Tonights game

[DSM5]

An excellent win tonight.  The guys started sluggishly, possibly a hangover from last week which may have been the cause for the first two tries.  However we rallied and outplayed them for the last twenty of the first half.  Second half we came out strong, forced them into a few errors and capitalized, then fell away in the last ten minutes of the game.  Hall played a blinder when on and it was good to see his try wasn't stolen from him by Clark, as was Orford's.  best on ground for mine was Glenn Stewart.  Dr Matai is getting back to his schizoid playing style, rushing out of the line and giving penalties.  I'm worried about his influence on Bani.  Bell's best of the year tonight, scored a try and cleaned up on the line when they threatened.     

 

[byso]

So Matai was ordinary quicker than expected. I guess that'll shut a few posters up then

Good to see Orford is getting into form.

 

[Chip and Chase]

The first 20 or 30 minutes were a bit frustrating, with some poor handling and some interesting decisions from the officials. I'd love to know why they disallowed Orfords try.

Thought the forwards played well in the second half and dominated the Dogs, which allowed Orford the space and time. Fair play to him he capitalised on it too and had a pretty good game. Some good hole running helped matters as well. All the forwards put in, but I thought Kite was a little quite, especially in the last 30  minutes.

Was disappointed that the Doctor didn't get a chance at 5/8, but can't say I was surprised given Dessie's track record. Agree it was good to see Bell finally run straight (and finally get his first try for the season), although I thought he could have done better on that break to position Stewart.  

Probably our best attacking performance of the year so far. Orford's best game so far for mine, even his kicking game was pretty tidy.

The Dogs were pretty ordinary and without SBW they haven't got much really have they.

Good win, and with the bye next week we are heading in the right direction. Broncos next up will be a big ask though and a good yardstick as to whether we have turned things around.

 

[Fluffy]

the refs (on field and up top) gave them a helping in 3 or their 4 tries.

Matai was ok but injured early. Dont remember him giving away any stupid penalties and barely rushed out of the line. (robbo did it more often)

it was a solid effort doing what was needed

 

[deadlyeagle]

The first 20 or 30 minutes were a bit frustrating, with some poor handling and some interesting decisions from the officials. I'd love to know why they disallowed Orfords try.

Thought the forwards played well in the second half and dominated the Dogs, which allowed Orford the space and time. Fair play to him he capitalised on it too and had a pretty good game. Some good hole running helped matters as well. All the forwards put in, but I thought Kite was a little quite, especially in the last 30  minutes.

Was disappointed that the Doctor didn't get a chance at 5/8, but can't say I was surprised given Dessie's track record. Agree it was good to see Bell finally run straight (and finally get his first try for the season), although I thought he could have done better on that break to position Stewart.  

Probably our best attacking performance of the year so far. Orford's best game so far for mine, even his kicking game was pretty tidy.

The Dogs were pretty ordinary and without SBW they haven't got much really have they.

Good win, and with the bye next week we are heading in the right direction. Broncos next up will be a big ask though and a good yardstick as to whether we have turned things around.

Mate you were obviously were watching a different game if you think Kite had a quiet game stats to prove: 28 tackles 2 missed tackles 13 HITUPS 150 METERS 1 offload and the only reason he was quiet in the last 30 mins because he was subbed off from all the work he was doing.

Kite had his best game of the season and was consistently hitting up the line with power i was impressed.

Mattai actually played in the forwards for about 20 mins taking some impressive hitups
considering his size, he D/H runs were still good catching easy metres, defense was another story sometimes.

Bells game IMO was no different as usual, most of his "breaks" were set up for him, other than the one from the scrum, but i thought he was much quicker in open space?

Lyon, Orford played well. Cuthbo, King were impressive. Vic Mauro wasnt anything great.

Perry needs to stop giving away silly penalties eg swiping at the ball when they check it with video refs these days, headbutting in the scrum ect ect


On another note i watched The Toyota Cup and noticed both our halved played well, Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans they set up most the tires. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves looks like a good buy, hes a big unit plenty of good offloads and another guy called Kenny Edwards was very impressive of the bench, did lots of wide angle running like Choc does towards the fringes of the ruck and kenny picked up some great metres.

 

[SilentBob]

Bell blew two almost certain tries by not passng, one in each half and he watched as SBW had a clear run to the line for their second try. I was a bit worried about him when he was playing left wing for a bit, where was he going to step? But he managed to find his left foot again.

Was disappointed with Robertson's effort during their first try, he had three options, take the man passing, take the man catching or take the ball and he tried all three and got nothing.

B Stewart and Bani pretty quiet.

Hall proved again that he deserves to keep his spot in a full strength side.

G Stewart is hitting some form.

Overall it was pretty good.

 

[KaZa]

thats why i dont rate Matai at centre... one every game....... most result to tries.

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Oh my god bell actually made a break.

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Oh my god bell actually made a break.

3 actually

 

[DSM5]

Fluffy, Matai gave one away right in front of me on their 40.  Laying on the tackled player.  A fair penalty.  When Bell got in the clear I'd of thought he'd be quicker.  He seemed to be running on the spot.  And he didn't look for support.  Anyway he cleaned up two grubbers on the line which was good.  Hopefully he'll kick on from here. 

 

[Chip and Chase]

Mate you were obviously were watching a different game if you think Kite had a quiet game stats to prove: 28 tackles 2 missed tackles 13 HITUPS 150 METERS 1 offload and the only reason he was quiet in the last 30 mins because he was subbed off from all the work he was doing.

Kite had his best game of the season and was consistently hitting up the line with power i was impressed.

Fair enough, I will admit that I was a bit distracted during the middle part of the game, with trying to wrangle the kids into bed. Must have missed most of his action then.

 

[Dan]

2 perry Penalties led to 2 tries

Matai rushes out of the line and leaves a stroll to the line for the first try. Same old Matai, for the few runs he does, it isn't worth a try

 

[The Wheel]

So Matai was ordinary quicker than expected. I guess that'll shut a few posters up then

:-* :-*

It is amazing how a backline attack has straighten up over the last two games instead of running towards the sideline.

I knew that they would be plenty jumping on his back at the first sign of a penalty & I was right.  : :

 

[Dan]

He let in a try for gods sake.

If he let in one and scored 2 it could be forgiven, but he let in a try with the exact sort of play that we said was his problem.  BUlldogs knew it too and played to him rushing out of the line and scored.

Wait until a better side tries to expose it.

Titans and Tigers will be all over us with that sort of play, their quick hands and Head's close kicking game will slaughter us when Matai runs out of the defensive line.

 

[Canteen Worker]

It is fairly important to be at a game to make judgements about defensive decision making. Both the Dogs early tries were scored after quick shifts of the ball wide. Manly play a compressed defense which sometimes leaves us defending two on three. That was the case both times. Robbo looked silly after the first try but had two on one and simply did as he should and tried to get the inside man, forcing him to pass. In the second it was a similar situation.

Matai and Robbo both went for men inside an overlap and quite a few times stopped potentially dangerous movements. Once or twice, especially in the wet they both went for a man and quick ball movement went past them.

It is easy for people to criticise outside backs but when the numbers don't stack up they have to make a quick decision. Matai sometimes does drift inside to cut off the movement and maybe slightly better judgement will improve his game. People do tend to forget the nine times he saves us against the one or two times he doesn't get there in time. It is as much as result though of the Manly defensive pattern as Matai. Would you rather have more holes in the ruck or have the occasional problem out wide?

 

[Dan]

It is fairly important to be at a game to make judgements about defensive decision making. Both the Dogs early tries were scored after quick shifts of the ball wide. Manly play a compressed defense which sometimes leaves us defending two on three. That was the case both times. Robbo looked silly after the first try but had two on one and simply did as he should and tried to get the inside man, forcing him to pass. In the second it was a similar situation.

Matai and Robbo both went for men inside an overlap and quite a few times stopped potentially dangerous movements. Once or twice, especially in the wet they both went for a man and quick ball movement went past them.

It is easy for people to criticise outside backs but when the numbers don't stack up they have to make a quick decision. Matai sometimes does drift inside to cut off the movement and maybe slightly better judgement will improve his game. People do tend to forget the nine times he saves us against the one or two times he doesn't get there in time. It is as much as result though of the Manly defensive pattern as Matai. Would you rather have more holes in the ruck or have the occasional problem out wide?

The reason theyw ere able to spred the ball quickly was because Matai rushed out of the line, to take the man 3 men in. Meaning Robbo had to make a decision put pressure on the centre or hold his ground, the only decision you can really make when your inside man has left you exposed like that is to try and rush the player with the ball and hope cover get across to the winger whilst he is diving for the ground.

Matai's fault and not Robbos. Trust me. I barely slept on Saturday night and watched the game 3 times as well as rewinding and watching certain parts like this one several times.

It is clearly Matai's fault, doing the stupid things he did.

Not 1 of his "big hits" came off on Saturday nor the week before

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

CW is right, the structure we play is very compressed which leaves our centres and wingers some tough decisions to make, which they don't always get right, Lyon v Melbourne another example of it as well

It very rarely costs us many tries, and it cuts some out as well, as happened on Sat night

 

[Jatz Crackers]

There was also the good stuff Mattai did.

He was first on the scene to take that bulldog back into his ingoal to force the line drop out. He held him up and made that play. It those inspired efforts of his that lifts our side.

He consistently made hard metres out from our line when it was needed and snuffed out a number of their backline movements.

That game was also a good example of his weaknesses and not just the rushes out of the line. He rarely goes 80 mins without appearing to have a glass body of some sort, and he had the customary penalty in a tackle.

Ive said it before, you can always rely on him for a mixed bag and it depends on your outlook as to wether you side on the positive aggression or the negative disciplines.

 

[Fro]

Matai is a well know gamble, its just whether you believe his positives outweigh his negatives.

Personally I believe that when fully fit what he brings to the team is greater than what he costs us.

 

[Jatz Crackers]

He was on the positive side of the ledger for mine in Sat nights game.