Thoughts on Steve Matai out of the line

[DSM5]

Poor young Stevie Wonder.  I've just seen the tackle he's been charged for... again.  If there's one thing he could do to mitigate his tackling problems it's to stop running out of the line.  The tackle that went wrong  due to him being stepped when he ran out and in a desperate attempt to adjust he flung out his arm.  If there's one thing he could learn from Newcastle's defeat of the Storm is that they held their line in defense.  That, and kicking away from Slater was the key.  If Steve continues to race out of the line all he'll do is create problems for his outside supports.  C'mon Dessie, talk to the kid and then I can stop rabbiting on. 

 

[Jatz Crackers]

I dont disagree that he can create defensive problems with runing out of the line.

But if your balanced & fair with your wabbiting, you will also wabbit on about the times he pulls off a good hit & actually closes off an opposition play.

 

[ants]

yes it does create a defensive problem but you'd think surely that Dessie has said something or in fact encourages the play???  why else would he continue to do it??

Agree with Jatz that he should be congratulated on the times he pulls off a good hit and closes off an opposition play.  And also the fact that he nearly always makes in excess of 150m+ a game!  Must almost balance out the ledger??

 

[DSM5]

Jatz, you are right that he does pull of some very effective tackles and does take the ball up strongly.  All credit to him.  But my point is that to often he leaves the gap open.  I'd like him to be more selective.  We'll certainly miss him on Saturday. 

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

It is part of our defensive structure imo, you see Bell running in as well, and Lyon when he plays in the centres

More often that not, when the blokes mentioned above rush up to take a man, it shuts down the movement. It is a spilt second decision to make, when it goes right, it looks great, when it goes wrong, it looks terrible

imo, it is worth the risk. Take the Storm game for example, he rattled Smith up early on and we saw bugger all of Smith for the rest of the night. At most it would have cost us 3-4 tries this season, while it would have stopped more dangerous movements than that

Just back to the one on Monday night that conceeded the final try. havent gone back and looked at the tape again properly. Was it caused by the rush out of the line, or our numbering up. From memory Matai came in to get whoever, which left Robbo to take the centre, and left the winger unmarked. Was there anyone else in the area ?

 

[Canteen Worker]

Because we play a compressed line we are always subject to a three on two against our outside two. I think we dare teams to do it against us at times.

Bell and Matai are both obliged to take the third-in attacker from the edge. Rusing in, when mistimed looks bad but many times they have made a big hit or caused a bad pass outside that has broken down the movement.

Like it or not, this is part of our defensive strategy. It has worked well much of the time. Timing of the hit is much of the issue but do you want someone to hold back when outnumbered three or four to two?

 

[the EAGLE ROCK]

I'd like to see Steve keep defending the way he has been. I think he has been more selective as to when to rush in and put on a big hit, and I've noticed you can see a real lift in intensity from the rest of the team after he pulls one off. Both our centres should do this against teams like Melbourne, Brisbane and Roosters. These teams like to feed the ball to their centres and give them time and space to create opportunities on their outside, and we all witnessed how well the plan was executed against melbourne at Brooky. Keep the hits comin' Steve!

 

[DSM5]

OK, seems that I'm outvoted.  I'll desist with my comments re Stevie and see what happens. 

 

[Fluffy]

53 to 8 seems to be the score

 

[Biscuits]

alot of centres rush up these days. It is obviously under instruction. Some might realise, but plenty dont, that when a player rushes it is just after the ball has left aplayers hands for a longish pass. That is the perfect time to go as the ball cant change direction or speed up or slow down in mid air. Where a defender finds himself in troble is if he doesnt arrive at the ball receiver at the same time as the ball.

 

[willstyles]

OK, seems that I'm outvoted.  I'll desist with my comments re Stevie and see what happens. 

Not entirely outvoted. I have been filthy with Matai a few times for his rushes out of the line in recent weeks - especially for the last try on Monday, where for and against is so crucial for the MP.

But I don't think it makes Matai a bad player. I think he's one of the biggest cogs in our team because of the impact he can add out wide when he times his shots. That's what was so good about him mid-year, his ability to select when the charge out of the line was spot on almost every game. If he gets back to that high level of selective charges, then he'll be one of our most important players in the finals. If he continues to bungle them like he has for the past month, then our left side defence has huge gaps in it and we've got a real worry out there.

I'll back him to fix it up. And flatten Folau on the GF in the process.