saying that without knowing it's wishful thinking.

For all we know Ciraldo might've told Burton he's wanting to compare Sexton and Hutchison so step back and let them run the show today. If Burton is looking like first choice, maybe Hutch and Sexton were screaming for the ball all game hoping to win the 7 for round 1. Just possibilities. It's a trial. Bellamy treated it as an opposed training run for a large group of their youngsters and to get miles in the legs of some returning starters. We had a few more of our key players there, but we probably had to see if certain combinations worked, which halves had more instinctive knowledge of opportunities etc. I'm happy to let the coaching staff decide. It's just nice that there's good options.

I think being forced into the primary playmaker role with a non attacking halfback and even less experienced rookies meant he was heavily defended since starting with us. If he gets the nod for the 6, hopefully he doesn't have to contend with defence that can focus on mobbing him.

He might not have shown a lot yesterday. But I hope he thrives this year with a bit less pressure. It's likely that either Taaffe or Tracey will be at the back who both offer another kicking option. So I think we're going to be able to get the ball to a kicker that isn't under pressure more often this year. He's far from the finished product, but it should be easier for him this year. Even if his primary kicking role is clearing kicks.
 
craigo said:
What is your point. Trial or not the bomb kick is all
The bulldogs have down for the last 10 years and it isn’t working. Burton bombs are so over rated he makes one good one out of 10. Bring back the grubber
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I'm glad the fans don't pick the team. Burton has more competition for his 5/8 jersey than he has since at Penrith. So it's sink or swim for him. If his competition is killing it and he isn't he'll sink. But writing him off after 45 minutes of football is premature IMO. I'm repeating myself a bit. But he was well covered defensively last year as the main attacking playmaker. With other threats in the spine and a killer backline he'll have more space this year.

It'll be interesting to see the team sheet for round 1.
 
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