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Fatigue can be mental and physical. Cirro says that they really need the bye, looking at how we played that appears to be true.

Manly have also got the bye, but I think we need it more than they do and we might be able to get up for the game.
 
Selection wise I would have Curran at left back row, Mann or Salmon as hooker. Hughes, Thompson and King as the starting middles.

Certain bench, Haywood, Mann/Salmon, Underhill/AJ

Others. Hayes, Young Gun?, Rinakama/Readon.

Young Gun = someone from reserve grade who can spark our attack.
 
Hughes and Thompson can dominate the middle.

King and Thompson can dominate the middle.

Hughes, Thompson and King should definately dominate the middle most games.

Aside from possibly having a young spine player on the bench, i don't think we should mess with our spine too much.
 
We should change how we play, more hard runs up the middle, more support runners, better anticipation of kicks.

Stand deeper in attack in the outside backs at the opponents end, fewer long passes, dummy and run if the pass looks difficult.

Galvin is attempting a lot of difficult passes, sometimes he has the skill to do them, and sometimes the attacker is on the same page.

Overall we need more patience in attack and a better chase on attacking kicks.
 
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So i am not writing us off yet, if we play the same in attack agqinst Manly, i will write us off.

I am worried about the Titans game, they are going to be a step ip ftom Parra. Short turnaround + tavel and we have been poor in QLD this season.

Good teams find a way to win, we need to start finding it.

The win over Parra will not lift confidence, the players know how bad they played. The bye and a rest should help.
 
I have seen suggestions that we need to drop Xerri.

I would try shifting Kiraz to right wing, Xerri to left wing, Burton to left centre, Critter to 5/8, Tuala to right centre.

Make this change permanent, but the left side can switch around as determined by Critter. Critter can even pop up on the wing to contest kicks.

We also need to rehearse kicks on the right for Kiraz.

We need to make this work, but all players with the possible exception on Xerri are better suited to these positions.

Xerri offers a bit more than Montoya and Rinakama, dropping him would be harsh.

This change doesn"t need to be permanent, Xerri and Burton can keep working on their passing.

After the Parra game, we need to fo do something.

If this change means Burto will leave the club, we still need to do it.
 
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Against Manly,

1. Tracey
2. Kiraz
3. Burton
4. Tuala
5. Xerri
6. Critter
7, Galvin
8. King
9. Hayward
10 Toups
11 Curran
13 Salmon
14. Gordon CKT
15. Mann
16. Hayes
17. Underhill/AJ/Hughes
18. Readon/Spinks
19. Cocherane/Dykes

We should make some team changes to bring in a few fresh players against the Titans,
 
IMO our full strength side this season looks like this.

1. Tracey
2. Kiraz
3. Burton
4. Tuala
5. Xerri/Rinakama
6. Critter
7. Galvin
8. Hughes
9. Turpin
10. Thompson
11. Kiks
12. Presto
13. King

14. Hayward
15. Mann/Salmon
16. Toups
17. Hayes/Underhill/AJ/Todd
18. Curran/Readon/Spinks
19. Dykes/Cocherane/O'Sullivan/Woods

Thompson, Hughes, King as a 1,2,3 punch should destroy many sides.

On play 3, King should get a quick play the ball.

Mann and Toups might not play every game, Toups has been playing injured for a while.

IMO our current side is missing 4 starting forwards, and we are still dominating many packs.
 
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Just to expain my theory about big middle forwards.

When a big guy runs hard it is a 2,3 or 4 man tackle.

If a big guy takes the next run, some of the players in the first tackle need to try to make the second tackle.

Is doesn't matter if the 3rd run is a mobile middle like King or an ouside back, players in the first 2 tackles will find it hard to be involved, some edge defenders will be sucked into the middle, we might get an offload or a quick play the ball.

King did a lot of damage against Parra, taking the 2nd hit up after Thompson. We often got the next play wrong.

Earlier in the season, teams were struggling to handle Hughes and Thompson, when Thompson was still building fitness, and Hughes was playing injured.

I rate Hughes, and we rarely get to see him injury free. He does give away a lot of penalties, many of them sloppy, that is what he needs to improve.
 
Our fans are funny, some fans are saying drop Xerri, others are saying keep Xerri and drop half the team :)

Xerri is a great ball runner, but his catching and passing needs at lot of work.

People are saying Critter to fullback when he can do more to steer the attack at 5/8.

The passes Galvin throws to Presto and Toups are passes Critter, Hayward, Woods and Teaupa can all throw on the left, but whuch don't come natural to Burto.

When I see Burto throw 6 of those passes to put a backrower in a gap over 4 weeks, I'll admit that he can do it.

Curran can run good lines, but someone needs to give him the right pass.

Burto and Xerri running on to passes from Critter, i am optimistic that might work.

The reason Burto doesn't do more torps is 50% of them end up in the opposition getting a 7 tackle set, a penalty, or good field position. It is high risk / high reward, he needs to pick when to do it.

Even when the kick goes dead and the opposition get a 7 tackle set Joey Johns wants him to kick more of thrm.

Some of our clueless even think we will get the spoon next year if we don't sign a whole bunch of players that are not wanted by their current clubs.
 
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We have to combat Saab on the wing , Manly will bombing out wingers all day / night . Kiraz can defuse most not sure about the other side . Critter may have to move around to help out .
Going through a lot of Podcasts most agreed the game on Monday was the worst they have seen . We just needed to win it . A lot of them don't understand both Parra and Tigers most of the times fire up
Against us . We do not have a big rivalry against Manly . They will go in with the usual game plan . I think we have a good record at Accor against them .
Has Gould and co finally admitted they stuffed up the Hooking role .. Lussick should be a good pickup has done well filling in for Mitch Kenny .
 
Turpin has been out injured at lot. Gordon progressing slowly, Young needs more time in reserve grade. Hayward can't play 80 minutes each week. Lussick is a upgrade on Turpin and will not be injured all of the time.

Marhoney was contracted for 2026, when we released him, I am not sure how hard we tried to sign a replacement.

Good point on Saab, we might need Kiraz or Rinakama marking him.

We have had some pretty intense forwards clashes with Manly in recent years. Our win over them last season was probably our best performance last year.

When we beat Penrith this year we won the game with our defence, Hayes was 100% fit and a big part of that.

If we can get the team well rested and a bit fitter we might be able to win with our defence.

That win over Penrith also showed how important Presto and Kiks are to our attack, and that Tuala should be right centre.

I suggested rejigging our attack, becuase we need to try something, and we need fitter players.

I watched a bit of Penrith / Tigers, Panthers simply complete sets, don't push passes, don't make errors, kick chase and tackle well. And they execute well and are patient in attack. It is systematic rather than brilliant, and we were able to mostly shutdown their attack.

Any NRL team can beat any other team, we have a lot to work on, but turning up fit, energetic, motivated and composed would be a great start.
 
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Josh Jackson is coaching NSW U19s SOO.

Jope Rauqe is the Dogs player to watch, possibly taller than Saab, will not be hard to spot.

The answers for most of our issues are in the lower grades.
 
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Hounddog said:
We should change how we play, more hard runs up the middle, more support runners, better anticipation of kicks.

Stand deeper in attack in the outside backs at the opponents end, fewer long passes, dummy and run if the pass looks difficult.

Galvin is attempting a lot of difficult passes, sometimes he has the skill to do them, and sometimes the attacker is on the same page.

Overall we need more patience in attack and a better chase on attacking kicks.
Click to expand...
I actually think Galvin needs to develop his cut-out passes abit more and the winger and centre needs to train to push up more.

Whether it's a harbour bridge pass or a face cut-out, it allows the winger to get around his opposite number and then have the centre and FB backing up on the inside, even Galvin.

By going short multiple times, he drags the centre and second rower in and the cut-out to the wing is on.

Just needs to vary it.

Otherwise, if the defence reads it and the pass is not on, just dummy and sprint through the gap. Don't second guess pirouette and run back inside.
 
Hounddog said:
So i am not writing us off yet, if we play the same in attack agqinst Manly, i will write us off.

I am worried about the Titans game, they are going to be a step ip ftom Parra. Short turnaround + tavel and we have been poor in QLD this season.

Good teams find a way to win, we need to start finding it.

The win over Parra will not lift confidence, the players know how bad they played. The bye and a rest should help.
Click to expand...
My fear is that the players have lost confidence in CC and have lost confidence in each other. That is a recipe for disaster.

What we need is 4 or 5 players playing well and combining well and it needs to result in points. The other players who are just going out to do their job as individuals, will then gain confidence and chime in.

At the moment, Burton is offering nothing to the players around him to jag points. It's a huge concern.

Galvin has the highly successful short ball which typically results in a try per game.

Our hooker offers nothing and our FB offers nothing. We really need Kiraz at FB (even at 75% fitness) as he provides something new and combines well with Galvin, Sitili and Hayward. Need to build off that combination and hopefully convert 70-75% of our chances in opposition 20m into points.

Playing without playmakers at 1,6,9 is absolutely killing us . Heads drop when we don't score, anxiety kicks in and players start to take matters in their own hands.

You look at Manly and the players just play to their positions with no deviation.
 
Marki said:
My fear is that the players have lost confidence in CC and have lost confidence in each other. That is a recipe for disaster.

What we need is 4 or 5 players playing well and combining well and it needs to result in points. The other players who are just going out to do their job as individuals, will then gain confidence and chime in.

At the moment, Burton is offering nothing to the players around him to jag points. It's a huge concern.

Galvin has the highly successful short ball which typically results in a try per game.

Our hooker offers nothing and our FB offers nothing. We really need Kiraz at FB (even at 75% fitness) as he provides something new and combines well with Galvin, Sitili and Hayward. Need to build off that combination and hopefully convert 70-75% of our chances in opposition 20m into points.

Playing without playmakers at 1,6,9 is absolutely killing us . Heads drop when we don't score, anxiety kicks in and players start to take matters in their own hands.

You look at Manly and the players just play to their positions with no deviation.
Click to expand...
We have definately make some mistakes this year, but the rule changes and injuries have also been issues.

We have got more of a handle on the rule changes and injuries are not as bad as they were, but are still an issue.

The rules are now more like last years rules or we have adapted to thrm, a bit of both.

Something like last years game plan with a few good attacking options from Galvin will work.

We have good spine options in the lower grades.
1- Dykes, Cocherane, Puru, Fing
6. Dykes, Woods, Teaupa.
7. Conti, Woods. and some others
9. Young and a few others

Dykes, Cocherane and Woods might still play some NRL this year. Conti is a chance of getting a brief run late in the season.

The changes that i think will help the most are

Shifting Critter to 5/8.

Kiraz and Tracey swapping at fullback, Tracey when defending, Kiraz when attacking

Hughes, Thompson and King as starting middles.

Getting Kicks and Presto back

Hayes getting back to full fitness and coming off the bench with Toups.

We have a lot of exciting young players developing in the lower grades and that is the strategy Gus is using.

Lussick is a good and necessary signing.

I would like to try Dykes and/or Cocherane in the NRL before signing a fullback.

Burto does occasionally throw good passes, but he mainly affects games via running and kicking. He can simply give Kiks early ball when Kiks is playing.

Salmon waan't much of a threat was left edge backrower, Curran looks better.
 
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As for hooker this season, plan A wasn't just Hayward.

Players who were supposed to help Hayward were either injured, for not ready.

We have too many good forwards this year and we are a bit skinny in other areas. Forwards are progressing to NRL faster.

Aside from him getting tired in some games and making so errors Hayward is progressing well. He has a background as a touch footy player and a half, he can do more than what he has shown so far.

I compared him to Lussick in their recent games, while Lussick is a bit better, both are the roughly same.

There are lots of reasons why defenders are rushing up on our outside backs, everyone on the field and in the stands knowing where the ball is going is the biggest reason.

Fans are swallowing the media narrative about Marhoney hook line and sinker. In the end we couldn't agree on money and a lot if very bitter divorces are like that. Time to move on, the divorce is best for both parties.

We are lucky that Hayward is a very durable player who can often play 80 minutes.

Young is a fast hooker with great vision, great passing, the complete attacking tookit. He is working on defence in reserve grade, it sometimes takes a while to get used to tackling bigger bodies.
 
The guys that we signed for hooker Turpin and Gordon seemed to be late signings.

Perhaps we were targetting another player and we were outbid?

Becuase Young was top 30, I assumed that he might play NRL this year.

If we signed a better hooker and they got injured, we would be where we are now.

The issue is addressed for 2027 and our young players will improve. We are stuck with the current options this season.

The only way Marhoney could have been at the club this year is if we denied his request for a contract release.
 
Broncos season definitely on life support or about to be turned off . Reynolds and Mann gone again . Amazing all top 4 teams last year out of the 8. Only Storm I think a good chance to make it .
Paul Kent on Kenty blitz said the NRL sudden rule change stuffed those teams up : Had no time to prepare . The teams with the right style of players managed to adapt better : Probably out of luck .
For us let's start blooding some young pups .
 
Broncos and Raiders just about done.

Dogs and Storm need to win their next game. Loser of Storm v Raiders is done, especially if it is the Raiders.

Broncs have a tough draw, losing their next 5 games after the bye wouldn't be a surprise.

By the time the Dogs had ajusted tp the new rules, we sort of reverted to something closer to the old rules.

Some teams seemed better adapted or better suited to the new rules. The refs also nad a major say in the outcome of games.

We were stiffed in a couple of games and that probably cost us 4-6 points and +30 F/A,
 
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