Round 6 - Storm vs Roosters

[Insomniac]

Yep, Jesse is a major disappointment at the moment, and to be honest, it's been a while since he was a dominant forward for us - his brother has actually gone past him in my opinion.

Finucane, Tui and Welch were outstanding again - I can't believe how much Welch has improved since last year, especially now that it seems he has the consistent dropsies and penalties out of his game. NAS was also a force in limited bursts, although his stomp is certainly a concern and is sure to draw the attention of the MRC (even if it was understandable at the time given the continued frustration of the Roosters being allowed to hang on and interfere when we were trying to play the ball).

But ultimately it comes down to Cam Smith - when he runs from dummy half (which he didn't do in the GF or most of the 1st half in this game) we come alive - when he doesn't we look lost and easy to defend, especially if Munster is shut down like he was tonight.

Oh, and fingers crossed Brandon's shoulder is OK - Craig didn't sound overly optimistic about it in the post game presser.

[Scooter]

Funny game and I can't put my finger on where we lost it, other than in the first half... I wouldn't say we roared back in to it and we sure had our chances, but then so did the Chooks. We were unlucky with the bounce of the ball for the JWH try.
Our intensity certainly lifted in the second half and gifted a mountain of possession we could only improve.
Latrell, can't describe my feelings towards him, I'm sure others can!
Does Munster have a short kicking game, how many times did he get the ball 30 metres out and out to the left and the grubber through was on, but wasn't taken. Does the left side train for this?
I think Croft is excellent, his tackling is really good just they need to get his combination with Felise sorted, these two looked clunky together.
Suli... His antics are going to come under scrutiny from officialdom and they'll wise up to him and look less favourably when something minor happens.
What is it with running into the defenders legs when they're high in the air diffusing the bomb, face palm!
Golden point, like it even less now, especially when the only time we touched the ball was kicking off.
What was the crowd?

Bullucked the crowd was 17,036.

[yourhero]

Someone explain why we let Blair go and have persisted with Scott.

[blazza18]

Higher upside and we’re probably paying him like a top flight centre. His lack of development is a real issue. Pairing him next to Suli and Croft hasn’t been a great idea either.

I went back to check who missed the big tackle in golden point. Sucks that it was Dale (and NAS). We really should’ve closed things out in regulation.

[shorton]

We will never beat the Roosters again while they have Cronk, O’Brien and King

[shorton]

Ps does Croft practice field goals, because he is hopeless at them

[Mattpoet]

Can we do something to block this troll?

[yourhero]

Higher upside

Is there really though? I’m yet to see it. His defence has been atrocious and his running game ineffective.

Pairing him next to Suli and Croft hasn’t been a great idea either.

Fair enough. Some of the defensive decision making could be attributed to his lack of confidence in Croft. Whether or not he is making the correct decisions can only be answered by the coaching staff.

But we also don’t offer those excuses for other players (Chambers), nor should we. Who he is next to also doesn’t excuse one-on-one defensive lapses/missed tackles either.

[yourhero]

Can we do something to block this troll?

+1

[Storm Spirit]

Can we do something to block this troll?

+1

+2

[blazza18]

Higher upside

Is there really though? I’m yet to see it. His defence has been atrocious and his running game ineffective.

Pairing him next to Suli and Croft hasn’t been a great idea either.

Fair enough. Some of the defensive decision making could be attributed to his lack of confidence in Croft. Whether or not he is making the correct decisions can only be answered by the coaching staff.

But we also don’t offer those excuses for other players (Chambers), nor should we. Who he is next to also doesn’t excuse one-on-one defensive lapses/missed tackles either.

It's "Upside" Cause he's younger and has more room to grow. The issue is he's hardly grown as a player since he came into the team.

Wasn't making an excuse for his defence. He's been part of the blame as well. Just pointing out how poor the right side has been.

[riders of the storm]

If there's one positive to take out of the game, and I'm horribly heartbroken about the result, Christian Welch has shown he's an absolute behemoth.

He ran for more than 200 metres. He's an absolute priority re-signing. Lock the guy up as he's going to be playing Origin at some point.

[yourhero]

If there's one positive to take out of the game, and I'm horribly heartbroken about the result, Christian Welch has shown he's an absolute behemoth.

He ran for more than 200 metres. He's an absolute priority re-signing. Lock the guy up as he's going to be playing Origin at some point.

How about that run where he made about 25 metres and palmed off at least 4 players!? His single best moment in RL to date. Then Latrell tries to slam his head into the ground a couple of times - going on with the tackle - and Welch gets a penalty as well. Huge game from Welchy.

[shorton]

That was a huge loss and could have cost us the Premiership. Win and we would have been two games clear of the Roosters

[Bullucked]

Ps does Croft practice field goals, because he is hopeless at them

He was ten miles out, no chance. Yes Mitchell was a long way out too. Munster was practising in the warm up