Round 10 Dragons Vs Storm

[Super Cronk]

didnt do anything wrong. thought all the young guys did pretty good. nothing really spectacular from anyone.

[coupy73]

game is done. dragons played well. VERY proud of the young guys tonight...they kept trying right up to the very end.

i dont want to be to harsh on the young guys because i believe altho we got beat by a decent margin they still put in and did extremely well. BUT i have a couple of things i want to bring up without being to critical or tough on the team, like i said im proud of em tonight. (plus these are some issues that dont even involve the young guys)

1) i dont know if it was bellamy or mooks or mcguires decision (ild say it ultimately came down to belly) but having jezza and sam tag playing in that right centre role throughout the night was a pretty dumb choice, especially considering  morris was on that side and also we had brett anderson on debut.

2) Foran should have started at hooker. I love boofa but he just has NOTHING at dummy half  , i know he is a fit bloke but he rarely plays 80 mins these days...he was very tired towards the end there. They still persist with geyer at hooker tho to replace cam....it just doesnt work.

3) Anderson out on the wing i thought was strong in some parts but in defence didnt look like he knew what was going on, this maybe also due to having a second rower playing inside him too. He didnt look like he knew where to stand, to come in or stay out. BUT i dont want to be too harsh i thought he did well in parts and will ofcourse learn from his mistakes.

4) ZAPPPPAAAA!!!! another bloke i love...but he shits me sometimes  starting to put in some inconsistent games lately.

5) Aitken.....still not sure on this guy...just doesnt seem like an attacking the line type of player.

please dont read this as im putting the boot in and saying its our season gone or something stupid like that, just some little points.

there were plenty of good signs too. TOLMAN, holy shit he played his ass off! Sika was also great. ANTONIO (not anthony) kaufusi also made plenty of metres and worked hard in defence. Scott Anderson worked well too i thought, altho he was getting beat around a bit he kept coming back for more.

Foran i thought did really well with the short amount of time he was on...looked to get things flowing alot more from dummy half then boof did.

All in all im hapy with most individuals. but thought we had very poor decipline which didnt help ethier. Anyways these guys will be better off with the experince and they will do much better next time.

just about sums up my thoughts SC.

agree about geyer and have been saying it for the past year or so although I thought he did OK last night, probably his best for a while. don't know why they persist in playing him in a play-maker role though.

Turner was shocking, was a bit dusty earlier in the season but did well last week against the knights, but went backwards last night, I know he was originally a full back but really doesn't look comfortable in that spot.

Tolman is looking awsome, great worker, similar mold to Dallas i think, not a great meter getter, but will put his hand up in both attack and defence, get him on a long term deal!!

Kaufusi is doing good things also, not really breaking many tackles but is putting some big hits in defence.

Think anderson was a bit exposed on the wing due to the centres.

missed the last 10 mins so did really see how Foran went, but have been impressed with him in the bits and bobs I've seen of the Toyota cup

rest of the team did OK, just experience and confidence  the difference.

[KimmorleyKiller]

I didn't see the game, i had other commitments. I suck a being a fan this year

Good to hear about Tolman though, he's a big guy who doesn't get scared. Hopefully we can hold onto him.

[steaming stormer]

Really like the looks of Tolman.  His workrate was outstanding.  The other forward I really like from the limited gametime he's had this season is Manua.  Great leg drive, and an agressive runner of the ball. 
I thought in a side that was basically smashed up the middle that Cronk played pretty well too.  His kicking game was good, and tried his best to steer the boys around the park.
Really wasn't a game for our outside backs, and for that reason they didn't show much, but as I said, the game wasn't set up for them.  We had very little ball, and when we did were in terrible field position, so had to ruck it up the middle. 
Chambers had close to his best game for the year too.
I think Fus is slowly getting his confidence back in his knee, and starting to return to form.

The boys never gave up, and we have every reason to be proud of their effort. Basically beaten by a lack of size and experience, and they will learn from that result no doubt.  I was disappointed it blew out in the end, but that was always a chance with the way the game went

[TC]

I was bitterly disappointed with that performance actually.

There were some good points; the young guys did OK, Cronk went well behind a badly beaten pack.

And that's the bad point. It was the experienced forwards who it seems didn't pull their weight..
Kafusi - 5 hitups.
Lima - 5.
Smith - 2. Two f*cking hitups from an international second rower? 

Sure they did plenty of tackling, but pur-lease.

Tolman made 29 tackles too and 16 tackles off the bench. Anderson at lock made 9 and Manua made 8. The 'young' forwards seemed to be the ones doing the hard yards - Tolman easily the best of them.

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I feel.

[steaming stormer]

Smith basically played in the centres, and saw very little ball for that reason though. 

[TC]

Smith basically played in the centres, and saw very little ball for that reason though. 

That's a rubbish excuse for a senior player to be honest.
When your forwards are struggling, your senior backs should be getting in there and helping do the hard yards.
Folau, Quinn and Inglis do it and King used to. Geyer does when he's in the backs and it's needed.
Taga made twice as many hitups as Smith and Turner made as many.

[Insomniac]

I didn't get to see the game (I was at some lame 30th b'day party) - do we have anything to worry about with Chambers' late/high hit?  From the "high"lights I saw there didn't seem to be much in it...

[mrpc]

The ref didn't notice it, the commentators thought it was minor, and it took a call from the video ref (Simpkins - surprise, surprise) a minute later during a stoppage for the report to be made by the on-field ref (some new guy).

At most he'll get one week - which will be our bunnies game at Gosford with all our Origin stars back.  We've still got plenty of talent to fill one vacant spot so even if he does get a suspension, we'll manage.

[steaming stormer]

it was high, but not late IMO.  Not sure if he has any points over his head, if not I expect he'll be fine

[Michael :P]

I was bitterly disappointed with that performance actually.

There were some good points; the young guys did OK, Cronk went well behind a badly beaten pack.

And that's the bad point. It was the experienced forwards who it seems didn't pull their weight..
Kafusi - 5 hitups.
Lima - 5.
Smith - 2. Two f*cking hitups from an international second rower? 

Sure they did plenty of tackling, but pur-lease.

Tolman made 29 tackles too and 16 tackles off the bench. Anderson at lock made 9 and Manua made 8. The 'young' forwards seemed to be the ones doing the hard yards - Tolman easily the best of them.

The more I think about it, the more disappointed I feel.

I agree with you somewhat TC.

I was VERY disappointed in our Senior players. The offloads the Dragons were getting away with 3 Storm players on them was ridiculous, Steve Turner must be sooking about Quinn getting a Blues jersey before him, Cooper Cronk did nothing , Boofas service from d-h was very poor and  slow & our pack which still had some good players didnt aim up.

On the good side though Kevin Proctor is gonna be a beast, looked bigger and stronger then anyone out there, Liam Forans passing from d-h was brilliant, Aiden Tolman looks like he is going to be one of those rock-solid players that his team-mates can depend on & Sika Manu was tremendous for his first game back from and ankle injury

[Super Cronk]

nah chambers shouldnt have a worry. the dragons player slipped anyway.

[steaming stormer]

On the subject of Boof, I didn't think his service was terrible, but he provides little in terms of probing runs and creating some issues around the ruck.  The St George markers basically were there to pick off the player one off the ruck that recieved the ball from Boof.  Having said that, it can't be an easy thing to go from playing 20 mins a game in various positions during the first 9 weeks, to being thrown into hooker to play 65 or so.  Be a shock to the body I'd have thought.  Will be better for the run

[Super Cronk]

thing is tho, he has NEVER done the job from hooker tho. Now i may have too big expectations, i dont expect him to be like cam but atleast offer more then just a wobbly pass from hooker. His scoots didnt get more then a few metres ethier. he did 1 good kick which sat up in goal, but he just isnt a ball player simple. He did play 5/8 in 99 GF win but seriously he is no 5/8 or hooker.

and your right re: the game time he has had SS. I think that comes down to the coaching staff tho, they made two very silly choices (i can say this in hindsight ofcourse) that Foran should have started at hooker and Sam tag/Jezza should not have been at centre. Boof did his best...but he shouldnt have been put there IMO.

[steaming stormer]

wouldn't be surprised if they do that before origin 2.  Put Boof in the centres/wing and Foran at hooker... guess we'll have to wait and see