Was there a platform for Elgey / DCE ?

[maxta]

Just in attack.....seemed to lose the play ball 90% of the time in the wrestle, put on backs and no doubt will effect time and options for any half.
I actually feel this is a habit where the team has had low energy to win the play ball in recent seasons that will improve in coming weeks.
DCE and Elgey have copped a bit, but in games where the defence controls the tempo, have seen Lockyer, Johns and Thurston look ordinary.
The size is there in the forwards and though plenty argue the metres gained in the middle means the platform is being laid, but I tend to differ......Its better winning a quick play ball than making an extra metre or 2.
Cam Murray from Rabbits seems to have a great habit of landing front and winning the momentum the team can cash in on.
I really think a few of his charges, though not always massive gain, swung the game for Souths and once the roll on starts, the entire team lifts on the back of it.
No doubt if a drunken punter like me can see it, Des will have this as a key area of improvement and also assist the poor kicking game we seen against Tigers.
Back to Elgey - thought he went ok in his first game, tackling was great including 1 on 1 defending his tryline.
I reckon once Tom is back as another option and Manly lift that energy a bit in the ruck, DCE and Elgey will work out in the halves.
They are both instinctive footy players, who with a tad more time will create plenty of opportunities in 2019.

 

[Sue]

Wrote about exactly this in another thread Maxta. So obvious.And that makes two drunks who have noticed it. Cam Murray makes our guys look like they are asleep.

Question is : why should it take 5 or 6 weeks into the season to improve and to show intensity in the ruck and allow our halves to operate. By round 6 every chance with our draw the season is close to done. The Tigers, hardly a powerhouse, had it in spades in the second half.

All it requires is attitude, nothing more. No great strategy involved.There is zero reason it should not be there round 1.And I assume it was addressed by Des in the off season. It has been our Achilles heel for 3 or 4 years.I know we have a pretty average roster but this sort of stuff is not down to that.Any player we send out should have intensity in the play the ball.

Roosters are masters at it. We need to match their intensity to be any chance next week.

 

[The Who]

AFB is our most dominant forward, and will be missing when we play the league's premier pack.
I question whether we really have the forwards to win us as many matches as I thought prior to the Tugers match.
Is Thompson really any more than a solid first grader? Is Siro the excellent player we thought (although judging him on one match back from a serious injury is unfair).
Do Jetski, Tango and Sippers really cut it in the NRL?
Will Duck and Tent be the answer when they return from injury?
Has losing Penny been a bigger mistake than original thought? He certainly played well for Doesn'tmatta on the weekend.

 

[Deleted member 26876]

I don't rate Jetski or Sipley. Tanginoa will be good eventually. I just think Jake Trbo and Taupau are a little stale and predictable in their positions, reckon we should have a direct swap of positions between them. Other then that I think they are better than what they showed on Saturday in the wet.

 

[mickqld]

We are very average right across the park. Taupau and DCE are very overrated and Jake looked out of condition. Thompson and Sirro are bench forwards at best. Elgey is reserve grade as is the entire backline. We'd struggle against a couple of good reserve grade teams.

 

[Mitch]

When looking at the halves situation, interesting to see Hodkinson on 9 news tonight publically stating he has gone to Hasler saying he feels he’s a half not a utility and should be playing 6. Didn’t seem to happy about it either. Good to have some competition there if nothing else.

Essentially said he feels he still has more to offer and doesn’t want to be spending the remainder of his career on the bench. So if that is all he is getting here I wouldn’t be surprised to see him look elsewhere.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

If Fainu is back this week Hodko will probably find he is back to being a half, but a half in reserve grade.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

We are very average right across the park. Taupau and DCE are very overrated and Jake looked out of condition. Thompson and Sirro are bench forwards at best. Elgey is reserve grade as is the entire backline. We'd struggle against a couple of good reserve grade teams.

Why don’t you tell us how you really think Mick???.......lol

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Let’s face we’ve been ****, and are still **** but **** me, the only way is up!!


I hope.

 

[NewwyEagle]

Our forwards were very flat and we looked quite disorganised offensively on the weekend, but it's round 1 of a long season so let's not throw the toys out of the cot just yet. I think elgey looked quite decent and stood up in defense in parts. He's just one of a few new faces in big positions. And even though we were beaten in the ruck, realistically the tigers scored 2 lucky tries after having an insane amount of good field position. Just impossible to get a proper read after a gross, wet game in round 1.

 

[HoldenV8]

My only complaint about LG's game was his lack of long kicking. DCE did it all and once the Tigpies worked that out early on they were able to effectively shut him down.

With LG being a lefty and Cherry a righty, having them on either side ready to kick would put the opposition in two minds about who to go for.

 

[robbiea]

We are a relatively new side , new spine ,plenty of rookies,new coach ,new structures & were playing in the p!ssing down rain.
I'm going to try to reserve judgement until they've had at least a few runs on a dry track.
This is our team boys ,they deserve to be given a fair crack.

 

[Loobs]

Let’s face we’ve been ****, and are still **** but **** me, the only way is up!!


I hope.

Although it seems like it was a decade ago, we were actually OK in 2017 with a similar squad - except we were relying on Myles and Lussick, got a good final season out of Uate and had Green at 6.

That team could have finished near the top if Baz didn't supercoach his way down the table to 6th and out, but we were right up there deep into the season.

So guys in this team are capable.

In saying that, I do recall people ****ting on Green when we lost the first couple of games so maybe I should give Elgey more time. Then again - NO!

 

[Fluffy]

No better than last year despite a supercoach, major increase in staff, support from the head office and no more Zorba whiteanting.

and it looks like Parra wont save us

going to be a long year.

 

[fLIP]

I don't want to go straight into panic mode but for God sake someone promiss them a beers and strip club weekend if they win.

Hell, even tell em baz can come

 

[bob dylan]

I don't want to go straight into panic mode but for God sake someone promiss them a beers and strip club weekend if they win.

Hell, even tell em baz can come

Panic mode. lol.

I will be amazed if this squad can win 7 matches like we won last year.

Anyone like to guess when we will win our 1st match

Round 3 vs Warriors
Round 9 vs Dogs
Round 11 vs Titians

 

[40 years an eagle]

When looking at the halves situation, interesting to see Hodkinson on 9 news tonight publically stating he has gone to Hasler saying he feels he’s a half not a utility and should be playing 6. Didn’t seem to happy about it either. Good to have some competition there if nothing else.

Essentially said he feels he still has more to offer and doesn’t want to be spending the remainder of his career on the bench. So if that is all he is getting here I wouldn’t be surprised to see him look elsewhere.

Would be happy to see him go somewhere else. We could use that 350k a lot better than paying it to him.

 

[jbb/james]

i thought the forwards were willing and up for the battle. Sirro was a bit quiet but they had a go. They were just asked to do too much work defensively through poor turnover. This was Compounded as we were pinned in our own territory due to a poor kicking game

I thought we were a bit lucky. The tigers persisted in passing at the line in our own quarter when attacking and spilt poseesion many times. To some degree this helped our defence. Not bagging the D but if you have a look at how many times they let us off the hook. We were hammered territorially

 

[Woodsie]

Platform was there but not capitalised on. Probably worth nothing also that the forward platform will get better as we have our top 17 back on deck.

DCE and Elgeys ridiculous bombathon wasn't working. It was clearly a tactic but they didn't adjust and try anything different.

The Tigers halves were much better with their kicking games.

That to me was the difference.

We know DCE is a better player than what he showed and Elgey will grow into the role in the same way Crocker was before his injury.

Looking forward to seeing us on a dry track and when we get Turbo, Fainu, Paseka, AFB and some compo for Walker we should get a real understanding of what the team is capable of.

Just wait until Sipley's workload is increased from 5 minutes to 6 minutes ... that'll make all the difference .....

 

[Stevo]

I know the fans get upset about losing. But don't be surprised if this year has already been written off by the coaching staff. We don't have the personnel to compete so this year is probably more about adapting to the way Des wants us to play. He'll try combinations and blood a few young players and decide who he wants to keep. There are a fair few off contract this year so i would expect to see maybe 1-2 really good signings and 3-4 really solid signings for next year. There is absolutely no reason we shouldn't be competing though while over half of the squad are chasing a contract.