Our players are only partly the problem.
The biggest issue we have is the gamestyle. It is so basic, so predictable, so easy to defend against and so easy to dominate. No matter who plays for us, they will struggle to make it work.

Unless the opposition hands us opportunities or has complete brain explosions that lead to us scoring, we have very limited players who can take advantage.

I kid you not when I say our reserve grade plays a better game. It is as clear as daylight and some of our players who drop to that grade prove how good they can be when they play a faster tempo game. It's like a wave with the whole team moving forward, not just sending 1 bloke to the front and watch him get barrelled.

I stick the boot into Tolman because he is the epitome of this poor gamestyle and couldnt change if his life depended on it.

Man I wish NRL didnt resume this year so we could cleanout the entire team. 

I have a solution...
Club should announce a Director of Coaching role sometime in next 2 days.
This director (let's say it is Griffin) will need to "carry out a review" of our coaching (meanwhile all he is doing is serving his 2 weeks quarantine period).
After next weeks debacle, he concludes that Pay is not the right fit and convinces the board to sack him. Georgallis takes over for 1 week until Griffin moves into the role the following week.

It's called.... Operation Avoid-the-spoon

Playing style is mostly the wrong players in key positions.

There is more to fix but we are a club that deserately needs its best option in every position.

Sack Pay and go with Georgallis until we can recruit a coach.

Take our time and get the best available coach.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-2020-cardboard-cutouts-in-the-stands-for-round-one-has-taken-a-darker-turn/news-story/577deb2aaa33bde0ceaa003607bad678

This is hilarious.
They should randomly seat cardboard cutouts of our first grade team in the stands. Coz they certainly weren't on the field last night!

Maybe we've got two good reserve grade teams.

We are lacking quality players with experience...

What good coaches do in that situation is use quality players with inexperience.

We do need to improve the squad, but I don't think the coach is using the squad properly and I don't think players are giving a good account of themselves.

If we try young guys they might be inexperienced, but a shot at NRL will at least show them where they need to improve,, if they are quality they will make the adjustment.. even if this year is a learning year..

I'm surprised Pay didn't  have a total re-think after the Cows game, rather than improve we seem to be getting worse each week.
Round 1 V the Eels was our best performance especially in terms of defensive intensity.
Round 2 V the Cows the last 15 mins or so with Averillo and Wakeham on the field in the halves looked promising.
Round 3 V Manly, Not only did we not learn anything from Round 1 & 2, we made just about everything worse, the defence was far worse than Round 1. 
I didn't sense a lot of intent and energy against Manly... and some of the defence was ordinary Manly should have scored more tries and kicked more goals, they should have finished with around 50 points..

Pay has to grow a pair and make some changes, including giving some good young players are shot, not just Wakeham and Averillo, possibly a good young back-rower if we have one.. Move Smith to the Wing or Fullback... move Meaney to fullback or drop him.. Perhaps even try Tass in the centres, he looks like a prospect... 

it  is the lack or urgency, energy and intent that really bothers me, the coach and players seem happy just to go through the motions. energy and intent have always been hallmarks of great Dogs sides...  our position on the table reflects our energy and intent... we are well off the pace...

I don't care if we lose each week, but I want to see energy and intent, organisation, smart team selection, well organised well structured attack, energy and commitment in defence. We didn't go close to ticking any of those boxes round 3.  

I disagree with most of you say here....and I'll give you the reason.....

We play a game that relies on a grind and with the only hope of winning is to keep the opposition to 1 or 2 tries max. 
This is not the kind of game you play when you have a weak squad.
Our players may not be complete hacks. They are triers, but with these kind of players you have to give them a gameplan that allows for their mistakes and still gives them a chance to win.

With that in mind, the focus needs to be on the game we play rather than the players we have. We need to get our team to a level that it can score 30 points but also concede 28. This is the common denominator in a team looking to rebuild with players inexperienced or unable to remain consistent.

Our problem lies in the way we hit the ball up and our lacklustre approach to winning the field position.

Until we fix this, we will have nothing to build on. Even Foran would have looked a passenger out there last night.

Over the years, we had this same problem but the difference is that we had classier players that could mask it.
I repeatedly said we won games on "technical losses" and this is exactly why. We still lost in field position but managed to win the games by opposition mistake or individual brilliance. Guys like JR, Inu, Kasiano, Barba could pull a rabbit out of a hat and get as a win. Now we have none of those players and unless the opposition gifts us the game, we cannot beat them.

I cannot harp on this point enough. It is less about the players and more about the gamestyle.
It is really sad but if we persist with this mentality, I don't think we'll see another premiership in our lifetimes.
Even with 13 Immortals running around for us.

Pay needs to make some tough calls or the board must let him go...
The youngsters have all gotta get a run, there is nothing to lose (too loose if I was a millennial)...

Averillo or Hoppa to FB, Smith back to wing with Dutch inside him, DWZ to other wing with Harper inside him, Ogden to start with RT and Napa to bench, Katoa to 9 with JMK to cover spine on bench, Foz and Averillo/Brando...

And tell them the opposition insulted their mothers through the week... The current 17 are a bunch of powder puffs...

On that note, I would like the following players to remain in first grade while the other can start their Jobseeker applications:

DWZ, Meaney, Chrichton, Montoya, Smith, Lewis, Wakeham, Averillo, Ogden, Renouf T, Sue, RFM, Harper, Elliott

To a lesser extent: Foran, JMK

The rest are not worth persisting with. They are tainted with this mentality that they cannot shake off. 
Even some guys above are treading a fine line but i'm willing to give them the benefit of playing in a team that advances the ruck and runs forward I numbers.

Losing our best player in CHN was an absolute disaster. The board has been pretty good to date but failed miserably on that one. They could have handled the situation better and with Covid-19 the dust would have settled by now and we could have kept in on our books.


For change to happen, you need someone at the top that knows what that change is and has the ability to go about achieving it.
Im afraid Pay is not that man. 

In attack forwards lay the platform but energy and organisation and points come from the halves, the halves determine the game style..
In terms of making something out of nothing are best chances are Smith, Averillo or Meaney at fullback, Foran, Wakeham and Averillo in the halves (running and passing).
Renouf T, Elliott and RFM in the forwards and the occasional Lewis kick.

The rest of the team offers little in attack, our props don't lay a platform and even  if they did Lewis and Cogger,  can't organise a team and offer very little threat when running or passing..

JMK doesn't get players over the advantage line, but our halves don't set up often enough to push up over the line and play fast.. we get a lot of slow play the balls, that is because players are not running hard onto passes, both JMK are the halves are at fault.. The one saving grace for JMK is he plays with plenty of energy and scrambled back to make a few great defensive  plays against Manly, the rest of the team should follow his example.
 
DWZ at fullback makes Hoppa look fast getting to the ball, and Hoppa can pass... did we see DWZ running lines at the opposition end or throwing passes for tries? He offers close to zero attack in the opposition 20.

When the fullbacks and halves offer nothing in the opposition 20 all you have is aimless one out runs from forwards, which is what we have most of the time, with occasional disjointed slow shift.... most of the time our backline is far to shallow, the passes are too inaccurate and players are not running on to the ball.No big surprise that a player standing flat footed and fumbling a poor pass is easy to defend.

I think what you attribute to our style is simply that the Dogs have had poor options in the spine since the days of Sherwin and the General..
Barba did offer some attack especially at the opponents end... and Noddy was adequate, when Des took over the spine got worse,Pay has I think identified some better options, but he isn't game to give young players a shot in key positions... better young than inadequate., I say. 

We have made the most errors in the comp so far... how is that possible playing zero ball???...

i called for Griffin as Des’ replacement in favour of all other potential real candidates... 
While not in favour of him as a head coach now with 3 years out, a Director of football role should be considered... or throw the cheque book at Gus... 
We need someone who is going to shake the shit out of the joint... literally and metaphorically...

What have we got to lose?

It can hardly get worse, and if it does we can go nuclear and have a total clean out...

Maybe appoint Griffin and head of football anyway, and work out coaching after that...
 
IMO errors come from a lack of organisation and intent, shallow backlines and slow ball movement.. players are forcing bad options because nothing is happening, or regularly passing to a guy in a bad position.. I hate to harp on, but the dummy half, fullback and in particular the halves are to blame here. They should be throwing the passes, accurate passes, and the right passes.. . too many forwards passing the ball too often just shows disorganisation...  my pet hate is Napa getting the ball after an offload, and trying to pass. hello .. your job is to run not pass..

I agree with what Dman said...

I ALSO agree with what Marki said...

Any chance we can hire Reynolds ex Arabella Del Putanna as our head coach?

she clearly fooled Grub, I reckon she’d have a great game plan for our bunch of mugs!!

Not that grub is a genius .... but I get your point...

Are Mary and Deano is a shoot out for survival?  0/4 on the back of 2 ordinary seasons previously...

Mary actually has more talent to work with... the St Merge forums may be even more feral than we are.... :)

Mall greatvplayers don’t make great coaches... Putanna may be the same when coaching head... 
oh you meant...

We can tell the Dragqueens not to hit hard in the tackles, as we are all pregnant... last time we told them that, we didn't notice any difference... except for them apologising after every tackle..

Ok just one more...

Based on team selections I reckon plenty of players don’t need any coaching in that...

Just watched the jersey presentation to Hoppa before the game last night to celebrate his 150th.... Both DWZ & Pay spoke!

One spoke clearly & enthusiastically with a direct message.... the other could barely string a sentence together!


Makes me sick putting the boot into Deano as I loved him as a Bulldog, but let’s be serious, he just can’t cut it! Last year, the team came home strongly to just miss the top 8, but that same team could barely string a win in the first 14 rounds under his watch! I

As fwit Idiot Des used to go by..... our KPI’s are the worst in the NRL. Line breaks, attack, offloads etc.... 

That hot dog vendor rumoured signing from BigT to happen this week from the Super League.... isn’t Akila Uate is it?

He got released from the SL & is on his way back to Aus!

It wasn't that bad, Pay is a nice guy, and he is clearly trying hard... however in NRL coaching all that matters is your win / loss record...

I'm over bagging the club for now, just hoping for a win, it is a critical game for both clubs and coaches... 

I've seen enough already to not be extend Pay after this season, unless we finish 12th or higher,.the only question is how much longer he lasts.

With this squad 12th or higher is fair,  any lower is a fail, 0-5 is a fail, I'm not even happy about 0-3, but he is getting another game or so it seems.

I still think we have the talent to win more games if Pay picks the right side and the players put in, I might be wrong and we may never find out..

My other big gripe is he is too mild mannered in press conferences, stop making excuses for players,call it what it is, and stop giving players too many chances. 

I heard Margret Thatcher... finally some madness in the forwards...

I think BigT indicated it was Goodwin despite being sworn to secrecy while under the hot dog stand two-tone blue vinyl umbrella of silence...

I thought Goodwin returned to Souths?

We are talking about delicate state secrets as provided by the vendor of weiners...
a little subterfuge should be expected in the heady world lips, nips, and butts NV’L espionage... 

Will be interesting bulldogs vs dragons
                              Pay     Vs  McGregor
1 coach will servive  & 1 coach 2 be sacked a must
win game for whom   So the stories say 
again was told today Bryce Goodwin has signed god
know if we even have a media department time will tell
told he is ellegable 2 play against the dragons  but only 
for the remaining games of 2020 but will see if he can 
go another season @ years end 

Media dept. or otherwise we do a hell of a job of keeping shit in house if true...

Probably better wasting our money signing Bronson Xerri on a 3 year deal....