2022 Rd 16 V Dragons: Game Day

[Greenev]

We should never have let sezer go, Don deserves a sacking just for that alone

[Hong Kong Raider]

I'm surprised Savage didn't get many votes for his game yesterday. Scored a good try, made metres, minimal mistakes in testing conditions (that I can recall - NRL says he had one handling error), and he looked good chiming into the backline. I hope we persist with him at fullback.

[Greenev]

I'm surprised Savage didn't get many votes for his game yesterday. Scored a good try, made metres, minimal mistakes in testing conditions (that I can recall - NRL says he had one handling error), and he looked good chiming into the backline. I hope we persist with him at fullback.

Yep, love CNK as a bloke but he just doesn’t have the hunger he had in his first year with us, savage is obviously the better choice moving forward

Anyone heard any rumours on CNK maybe moving back to NZ on seasons end? I’ve seen it a fair bit

[gerg]

The Cowboys are on another level just purely on fitness levels. Ricky is baffled by our fade outs. It starts and ends with us looking like the most unfit team in the competition. We are consistently failing in this area.

Can’t blame the coach for that mate…

Seems he's not actually responsible for anything?

Things that suck:
1. Fitness
2. Gameplan
3. Selections
4. Bench use
5. Football IQ
6. Discipline
7. Structure
8. Attitude
9. Recruitment/retention
10. Half time speeches

Have I missed anything that the coach isn't responsible for?

Refereeing

Bounce of the ball

Luck

Jesus christ, I’m beyond sick of hearing people say lacking match fitness is the players fault and not a coaching flaw!

You have months to build your fitness up in the pre season, the coach lays out what we need to do, and then our boys do it, they are all professional’s and if you have ever played footy you would know that when you train if your given a task by the coach, you do it.

The lack of fitness falls ENTIRELY on our coach and coaching staff and saying it’s the players fault is just completely ridiculous

I think coastal was being sarcastic.

[greeneyed]

Just watching 100% Footy. Paul Gallen actually tried to spin it that referees always don’t make calls in the final minutes and every one should know that. Then it was pointed out that Annesley had admitted the three referee errors and each should have come with a penalty and sin bin. Then it became clear Gallen had no idea that Annesley had said that. Gould used it as an excuse to say the referees shouldn’t be penalising anything they’re not prepared to penalise in the last minute. Agendas everywhere. With Gallen, no brains at all used in coming up with them.

[InFernos_Raiders]

I'm surprised Savage didn't get many votes for his game yesterday. Scored a good try, made metres, minimal mistakes in testing conditions (that I can recall - NRL says he had one handling error), and he looked good chiming into the backline. I hope we persist with him at fullback.

Yep, love CNK as a bloke but he just doesn’t have the hunger he had in his first year with us, savage is obviously the better choice moving forward

Anyone heard any rumours on CNK maybe moving back to NZ on seasons end? I’ve seen it a fair bit

Not if Walsh stays in NZ and CHT did well at FB.

[Off]

I might try Happy clapping this pack of plodders this weekend, It really looks like a special place for special people. Gimme an R gimme A.....Raiders are great Yay!!!, RAIDERS CAN BEAT THE STORM YIPPEE!!!!!!

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[Off]

I'm gunna ask my Mrs to make me green eggs on the weekend, I'm feeling really confident guys.

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[Billy Walker]

I'm gunna ask my Mrs to make me green eggs on the weekend, I'm feeling really confident guys.

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[pacman]

I'm gunna ask my Mrs to make me green eggs on the weekend, I'm feeling really confident guys.

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You just know we'll win to spite your sarcasm.

Question for coach.

[BadnMean]

I'm surprised Savage didn't get many votes for his game yesterday. Scored a good try, made metres, minimal mistakes in testing conditions (that I can recall - NRL says he had one handling error), and he looked good chiming into the backline. I hope we persist with him at fullback.

I agree with all that.

I'm assuming the didn't quite get into the votes because of his defensive effort on Suli. His wasn't the only mistake in that try but it was for sure the most visually bad.

For the record I think it probably takes a 10/10 tackle to stop Suli in that situation for any FB. Only the very best defenders would have made it. But it's something to work on. Otherwise a pretty promising performance, he was getting into those backline moves- they were not slick because it was a goddam downpour but despite the conditions he was getting in the right spot and more often than other games.

[Green Taipan]

Here’s a tale of 2 teams…cowboys and raiders.

In 2021, neither team made the finals. In fact, many picked the cowboys as spoon contenders in 2022.

In the off-season, the cowboys devised a modern game plan based around youthful speed and dynamism. They realised they needed a general to guide them around the field, so went to market for a half, and purchased chad Townsend. Cowboys are currently 3rd.

The raiders devised a game plan based on 2019 ‘effort’ plays, without any discernible structure, and based early ball playing around an ageing backrower who can’t play minutes, because he’s a good bloke. We also needed a general, but went the budget option with Fogarty due to overinflated contracts with ageing players, and then spent the off-season getting him to focus on his running game. Raiders will not make the finals in 2022.

Excellent; some ppl can't handle the truth!

[Peter]

Just watching 100% Footy. Paul Gallen actually tried to spin it that referees always don’t make calls in the final minutes and every one should know that. Then it was pointed out that Annesley had admitted the three referee errors and each should have come with a penalty and sin bin. Then it became clear Gallen had no idea that Annesley had said that. Gould used it as an excuse to say the referees shouldn’t be penalising anything they’re not prepared to penalise in the last minute. Agendas everywhere. With Gallen, no brains at all used in coming up with them.

I didn’t realise channel 9 was still a thing.

[Seiffert82]

Here’s a tale of 2 teams…cowboys and raiders.

In 2021, neither team made the finals. In fact, many picked the cowboys as spoon contenders in 2022.

In the off-season, the cowboys devised a modern game plan based around youthful speed and dynamism. They realised they needed a general to guide them around the field, so went to market for a half, and purchased chad Townsend. Cowboys are currently 3rd.

The raiders devised a game plan based on 2019 ‘effort’ plays, without any discernible structure, and based early ball playing around an ageing backrower who can’t play minutes, because he’s a good bloke. We also needed a general, but went the budget option with Fogarty due to overinflated contracts with ageing players, and then spent the off-season getting him to focus on his running game. Raiders will not make the finals in 2022.

Fair points about the Cows. However, I could argue that the signing of Fogarty was theoretically just as good as Townsend.

As you have said, the big thing about the Cowboys is their general push towards youth. Sometimes that pays off and sometimes it doesn't, but Payten is obviously very good at keeping young players focussed and developing a game plan that works to their strengths.

Our biggest issue is clearly age and too many players well past their best. Hodgson, Croker, Rapa and Whitehead were all huge question marks coming into the season, and this is where we are as a result.

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[Coastalraider]

I made a comment in 2019 that nearly man for man, our squad was each in career best form.

Heading into this year CNK, Rapa, toots, Cotric, Jack, papa, Hodgo, whitehead we’re all past their best.

Progression was unknown on players like CHN, Guler, Fogarty, starling, horse, Kris and Valemi, arguably only horse and Kris have improved.

There was hope for our youth.. schnieder, savage, mooney, Rushton, it took far too long for savage to get a proper opportunity, schnieder was solid in his stint after starting the year and trials behind both Frawley and Williams, and neither mooney or Rushton have as yet been given more than a token opportunity.

Add up the sum of those pets, and it’s not a huge surprise that our squad is not looking good. And given I believe only Hodgo from that list is not signed already for next year, this 2019 hangover is likely to last another year at least.

[BadnMean]

We should never have let sezer go, Don deserves a sacking just for that alone

Ricky sacked Sezer, not Don.

Don is not telling R Stuart who his starting FG halfback is.

Getting rid of Sezer for GWilly... fair enough attempt to improve the team I thought, GWilly was a good player who just didn't fit in/cope with/get managed well through the COVID crisis. I can see some reasons a coach would back GWilly- he for sure gave us some attacking spark and was a very good defender too.

Unfortunately I think Ricky was at his wits end with "homesick" stuff and contract power moves after Bateman's shenanigans and somehow he/the club made a hash of managing GWilly. Or maybe the situation was just unwinnable- GWilly was in a tough spot with a pregnant missus 10 000 miles from home, no family visits possible for years at a stretch and maybe there was no way for Raiders to win that one.

It's unfortunate that Fog isn't working out. He's kind of a poor mans Sezer playing ability wise but with a bit better leadership at his best and we haven't quite got the best yet.

[Botman]

George Williams didnt pan out, i think the reasons for that are largely circumstances beyond our control
But making the Sezer to Williams move was unquestionable the right swing to take given where we were... the potential upside was too good to pass up... it didnt work out but you simply have to take that swing

[Seiffert82]

This is where the debate gets interesting. In my mind, Willams was an excellent 5/8 who didn't complement Jack's skillset as well as Sezer's did. He was a fair gamble for the club. I have no idea whether the homesickness thing was legit or not, but presumably COVID also had a negative impact on the situation.

I love Wighton, but his presence in the halves is starting to kill our attack. He's not the right type of player to be our primary playmaker.

Who knows whether a fit Hodgson would have helped, but the fact is he was also showing real signs of his age. He couldn't play at the pace he wanted to, and it showed. Woolford helps us in the short term and hopefully Trevilyan is the goods.

So, time to move forward with what we've got.

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[zim]

At least the Warriors game now has some competition in the end of year voting. In a round where teams competing for the 8 stood up and beat their heavily favoured opponents we dropped our way to loss. Crazy simple errors from guys we need to be better. We hold the ball we win that.

[-PJ-]

After beating the Knights last start this Dragons game was a must win for me.

With a bye in hand we were looking ok with a reasonably soft draw I keep hearing.

Not that a soft draw warms the cockles when we follow our Mighty Green Machine.

I’m on edge all game every game.

[afgtnk]

You know things are pretty bad when blokes start touting Aidan Sezer as the guy to fix things

[Greenev]

I'm surprised Savage didn't get many votes for his game yesterday. Scored a good try, made metres, minimal mistakes in testing conditions (that I can recall - NRL says he had one handling error), and he looked good chiming into the backline. I hope we persist with him at fullback.

Yep, love CNK as a bloke but he just doesn’t have the hunger he had in his first year with us, savage is obviously the better choice moving forward

Anyone heard any rumours on CNK maybe moving back to NZ on seasons end? I’ve seen it a fair bit

Not if Walsh stays in NZ and CHT did well at FB.

Looks like Walsh is going broncos and charnze to NZ

[Greenev]

George Williams didnt pan out, i think the reasons for that are largely circumstances beyond our control
But making the Sezer to Williams move was unquestionable the right swing to take given where we were... the potential upside was too good to pass up... it didnt work out but you simply have to take that swing

Agree with what you said, we were all hoping to turn Williams into a premier 7, but we all also had that feeling that he was too similar to wighton and we were kind of drifting away from an organising halfback (sezer)

I honestly think Schneider given some more time to perfect his craft can become a premier 7. His defence is very solid, he has a good temperament, and a decent kicking game

If he can get used to the speed of the game he could end up being exactly what we need. I honestly don’t think Fogarty is the answer for us unfortunately

[InFernos_Raiders]

I'm surprised Savage didn't get many votes for his game yesterday. Scored a good try, made metres, minimal mistakes in testing conditions (that I can recall - NRL says he had one handling error), and he looked good chiming into the backline. I hope we persist with him at fullback.

Yep, love CNK as a bloke but he just doesn’t have the hunger he had in his first year with us, savage is obviously the better choice moving forward

Anyone heard any rumours on CNK maybe moving back to NZ on seasons end? I’ve seen it a fair bit

Not if Walsh stays in NZ and CHT did well at FB.

Looks like Walsh is going broncos and charnze to NZ

Yep I just read that now.
That's why CNK hasn't played well or seems to care he just wanted out.

I am so sick and tried of players breaking contracts.

[Boomercm]

This is where the debate gets interesting. In my mind, Willams was an excellent 5/8 who didn't complement Jack's skillset as well as Sezer's did. He was a fair gamble for the club. I have no idea whether the homesickness thing was legit or not, but presumably COVID also had a negative impact on the situation.

I love Wighton, but his presence in the halves is starting to kill our attack. He's not the right type of player to be our primary playmaker.

Who knows whether a fit Hodgson would have helped, but the fact is he was also showing real signs of his age. He couldn't play at the pace he wanted to, and it showed. Woolford helps us in the short term and hopefully Trevilyan is the goods.

So, time to move forward with what we've got.

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Reasonable take - Jack is no general. And unfortunately we are paying Jack to be a general. Jack is really a 600-700k guy, not a 900+k guy.

But I think you are underestimating the influence of Hodgson. When we (and Jack) were good Hodgson controlled everything from hooker. Sezer was very solid but was not really a dominant HB. Our slide came with Hodgson's injury and the decision to take control of the game away from him. This move was championed by many fans but never really worked. We never had halves capable of taking the role.

[BadnMean]

Yep I just read that now.
That's why CNK hasn't played well or seems to care he just wanted out.

I am so sick and tried of players breaking contracts.

CNK is the last bloke in the NRL I'd accuse of not caring.

He plays as well as he can. He's not super quick and lacks slick passing so he bashes it up the guts as often as he possibly can, no matter how tough the run.

At FB these days you need some speed or some passing skill to really excel. But he didn't lack those through lack of hunger. Just his ceiling.

Not in either parties interest to keep him here now that Savage is #1. We just end up with an overpaid reggies FB when we already have cap issues gumming things up (Croker, Whitehead). Believe me, if we could convince all 3 to break contract and head to Warriors we'd jump at it.

[InFernos_Raiders]

Yep I just read that now.
That's why CNK hasn't played well or seems to care he just wanted out.

I am so sick and tried of players breaking contracts.

CNK is the last bloke in the NRL I'd accuse of not caring.

He plays as well as he can. He's not super quick and lacks slick passing so he bashes it up the guts as often as he possibly can, no matter how tough the run.

At FB these days you need some speed or some passing skill to really excel. But he didn't lack those through lack of hunger. Just his ceiling.

Not in either parties interest to keep him here now that Savage is #1. We just end up with an overpaid reggies FB when we already have cap issues gumming things up (Croker, Whitehead). Believe me, if we could convince all 3 to break contract and head to Warriors we'd jump at it.

You are right I shouldn’t have said he didn’t care I meant you could tell there was more to it then his drop of form. I know he gave 200% every game and it’s sad to lose the guy but Family matters and his a young kid. Covid really stuffed things around. We will capture his form once he settles in NZ.

Yeah Whitehead has dropped off I feel for Croker though.
Give Tapine the captaincy or Pappa ? Or both lol
Have you heard of any new possible signings ? We lose Elliot and CNK