Des what were you thinking?

[mave]

Also DCE was barely sighted, I'm surprised he has so far avoided criticism for this loss!

He's busy preparing himself to cop all the criticism if QLD lose again.

 

[Rocky]

We were never winning this one .
You take a teams top three leaders out ,what can you expect.
Poor old yoyo Des one week he is the best coach in the world ,next the worst,hopefully next week back to the best.

Canberra were missing a lot of players as well.. including Wighton and Papi

 

[Red Pill]

Also DCE was barely sighted, I'm surprised he has so far avoided criticism for this loss!

I guess it is DCEs fault then. He should have refused to play for QLD after his terrible treatment and all for what! A dead rubber.

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Um um um um,I’ll tell you what i was thinking.

 

[Tragic Eagle]

There were a number of very poor performers last night. Garrick at fullback was diabolical in the air and he provided little in the last line of defence. Suli makes twice as many mistakes as he does good things and is too slow to be a winger. Parker had a very quiet night and is not a winger as he is too slow. Jetski was very ordinary and defensively is a real liability. Marty's try line defence was soft and a man of his strength should be able to hold the ball up when defending the try line. Keppie's defence was off last night he fell for two dummies. Whilst Walker tried hard but I am convinced he is not a half and didn't create any opportunities for the players around him. Walker is a running footballer that should be hitting holes. We lacked leadership and the team showed no grit. They disrespected the ball and the opposition. They played like they had been reading reading their own press. This game highlighted how much we miss our creative footballers like Turbo, Schuster & DCE and how much we miss Jake's defence. Des needs to shake of the ghosts of days gone by and keep moving forward with his selections.

 

[QueefRichards]

Has Suli played left centre before?

Probably wouldve been better having Cust and Foran as halves with Walker at left Centre

Or Walker on the wing if you want a really cooked suggestion

 

[Sheikheagle]

Canberra beat us with a fast kid at fullback, if only we had a fast kid to play at fullback while keeping the 2,3,4,5 the same.

But in saying that that fast kid was pretty average and was smashed every time he got the ball.

 

[Sheikheagle]

I can only think the only reason Gosiewski gets picked again from here is if Ben Trbojevic needs to be blooded slowly

Ben himself said a few weeks back “I didn’t expect to be playing any first grade this year”. It’s a bit like the guacamole scenario bring him along slowly.

 

[Ned]

In his defense Jetski was terrible before he got injured so very a consistent performance for his comeback game. Got to be let go.

Suli had too many errors, just terrible, I think he's contracted next year already, hope we can offload him.

Walker is a ball hog, what is it worth to have your halfback playing the ball on the 5th 5 times a game? Outside backs got starved while he went himself and his kicking game is garbage. Just play him in the centers or get rid of him (they were saying on 9 he has been re-signed already though)

 

[CRPSI eagle]

Lucky for all our injuries I say otherwise we would be holding hands with Broncos and watching Suli, Walker, Boyle, Siro and JetSki getting smashed week in week out.
Good fortune rather than good coaching!

 

[JakeyB789]

I’m convinced Des would not have brought the likes of Harper, Haumole, Schuster and Sipley into the side had injuries not forced his hand.

Use of the bench was horrible. Some of Canberra’s best players came off the bench (Tapine, Starling, Guler) while we only used Gosiewski and Sipley and then Cust and De Luis when it was already too late. Cust in particular needed to come on earlier when it was obvious Walker was only going to run the ball, our attack instantly looked better for the 20 minutes he was out there.

 

[manlyfan76]

But in saying that that fast kid was pretty average and was smashed every time he got the ball.

Yes he got the ball- on the full- from kicks.

 

[Cioran]

I can appreciate the argument that we're desperately short of troops and it was worth the risk of playing Suli and Jetski just to get some time into their legs incase they are needed later but, by the same measure, why was Cust left on the bench till the team was cooked. The one position we (Des) appear to be making no effort to develop a backup for is half back. What happens if Cherry breaks his leg in the last few rounds. The play making responsibilities will fall to someone who hasn't played more than a few minutes in the 7 at first grade level for 2 years (applies not just to Cade but to every other option).

 

[God]

You'd think making as few positional changes as possible would have been the safe bet so Cust at 7 and even walker at fullback was a safer bet than what we got, even though we had better options for a fullback in reserve grade,


Not sure with the energy last night and the ref it would have mattered anyway

 

[Simonmyers11]

Yep Cust should have started 7 and Suli on wing. Parker should not play wing and what's with Garrick not even attempting to catch a bomb?

Parker looks ordinary on the wing, too slow and cannot finish. Personally would of left Parker in the centres and Garrick on the wing. Garrick has been awesome on the wing lately, shows real pace and can finish a try!. Parker does his job defensively and just catches and passes in the centre.

Funa would of done just as good a job as Garrick at the back and can threaten more in the back line. Suli has some great damaging runs but still is so inconsistent and makes too many errors and is lazy. Would still like Walker back in the centres at full strength over Parker, but can still play a role off the bench.

We will look and play completely different at full strength. Combinations that have been working will gel better again. I dont see jetski making 17 when we have all the troops back.

 

[47MVEagle]

Harper & Saab never got an opportunity to make a break & link up down that side all game because they either never got the ball or by the time they did, they were so compressed due to across-field running there was no space.

 

[The Who]

play Cust at 7 and the reggies fullback at..... fullback
How hard is that to work out

I may be wrong but are any of the Blacktown players "in the bubble"? Perhaps this is the reason we couldn't replace Turbo with a Blacktown player.
Apart from this possible answer I thought your post was spot-on. It was unwise to make so many unnecessary changes to a winning team.

 

[Jerry1]

How about playing walker at center - why does Des think he's the dogs balls all over the park but won't play him in his best position. If we don't play him at center then don't play him at all in the starting side...

 

[The Who]

How about playing walker at center - why does Des think he's the dogs balls all over the park but won't play him in his best position. If we don't play him at center then don't play him at all in the starting side...

Because ever since Harpo and Parker teamed up as centres we have been a far better team.
I agree, he should be in the 17 but not in the starting side.

 

[eagle66]

Maybe this answers it.