fLIP
UFO Hunter
Just finished watching the game tonight. I always find its easier to make a judgment when you know the outcome.
There is a lot of criticism on the 3 play makers tonight. Orford, Monaghan and Lyon.
Of the 3 players I reckon Lyon had the biggest problems. He is a fantastic defender but its just starting to look ridiculous that he's getting the 5/8th role ahead of Burns. The argument that usually pops up is that Burns doesn't offer much in attack. I would say you could mount a strong argument that in the same position Lyon offers even less. Even though he has the 6 on his back he still strikes me as playing a center type role. Running, drawing and passing.
As for Orford and Monaghan, they've both copped a bit tonight and I reckon its unjust for both of them. They both had solid games. Nothing outstanding but nothing to blow your top over. The main criticism of Orford would have been in the final 5mins of the game. He didn't get in the spot to set up the winning try, but there was some odd stuff happening in the halves at the time. One minute you had Lyon and first receiver. Then Moanghan would give it a go and Orford was almost playing a 5/8th role 2/3 across field from the play the ball. Des's decision or not, it struck me a strange. One reason I reckon you could blame the lack of cohesion in the later stages.
Moanghan, well I couldn't fault his game really. Did what you would expect of a hooker and I can't say I noticed any crop circles on the field guys. He slipped over a few times so at worst it's time for boots with screw in studs. Probably the biggest problem with his game is that he forces his way into the halves while playing hooker far too often. Its like we had 2 halves playing either side of the ruck (Orford, Lyon) and then monaghan would stick his nose in when he smells a chance and throws the attack off because the set thats building the way both halves want it is then thrown into a mess when Monas changes the ideas.
Poor old Neumann hey? I can only say he was responsible for 1 try. The other problem was the compressed defense. We blocked up so much that when just 1 defender made the decision to move towards a decoy the overlap was made. The speed they were running the ball you just can't slide that quick. We really needed to slide far earlier than we were but hind site is a fantastic thing.
Lets not forget too guys. Monday night we played a broncos team with a few players missing. Lyon, Kite and Bell play origin and then everyone backs it up against Melbourne in the toughest game of football i've seen since last years grand final. Then 6 days later they have to do it again at penrith without Burns, Matai, Beaver and Rose. Ballin tears his groin and King is running on 1 leg due to a butt strain. 6 points isn't enough to drop the bundle over so chin up boys. We'll be back in 2 weeks time giving the Rabbitohs a pasting with a full line up of fresh players.
Lets just hope that Souths can pull a rabbit (no pun intended) out of the hat and we stay 2 points clear on top of the ladder.
Disappointing game, but not as diabolical when you take the emotion out of it.
There is a lot of criticism on the 3 play makers tonight. Orford, Monaghan and Lyon.
Of the 3 players I reckon Lyon had the biggest problems. He is a fantastic defender but its just starting to look ridiculous that he's getting the 5/8th role ahead of Burns. The argument that usually pops up is that Burns doesn't offer much in attack. I would say you could mount a strong argument that in the same position Lyon offers even less. Even though he has the 6 on his back he still strikes me as playing a center type role. Running, drawing and passing.
As for Orford and Monaghan, they've both copped a bit tonight and I reckon its unjust for both of them. They both had solid games. Nothing outstanding but nothing to blow your top over. The main criticism of Orford would have been in the final 5mins of the game. He didn't get in the spot to set up the winning try, but there was some odd stuff happening in the halves at the time. One minute you had Lyon and first receiver. Then Moanghan would give it a go and Orford was almost playing a 5/8th role 2/3 across field from the play the ball. Des's decision or not, it struck me a strange. One reason I reckon you could blame the lack of cohesion in the later stages.
Moanghan, well I couldn't fault his game really. Did what you would expect of a hooker and I can't say I noticed any crop circles on the field guys. He slipped over a few times so at worst it's time for boots with screw in studs. Probably the biggest problem with his game is that he forces his way into the halves while playing hooker far too often. Its like we had 2 halves playing either side of the ruck (Orford, Lyon) and then monaghan would stick his nose in when he smells a chance and throws the attack off because the set thats building the way both halves want it is then thrown into a mess when Monas changes the ideas.
Poor old Neumann hey? I can only say he was responsible for 1 try. The other problem was the compressed defense. We blocked up so much that when just 1 defender made the decision to move towards a decoy the overlap was made. The speed they were running the ball you just can't slide that quick. We really needed to slide far earlier than we were but hind site is a fantastic thing.
Lets not forget too guys. Monday night we played a broncos team with a few players missing. Lyon, Kite and Bell play origin and then everyone backs it up against Melbourne in the toughest game of football i've seen since last years grand final. Then 6 days later they have to do it again at penrith without Burns, Matai, Beaver and Rose. Ballin tears his groin and King is running on 1 leg due to a butt strain. 6 points isn't enough to drop the bundle over so chin up boys. We'll be back in 2 weeks time giving the Rabbitohs a pasting with a full line up of fresh players.
Lets just hope that Souths can pull a rabbit (no pun intended) out of the hat and we stay 2 points clear on top of the ladder.
Disappointing game, but not as diabolical when you take the emotion out of it.
