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Kiwi Eagle

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Staff member
Firstly, dont want Orford v Monaghan debate in this thread

I am starting to get a bit more worried about the finals. In the high pressure, big games this year, more often than not, Orford hasnt played well. Is anyone else concerned about this ?

He seems to get flustered, kicking game falls apart, and takes the poor passing options too. Also when we are on attack inside their 20, he doesnt take the game by the scruff of the neck like the other playmakers do, sometime only touches the ball 2 times a set.
We have 2 players that have been proven to be very good in the air, Robertson and Stephenson, why do we hardly ever see bombs to them.

Now, how can we improve some of this stuff

Well firstly for me, Monaghan plays 80, and a lot of pressure is gone from his kicking game, coz we have another good option there.
We get the forwards out of 1st reciever on attack, and Orford must demand the ball, and toe people up the arse that decide 3 dummy half runs are a good option 1 after the other.

any other thoughts ?
 
It's not really about Orford, it's the team, apart from Kennedy, Hicks and Burns. I see Orford taking the wrong option, kicking down the throat of opponents, getting caught on the fifth too, but the whole team doesn't seem to be starting well, staying on their toes and playing to some sort of plan. Is there one? Last night at Parra I saw nothing resembling a plan, especially in attack. We, sort of, got to there twenty and then stuffed around invariably ending in a grubber. This worked a couple of times but not enough to win. Is it a coaching problem? Matai is back to his old defensive problems, rushing up and not effecting a tackle, Dunley giving away cheap penalties. And Robertson is not a fullback. Wasn't this evident against the Panthers? Why didn't Hicks get that spot? And why didn't Burns take the shots for goal? He was terrific last week. Stephenson was dissapointing letting Haynes make him look ordinary, which I think he always was. Sad really, a game to be won.
 
I thought Orford had a good game. We were a try down after Robertson couldn't clean up a grubber.
 
i think the issue is here that Orford is the ONLY player we have capable of setting up plays that close to the line, so good defence have no dramas keeping tabs.

The other issue is when we are that close to the line the blokes Orford have the best combinations with are Beaver / Choc and off course Brett Stewart, and of course those blokes where not on te field
 
i think we missed the variety of Menzies and Stewart who also create opportunites for us.

Im not disagreeing with kiwi, orford does have to take control when were attackin in the other sides red zone however its hard for him to do so, when to players decided to go from dummy half on tackles 5 and 6 like monas and then lulu did
 
although very tight we may well be fourth next week after a month with half an origin side out.at this time last year we were on our way to losing 10 of our last 12 games including the sharks putting 70 on us and the bunnies registering their biggest win in 20 years..we are supercompetitive in virtually every we game we play and even when we are not winning we are hanging tough.given orford has clearly been hindered by his cork,kennedy is playing on one leg,we have no depth and we have been decimated by injury I dont think too much complaint is in order.with the exception of melbourne(who have an avalanche of alternative playmakers) and maybe joey the same criticisms could be made of every playmaker in the comp at times and that includes lockyer,prince,barrett,sherwin,kimmorley,anasta,gower etc.it is that tough a comp IMO

one thing worries me though.horrible starts by our defence in almost every game and this exacerbates the pressure on a playmaker even more.why is this so....?
 
Sue, why do you think the players don't seem intense enough at the start of a game to stop defending like turnstiles? Could it be an attitude thing?

Anyhow Robertson is appalling at fullback, I can't see why Deessie didn't place Hicks there. Who has proven to be solid in that position when required.
 
i wish i knew byso.

if we assume kiwi is right and orford is struggling a little then having to come from 12 behind in almost every game cant help him and may be a reason for him being a bit rushed.it is amazing we sit where we are given the start we give each week.i dont think i have ever seen a side sitting 5th give up starts like we do every week.at home it happens each and every week and is impossible to fathom.
 
MY major beef with Orford is that the effectiveness of his long kicking game has really fallen since his leg problems. The extra metres of field position gained from a long kick finding the deck should not be under estimated over the course of a game. Midway through the season Orford’s accuracy percentage was one of the best. Now it is average at best.
Against Jeremy Smith on Saturday, the halves battle should have been the place we had a big advantage.

I know that the returning players may be a bit tentative but the team needs to come out against Newcastle the same way the knights did against us at Brookie - Full of enthusiasm and intent. The Knights home record is poor this year and winning that game will ease the pressure of simply making the top 8 and allow us to push for higher goals.
 
i wish i knew byso.

if we assume kiwi is right and orford is struggling a little then having to come from 12 behind in almost every game cant help him and may be a reason for him being a bit rushed.it is amazing we sit where we are given the start we give each week.i dont think i have ever seen a side sitting 5th give up starts like we do every week.at home it happens each and every week and is impossible to fathom.

I agree Sue.

But it looks like the players take a while to switch on. Is this a coaching issue? I think it is.

We aren't looking like a team that can dominate teams in attack or defence. Orford left to take the load and he's not up to it on most occasions. He is a very good player still.

I don't think it's good enough for this side to come 6th to 8th and not make an impact on the finals. As far as I'm concerned that isn't an improvement from last year.
 
Orford is still a huge improvement on last year. It is just that we see worrying trends where it doesn't come together for him. The big pressure games where his kicks go right down the throats of defenders. The St George game at Brookie is probably a good example. It could also be that our forwards weren't doing their job at the time. 6th to 8th will be a disappointment but that is where I think we will end up.
 

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