I have seen more players running on to the ball in the last 3 weeks.

Yardage is a big problem, guys seem to catch the ball standing flat footed on off the ruck play after play.

They need to stand deeper and thow a few more passes, but we don't want to turn the ball over.

With Burton in the side lack of yardage isn't a big problem, a good kick can rescue us.
Sometimes Burton kicking from 30-40 metres out from our line is an advantage, he can just launch with no risk of it going dead.

Where we fall down is Flanagan or someone else kicking from 30-40 out, the opposition will be in our half in 2-3 tackles.

TPJ and Thompson would have improved our yardage. I'm not sure Allan is the answer, I would try Casey or even bring back Okunbor. Schoupp is excellent at making yards, Kiraz good and it falls away from there.

Averillo also didn't get involved enough in yardage, but him hitting it up one of the ruck is like using  Ferrari to deliver a load of bricks. Stand deeper and give Averillo the ball after 2 passes, we will have the element of surprise.

Yeah... fvck Des, Raelene, Dib and the Anderson ticket. They were all for a quick fix and glory status... well it didn't work... never has and never will.

I met Jake Kiraz after the game and away from the crowd.He was with his parents, nice people and Jake is a good kid with an excellent attitude and a ton of talent. If Averillo doesn't work out at FB, I'd personally be inclined to give him a shot at the position.

He will do better after 1-2 seasons of NRL.

There is also Credence T who I rate at fullback.

SACK POTTER!!!…

Mock for coach!!!!

Some one like Barba, Duffty, Averillo and Fox can beat guys with speed and footwork when they have room.

Guys like Kiraz and Schoupp can run over guys in limited room.

I am happier with Averillo at fullback or 5/8 than centre but at centre he needs time and space. His chances of running over guys are not high.

Casey I think might be halfway berween Averillo and Kiraz, smart and skillful with a bit of size.

But at fullback a guy can never be too fast, it isn't just in attack but also cleaning up kicks.
And the best way to get to kicks is anticipate.

We will see how Averillo goes on grubber kicks, in many ways the hardest part of the job, but speed helps.

The last 3 weeks we've played a team with 6 origin players out and two of the lower table teams. A few more points, you'd expect that, but 100 points conceded is a huge backward step. Why aren't I excited.

The defense hasn't been great all season.

Like the attack there are team changes that can help, but it is mostly a matter of grinding away.

Last game the Allan / Kiraz combination struggled, Kiraz might go better in attack and defence in the centres.

For the Kicks try Allan and Wardell? Barely slowed Kicks down, Averillo could not stop Kicks 1-on-1 but made a better effort than Duffty would have.

The try off the kick was hard to defend.

IMO move Kiaz to the centres and possibly replace Allan with Casey.

Topine and Morrin are the most likely players to improve defence up the middle. 

When Marki gets the gig we will be instantly unbeatable, in the mean time, Potter is doing better than any of our previous 3 coaches would have. No other coach is on the horizon for this season.

You've summed it up perfectly. A multitude of reasons and excuses week after week but no results.

No one has a magic wand.

I don't think that the tries were as soft this week as some of the the previous weeks. Duffty not being there has a lot to do with that.

But that change meant Kiraz and Allan teamed up. That side has been poor in defence most of the season. The left better in defence mainly due to Schoupp.

Also fewer dropped balls, and a bit more idea in attack than most of the season.

Improvement has to be measured relative to the rest of the season.

A halfback who can attack and is a good defender would be a godsend for this team.

Flanno can defend, maybe BBO can attack, but his defence is suspect.

I would sign a halfback before June 30th, if we can get the right guy.

I wouldn't say instantly....

We are so bad at so many things I would need 2 weeks of video + 3 weeks of training to turn them around

Let's be clear on something.
JOK must be in this team.
Yes he has errors in him, but he runs the ball up a certain way that gives us some metres out of our end and he has some sort of presence out there. Our wins have featured him in the team.

Play JAC and JOK on the wings and play Kiraz and Schoupp in the centres. Piss both Flanno and JMK out of the team.

That's a start.

I am happy with JOK/ Kiraz a well placed kick to that side has 2 tall guys that can jump for it.

I also agree on Flanno, he has had more than a reasonable shot. Wakeham getting suspended may sum up his career, he never seems to be putting his best foot forward when an opportunity arises.

No success with Flanagan, wakeham not available, I don't think BBO's the answer but now's the time to find out.

Exactly. Sign Flanagan now. Plus an experienced halfback. 

This has been a weekend of rubbish from the NRL. If they must have SOO in the middle of  the season they need a better way of doing it. I didn't  get past half time tonight.

Next season we should have a dangerous left edge.

Burton, Kicks, Schoupp, Foxy.

Possible right edge.

Hayward, Doorey/RFM, Kiraz, Casey

Plenty of reserve grade highlights of Casey Scoring tries off Hayward kicks. Hayward is injured at present.

Mostly the rest of side is ok, we don't need to sign anyone but a good starting prop with a bit of size would be handy.
If not Thompson and Vaughan partnering Maroney, King at lock, Averillo / Credence at fullback.

Bench.
Jackson - D
Patolo - A
Doorey / RFM - A
Topine / Morrin / Wardell- D

IMO - It is good to have 2 attacking players and 2 high workrate defenders on the bench and for all  / 3 bench players to be able to play middle. 

What we can do to prepare for 2023 is give Casey, Topine and Morrin more game time.

We might have a bigger shake up in the forwards and we might need a good right edge backrower. 

I see Jacko coming off the bench next season and lifting the defensive intensity. As a right edge backrower he no longer seems to have the leg speed.

I left out TPJ, off the bench defending mainly in the middle, but playing some right edge in attack.

If the club isn't confident about the young players we need to make more signings.

More size and after contact yards in the forwards and perhaps some better yardage outside backs versions of Okunbor that can catch the ball.

If we are not confident about Hayward for 2023 that is were an experienced half would help.

I still say sign thst half before June 30th if we can.

Guys like Jackson are either in the team starting, or out of the 17 altogether.

You don't bring in solid but conservative players from the bench. 

Mate I'm up in Coffs as my son is playing U11s Oztag state cup. They got thrashed in all 4 games yesterday. They play exactly like the Bulldogs. Exactly.

They stand flat footed, no gameplan, no idea out of dummy half. Just looking for individual brilliance to miss a tag so we can score. The teams we have played, are well drilled at running onto the ball, standing deep and able to send 2 or 3 passes wide on the run.

The contrast in teams is as large as it is with our NRL team. The difference is, the U11s only got together 8 weeks ago and lost training sessions to rain. They barely know each others names. Our NRL team are suppose to be professional players with many of them playing together for years.

There is no excuse for the rubbish this club 8s dishing out

He has some size about him? Yes he does, but is always flattened by guys half the size of him. He also gets out jumped by guys half his bloody size too. 

Playing dummy-half in touch footy/ oz tag is great fun and really teaches you how to play. All good attack involves running on to the ball.

The Dogs side is improving. If Kicks plays for us rather than them, maybe we win, he had a big hand in 3 trys.
The fact that Kicks and  Maroney are here in 2023 is some reason for optimism. The team is also showing some improvement with Potter coach.

Key to the rest of this season is working out who else we need for 2023. Gus has said on record many in the current team are playing for their future career. I also thought Wardell might have done enough against the Panthers, coming off the bench suits him and that was definitely one of his better games.

We need some guys with NRL experience to mainly play reserve grade. That is the point people are missing about the Panthers most, of their replacements had NRL experience. Only one guy was a rookie and he was quite a good player. In a contest between weaker teams Kicks is a real asset.

We want to be more like the Panthers in quality and depth.

You need to get off the fence.

Okunbor has the body and the game, but can he get his mind of the job, and his attitude right?
He was better earlier in his career, a spell in reserve grade might help him focus.

Corey Thompson vs JOK

Who would you rather have in the trenches giving the team 100% for the full 80mins playing first grade?

Thompson no question.

There is no substitute for talent, but even less substitute for attitude and desire.

If we could have Okunbor playing with the same desire as Thompson, that is a completely different matter.

But this season talent is a bigger issue than attitude, even with guys like Okunbor, Duffty and Naden failing badly on attitude when the going got tough.

Dont argue wirh the Doctor Villi.....

I'd take Thompson as I've always been a fan of him and he always plays above his weight. He's also been part of a team with a better winning culture than us the last 3 years so he's more confident in what he does.

But im talking about this year with our current crop of players. 

I feel our team needs some stability until they can get a win and then turn it I to B2B wins. 

Our key problem however tends to be our I ability to hit the advantage line at speed and JMK is a huge part of this problem along with the forwards timing their runs and coaches failing to address it.

Flanno at halfback is equally a massive problem with poor decision making. 

Dufty HB can address it.

This year's done and dusted. Nothing to be gained going forward by Dufty to halfback.