Gus rates Steve Readon's young lad Jed, music to my ears, Reado was one of my all time favourites. 

Jed is playing second row in Flegg. 

Once Reado was dropped to reserve grade and took his disappointment out on the opposition. 

Was sent off for tackling too hard after his 3rd victim for the day was carried off. From memory it was still the first half. Or early second half, was at the Showground, what a poor stadium that was. Idiots were running the club in that era.

I don't expect Jed to be soft.

I stand by it.
My laugh was the perception that Burton only needs 1 shot. Ive watched this kid ever since he came to first grade. He needed 5 shots with Penrith in his first game while Cleary was out. Not much has changed.

Yes, he nailed the winning kicks eventually and im grateful for that, but at the same time, im not ignorant to the fact that we should have iced the game before extra time, either through trys or field goal.

I'll say it again, we are lucky Harris Tevita missed his shots as we could easily have been feeling like the Warriors right now.

People are calling him clutch. Clutch is when you produce the goods under extreme pressure with 1 play. Not multiple attempts. 

Cleary is clutch

Lots of attempts miss.

The big picture is 4 valuable comp points from 3 tough games where we learned plenty.

We learned very little from the previous 3 wins, Dragons,  Knights and Eels.

I am not surprised that the Roosters have kicked on since they beat us. 

Dogs have the best record in Golden Point in the comp.

2 tough wins where we learned plenty is a good as it gets. We lost to the Roosters and also learned heaps from that game.

Any good luck in the last 2 games cancels out 2-3 unlucky losses earlier in the season, breakeven now, luck doesn't owe us anything, but we have earned our current table position. 

The team knows what they need to work on,  not just Burto, the whole team.  He is the right guy to be taking the shots in our team.
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No easy games, last bye, teams are evenly matched, we know all that. 

Its a good turnaround but this is rugby league and that narrative of "nearly" and "unlucky" and "so close" applies to just about every tram from 1st to 14th.

Im not deathriding the team. Im satisfied we are in 2024 where we should be. It looks like a huge improvement to '23 coz that year was really poor.

We are slightly ahead in my expectations as we have a very good chance at top 4 right now and i had us at 6th at best by years end, but we still have to play like a top 4 team if we want to make it.

Im excited with the prospect of finals footy and even though i dont think we can win it this year, id like to still see us try.

The concern with any tight competition is that 2 or 3 losses and you drop out of finals very quickly. Just ask Broncos of '22 and Parra / Souths of '23. 

Just enjoy the fact that we are possibly a contender.

The Roosters loss indicates that gap we need to close, going from the bottom of the pile to the top in one season is a big ask.

9 weeks to really drill the attack and give it our best shot. As long as injuries don't ruin our season I will be happy.

I don't think that we can beat the Roosters at present,  I am glad that we have at least 9 weeks before we play them again. 

For the Warriors game I think that the Wilson try off the Burton kick was fine. Sexton should have caught the offload from Curran and should have got there earlier. We messed up the last Wilson linebreak.  Created enough opportunities, just didn't take them.

Salmon is pretty unlucky to be facing suspension for an incident that left him with a broken jaw. But injury recovery will be longer than any suspension. Not sure what happened, players probably clashed heads?

The Canberra/ Knights game was reserve grade compared to our game.

HD, i think you are as level headed as i am.

Nothing wrong with people having hopes of winning the ultimate prize, except when they impose those thoughts on you or try to talk down on you for having a differing opinion.

I am happy that our defence is good enough and that will be enough in some games.

To beat good sides in the semis the attack has to be better.

We just about have the players to be a top 4 side, but don't have the depth of the Roosters,  Panthers and Storm,  Broncos are a coin toss could slide from here or kick into gear,

I think that the Broncos and Sharks might stumble, that is our opportunity. 

Cows could also be a contender. 

I don't think that we need to fear any other team,  but beating those 6 sides will not be easy.

HD...I reckon you have just been shamefully libelled. Essentially nobody has the same psyche as Marki who has the inability to post anything without an if but or therefore in it.The Rorters would have to be in the favourite position to win but 3 times over the salary cap...how could it be

I don't see a need to talk down Burto or suggest an alternative 5/8, that is the biggest difference. 

If Marki could shelve his preconceptions on Burton and Moses, overall he wouldn't be wrong on much.

For the record, I think that we can make the improvements that may allow us to beat any team in the semis , especially in hot dry conditions. 

I am hoping that all of our up coming QLD games will be in dry conditions.  It is still raining here in SE QLD, but the dry season shouldn't be far away.

A lot can go wrong with optimistic predictions,  injuries,  HIAs, suspensions, bounce of the ball, the ref  / bunker. Most of that is totally beyond our control.

I am hoping that the Roosters have peaked early, they seem to be in top gear, can they stay there?

I am focused on the Roosters, because no other team particularly bothers me, except for Penrith with Cleary.

Marhoney and Burton being in the SOO squads will stuffs up some of our work on the attack during the bye week.

Dummy half is easier to replace. Turpin can do the plays and we can video it for Reed.

O'Neill can do the Burton role, but he is a different player.

We mostly can work on combinations with Hayward,  Sexton,  Tracey and the forwards. 

Perhaps some drills on catching and passing slippery balls, and retaining possession in contact.

Also standing deeper and end of set kicks by Sexton and Hayward. 

Cirro will be glad that the boys got the well deserved recognition,  but this will take the edge off our attacking drills.

State of Origin call ups can do nothing but inject flashes of brilliance into the squad it's beneficial at all.levels 

I find it hard other than injury to fault the time and effort that goes into players coming off a stint in origin rookie or veteran.

Hard to believe with Burton that some still think he's a better player in the centres 

Kikau needs to fire to lighten Burton's load

In the penriff system Big Mahn Broham would have looked a rep quaity centre.

Burto can do a job at centre in SOO, so can Latrell.

Both players are more valuable in the spine for their respective clubs.

Very happy that Ciro wants the team to work on the attack. Our defence is as good as it can be. Maybe as good as it ever was. That is incredible to think about after how poor we were over the last ten years. 

No need for fancy new plays... Or videoing anything'for next week's game...
I reckon we literally bomb 2-4 trys ever week...
Execution is the key... If ever there was a time Villi's soapy balls would enhance our play,it's now....

The opposition are starting to read our plays, especially the pass from Sexton to Kiks.

Mostly we just need to tidy up execution, and stand a bit deeper and do things faster.

Warriors fans are making a big deal about the Salmon head clash being a penalty.

But the penalty for the leg lift in the first half was BS. Ruling out the Wilson try from the Burto kick was total BS.

 Salmon  gave away a couple of penalties, threw a dumb offload when we were well on top and that late head clash could have been a match winning penalty for the Warriors. Did a lot of good work in defence 

I can see why Cirro wants to work on the attack and why most opposition fans still don't rate us. We forced a few low percentage passes and we're sloppy for no good reason occasionally.  

IMO on form the Roosters, Sharks and the Warriors in that game were 3 of the better defending teams. Panthers and Storm also good, depends on which Broncos or Cows team turns up.

I think that there is a lot we need to work on. In a semi final perhaps the other team gets the penalty for the head clash.

I agree with this.
It gives players the opportunity to harness their skills with different playmakers, be it halves, hooker or fullback.

It allows players to understand if its their positional play or the timing of passes that affects the efficiency of their plays.

Once they go back to their club team, they can then work with the playmakers to either receive better or earlier ball or adjust the timing of their run to correct what may otherwise be a clunky play.

We still are clunky in attack compared to the better sides, so this can only be good for the 3 origin squad members

Its a kind way of saying he is not an elite playmaker....

He's certainly improved this year though.

Yes this is in the category of things that we need to improve, particularly the Sexton pass to Kiks not only are the opposition reading the play, the timing seems off Kiks isn't running on to the pass. Sometimes there are 2 defenders in front of Kiks, we should be cutting out Kiks or switching play. 

Sexton also not playing as straight on the right but Salmon also isn't a hole runner like Presto. 

Still overall Sexton is the right guy to be playing halfback and I am happy with his progression.

We have just had 3 weeks of determined opposition defence, fast opposition line speed and slippery conditions.  Has played us out of form a bit.

I am also taking the games against the Dragons,  Knights and Eels with a grain of salt.  We played well, but at times the opposition defence folded like a house of cards.

The attack is a lot better than the start of the year, but I think that we can be better still.

My observations are that at the start of the year, Hutch was taking the ball to the line and selectively passing which brought some success but also resulted in some cramping of players and double teaming on the centres.

This then changed after about 5 rounds as we worked out that earlier ball to our outside backs allowed for 1 on 1's which benefited us better.

Hutch then became less threatening in attack as he was just link passing very early and not taking the ball to the line. 

Sexton looked good by doing what Hutch started the season doing. But lately, his timing is off. He needs to work on this and pick the moment when to release earlier ball or take the ball to the line. 

Ultimately, we are a better team when we can vary these plays as we become less predictable and makes the defence hesitate. Ideally its the same on the Burton side too as that side has also been clunky earlier on, and like Hutch, Burton was clearly told to pass earlier to Kikau which worked. His selection of running or passing at the line or passing early is also still a work in progress as i dont believe its as smooth as the top teams. 

Sexton has improved his kicking game and defence, also making good decisions on when to run.

Mann plays a bit across field,  one player doing that is more than enough. 

Tracey and Hayward consistently straighten the attack and make committed runs.

Better defences are giving Sexton less time and coming up and in to cut off our plays.

Most of the teams have seen our style of attack, in the wet, with a skinny 10, or a slow play the ball they are up fast out wide.

Towards the end against the Warriors our small fast guys were having a lot of success up the middle.

The Warriors displayed the type of defensive commitment for 90 minutes that is rarely seen. They matched our energy levels. 

That is why we need to improve the attack,  when a bigger side defends as well as we do, we need to execute and have a bit more variety. 

When our forwards lose the battle it is hard for the halves.

We definitely lost against the Roosters all game and most of the game against the Sharks and Warriors. 

King and Curran are doing great, Hughes and Morrin doing OK for young inexperienced forwards.

We need to get more out of Hopoi or a replacement. 

Both of our locks are small.

Small is OK, in hot dry weather. 

It must be hard to be a Warriors fan. It's been four days and they are still whinging over the loss. Funny how they are salty over the one "penalty" that they didn't get that could have won them the game, but are conveniently oblivious to the multitude of "leg up" desicions they were gifted during the game.n



 

Sexton is the right guy. He just has to be better. He needs to learn that the defence is pushing up and he needs to do things quicker. All playmakers have similar issues. My problem with him has always been that he dies t overcome them. It’s why I wasn’t confident in signing him. He just always gets worse and never better. In saying that I still believe he can be much better with the right coaching. 

Sexton is a much improved player.

His issue has been confidence, I think that is still OK as he was heavily involved. 

The improvement in his defence is remarkable, I almost prefer him to Hutch in defence now.

I agree that the main issue was moving the ball too slowly or not standing deep enough. 

We have been up against a skinny 10 the last few weeks, I have never seen a ref not give so many clear 6 agains.

We made 466 tackles in that game, which is a lot more than most games 400 is a high number, some of the mistakes towards the end were probably just fatigue .

Overall the team played well and was unlucky not to score a few more trys, different players made the errors, no single player was to blame. 

Overall while we haven’t scored a lot of trys recently the attack is much improved this season.  We have a purpose and can be dangerous both sides of the field. Kicking game also improved,  particularly Sexton in the red zone.

I have noticed execution has dropped off.  I don't mind if we spend most of the week doing ball work and playing touch. We can return to normal training after the bye.

Might not take much of a tune-up to get the team humming.  Main thing is the players all want to do it.

I reckon we could be being a little harsh on ourselves ..
The teams we've played in the last month 'turned up to play'... With reasonable game plans... We scraped a couple of wins when not at our best... And that's what good sides do... The great thing is the amount of improvement we have left in us...

How many tackles did 7exy make last week???... 

38 tackles 2 misses for Sexton, I hope that the quiz prize is a slab of Japanese Dark Lager. 

He has made some very good tackles the last few weeks. 

No doubt that the opposition was up for it the last 3 weeks, skinny 10 all 3 games.

Against the Warriors in particular thier try's were the only time that our defence look troubled. 

They apparently lead the linebreaks 5 to 3 which I find surprising.

Happy with the effort all 3 games and happy with 2 out of 3 wins.

Attack is the part of the game that we need to improve. 

With that D... If only he could learn to talk... He could be as good as Crutch... But alas he's allegedly a mu7e...

No prizes... But a simple thank you HD...