Pick Your Team Raiders v Warriors - [Round 20, 2024]

[Inruin]

Field goal specialist- how good would that have been if we could’ve rolled him out for golden point.

I'm his current condition that's no guarantee either this season. We should have closed out that game prior to golden point. That lies predominantly on TMM and CHT. Walker having to move to centre didn't help either but the halves had poor execution in a lot of key moments tonight

 

[ToiletDuck]

Think today showed the areas where a fit and healthy SJ could be of value. Kicking and last tackle plays in general. SJ when he dances around on plays and elusive can break up defensive lines and open up gaps. Some real thinking for the club regarding their halves going forward?

I think the club has taken the right approach re halves. There isn't much coming through the grades at present, so they've basically signed what they can and also taken a punt on Jett Cleary. TMM, CHT, Metcalf and SJ are all capable of playing in the halves at this level, so from one perspective we actually have a fair bit of depth.

The main issue, like it is for a lot of clubs, is that none of them are dominant enough to build a spine around. SJ is or was when fully fit - but has been well off the pace this year. It has left the club chopping and changing around form and injuries, which is no way to build a premiership assault.

 

[Beastmode]

Can SJ come back early ?
Please.
I miss his kicking

 

[run_it_str8_again]

1. Tuaupiki
2. DWZ
3. RTS
4. Pompey
5. Graham-Taufa
6. CHT
7. TMM
8. AFB
9. Lussick
10. Barnstormer
11. Laban
12. Capewell
13. Ale

14. Roache
15. Walker
16. Halasima
17. Ford

18. Afoa
19. Sifakula
20. Tevaga
21. Egan
22. I can never think of 22 people

 

[KPWarrior]

Can SJ come back early ?
Please.
I miss his kicking

On the back of our forwards performace tonight, you wouldn't want SJ there in a clutch?

 

[ToiletDuck]

People can joke about SJ...

The uncomfortable truth was laid bare today for all to see - the 2 current halves do not have acceptable kicking games at this level. We had a massively dominant pack and made something like 750 post contact metres to their 450ish. We easily had it over the dogs up the middle. But guess what the difference was? Kicking. Burton's boot got them out of trouble and put pressure on us. When we were in trouble our kicking game wasn't up to scratch, and there was never any chance of being kicked out of trouble.

SJ hasn't been playing well this season but he's got a much better kicking game, which is also potentially part of the problem with an over-reliance on him.

TMM and CHT stay whilst we have no other options. They're not a long term solution though.

 

[KPWarrior]

People can joke about SJ...

The uncomfortable truth was laid bare today for all to see - the 2 current halves do not have acceptable kicking games at this level. We had a massively dominant pack and made something like 750 post contact metres to their 450ish. We easily had it over the dogs up the middle. But guess what the difference was? Kicking. Burton's boot got them out of trouble and put pressure on us. When we were in trouble our kicking game wasn't up to scratch, and there was never any chance of being kicked out of trouble.

SJ hasn't been playing well this season but he's got a much better kicking game, which is also potentially part of the problem with an over-reliance on him.

TMM and CHT stay whilst we have no other options. They're not a long term solution though.

Amen to that! At the same time, we probably should have been drip feeding our youngsters far sooner, any taste of 1st grade can only benefit us in the longer term.

 

[Commonsense]

To be fair we put 12 unanswered points on the “2nd best defensive team in the comp” in 20 minutes before we lost an already busted CNK then all our outside backs, we could be 6:0 down with SJ and he wouldn’t be able to chase down Wilson and it’d be 12:0

Writing this I remembered we didn’t start on fire but were on even footing and then grinded them to an extend where we actually have the ascendency and won the 2nd quarter of the game. 3rd quarter was injury crisis and lost attacking structure bleeding into 4th quarter

They could put SJ as 18th man in the future and fake another HIA at the death to activate him, like NFL kickers lol

The stage your in is called denial.

Bulldogs made countless errors, we should of put points on them unfortunately CHT made a number of errors and our kicking game was woeful and our attacking structure was rudderless.

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

The stage your in is called denial.

Bulldogs made countless errors, we should of put points on them unfortunately CHT made a number of errors and our kicking game was woeful and our attacking structure was rudderless.

This is nuts.

1. This halves pairing has half a dozen games together under their belt and no preseason with them playing together in those roles.

2. We basically ran out of bench players, had to replace key positions with, frankly not so inform players and you expect the attack to flow perfectly.

I get you're looking for someone to blame, but take a step back and consider, for 5 seconds, just how handicapped we were last night and how bad our injuries have been since round 5.

It's common sense, mate.

 

[Damo]

This is nuts.

1. This halves pairing has half a dozen games together under their belt and no preseason with them playing together in those roles.

2. We basically ran out of bench players, had to replace key positions with, frankly not so inform players and you expect the attack to flow perfectly.

I get you're looking for someone to blame, but take a step back and consider, for 5 seconds, just how handicapped we were last night and how bad our injuries have been since round 5.

It's common sense, mate.

Regardless of your points, both Chanel and Te Maires long kicking games are poor and put a lot of pressure on our back 3 to make us yardage.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

Regardless of your points, both Chanel and Te Maires long kicking games are poor and put a lot of pressure on our back 3 to make us yardage.

My issue is this isnt a secret. Playing a territory game and grinding out a win is a poor tactic when you have 2 weak kickers...

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

Regardless of your points, both Chanel and Te Maires long kicking games are poor and put a lot of pressure on our back 3 to make us yardage.

Regardless of my points?

Are you one of those people thats amazing at anything they try?

Well, in the real world, people have to practice doing things to get better.

Simply put, TMM and CHT have not even had close to the amount of time master any of the common parts of their roles, let alone dive into specifics.

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

My issue is this isnt a secret. Playing a territory game and grinding out a win is a poor tactic when you have 2 weak kickers...

I actually agree with you on this. I noticed the repetitive 'kick to the corner' play coming up again last night.

 

[Damo]

Regardless of my points?

Are you one of those people thats amazing at anything they try?

Well, in the real world, people have to practice doing things to get better.

Simply put, TMM and CHT have not even had close to the amount of time master any of the common parts of their roles, let alone dive into specifics.

Yes, both having a poor long kicking game has nothing to do with practicing their specific roles so it is regardless of your points.
What I do in life has no bearing on my opinion and shouldn't be used as a counterpoint.

Both have been in the league for multiple seasons and have yet to develop a good long kicking game. It may happen years down the track sure, but having an off season together isn't going to make a difference.

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

What I do in life has no bearing on my opinion and shouldn't be used as a counterpoint.

Wasn't having a go, just a bit of context, but I can see how it came off personal.

Yes, both having a poor long kicking game has nothing to do with practicing their specific roles so it is regardless of your points.

It does if the positions they practice for don't require them to have a long kicking game. Since TMM has come back, he was always suggested to be going into six (SJ being the long boot), CHT a utility too.

Skills get rusty after a couple of years of neglect, especially at the top end.

Edit (adding more): the preseason thing remains to be seen. But I'll concede that the chances of them getting significantly better at the kicking game this season are very low.

 

[Inruin]

I actually agree with you on this. I noticed the repetitive 'kick to the corner' play coming up again last night.

I was actually worried about this. I get the feeling that while we put together a rag tag bunch and SJ was out we went with a do what they feel comfortable type approach. Now we know SJ Is out for longer I wonder if the direction has been to try and introduce that style of play back to the team. I hope not but our set up in the opposition 20 looked like it was new to them rather than the type of play we had seen in previous games. I also wonder if the roles were shared a little too much last night. TMM looks like a guy that needs to have the ball a little more in the game

 

[Inruin]

Wasn't having a go, just a bit of context, but I can see how it came off personal.



It does if the positions they practice for don't require them to have a long kicking game. Since TMM has come back, he was always suggested to be going into six (SJ being the long boot), CHT a utility too.

Skills get rusty after a couple of years of neglect, especially at the top end.

Was our long kicking game the issue? With our current play we make metres fairly easily and defend the opposition well coming out of their end and limiting their metres. Burton saves them a lot with his long kicks but it's not something we need to rely on. The problem we had last night was our finishes to our sets and short kicking game. Add in the injury toll and moving players around, Walker to centre hurt not having that middle connection. TMM getting taken out late a fair bit last night as well. It was disappointing because the halves had stepped up and literally won most of the games for us over the last 8 weeks. An off night and we still nearly and should have won hurts though.

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

Was our long kicking game the issue? With our current play we make metres fairly easily and defend the opposition well coming out if their end and limiting their metres. Burton saves then a lot with his long kicks but it's not something we need to rely on. The problem we had last night was our finishes to our sets and short kicking game. Add in the injury toll and moving players around, Walker to centre hurt not having that middle connection. TMM getting taken out late a fair bit last night as well. It was disappointing because the halves had stepped up and literally won most of the games for us over the last 8 weeks. An off night and we still nearly and should have won hurts though

It's complex, right?

To me it certainly is AN issue and definitely makes things more difficult, contributing to fatigue etc..

I've already rattled off most of my feelings in regards to last night's game, but I also think they're fairly consistent with how our season (post round 5) has gone, wins and losses.

 

[Commonsense]

This is nuts.

1. This halves pairing has half a dozen games together under their belt and no preseason with them playing together in those roles.

2. We basically ran out of bench players, had to replace key positions with, frankly not so inform players and you expect the attack to flow perfectly.

I get you're looking for someone to blame, but take a step back and consider, for 5 seconds, just how handicapped we were last night and how bad our injuries have been since round 5.

It's common sense, mate.

CHT made his 4 errors before anyone got injured, if you can't see how badly our halves performed yesterday and that it cost us the game then you are beyond help.

If SJ, Tohu, RTS, Montoya put in a performance like that you would be singing a very different tune.

 

[FormerlyJamesW]

CHT made his 4 errors before anyone got injured, if you can't see how badly our halves performed yesterday and that it cost us the game then you are beyond help.

If SJ, Tohu, RTS, Montoya put in a performance like that you would be singing a very different tune.

Oh we're going all the back to this comment. Nice bunker move

100% I will admit I have some bias for TMM and CHT, but on the same hand I will 100% put them under the same microscope as the players you named; if their performances are consistently poor. Those players you've named visibily 'gummed' up our attack when it was running pretty after magic round.

So far, TMM and CHT have been pretty good, when in this halves pairing, all things considered.