The good, the bad and the ugly report

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cf2 is back

Reserve Grader
The Good:
Unlike last years alarming 2nd half fades we are now proving to be a very tough last 30 minute team with a NEVER say die attitude. Player wise Oldfield again proved why he needs to be there. Tries like that are not only match winners normally but obv literally a death defying match winning 40m try tonight. DCE's field goal and kicking game were superb (but see the bad for his attack). Guluvao attack a plus and great to see George hitting the line hard he made a real impact and his try was monumentally crucial. Matai was also very good as was Hoppa and of course Foran again excellent. Ballin's 80 minutes proved why we don't need Seu Seu and how it gives us a huge advantage to have 4 big forwards on the bench.

The bad:
Kite's play is now so confusing it's astonishing. He passes as though playing a 5/8 role and when he does hit it up it's a girly turn your back submission. The Sharks front row killed us. DCE attack my god the sideways runs and multiple I don't know where to go changes of direction are doing my head in. He's a really great young talent, better than Hodko I think, but he MUST watch Foran who runs straight and hard and looks for the good ball. Glenn Stewart. Sorry I love him but he too has an almost incurable case of the sideways disjointed running. For God's sake men run straight. Tim Robinson missing out was also disappointing but perhaps (and I can't believe I'm saying this) Des has actually got something with T Rex being a bench playing wrecking ball, but Des please let's keep it to shorter stints next game and give Harrison more game time.

The ugly:
The site of Watmough thinking it was somehow ok to laugh like an idiot at the camera with the look of a pea brain. No Anthony it's actually not funny and just be very very appreciative we won cos there would have been a lot of knives coming your way.
 
I also noticed most of the time when we're attacking our boys bunched up too closely and some even looked clueless!
 
The good : Joe,Tony's 1st prop game,Foran,DCE and Gifty,Jamies kick,Oldfield and William "High Ball house" Hopoate

The bad : Kite,King and the referee not knowing what a blocker is

The ugly : Kites running,Kings running,Kite thinking he's a #7,Des Haslers haircut and Sharks fans crying over spilt milk
 
Our offloads are woeful.
Many times an offload was given but the pass went to Mr Nobody. Nobody backing up, so nobody receives it. In fact when someone does get the ball we tend to LOSE goround instead of gaining a cheap 5m.
 
I can only assume Kitey must've been on instructions from Des.
I've not seen him play that badly before.
A cpl of times they had a cpl back to back dummy half runs and made plenty of yards and had the big Sharks forwards going backwards...why they never persisted is anyones guess?:-/
 
Fair summation CF2 but I thought Glenn was one of our best. Play makers crab sideways occasionally, to give themselves more time or perhaps even to create another option. You can't just expect the play makers to belt the ball forward every touch.
 
+ = winning, hoppa, robbo (reliable as), matai's dummy half runs were superb

- = kite playing as a 6/7 (what the ?), general lack of go forward in attack

ugly = everything about the 1st 60 mins

Great to have Matai back
 
I thought DCE's kicking and composure (switching to and landing a left-footed drop kick when you're a right footer ain't easy) were great, and he's showing good signs in attack. That ball he slipped to Glenn early on was an absolute peach of a pass. He did run sideways and around a bit, but to my mind it was mostly because he just couldn't find any runners - he was looking for options, which a half should do, but nobody was giving him any.
We were basically awful but we still won the game, away from home. Go figure.
 
yeah the left foot field goal from DCE was skillfull. Trex playing as a wide running second rower like fatso does from the vermin was also positive.
 
Good - we find a way to win away and at nyt
Bad - missing the impact of damaging starting props
Ugly - The first half and most of the second

But WE WON!
 
Yes, Kite, what to do with him. Cunningham would be looking at his shirt I would wonder. Luckily Des saw what most of us saw and the second half had more of the straight running thing. On Glenn, I thought his attempts to link, and sometimes it did come off, with Lyon was great, and his defense was excellent. No bagging there. We did lack that something in the first half, but to restrict them to 7 was good. It was a great result for us suffering fans on the s/e corner, as we had to put up with the taunts of the shire scum until the last ten minutes. A crazy scene on the bell, hugging kissing, screaming blah blah. You had to be there to experience the madness.
 
Good:
(1) DCE starting to find more form and showing he has a long kicking game which is something we haven't had in a long time
(2) Hoppa - did a heap of work tonight - really involved and keeps improving
(3) George Rose showing some signs of form
(4) Matai back - his dummy half runs were great
(5) T-Rex, I don't know why he has so many baggers in relation to this game, I thought he ran hard and looked much better
(6) we have developed a 'never give up' attitude which is great to see

Bad:
(1) Kite - going from bad to worse, the most soft prop in the game in terms of his go forward (very disappointing)
(2) General sideways running and lack of go forward
(3) DCE, whilst improving, has to cut out the switch back of direction, you can see the indecisiveness
(4) Robinson not getting a run, he was our best forward last week and Mauro or Harrison should have dropped off the bench ahead of him - we needed his go forward
(5) Having someone on the bench doing nothing for 76 minutes - just a waste when playing a tough, hard, exhausting match
 
Good - T=Rex off the bench as a forward is the best idea Des has had for some time.

Bad - Kite has lost the plot. Maybe he should be coming off the bench.

Ugly - Throwing my beer all over the missus when Oldfield picked up Killer's chip kick. She was not happy and wouldn't let me throw the leg. Oh well
 
Ron E. Gibbs said:
I thought DCE's kicking and composure (switching to and landing a left-footed drop kick when you're a right footer ain't easy) were great, and he's showing good signs in attack. That ball he slipped to Glenn early on was an absolute peach of a pass. He did run sideways and around a bit, but to my mind it was mostly because he just couldn't find any runners - he was looking for options, which a half should do, but nobody was giving him any.
We were basically awful but we still won the game, away from home. Go figure.

Yep, nice summation. We do need more from our starting Props though. Once we get some better "go forward" from the props DCE will have more space but so far I really like how he's going.
 
You could count Kite's good games on one hand since the 2008 GF. He has been pretty ineffectual for the last two seasons. I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt in 2009 because of the death of his Dad, which couldn't have been easy for him. But now he is struggling to justify a spot in the side IMO. He seemed a bit better off the bench last year, so maybe that is the go if Des is going to persist with him.
 
Would you like to do this as a weekly article mate for the front page of the site?
 
Seaeagle63 said:
Good - T=Rex off the bench as a forward is the best idea Des has had for some time.

Bad - Kite has lost the plot. Maybe he should be coming off the bench.

Ugly - Throwing my beer all over the missus when Oldfield picked up Killer's chip kick. She was not happy and wouldn't let me throw the leg. Oh well

Come on Val we all know when he's a happy man you are a happy lady!!




Daniel said:
Would you like to do this as a weekly article mate for the front page of the site?

Not a bad idea, a regular feature!!
 
Kite's been thinking he was a 5/8 for the last 2 seasons. His first thought seems to be 'who can i pass it to' and rarely does he actually hit it up without looking sideways or turning his back to try and find someone to pass it to. Pisses me off when we really need a prop to belt it up as hard as they can but he gets the ball and pussy foots around trying to offload at the line or passes straight away along the backline to someone standing still.
My opinion is he's gotten to the stage where he doesnt want to put his body on the line anymore and take on the oppositions big boys. Maybe he's tired or his hearts not in it anymore. Whatever it is, he's not playing well enough to be an effective prop and we've already got a perfectly good 5/8 thanks Brent.
 
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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