Dietz needs to work on his defence.

About 3 bad missed tackles in a row, a big part of 2 second  half knights tries.
Came off HIA, so might have been affected. 

His attack is good, defence is a potential problem.

The team actually attacked way better than games in recent seasons, but defence up the middle was soft.
Posession, Dietz, a lack of Tommo and Tolman all problems.

In fact Tommo will do a lot to improve  this side in attack and defence.

We need to do a bit of work on defence and cutting out silly dropped balls.
Our side has points in it for the first time in ages, stop the last Knights try in the first half and get a bit more possession in the first 20 of the 2nd half, we might have been right in it.

But no team can afford soft defence up the middle, that is why no NRL coach picks 17 Ben Barbas.

You guys are still missing the point.

We have too few players that have the urgency to hit the line and go for a quick run.

Thompson, RFM, Elliott, Dietz and DWZ.

The rest just dont have it and never will. If they play in a team full of players that hit the offence line running, they might lift themselves to do the same. But to take the initiative themselves - no chance.

Inability to win the territorial battle has been hindering this team for the last 20 years.

Napa is well past his best.
We are missing a good starting prop.
Odgen and Renouf are ok off the bench and occasionally starting, both have improvement in them, NRL bench props of their quality are not common. Best to keep what we have.
Tommo should be starting lock, unfortunately that means Jacko coming off the bench.
But like Odgen and Renouf, Jacko is a more than handy squad player.
We need a bit more size impact and skill, mobility is important for the starting prop, but no necessarily long minutes.
If that prop helps set the tone the rest of side can keep it going.
Essentially replace Napa with a proper senior prop we are mostly there.
We also need a couple of young guys with a bit of size to contend for bench positions.

I reckon every prop in the club who’s played NRL excepting Hetherington and Thompson have had their chance. Ogden, Renouf are never gonna make it, Napa’s past it.

And I don’t necessarily think “size” is the answer. Napa has size, so does Klemmer, but they’re two styles of prop I think the modern game is gonna pass by, too much just hit ups and nothing else, no steps, no skills and then tiring out.

The prototypes for the future can bend the line yet still have mobility and have skill - Paulo and Papa are two good examples, and yeah I know their big, but there’s bigger.

Thommo’s got a great chance of joining them.

Reckon we went backwards when Napa came on...he makes Bill "Herman" Hamilton look positively toey. Hetherington was okay...Ogden a tad disappointing. Renouf Whatshisname looks to have lost a bit of poundage. We were out bopped and that will be the case until we get a dominating forward. 

If v'landys is going to fvck around with the rules, then he needs to let the fans know what's going on. If a six again is called then let the fans know why. I have lost following the game with constant "6 again" it's like the referee is making it up as he goes and frankly could easily direct the result of the game to wherever he wants. Already I am starting to lose interest, not in the Bulldogs but what the V'RLol are trying to peddle. If people don't or can't understand the basic rules and structure of the game then they will lose interest. As someone in here mentioned earlier "it is a simple game" but I feel the current administration are unnecessarily complicating it.

pretty disappointing, we started off well and looked the goods. then then we lacked possession, dropped ball, compounded by the repeat sets. 

Bwahahahaha!!!...

New coach,  new halves, basically almost everything new. It will be a couple of months before we get a handle on this teams potential. I don't  expect  miracles though.

It is week 1, our squad has limitations, but can play better.

With a smaller more mobile pack, we should be defending well running hard and having good linespeed.

The 6 agains and dropped ball sapped our energy levels.

Defense needs work, but Flanagan threw some nice passes, Cotric is a dangerous ball runner.

Recruitment wise props and a big winger are priorities.

We will have the Fox and Burton for 2022 they will help.

We get Okunbor back on deck later this season, hopefully RFM can return to form.

Elliott and Cotric look like our only dangerous ball runners. Averillo will be dangerous if he gets some space.
Tommo has good speed.

Overall I hope we have potential improvement in the side, but a miracle turnaround looks unlikely we will have to work hard to improve.

I think it's time Jacko, Napa and Hoppa are let go.
Averillo may need to move into the centres when Burton arrives. 
B Smith would be a very good acquisition in this team. I also wouldnt mind Matterson or getting Lane back. Was cursing when Des swapped him with RFM....

Well..... we seem to not only lack the players, but lack the ability and mindset to play a winning formula.

I rate TB though and strongly believe he identifies this problem and given time, he will fix it. I just cant believe how bad if a disease Desball is...

It makes Covid-19 look like a fake headache.

We lost tonight and will see a few more this year. But I think we have found our halfback. He was one of the best on the ground. Cotric is so much better than what we have. Allen looks promising but I’m a little doubtful. Avo looks good but Burton is much better. The future does look good for the backline. 

They also have two wingers and two props and a much more experienced spine that would all walk into our side. 

My mate mentioned that watching the game. Probably the yuckiest jersey I have ever seen

The lesson tonight is to watch the difference in line speed between the eels and us.

Eels probably made twice the amount of errors than us, but they didn't die wondering. They just kept playing at speed and pushing up in attack. 

On their day, they can beat a team by 60. Not so much because of talent. Simply because of the way they play.

It shouldn't happen, but home ground advantage sometimes counts.

I don't  believe  in evening  out over the season. The referee's job is to apply the rules consistently and equally  for both teams.  Regardless of whether  a team plays well or not that is the standard they are entitled to expect.  A bad deal in a GF and a good deal in a trial don't equate.

Milford makes break...Mead along side him unmarked...Milford hogs ball...end result no try...can't believe it...barracking for Broncos

Ok Parra....
Put another 3 tries on them now.....

The smart teams can adjust and make it work for the them.

The dumb treams will play the same way and hope for a different outcome.

Smart teams will always beat dumb teams

The hope is that refs even out over the course of the season.

Dropped balls and bad defensive misses are what we need to fix.

Baz is querying the refs, but nothing ever happens.

6 agains are a joke.  In our game penalties 5-0 against. 6 agains 5-0 against until the game is over in the last 15 or 20 minutes. We're  supposed to believe  that the Knights all of a sudden changed their  behavior at the tackle for the worse and we changed ours for the better.  5-3 looks better on the stats than 5-0.
Having said that we didn't  play  very  well 

So who likes the Eels in their vests?

Bugger ... I'm the apprentice mock.

Parra in last place would be good.
I'll celebrate every 2nd half Broncos try.

The 6 agains were a killer....could the NRL somehow show why the 6 again is called....perhaps on bottom of screen somehow...it just seemed "because the ref thought it would be a good thing for Newcastle"

Hey life isn't that bad I have had a few glasses of wine and Parra are losing.

6 again stats will be interesting in a few rounds time...