That title was just for Dan's benefit.
I have restrained myself from posting this week. The team played like crap on Saturday and although there were worrying signs I don’t think we should be heading for the Gap after one round. I saw a different team play Wests a couple of weeks ago. That was only a trial but I saw glimpses of an appetite/ability to use the ball that was missing last season. I don’t think I was dreaming and I’m willing to give these guys another chance.
Having said that, it is hard to see us winning at Townsville if Nth Qld plays anywhere near their ability, and that’s coming from an eternal optimist. Stranger things have happened. The most important thing for our season will be whether the team plays like men or boys.
As stated by many others, Dunley is not a starter. His forte is to make quick yards from dummy half when the defence is tiring and set up a roll for the following rucks. I don’t understand why he seems incapable of passing once he has sprinted 15 metres out of dummy half as that would create some room for the outside backs because it puts the defence on the back foot. Surely that can be coached.
I like what I see in Ballin but others appear to have seen more in him than me in the last 12 months. For much of last year he was injured and when he played he looked solid but not brilliant. I didn’t see the Easts trial and his performance there appears to have catapulted him into contention. I would actually like to see him as the starting hooker but it is a big jump from PL to 1sts. There have been some more reasoned threads on this topic in the last couple of days. If Monas can find a way to work in attack at 5/8 with Orford then I think Ballin will come in before too long. Dunley doesn’t have enough strings to his bow and appears incapable of changing.
I actually thought King went all right on Sat. A big improvement on last year (not hard!) and hopefully a spring board to better things. He did get pushed back on a couple of occasions but he still made 8-9 metres per hit up which is pretty standard amongst the better props. I agree that the all round skills of our props are not up to the mark. What I noticed on Sat. (when the play came close enough to actually see) was that the Canberra forwards hunted together and they all tried to hurt or rough up the tackled player in every tackle. This has been a strength of Canberra in recent seasons and helps cover for other deficiencies. The attitude that it demonstrates sends a clear message to the opposition and to team mates. Manly only does this in rare patches.
Once again the team failed to capitalise by treating a big home crowd to a good performance. This keeps setting us back in attracting the marginal fans to return and really pisses me off.
I got a smile later that night when I heard my 10 year old niece’s full match report to her mother………… “There was a streaker mum and you could see his rude bitsâ€ÂÂ
:lie:
I have restrained myself from posting this week. The team played like crap on Saturday and although there were worrying signs I don’t think we should be heading for the Gap after one round. I saw a different team play Wests a couple of weeks ago. That was only a trial but I saw glimpses of an appetite/ability to use the ball that was missing last season. I don’t think I was dreaming and I’m willing to give these guys another chance.
Having said that, it is hard to see us winning at Townsville if Nth Qld plays anywhere near their ability, and that’s coming from an eternal optimist. Stranger things have happened. The most important thing for our season will be whether the team plays like men or boys.
As stated by many others, Dunley is not a starter. His forte is to make quick yards from dummy half when the defence is tiring and set up a roll for the following rucks. I don’t understand why he seems incapable of passing once he has sprinted 15 metres out of dummy half as that would create some room for the outside backs because it puts the defence on the back foot. Surely that can be coached.
I like what I see in Ballin but others appear to have seen more in him than me in the last 12 months. For much of last year he was injured and when he played he looked solid but not brilliant. I didn’t see the Easts trial and his performance there appears to have catapulted him into contention. I would actually like to see him as the starting hooker but it is a big jump from PL to 1sts. There have been some more reasoned threads on this topic in the last couple of days. If Monas can find a way to work in attack at 5/8 with Orford then I think Ballin will come in before too long. Dunley doesn’t have enough strings to his bow and appears incapable of changing.
I actually thought King went all right on Sat. A big improvement on last year (not hard!) and hopefully a spring board to better things. He did get pushed back on a couple of occasions but he still made 8-9 metres per hit up which is pretty standard amongst the better props. I agree that the all round skills of our props are not up to the mark. What I noticed on Sat. (when the play came close enough to actually see) was that the Canberra forwards hunted together and they all tried to hurt or rough up the tackled player in every tackle. This has been a strength of Canberra in recent seasons and helps cover for other deficiencies. The attitude that it demonstrates sends a clear message to the opposition and to team mates. Manly only does this in rare patches.
Once again the team failed to capitalise by treating a big home crowd to a good performance. This keeps setting us back in attracting the marginal fans to return and really pisses me off.
I got a smile later that night when I heard my 10 year old niece’s full match report to her mother………… “There was a streaker mum and you could see his rude bitsâ€ÂÂ
:lie:
