First time we've scored three trys in a game this year...  We've probably had 3 a week disallowed or bombed...
Our average points leading. I to this round was 8... So that'll see an uptick...

I guess we go into next week brimming with hope that we get a little luck, and see less errors at crucial moments...

The defence needs to be fixed.

All teams make errors, the good teams defend them.

Attack wise I think we are making progess, but Jacko and JMK handle the ball far too much.
Jacko should be on an edge and TPJ in the middle, maybe JMK should be 14.

All players passing the ball frequently need to be accurate passers.

We can't have edge defences short of numbers and passive.

Don't give the ref an excuse to blow 6 again.

In our situation the players and coaches just need to stick at it, put in the hard work and keep fixing problems.
Plenty to fix, and some plans need a rethink.

We are improving our attack each week. Should have got four today. With more ball that improves even more. 

Call me crazy. But I can see our attack being almost as good as the Panthers with Mahoney. We desperately need a hooker and Penrith were ordinary until Korisau signed. 

Re JMK sin binning. Can't find team fouls in the rule book. Can anyone enlighten me?

Mate I agree, the refs decision to bin JMK was perhaps poor (was at the game so couldn't tell if he gave a warning on any previous repeat 6-agains or penalties) but the reality is  that if he didn't bin JMK then, he would have binned someone else in the next set of 6 anyway.

It was clear we went out there to slow the tackles down. Our problem is that we are very poor at doing it without it being obvious.

We lost fair and squarely. The fact that we couldn't adjust to losing a player in the bin speaks more volumes about hoelw poorly coached this team is and how dumb they are, they ive lost all hope for the season and its now all about avoiding the spoon.

6 games in and we are hoping to avoid the spoon.
FFS how bad can we get.....

Hate to say it but I wanted the Bunker to rule Jacko out with Patolo.

Just so Barrett can see the team playing differently.

Is eisenhuth Penrith's  Tolman?

Hey Marki, just in case you missed my comment... we cannot blame the referee for that loss, because there was⁷ no referee out there, just some fraudulent, biased karnt with a whistle.

A consideration is 2 players injured 15 players, 12 men for 10 mins, less posession.

A good point is that we still had some energy and intent at the end of the game.

The soft tries on the right edge and in the middle bug me.
Fix the defence, our attack is good enough.

We are also getting held up over the try line a lot in recent weeks, get a more even split of possession, the opposition is less likely to have the energy to get there.

Seeing Gerrard Sutton as ref almost made me want to turn the damn thing off before it started. His patronising attitude to whoever we play is sickening. And NRL how about an edict to the referees that they did as they did a while ago and refer to the players by number. I truly detest any referee referring to players as if he were there best bud. That is a sensible thing.....Number 7...number 9....

We need to commit defenders before simply passing to the half, unless we have a fast PTB or a very deep backline.

Actually if the hooker and lock commit defenders that always means an overlap.

Jacko is not a natural fit for the role and it takes a lot of practice.

We seemed to concede 4-5 soft trys, the 2nd half trys were a bit too easy for Souths.

More effort and desire is needed, the Storm would not have conceded those trys.

No I didn't miss it ODF.
I just think everytime we blame the ref for our losses, we give coach Muppet and player Muppets, an excuse to think what they are doing is correct, and they'll continue to do it.

Once again, the sin bin occurred in the 20th odd minute. Yes it resulted in 3 (+1) tries but I blame us more than anything for 2 of those and we are lucky Johnstone had a disallowed one when Cody was offside. 

It was very obvious to me, we had a gameplan to hold down the tackled players and we tested the refs patience. Our inability to adjust things on the fly meant we couldn't read when his patience was exhausted. Its an ongoing issue with our club and its team of players.

I would much rather we lost the game by 1 try from a late ref blunder than single him out for an error that occurred around 1/4 of the game.

When will this team finally get itself to a position where they can win even with a ref error?

I am now of the firm opinion that Wakeham is our best option at halfback, but given Flanagan has been made to look decent last couple of weeks, I doubt there will be any change.

It seems our best lineup has Burton at left centre, Schoupp at right, Avo at 5/8th, Flano/Wakeham at half and I really don't know but maybe Cook and Wakeham sharing the hooker role.

The reason I like Wakeham is that he is the only one that can think on his feet. He's the only one I've seen that can see something and in a split second adjust his move. As an example, his kick on that last try was a complete improvisation after initially thinking of passing inside. None of our other halves can do that. Maybe BBO can but he can practice in reserves before he gets his chance again.

I don't necessarily think chopping and changing is the answer, but I think the next few weeks will likely reinforce my opinion above. 

One thing is for sure, we are further to being a top 8 side than any of us first thought. We don't even know the correct position for even our better players (Burton, Averillo) and I feel we will spend the next 2 years trying to figure it out. 

I also like Wakeham, Burton in the centres can still do a lot of the general play kicking.
Averillo making slow progess in the centres.
2 centres with speed, good footwork, a kicking and passing game is underrated
In the final 15 mins Burton did more to bring Foxy into the game than anyone else.
The other player put Foxy away was Averillo. 
Naden and Duffty doing well at their roles.
Wakeham and Flanno in the halves IMO.
That is the backline set.
Cook 9, JMK 14.
Starting forwards, props Vaughan and King, lock TPJ, 2nd row Jackson and Stimson.
Bench forwards, Wardell, Thompson, Seafood/Patolo.
Schoupp is a good player but I think Cook might to more to fix the defence.
If Burton is set on playing in the halves, then Schoupp is the best available centre.
Wakeham  should stay 14, I would drop JMK unless we start winning.
I am sure Gas and Baz have this covered, so we will see what they come up with.

Some years ago I did some analysis of our performance under different referees:
Years 2009 to 2013
G. Sutton: 14 games, 11 wins, win % 78.6
Others:      77 games, 48 wins, win % 64.9
Total regular season games played 120, wins 70, win % 58.3
Years 2014 to 2018
G. Sutton: 20 games, 5 wins, win % 25
Others:     79 games, 44 wins, win% 55.7
Total regular season games played 105, wins 53,win % 50.5

You can see something went very wrong with our performance under Sutton. As our overall win ratio dropped between periods so, as would be expected, our win ratio under all referees dropped. the drop under Sutton however was out of step. we obviously started to do something wrong from around the time of that infamous Good Friday game.
The referees under others were: Badger, Cecchin, Klein, Cummins & Perenara.

Yes. Clearly I had a few during and after the game. It’s easy to blame Sutton but you’re right. We should be able to wrestle much better. That is obviously our major problem. We are terrible at holding players down and getting away with it. 

Having good playmakers is unfortunately only half the solution. Apart from the playmaker having variety and creativity, the supporting cast have to present or it's all wasted.  The supporter don't have to be brilliant but they have to be there. this can come from instinct but more likely planning (coaching). Their roles may be simple but they must know them and consistently turn up.

We need a Yeo type lock if we continue to play Bazball.I would love topine playing that role. From previous performances he is perfect. We really missed out on getting Asiata. He would have been perfect. 

I really disagree. I’m surprised about some of it though. Burton is our best 5/8th. Flanno our best halfback. Our problem is the game we play. Baz should be using Burto in Yeos role. Digging in at first receiver and pushing the ball out the back. So he would be a traditional halfback in the best Baz game plan. Flanno and Avo would be running off as 5/8th and fullback in my best Bazball team. 

I have noticed our lack of support numerous times. We make plenty of linebreaks. It’s very frustrating when we have two if the fastest players in the game. 

Things like support play are a habit.

This season we have players who can offload, guys with speed and footwork who can slip a pass.

A we make linebreaks or half-breaks.

Getting an even share of posession and defending our line better might mean more energy to support.

The spine players and wingers should be supporting, the coaches should point this out.

It is also true in defence that players often drop off or miss their assignment.

So attention to detail and effort areas are an issue, possibly due to a lack of posession.

We are starting games much better than last season, things just go off the rails at some point.

Cronulla can win this comp. In fact I think they’re the team that can out Penrith Penrith, above Melb and Easts and any of the other contenders… at this stage.

And it’ll be off the back of Tolman.

Lack of support, nailed it.

It’s like nobody expects anybody to make a half break. So many opportunities, so little execution. 

Yep watching real NRL teams like the black cats, the gummies and southern fried chicken wings realise how shit we are at every aspect of the game..... We have nothing and if Barrett was the attacking coach at the panthers I am a Blues fan which is never going to happen. He was shit at Manly and is shit here and would not pay him 50 cents to coach the U 10's at Weipa. He is a dud but Gusman Y Gouldmez loves him so expect we get to continue playing games with everyone out of position and and Corey Waddler and Co continuing our march towards towards years in the shadow of the vermin, the slime and egg layers. Bulldogs built by the great Peter Moore destroyed by a succession of blow ins!

How would you fix it? 

Or it could be we had a good team until 2014. Then a shit team after. 

Parra will win the comp this year. Melbourne, Easts and Manly will challenge. Cronulla will be a pest on the way but nothing more. Hopefully Canterbury will push to annoy some of those teams as well. 

That is why I included our total regular games stat so you could compensate for team performance. It shows an obvious distortion.

Well said and very Ernest Hemingway in presentation.