The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly report - rd 23 2013

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Just 5 days after a strong win at Gosford it was back up the clogged F3 for a massive step up facing against a desperate Souths in front of a capacity crowd. Could we deliver win no 7 on the trot and silence the doubters on our top 4 ability?
by CF2

Player ratings:
Brett Stewart: Always safe under pressure but never seemed to have the room to open up the throttle. When Brett doesn't score it's always a worry.
Jorge Taufau: Strong when needed, included the brick wall dive for the first half try, but not sighted too often in the 2nd half.
Steve Matai: So nearly gave us a vice like grip on the match with that critical crunching dive over the line for a try, only to see it disallowed and become the match turner. A busy night but well defended against.
Jamie Lyon: Like Stevie also held up critically over the line in the 2nd half, in his case so clearly it didn't even need a replay. Busy but also well contained.
David Williams: Could have been a hero save for a miraculous Inglis tackle to deny yet another critical try opportunity in the corner, albeit off a pass 2 metres forward.
Kieran Foran: Did some good things but better days ahead.
Daly Cherry-Evans: Ran the whole beautifully for the opening try, and as always never stopped trying all night.
Glenn Stewart: Continues his resurgence, strong game but up against an even stronger pack.
Justin Horo: Not his best performance with a couple of errors, but THAT high shot penalty placed on report for simply grabbing Inglis' jersey collar was an absolute shocking decision.
Anthony Watmough: After taking 3 days to walk off the park last Sunday ran back out there last night. I'm not sure how either, but a godsend with another 130 metres in 63 tough minutes. Hope the leg is ok after the disgraceful bleeding obvious illegal twist from Lima that MUST SURELY see a suspension.
Brenton Lawrence: 7 runs for 74 metres. Where was he?
Matt Ballin: 48 machine like tackles but next to nothing from dummy half. You only have to study Isaac Luke to see what we're missing there.
Brent Kite: Ditto Lawrence with 7 runs for 70 metres indicating our engine room were silently outgunned.

Bench:
Jamie Buhrer: Worked hard but size an issue against the Bunnies in making any real impact.
Richie Fa-aoso: 27 minutes seemed an oddly low number when we needed all the muscle we could find against their monster pack.
David Gower: 12 minutes too few to make a comment.
George Rose: 13 minutes indicates Toov's went for speed not size.

THE GOOD:
The very strong start leading to a 60 minute domination, and despite getting run over in the last 20, never giving up. Yes we lost, but we haven't been beaten badly in a single game all year when we tossed it in or got trounced, something barely any other team in the comp can boast.

THE BAD:
Toov's said before the game it wasn't critical to win tonight (in an obvious reference to our 6 consecutive wins and solid top 4 position). Hmmm, well maybe it wasn't critical, but it would have made a very nice statement. Our top 4 creds now sit at Roosters x 2 losses, Souths x 2 losses, Melbourne x 1 draw. Sure we can, (and I believe WILL turn that around in September), but we let a vital opportunity to send a message slip away. Disappointing is a word that comes to mind.

THE UGLY:
I love Toov's like a brother, but seriously blaming the refs for the loss is an angry excuse in hiding behind the real reasons we lost tonight.
Obviously the 10-5 penalty count was a damaging blow, but the bulk of them were due to our poor discipline. Yes of course the Horo penalty was an insanely ridiculous on report shocker for a simple tug at Inglis' shirt collar, but really seriously did that cost us the game? Are Perenara and Hayne that bad? Did any of the penalties actually cost us the game?
Let's be honest enough and face the truth.
WE LOST THE 2ND HALF 16-0.
Ouch.
Why? Here's 5 reasons.
Problem 1. We had not one, not two, but three 2nd half tries go against us. A potential 18 points that would have won us the match.
Yes the Matai one was bloody unlucky, it sure looked like he scored, but despite all the howling there was sadly no angle to 100% prove it, so that's NOT the on field refs' fault, he can only call what he can see (or in this case couldn't possibly see with bodies on top and the look of a hand underneath Matai and the ball, so he has to go to the video ref, who in turn had no angle to say yes that ball is absolutely 100% on the line. Unlucky yes, but we'd have been livid if it was on the other foot and THEY were given a try in that instance. As for the other two, the Jamie held up call was so obvious he sprinted back before even waiting for a replay, and the Wolfie miss in the corner was a clearly miraculous tackle from Inglis, despite the blatant forward pass in any case.
Problem 2. Reynolds drop out into touch was a genius play giving them killer momentum, and we just weren't awake to it.
Problem 3. They had a MASSIVE stroke of luck with Luke's grubber hitting the post and stopping dead in front of Inglis. What a fluke turning point that was.
Problem 4. We just didn't get our 1-7 engine going like we have in the last 6 weeks. Lack of back line execution, lack of our forwards dominance, or just way stronger Souths defence than anything we've faced for some time? All three in equal parts for mine.
Problem 5. In the last critical 20 minutes they had a focused eye on the win, but perhaps (as per Toov's pre game comment) we had a slightly wandering eye on September.

SUMMARY:
We had the game in our hands for 60 mins, despite giving away a ridiculous tally of penalties, but couldn't put a winning stamp on it and send a September message. Three 2nd half tries could have gone our way on a luckier day but that's footy, and Souths determined defence was very good. Have a look at George Burgess' stats. The man is a monster.
A real pity. But a killer blow? No way. There's a stack of improved fuel in our tank and September revenge will only taste all the more sweeter.
Toov's knows it, and hey just maybe he was even outfoxing everyone including us die hards by cleverly holding the boys back a little, but I guarantee come September we will be the team with the KILLER look in our eyes.
Onwards and upwards.
 
 
 



Just 5 days after a strong win at Gosford it was back up the clogged F3 for a massive step up facing against a desperate Souths in front of a capacity crowd. Could we deliver win no 7 on the trot and silence the doubters on our top 4 ability?

 

 
by CF2



Read the full article
 
Another well thought out appraisal. I do think against big packs, such as Souffs and Easts, that we should play our large reserve forwards for longer periods. We needed Richie, George and David out there for longer to counter the big boppers. I hope Big Red returns soon and gets to play plenty of minutes. At one point I noticed George make three tackles in a row. Well done big fella. We were basically defending for most of the second half, so the stats on hit-ups and metres gained will be misleading. Our tackle count was way higher than Souffs'.
 
I think George may have had limited time due to his head cut... But he was bloody good whilst out there IMHO!
 
fair report on a night of weirdness
it looked for all money we were up to make a serious statement in the first half yet the refs killed that off
even Bozo on the radio was saying the refs are reffing one side
and sorry but Perenara couldn't possibly see if Matai was short or held up from his position behind the souths defenders, so given that fact, he needed to favour the attacking side, ie us and indicate a try, which on video replay they couldn't have proved against it - so TRY, and a very different game - 16 plays 6 - and we would have probably won from there
having said all of that - overall souths defended better than us, and how about the crowd - they sell out bluetongue and the week earlier we get half that amount for our so called home game
sure the warriors are not a Sydney side, but there's plenty of warriors fans in the area and in Sydney
bring on storm - now that's the game we need to make a statement in once we knock off the raiders
 
The initial replay on the big screen showed the ball touching the line. That shot was shown once, and then the screen was taken up with other camera angles showing a heap of bodies, but no ball. I was with a Souths supporter (no bogan, this guy works for the DPP) and he said that the try was good. He was amazed that the first camera angle wasn't used to award the try. If Wolfie had of kept his leg up the. That would have been a try. I thought that Glenn killed a chance when he held the ball instead of moving it along. We had a two on one at the time, close to their line.
 
That was as good as a win. To me we were the better side. I'm really proud of the effort our boys put in against all odds. How many metres did we cause them to lose with the ball? This year it seems that Melbourne or Manly are going to have to beat a 15 man "Sydney" team. An impossible task given the closeness of the competition. Sadly 2013 will be remembered as the year that Souths or Easts blew everyone away, being too big too strong....forgetting that the skill and 'ticker' of the Manly Sea Eagles or the Melbourne Storm more than held their own on at least two occasions against the blatant NRL darlings. For Rugby Leagues sake, I hope this agenda directed bias is worth it.
 
Another good report on how we were in last night game. However, I think Tooves had every right to blow up about the refs. Four times in the first half when Souths were struggling to get out of their own 30, Hayne or Perenara piggy backed them downfield with a penalty. Yet when the same thing was happening at the other end of the field (laying all over the tackled player, hands on the ball sometimes forcing it free....see Jamie Buhrer) not one penalty was blown in our favor. Both refs were letting Souths get away with a LOT, while penalising Manly for what they could find. And every man and his dog could see Matai scored, that was a joke of a decision. And as for Inglis....the high and mighty GI.....why did his shoulder to Steve's head when he 'scored' go unchecked? Is this guy so protected they won't penalise him? And I still say the side on view showed GI to be offside before he scored from the goalpost rebound. But like Steve Matai's try, the best view was only seen once. I still believe that if the video ref can't adjudicate on a forward pass, how can they judge offside from a camera that is BEHIND the play?

Its hard to win when there is a weight of possession against you because the refs can only see one team doing anything wrong. But them what do you expect when the main ref (Hayne) is known to be a long time Souths fan?
 
Your best report ever. Do we have that X factor to win the comp? In that first 30 minutes it was the best I can recall us playing this year. But still not enough. It's going to be an interesting 6 weeks or so. The bunnies may yet get stuck in the headlight glare of semi finals footy.
 
im guessing this report was done from radio commentary etc as it lacks accuracy.

Eg our starting props outgunned only running for 40 more metres than theirs, Lyon well contained only making 150m.

If not then really tough marker
 
HoldenV8 said:
Four times in the first half when Souths were struggling to get out of their own 30, Hayne or Perenara piggy backed them downfield with a penalty. Yet when the same thing was happening at the other end of the field (laying all over the tackled player, hands on the ball sometimes forcing it free....see Jamie Buhrer) not one penalty was blown in our favor. Both refs were letting Souths get away with a LOT, while penalising Manly for what they could find.

Totally agree. Sure, we need to accept penalties against us for bad play but it's gotta be the same for the other side! They must be penalised, too.

In Jamie Buhrer 'lost' the ball, there were six hands over the ball. Knock-on ruled.
The very next play, three hands on the ball - Penalty - Choc was 'hand on the ball'.

Oh, BTW, Good report again cf2.
 
Thanks cf2 for another engrossing report.

Couple of points …I disagree that our engine room was outgunned.

I also disagree that Buhrer didn't make any real impact. He made most metres for us after Watmough, and most tackles after Ballin (missing only 1).

Saying the refs are not the reason we lost is a truism that Toovey can spell out to the players at training. In reality the flow of possession and field position from ref calls (not to mention the Buhrer non-strip and Matai no-try calls) did in fact determine the outcome in my opinion. Of course it's true we have to rise above that, but it doesn't alter the fact.

Lastly, I like your final speculation, 'was Toovey holding something back?' I had been wondering the same thing, and I reckon our players will be full of confidence and self-belief when we hit the finals.
 
Thanks CF2 another fantastic and unbiased report.

I completely agree on the strong points you make about why we lost. If you score zero points in the second half you really don't deserve to win.

We copped a few unlucky penalties but we deserved a lot of them for poor discipline. Toovs needs to work on that.

As for Matai I thought he looked short of the line then was dragged over it but held up with a Souths arm underneath, so to say we were ripped off there is debatable. If that was Inglis and they gave him a try we'd be all going nuts in reverse.

I kind of know where you were going with the front row outgunned thing but as someone else said it was tough for both packs and Souths are one of the best in the business.

I also agree on the important point you make in summary that not once this season have we been badly beaten we are incredibly competitive in every one of the losses and we have plenty left to prove.

Thanks again CF2.

(PS. Can you please get Mrs CF2 to go to the Melb game!)
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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