Great Post. I have him down as our Alpha center.
Team List Dragons vs Warriors - [Round 10, 2025]
- Thread starter mt.wellington
- Start date
Too many ifs bruv
Gotta b stopt those danger men
Holmes Guthbertson Damian Cook Suli Su’A
Fark it’s the whole team
As you know there are two edges on a rugby league field.
If you can lock down one edge with a player like Pompey then you can stack the weak side using the fullback as an extra man.
And if it so happens that the strongest attacking back in the opposition is Val Holmes and he is cock blocked by Pompey then you are really limiting the strike power of the opposition.
The hardest thing on an edge is the guess work, the stuff thrown at you that has you second guessing whether it is coming your side or the other side.
When you have a defensive lynch pin opposite side of the field to you, then you know that the opposition are going to eventually tire of attacking that side and they are gonna keep coming down your channel, that is easier to prepare for when everyone on your side know its coming. Also imagine only having one channel to score through and try to win an NRL game.
What I personally would like to see for this team is a defensive winger to pair with Pompey meaning most teams can only attack the opposite side of the field.
I appreciate that my thinking is the opposite of what most people are crying out for in the recruitment thread, but many say they don't get why we are where we are right now in the top four. If what I read is right, most fans are still wondering how the hell this clunky team got where it is.
I am past that, defence is why are were where we are and rather than wanting more attack, I say give us more of what got us where we are.
Recruit defensive backs, develop defensive backs, lock the whole dam field down then apply Websters principles which should see our defensive backs spending more time in the opposition twenty than their own.
Metcalf, CHT, Egan to do the rest....let them lay the attacking platform and lets continue to see the ilk of Pompey etc scoring unlikely Try's because we have more of the ball than the team we are playing against.
I get that what I am preaching is a whole new paradigm. But the way I see it, when the Warriors become the best defensive side in the comp they can bank top four appearances every season and from there they can work on their attack with very average attacking players who over time can become better at attack than their starting point.
In Summary, the Warriors club, the brand the whole history of this outfit has been built on the attacking NZ flare with a false assumption that the way to win the NRL title with the Warriors is to teach the players to defend better.
Webster and McFadden are doing the opposite. Using the better defensive players and a game plan that is defensive....while believing they can coach those players to go from clunky to a team that can improve with ball in hand....which is why most team naming Tuesdays, fans are gnashing their teeth and wailing about the Vanilla line ups - when in fact those Vanilla line ups are Webster designs to get us into the top four - go figure....
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That last game showed whether it's on attack or defence, we have it in us to go all the way against a team. Step up please Dragons. The battle will be good. Might even be legendary. Looking forward to the game.
Thank you - that is what I thought but having a ‘discussion’ ha ha with a couple of people and they said they can still change it
That interview with Webby was before the team was named on tuesday. DWZ has obviously been named so is virtually certain to play. RTS had a fitness today and allegedly if he passed he was also going to be playing. The other inclusion is big Laban but after last weeks smoke and mirrors I will be waiting until 1 hour before the game to see who is actually going to take the field.
It was mentioned if RTS passed todays training run he would be in, do we know how it went?..., if so i would be putting him at centre just till our centre stocks come back, someone has to fill that spot next 4 weeks, Capewells been good on the edge leave him there, so he can be more involved, and besides Webster aint moving CNK.... DWZ to wing and RTS to centre, less chop and change..
We’ll find out tomorrow 24 hrs before kickoff
If he’s not cut from the squad it means he’s in
Partly sure.That's because Berry was off.
But if the line up runs out as listed u can sure as hell bet the Dragons think tank wouldve noted Taine will sit himself in the passing lane early, and Capes and Niukore speed defending laterally opens up some oppertunities. Im hoping their connection is a shitload tighter this game.
They probably waiting to see how Roger pulls up in the morning
To be fair to Marata the 3 tries they scores were kick behind Kosi, TT misread, TT drop ball, TT opens the Red Sea saved by Metcalf, then Cows had nothing for the last 15 minutes going down there, capped off with a 50m TT run towards the end, the fact they fixed it meant it was a combination issue than pure speed problem IMO
To be fair to Marata the 3 tries they scores were kick behind Kosi, TT misread, TT drop ball, TT opens the Red Sea saved by Metcalf, then Cows had nothing for the last 15 minutes going down there, capped off with a 50m TT run towards the end, the fact they fixed it meant it was a combination issue than pure speed problem IMO
The reffing in our games has been oddly consistent too so far, incorrect calls and howlers pretty evenly split for both sides.
Haven't actully noticed any bias against us at all, if anything it's been quite favourable. That astounds me too.
I can't get used to it, is this what not being a basket case feels like?
Favourable is a bit too far IMO. Adam Gee did his best for the cowboys last game that's for sure. If we lost with Cotter not getting such an obvious bin, it would have been a travesty. Definitely less upset about the refs this year though, I'd agree.
Such a shame Ali got hurt, with RTS and DWZ back we'd be a fucking go in the backs for the first time all season. Pomps has surely surpassed Berry by any measure at this point. There's serious talk of him locking down val holmes in this thread. When have we ever talked about Berry like that?
Such a shame Ali got hurt, with RTS and DWZ back we'd be a fucking go in the backs for the first time all season. Pomps has surely surpassed Berry by any measure at this point. There's serious talk of him locking down val holmes in this thread. When have we ever talked about Berry like that?
Consistently shit you mean?
When have we talked about Holmes needing to be locked down? haha. I agree though, Pompey has played his way into the other centre spot at this stage.
I'm curious. Other than denying the challenge, what else stood out to you?
Honestly it's the winning/losing mindset. If you win, you let the ref calls go/not phased by them. If you lose you ride every single last one.
But we won and people are still questioning the referring.
Regardless, that wasn't my line of questioning. I'm just curious as to why people found the referring to be to against us.
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