Good summary, Steve. Do you know if Burton had a run?
No. Sadly they kept Burton on the bench the whole game.
Clearyās leadership is getting better and better and the forwards are playing the game theyāre asked to. We still have a tendency to make that rash decision ie contested offload, inadequate grubber through traffic etc We need to be patient and starve the opposition of opportunity and wait for ours.
If we stick to our guns it wonāt matter what game the opposition bring to the table.
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Scoring those first 2 tries that easily led us down the wrong mindset path, we were back to our old ways of expecting results without doing the work.
What is it with offloading in traffic on tackle 1 and 2, lock it under the arm and play strategy, that is what has put us on top of the table.
Got to say, we won that game with adversity. I didnāt see the presser from GC coach, but if he was whinging about 50/50ās, heās the new Ricky Stuart !
We never whinge anymore, we just get on with the biased decisions and turn the negative into positives through hard work. I was very impressed with some of our āsteelā in defense.
Good signs if IC can just reign in that stupidity if we get a couple of easy points early.
Tamou, is he off contract this year, he is playing like he is advertising his worth, good for us ATM because the start of the year, I wouldnāt have fed him lol
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I think we have come up with a formula, direct running up front, strong returns from the back, good kicking game with a good chase, that enables us to mostly control our opposition, and has us in a position to win games. Iāll take that thanks.
Our starts (after Rnd 1) have been strong, and we seem to mostly dominate most of the game, certainly minimising opportunities for the opposition. Even tries we give up sometimes come against the run of play. Our Achilles heel so far has been where some teams can get a try or two quickly, often from nothing.
It would be great if we could have a few more points from our dominance, but some times things donāt quite work out.
The 2nd titans try came after a strip on a Mansour return, where the stripper propelled the ball forward ( not seen by the officials), so we should have had the ball. The 3rd try came after the player lost the ball before playing it, again missed. Titans could easily have finished with just the single try.
Previously calls like those could have lost us the game, but we are finding a way to win. We controlled that 2nd half very professionally - not pretty perhaps, but the way to win in the circumstances.
It would be great if we played perfectly and won every week by 20 or 30+, but Iām happy we are on track for a top 4 finish, perhaps with a crack at this damn thing.
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Itās great to have a year when we can go to any game feeling that we are a good chance of winning. It reminds me of 1991 & 1992. And I agree that, probably reflecting ICās nature, we just take the bad calls on the chin and move on. There certainly seems to be a culture there that has been rare in the past. I suppose that might also reflect a lifetime of being treated like s@&t and knowing that, if we complain, no one is listening anyway. We all suspect that the game has something rotten and unfair at its core, and the apparent ease with which the Easts Rorters can now acquire SBW testifies to this. Itās like in politics; if something seems rotten, just follow the money and youāll find the answer.
Our grubber kicks were a problem this week. Perhaps just a bad day.
For the Titansā first try, Iāve examined the video highlights and I reckon that Luai was tackled late; if he wasnāt he would have been able to stop the runaway from even getting started. I think that it was Proctor, and he should have been penalised.
The way Don (coming up in support) easily outpaced our backs for that runaway try shows that we lack pace and height on the edge. We have a workaround by kicking to the centres in attack, and our wingers bring it back well, but I see it as a problem in defence. Even Brian Toāo doesnāt seem so fast, so maybe the future is Staines. If his penalty was 2 weeks off, then we might see him replacing MWZ next week.
I didnāt see any knock-on for Copleyās try, unless if was when Mansour seemed to bump the ball. Can anyone enlighten me on that?
As a general comment, we seem to have a history of been unprepared for any short kick-off (from a restart or goal-line drop-out). I think that the stats would be damning in that regard.
Copley knocked on the play before the Don try. It was only a little one, and he regathered before the ref saw it.
To be fair, our last try was off a forward pass, so that squared things up.
Its great to get these wins but boy are they ugly
we scored 2 blistering tries and never set the same plays up again and we had a kicking game which was odd, kicking into players etc
Titans were plucky but the try they scored in the corner from a play the ball on the line was shocking defence from us. Also the run away try also surprised me we had no one who could run the Titans player down
Mansour dished up his usual mistake and Burns has either a spare kidney Cleary wants or something else not seen by me
Sure we were down on some starters like Kikau, Api etc but we seem to either move away from our game plan or went ad hoc and allowed the Titans to appear like they were in it.
Sure hope these games stand us in good stead in the back end but i donāt see Titans making the 8 to worry us.
IMO Cleary is doing too much work in defence but its because he has to with so many holes appearing in our defence.
Why Burton never got a run is beyond me
Manly will be a whole different matter this week and doubt they will let us get ahead easily and will be in it for the full 80 minutes
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All good comments as usual above!
Yeo was best for mine and is putting himself in Origin contention.
Martin is becoming a force to be reckoned with, heās bending the line almost every hit up he makes.
I thought the replacements did their job, Kenny was great at hooker, and I take back concerns of his fitness after his 80 minutes. While no Api he stayed composed, tackled well and gee he has āsoft handsā in his passing.
MWZ and Aekins were solid in defense, but we missed Edwards, Toāo, Staines etc in attack and speed. That long range try would of been run down by Edwards. And can someone show Naden how to tackle in that circumstance.
Speaking of which, we need to get our outer backs and second rowers together and explain goal line defense and positioning out wide. Any 1% coaching lesson is to teach the outer backs how to throw flat rather than looping passes from dummy half.
Iāve noticed a trend where we tend to loose our way minutes 20-40, and it has nothing to do with our bench forwards (Leota made 15m and an offload on his first hit up!). I think the loss of way may be due to the inexperience of Naden and Crichton.
The Titans came up to play, and media who called the game and ugly win have it wrong. Thatās whatās happens when you have players playing for contracts - look at what the Dogs did to the Knights.
All in all another win, Manly will be tough, but this team has me confident against all others.
Canāt say I have felt that since early ā92, well except maybe pre game in ā03 when they showed Mini in the sheds on the big screen. I knew we had it from that moment.
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Billy Burns - OāH MY GOD
If he continues to make basic fundamental mistakes, he is going to be my target - I was filthy, scared the Mrs with the abuse I threw at the TV when he dropped that sitter, then missed a basic one on one in defenseā¦Grrrrrrr 
I noticed in the game statistics that Luai made a heap of tackles and missed none. That for me was the standout stat from the game. The opposition relentlessly ran their big men at Maloney, with predictable results for a little bloke, and they are trying the same tactic for Luai. So full credit to him. If he started to become a turnstile, then that might open the door for Burton.
Burns remains an enigma. From the time when Fittler quizzed him about his mouthguard during his debut, and he responded āParkes Spacemen, babyā is wondered if he was a serious footballer. My doubts remain because he is the opposite of the āconsistencyā on which IC is so focussed.
In regard to attitude, I remember Warren Ryan saying many years ago āYou show me a team of blokes coming off contract and Iāll show you a champion teamā or words to that effect.
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[quote=āsteamboatfarmer, post:28, topic:501ā]
Why Burton never got a run is beyond me [/quote]
I canāt see how he could have been used on Sunday. Luai has got better each week and his defence has been remarkable & he is forming a formidable partnership with NC. He copped an injury a couple of weeks ago, fought it off and made his tackles, so heās earned his spot.
Short of an injury in the halves or perhaps F/B canāt see where Burto would have fitted in. You donāt just put someone on for a run in a close game - his nameās not Hardaker
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Agree mrwalker, as much as Iād love to see Burto in the starting side, you just donāt change the winning formula. The fact that Luai is building his game suggests he is fully aware of the circumstances and all power to him for his attitude and effort.
Itās a good problem to have until someone else opens the cheque book with an enticing scenario offer, i.e. starting 1st gradeā¦ā¦ā¦
you may have misread my post, i never at anytime suggested Burton for Luai and agree re Luai and have posted many times how Luaiās game has changed and how impressive he has been.
My comment about Burton as to why he never got a run and i would have moved Crichton to 1 and Burton to 4
Even moreso on since we lost our way in attack on the left side
I donāt know what you saw but i saw a side who couldnāt penetrate a Titans side who were out on their feet with their defence
Aekins didnāt trouble them nor did MWZ
We all want Burto to get a run, but I donāt want us to fall into the category of creating more Peacheyās than needed. Itās one thing to play someone out of position under absolute necessity, itās another to do it just to give them āfield timeā. IMO that will diminish the young manās confidence as being the number 1 replacement for our 6 and 7.
Additionally, I donāt want him at lock just yet either, he hasnāt even crafted his trade in his preferred position.
Itās a good problem to have, but without reggies it is a concern, agreed, and I think that is where your coming from SBF?
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