Merry Christmas comrades!!!…

Merry Christmas all.

Merry Christmas All.
There's only so much lobster a man can eat.....

Folksy, Des and Wayne Bennett would not make it as NFL coaches.

The coach does an interview that is posted as a YouTube video most,days of the week.

The lesson I have learned from watching NFL is we need to use Burton's kicking game.

Build a team that is strong in all areas, but when a key player is very good at one thing, use that.

When the gap has been closed in all other areas that one thing can be the difference.

4/16!!!…

When you have the opposition 4/16 it is always important to not drop the next catch.

I've never seen Smithy struggle like that, he couldn't time an egg with an egg timer.

If Smithy is having an open fire BBQ, I know where he can get a useless piece of wood. 

Fans criticising coaches and players doesn’t just happen in league it is common in all sports. 

And it isn't hard to guess why most of those fans didn't play any sport at a high level, a negative attitude and blinkered vision is the exact opposite of what an elite sport  needs.

Patty Cummins is a legend, replace him with any other bowler and the Pakis win.

Good effort from the Pakis a decent side and competed hard this game...

Real test cricket at it's best.... bowlers often win matches.

Can’t say enough about his efforts with both bat and ball in hand… I still think he and the coach have some work to do tactically….

Pakis have been better with the ball than I expected…  

Oh dear...

Another year, another QPR loss.
Some things just don't change do they?

Turning to rugby league and i wish the Dogs could play a trial in mid Jan to gauge whether the off season work has any potential to change our fortunes....

One or two trials in Feb only 2 weeks before the season starts might be ok for the top 8 teams to iron out some cobwebs, but for the bottom placed teams, I would have thought playing a trial earlier in say mid-Jan would be more beneficial and give the coaching staff enough time to change things up if it looked like they were well behind the pack...

Even if we played fellow strugglers Tigers or Dragons, I reckon it could be of benefit

It's simple....
Win the toss and put them in
Get them out for under 280
Bat, and get 400 runs
Get them out for 150 or less in second innings
Finish them off with chasing 30 runs at most

If you bat first and third, you won't know when to stop batting, bringing the rain into play.

Great idea. So by the end of a long season they're burned out completely.

Oh dear...

Another year, another terrible suggestion or two…

My other teams have turned it around.

Most impressive Chicago Bears, lost their first 3 home games as part of a 14 game losing streak. Won their last 5 home games with the last one being an impressive demolition of a team in contention for the finals. A couple of close unlucky losses in recent weeks when leading, for most of the game, otherwise they would be on a 7-8 game winning streak and certain finalists. Tough away game against an in form traditional rival, a win might see them sneak into the finals and no team would want to play them. Likely to be even better next season.

West Ham 6 in the comp also in good shape.

My teams are benefiting from my positive vibes.

The guys that get season ending injuries in the trails will be fresh.

IMO the Dogs can do what the Chicago Bears did.

Early season losses were young inexperienced players losing confidence, making mistakes failing to execute and finding ways to lose. At one stage most pundits would have backed them to lose from anywhere and unfortunately they didn't completely lose that talent.

Youngest team in the comp but added a few experienced and quality players to lead the way. Most importantly they hung in backed each other and had great team spirit even in the tough times.

Going through the tough times together increased their unity and resolve.

Now young players are getting more confident and putting in better performances each week. The stuff the coaching team has been banging on about for 2 years has finally sunk in. Better execution has shown that what they were previously trying to do was the right thing.

Dogs are similar, young, inexperienced and lacking confidence. 

If we followed the Bears play book we would add some experienced props and maybe a better half back.

We have added experience and resilience, it doesn't matter much who is providing leadership and setting the standards. We will need unity, resolve, desire and execution for a quick turnaround.  The age and level of experience of most of the team doesn't matter as long as there is good leadership. 

Injuries were a factor, they are always a factor.

For the Dogs in 2023 the injury to Kicks combined with many injuries to middles really left us short of size and experience.

Injuries are my biggest concern in 2024, we need a good run with injuries to turn it around,  a repeat of the 2023 injury list will see us get similar results.

Once a team has a few wins and some confidence they are better able to cope with injuries.

Injuries in the trials or at training early in the season are a nightmare.  Our key players shouldn't play many minutes in the trials, Kicks, King, Curran, Burto, Critter, Foxy and perhaps Kiraz and Presto.

Vibe on!!!…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jy5R-YvEJ0w

Ssshhhh…. Can’t talk about real stuff…  it’s 2024 for Lambs sake…

New Year new confidence. I still don’t know how we are going to make meters. But I do think Burton needs to concentrate on those bombs for field position. With a small, fast and mobile pack we could constantly turn the opposition around. I hope this or something similar is the tactic. 

That's the formula for the Dolphins, not the Dogs.

It is a formula for any side that is rebuilding....

The other parallel is that like Burto the QB Fields copped heaps of criticism. Fields has silenced his critics, I look forward to Burto doing that.

Players need good players around them and a competitive team to perform to their true potential.

Miami???…

I honestly think there 2 types of rugby league player....

A) the player that can only perform with good players around him

B) the player that can shine on his own even with misfits around him
 
Type B is usually less consistent than type A but it's the type you need during rebuild phase.

Type A's are the ones you need when you have most positioned established and need to be a top 4 team.

Burton might be a type A but we really need a bunch of type B's at the moment to become a top 8 team. Once we are entrenched into top 8 (2 or 3 seasons of it) we can go after Type A's.

We need type C players, guys that can train with a hangover in their speedos on a cold day in winter while sledging 3 Parra players on a mobile phone and sink a few beers between reps.....

Anyone ever seen any type Bs?

In the old days there were plenty of type Cs.

Too many type F players..... many of them ending in D.