The forwards are the ones to blame

[davohan123]

Honestly, we were on the back foot from that terrible stuff up on the kick off.

then for most of the night on the first three tackles of each set we had it was Harper, Saab, Garrick, Walker etc taking all the hit ups….

our Pack looked soft and scared and didn’t provide any momentum or tackle busts etc to lay a platform for the halves and backs, therefore everytime we went wide there was no room

Agreed and title should read powderpuff forwards because that's they were last night and should be very embarrassed by that showing.

 

[Remy]

The middle rotation really messed us up, concerned with how Des is using the bench. I spoke about it prior, like we going into these big games playing with a 3 man bench. Paseka our best forward, got like 20 minutes on the field, Keppie played like the last 20. We aren't using our forward efficiently but nonetheless, all of them except Paseka were soft and just not good enough.

 

[davohan123]

The middle rotation really messed us up, concerned with how Des is using the bench. I spoke about it prior, like we going into these big games playing with a 3 man bench. Paseka our best forward, got like 20 minutes on the field, Keppie played like the last 20. We aren't using our forward efficiently but nonetheless, all of them except Paseka were soft and just not good enough.

As said before we only used 5/8 interchanges last night in a qualifying final. That's crazy and you won't be winning finals game with 3 unused interchanges left after the full time whistle has sounded.

 

[Simonmyers11]

Very surprised Sipley was over looked for Siro. Sipley should of been there. Has always made some solid runs off the bench and gets us on the front foot.

Both siro and Keppie came on very late and offered nothing.

I would rather start with Paeska and Marty with a first change of Sipley and Josh instead of walker. Punch some more metres up the middle. Play our best footy off the back of that.

Then bring walker on for Sipley towards the end of first half. Lawton brought on in second half.

Marty and Paeska are usually very good with their second stints in the second half.

Keppie missing those weeks is underdone and not an impact player off the bench

 

[nightster]

Honestly, we were on the back foot from that terrible stuff up on the kick off.

then for most of the night on the first three tackles of each set we had it was Harper, Saab, Garrick, Walker etc taking all the hit ups….

our Pack looked soft and scared and didn’t provide any momentum or tackle busts etc to lay a platform for the halves and backs, therefore everytime we went wide there was no room

I mostly agree, ... my thoughts... Jake tackled his heart out as usual .... Schu was soft in attack and while he makes a lot of tackles he doesn't hit hard, Marty and Aloiai were soso .. not a finals effort and missed a few crucial tackles, Lawton tackled all night but was clunky out of dummy half ... hasn't played their much through the season, ... Quac was on the backfoot most of the night, not his forte and Munster baited him into a penalty that led to a try he will improve for the experience .... Paseka was good for the time he was out there and same for Keppie
.
It looked to me like the boys have believed all the hype that they are Premiership contenders ... well you have to turn up to play hard and off the front foot in finals .... Tom looked stunned and lost .... Harper had a Barry Crocker ... hopefully never to be repeated ... Parker and Rueben were solid
I hope we learn from this and learn quickly... our forwards let them run for 10 metres at most play the ball instead of moving up and smashing them as they did to us ... the off sides helped them

 

[Johnno74]

Ok we are all disappointed with last night result ,we are a young side with a few sprinkling of experience.Most of our blokes have never been in a nrl final series they will be better next time.I don't think it's panic stations yet.Id add crocker and toff and cut out the errors and I'm Abit confused why we don't do to the storm like we did in the 40 nil grandfinal kick early and let them come out of there end ,1it wears them out and build pressure 2 it relieves pressure on us .It's smart and proven it works as errors are then made by opposition.Straight away field position is now a positive rather than a negative.

 

[nightster]

Ok we are all disappointed with last night result ,we are a young side with a few sprinkling of experience.Most of our blokes have never been in a nrl final series they will be better next time.I don't think it's panic stations yet.Id add crocker and toff and cut out the errors and I'm Abit confused why we don't do to the storm like we did in the 40 nil grandfinal kick early and let them come out of there end ,1it wears them out and build pressure 2 it relieves pressure on us .It's smart and proven it works as errors are then made by opposition.Straight away field position is now a positive rather than a negative.

Yes but you have to defend well on the return from kicks and we are fragile in defence

 

[The Who]

Guaca and The Shoe need to be either given shorter stints or different instructions because both are being stifled by defensive workloads. These pair are attacking maestros yet are being coached to minimise their mistakes. You can't expect the two young blokes to try something and get blamed if it doesn't work out.
If we want two defensive second rowers we have other options. Keep these two on the bench and use them when we need points.

 

[BOZO]

I have alot of concerns current roster can't do anything without Tom. It's so unbalanced and last night showed it.

There is more to do with an unbalanced roster . We also have unbalanced team selections which were evident last night

We have players like Fainu who is waiting on his court case which is pure bad luck

We also have players like suli on 500 grand sitting on the bench

We have Walker playing out of his best position playing as a middle forward

And we have inexperienced centres not making an impact when Tommy is contained

We also have young exciting players like Koula on our roster which makes our rebuild very promising

 

[mickqld]

So every other teams forwards look like they're aiming up for finals but ours were missing. I'm sorry but that's a coaching issue that will be our downfall in finals if it's not addressed now. We can't continue with Walker at 1st change with a prop. It's ridiculous to think after 15min we can afford to do that. We need Paseka and Aloiai to start full bore then bring on Taupau and Sipley. Keppie 3rd forward and then Walker for attack. Suli in Harper out and Walker subs on for Parker.

 

[Rafferty]

Good argument to select Tof over Siro...
He can't fix all our problems but he sure will add some mongrel

Should of been there last night

 

[winnyason]

There is more to do with an unbalanced roster . We also have unbalanced team selections which were evident last night

We have players like Fainu who is waiting on his court case which is pure bad luck

We also have players like suli on 500 grand sitting on the bench

We have Walker playing out of his best position playing as a middle forward

And we have inexperienced centres not making an impact when Tommy is contained

We also have young exciting players like Koula on our roster which makes our rebuild very promising

Our pack still has so many questions against top tier sides. Marty not worth his coin I let him go, we need more no frills forwards who play to there best every week. Look at Marty, Aloiai, Hamole, Jake, Paseka and Schuster difference between there best and worst game too big of a gap. We really need a hard nosed players I be honest somewhat have to say questioning why we did not chase Sua and Browne more as I can see why we where looking at them.

There no consistency in our pack, how there play is how they feel on the day.
Compare to choccy watmough basically put our pack on his shoulders.
No one wants to do it currently all there happy to do us watch Tom do it all

 

[Hibyemama]

It was a good lesson on how you have to play in a finals series

yes, have you notice if you make mistake by dropping the ball , the opposition make you pay. one thing about melbourne is they are so well drilled. they hardly cough up the ball. mistakes are rare.

 

[EOL now nesting on the GC]

So, if we can't blame any player that only leaves one person to blame for our lamentable performance: DESpicable!
It would be nice to hear him accept some responsibility.

Please expand on that wide brush statement?

What do you want Des to do? Come out and beg for your forgiveness? Admit he stuffed up? Torch his forward pack? Diss Tommy?

Des will do what other top shelf coaches do and start working on a new plan to beat the Rooters.

All teams loose. Did Bellyache accept responsibility for the 40- 0 loss or did he start working on a plan to never let that happen again?

 

[Waz13]

So every other teams forwards look like they're aiming up for finals but ours were missing. I'm sorry but that's a coaching issue that will be our downfall in finals if it's not addressed now. We can't continue with Walker at 1st change with a prop. It's ridiculous to think after 15min we can afford to do that. We need Paseka and Aloiai to start full bore then bring on Taupau and Sipley. Keppie 3rd forward and then Walker for attack. Suli in Harper out and Walker subs on for Parker.

I thought Des management of the bench was poor. I’ve never understood Walker coming on as first sub, second yes as a point of difference. We did get beat up in the forwards but I put that down more to the stupid errors we were making from the get go which gassed us. It’s easy to dominate a pack when the team you play keep dropping the ball and making errors. We will be a lot better v Easts and if we’re not we don’t deserve to be in a prelim.

 

[Kevinward777]

Please expand on that wide brush statement?

What do you want Des to do? Come out and beg for your forgiveness? Admit he stuffed up? Torch his forward pack? Diss Tommy?

Des will do what other top shelf coaches do and start working on a new plan to beat the Rooters.

All teams loose. Did Bellyache accept responsibility for the 40- 0 loss or did he start working on a plan to never let that happen again?

Don't bother mate - the guy is a cinder block wall.

 

[mickqld]

Sterlo just summed it up. The winning teams had the dominant forward packs who led the charge and did the hard meters. Ours were MIA and left it to the backs to do the hard hitups. It was a pathetic , pissweak, gutless effort and I hope someone is telling them exactly that.