The game last night never rose to any great heights. Honestly if it had been a reversal of score let me tell you that I would not have been in anyway excited at the win. We were shit but the Roosters were even more so. Either side would have been comprehensively beaten by the competition big boys on the efforts shown. Games like the one we saw at ANZ last night are ones you don't want to see every week simply because they may be close but not engaging in the least. I was tipping a win by our boys by 8 last night but alas not to be.
The intensity of the previous week was missing, but once again we had a short turnaround and a long trip home against a side that had a 7 day turnaround; ironically the same applied in Round 2 this year.
Yes it had some great defence by some of our players but they had to be good because stupid errors and slack turnovers on the last made us a good target for Roosters. Our attack was absolutely pathetic and it was like watching the plan A only play of last year. Hit the side of Ferguson and co each and every time and each and every time they had our measure. The one and only time the ball is shifted out to Montoya....he drops it..... I groaned in frustration at the effort of Fualalo who on having the opportunity to make a run at the try line simply tucked the ball in tight and strolled towards the Roosters try line. No oomph no intensity.We did have a scoring opportunity in the second half but no ball was shifted out to an unmarked Morris who pretty much would have planted the ball down albeit in the corner but over the line nevertheless.
The thing that disturbs one is we are not going to get any type of roster improvement soon, so the guys we have will have to step up and change their spots and completely recreate themselves. Can they do it.....only time will tell, but I am under no illusions that we will even go close to making the eight this year......... but then again a lot of the so called experts had that happening anyway.... we are nothing better than also rans in the opinion of most. Just need to ride it out and keep supporting them but by gee, they are making that very hard.
The game deserved no more than the 11309 that turned up........what a poor crowd...but then I guess all round by the NRL it was a poor effort. MR Greenberg asks us to embrace the game and enjoy the game day experience..well if the best on offer is watching two dozen security guards standing in the middle of the field for 90 minutes prior to kick off he has got to be kidding. You may say that the club has to be answerable too but when you have NO lower grade game in support and the gates open at 6.30 pm an hour and a half before first grade kick off it really makes you ask 'Why bother'????????
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/match-centre/NRL20180701/match-report
THE Roosters may not play a worse game of footy in 2018 than they did on Thursday night ... and still they beat Canterbury.
The dire Bulldogs proved new coach Dean Pay has done nothing to fix their dismal attack as they lost 6-0 in an ugly affair at ANZ Stadium.
Des Hasler was ultimately sacked by the proud Belmore club because the team’s performance inside their attacking 20 metres had deteriorated so badly in the space of 18 months.
They brought in a new coach, shifted Moses Mbye to fullback and ditched Josh Reynolds.
And still the Bulldogs can barely score a try.
They failed to cross the paint in an 80 minutes of rugby league that will best be left out of the history books.
Latrell Mitchell scored a try in the fourth minute of the game and the scoreboard remained at 6-0 for the next 76 minutes.
The Roosters got close to scoring on two other occasions but couldn’t quite plant the ball down.
As for the Bulldogs, Fox Sports commentator Braith Anasta had to refrain from cursing as he tried to describe their attack.
Matty Johns was being polite when he described the game as “dour”.
The Roosters made 16 errors and completed just 22 of 34 sets, and their ball handling was atrocious.
The Bulldogs let a chance slip to beat one of the premiership favourites.
The following stats are damning
58% completion, more offload, less tackles,less errors, double the penalties ( but then again it was where we got them that mattered) and a shit attack which made the Roosters defence look like the great wall of China. We threw nothing; NOTHING at them all they had to do was tackle and that they did. Hell we could not even punish them when they were down to twelve....
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/match-centre/NRL20180701/stats
This says it all I guess...
What an overwhelming report in relation to an underwhelming game.....
THE REPORT
It took the Roosters four minutes to open the scoring.
The try came through Latrell Mitchell, who is making a habit of scoring the first try in games, and the conversion made if 6-0.
The Chooks copped a hit in the 22nd minute when Mitchell was sin binned for holding Kieran Foran back near the tryline.
It was a contentious binning, as Fox Sports commentators pointed out Foran was certainly no certainty of scoring the try.
Neither side could score again before the break.
Nothing was going the Roosters’ way when they came back from half time.
Ryan Matterson crossed the tryline but was held up but the Dogs defence, and then they lost captain Jake Friend who suffered a nasty gash on top of his head.
The remainder of the game was a comedy of errors as neither side wanted to hold onto the ball.
The final siren sounded with the scoreboard still at 6-0.
Now that I have that off my chest, time to get ready for next week, another Friday night game...thankfully not at 6pm, but away from home..These Thursday and the early Friday games are killing my season tickets...just too damn hard to get to......thanks Todd and Co....
