General 2023 Warriors Trial Games

[J_P]

I agree with you and I have made about 5 anti Shaun Posts tonight in the other thread but taking a step back, boy is Shain in for a long year if we are sharpening the knives for him before round one has even taken place !!!

But yeah that said I know what you mean he loves that cut back.

I think the best thing for Shaun is to stay off social media. He isn't mentally strong enough to handle the sometimes warranted sometimes not vitriol towards him online, and I don't blame him. At times it's overboard. Btw wrighty i got angry at your post regarding the young halves as i thought it was to say it politely total bollocks. Don't take offense to that as i still think you provide very valuable knowledge to this forum and respect your takes over all so we can agree to disagree.

Ps: i just got back to the country 2 days ago after 35 hours of traveling and body clock is totally out of wack, that's why I'm posting 4 in the morning lol.

 

[Gizzyfan]

My take on the trials. There is a good depth of players developing.

Webster is developing new systems, often it is easier for young to adjust sooner than older ones.

Always remember form is temporary but class is permanent. Generally they swill play themselves into form.

As a coach you are a mug if you show your attacking moves this time of year. He will be looking for defensive effort and to setting an attacking platform. I thought generally he got that.

The biggest let down for me was basic skill execution, passing, positioning, lack of bodies in motion support running.

I do not think singling players out for errors is productive it is not deliberate but it enables coaches to guide expectations no matter how ecperienced a player is.

I think there are good errors and bad errors good errors are usually from players overplaying and going outside structures, effort errors. Bad errors are not executing basic skills like catching and passing and ball security, concentration and effort errors.

My summary is a good platform is being laid, it is just a start and performance as a whole have to improve to be a fsctor this year.

 

[Geoff Public]

How is that going to grow the game?

All the refs and 90% of the games commentators are white but it isn’t growing the participation rates of white kids.

Would a couple of Filipino refs suddenly spike growth in the game in that community?




I’d actually argue one of Shauns biggest problems nowadays is that he’s too overly structured.

FIFA gave qualifying spots in the World Cup to Africa and Asia to grow the game. At the time European commentators looked at their early losses and were highly critical. Today the sport is thriving there.
Swap soccer for league and European for Polynesian, because that's what you're creating.

I think it would be good to have some Polynesian refs. But they won't grow the game any more than white refs.

 

[TeetsNRL]

FIFA gave qualifying spots in the World Cup to Africa and Asia to grow the game. At the time European commentators looked at their early losses and were highly critical. Today the sport is thriving there.
Swap soccer for league and European for Polynesian, because that's what you're creating.

I think it would be good to have some Polynesian refs. But they won't grow the game any more than white refs.

That wasn’t my point at all.

My argument was that the representation of refs has zero correlation with an increase in player participation (growth) in relation to the background culture of the ref.

 

[6Again]

Just a couple thoughts from the trials.
Our game model looked completely different from the 2 games, tigers we were a lot more expansive, Afoa Ball playing even and we looked exciting. I know it was the tigers but against Melbourne it was one out running basically the whole game.
Could be difference in spines, but the game model should still be similar. I just don’t get what we were trying to get out of the 2nd trial taking 1 out runners the whole game.
Hopefully a smart tactic making it out like we’re still shit lol.

I think we're guilty of conflating these two trials without fully acknowledging the difference in quality between the opposition.

We played well but the Tigers allowed us to get a roll on, all the things the Storm do well the Tigers did not. They allowed us quick play the balls, the Storm laid all over us and interfered with the ruck. They allowed offloads, the Storm had hands on the ball at every opportunity. The Tigers lacked line speed and aggression across the 80 minutes, the Storm built their defensive game off those things. Add the Storms ability to wrestle and we're talking about two very different teams.

We fell into the trap of playing how the opposition allowed us to play, which often happens to sides that face Melbourne.

I don't blame the players for not trying to be more expansive with the ball in a trial but I take your point, we didn't show that we were problem-solving by adapting and trying anything different either.

 

[Boats n Hoes]

I think we're guilty of conflating these two trials without fully acknowledging the difference in quality between the opposition.

We played well but the Tigers allowed us to get a roll on, all the things the Storm do well the Tigers did not. They allowed us quick play the balls, the Storm laid all over us and interfered with the ruck. They allowed offloads, the Storm had hands on the ball at every opportunity. The Tigers lacked line speed and aggression across the 80 minutes, the Storm built their defensive game off those things. Add the Storms ability to wrestle and we're talking about two very different teams.

We fell into the trap of playing how the opposition allowed us to play, which often happens to sides that face Melbourne.

I don't blame the players for not trying to be more expansive with the ball in a trial but I take your point, we didn't show that we were problem-solving by adapting and trying anything different either.

I hope that playing how the opposition allowed us to play was all it was.

But running in support or taking support runners with you is something u should be able to do regardless of getting dominated in the ruck......the same as tip on's before the line between forwards.

I think most of us have acknowledged the different intensity and class in trials but yeah we're going to need to adapt a hell of a lot faster, and as Fonzie alluded to in his podcast our one out runners we're just fodder up against a bigger, stronger middle, hence the lack of ruck speed to jump off the back of.

Im hoping it was just an abberation cause at least the intent to play a bit wider of the ruck was there first trial, there seemed no intent against the Storm, and with our smaller pack their going to need to adapt pretty fast otherwise their going to get dominated most weeks.....then it wont matter who lines up in the halves or wings.

 

[Mullayo]

I think

Just a couple thoughts from the trials.
Our game model looked completely different from the 2 games, tigers we were a lot more expansive, Afoa Ball playing even and we looked exciting. I know it was the tigers but against Melbourne it was one out running basically the whole game.
Could be difference in spines, but the game model should still be similar. I just don’t get what we were trying to get out of the 2nd trial taking 1 out runners the whole game.
Hopefully a smart tactic making it out like we’re still shit lol.
Also Volkman, I was hoping to see a lot more from him. As I was hoping to see a Metcalf, Martin and Volkman spine some time this year.
Highlights wise he looks great with footwork and ball playing. any one have more insight

As someone said above, I think the Storm were up offside all game, and we couldn't initiate the offence properly in either the forwards or the badks.

 

[6Again]

I hope that playing how the opposition allowed us to play was all it was.

But running in support or taking support runners with you is something u should be able to do regardless of getting dominated in the ruck......the same as tip on's before the line between forwards.

I think most of us have acknowledged the different intensity and class in trials but yeah we're going to need to adapt a hell of a lot faster, and as Fonzie alluded to in his podcast our one out runners we're just fodder up against a bigger, stronger middle, hence the lack of ruck speed to jump off the back of.

Im hoping it was just an abberation cause at least the intent to play a bit wider of the ruck was there first trial, there seemed no intent against the Storm, and with our smaller pack their going to need to adapt pretty fast otherwise their going to get dominated most weeks.....then it wont matter who lines up in the halves or wings.

Genuine question here, do you reckon our errors factored much into the mentality of how we played? no doubt messages would've gone fairly early around ball security.

Not disagreeing with your post at all btw. Your right around supports and shape around the ball etc though I feel like those are areas that do tend to drop off when you fall into a paired back attacking mindset and settle for low risk footy. Something Melbourne didn't fall into and they did eventually find their attacking groove.

I guess I'm trying to account for the state of mind of our players in that game to explain some of what we saw.

 

[Geoff Public]

That wasn’t my point at all.

My argument was that the representation of refs has zero correlation with an increase in player participation (growth) in relation to the background culture of the ref.

So no need to change then..... if it makes no difference.
I like the best available theory that was put up.

 

[Ref]

So no need to change then..... if it makes no difference.
I like the best available theory that was put up.

Here is my take on the referees.

The new ones seem to be the best ones until they are seemingly brainwashed into the same behaviours and traits of their more experienced colleagues.

I mean I like Todd Smith for now but perhaps I should refer back to this post in 5 years time and see if I feel the same way.

I met Phil Haines in 2010 when he came to NZ to do a pre season game.
He was a cool guy and decent referee but I was concerned for his NRL future because he had too much of a loveable rogue attitude that I suspected would hinder his prospects in the staid, robotic, brainwashed climate of the establishment.
His first grade career didn't last too much longer.

 

[Boats n Hoes]

Genuine question here, do you reckon our errors factored much into the mentality of how we played? no doubt messages would've gone fairly early around ball security.

Not disagreeing with your post at all btw. Your right around supports and shape around the ball etc though I feel like those are areas that do tend to drop off when you fall into a paired back attacking mindset and settle for low risk footy. Something Melbourne didn't fall into and they did eventually find their attacking groove.

I guess I'm trying to account for the state of mind of our players in that game to explain some of what we saw.

Yeah they could very well have. You see it all the time when teams are fatigued and yardaging out, u could throw a blanket over them behind the play the ball.

However i thought the one out running was apparent right from the early sets. We were going straight up the middle without support, and unless u have the mother of all forward packs your never going to beat the Storm that way.

Plus i thought our early errors were (apart from kicking out on the full) mainly play the ball errors, not so much down to moving the ball. And im not talking about throwing the ball around recklessly, more just moving 1 or 2 passes wider of the ruck or short interchange passing between forwards just to mix it up as we saw in the Tigers trial.

Someone mentioned it may have been down to not wanting to show our cards too early but i dunno about that......the best way to practice a new style of play or structure is under match conditions.

Mentioned earlier getting dominated at the ruck and not being able to create ruck speed just gave me vibes of last season. Im probably more concerned about that than the individual errors we saw tbh.

 

[playdaball]

The Crusaders are currently playing the Chiefs at Addington Showgrounds and last week’s Warriors crowd looked a lot bigger .

 

[Wrighty]

The Crusaders are currently playing the Chiefs at Addington Showgrounds and last week’s Warriors crowd looked a lot bigger .

union is dieing because it is a fun game to play but not a product catered to TV viewing or an audience

I have played club rugby and it is awesome fun. Just tiresome to watch. Weird dynamic.