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We just have to keep winning hopefully results will go our way :
Broncos have had the edge over us the last few years but we beaten then well
In the past.
Next week game is winnable Warriors tend to get the wobbles toward end of the season .
 
O'Sullivan's positionng in defence was way better against the Tigers, his technique only looks poor when he is out of position.

When he is in position, and the team is working together, his defence is very good for a half.

How would he go tackling a big Warriors second rower for 80 mins?
We can have Critter on the bench, give O'Sullivan a rest and O'Sullivan can come back on late as a lock or hooker if necessary.

That is what I would do.
 
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The Warriors are the real deal this year, but we are a way better team than most people think. We are capable of beating any team.

We still haven't fielded our strongest side, we often have 2-3 of our best forwards out injured and 1-2 backs carrying injuries.

But the situation with injuries is improving and our depth is good.

We still haven't played 80 mins of our best footy, 40 mins was enough to beat the Tigers, who tried hard.

We managed around 60 mins against the Panthers, that was our best performance.

That is what Cirro needs to work on, and a lot of it has to do with, completions and penalties.

Once we were up 18-0 against the Tigers we probably tried too hard to score.

Galvin and Burto were not on the same page. Burto attempted to catch a few passes intended for Rinakama.

If Burto is running at a gap, just pass him the ball, he will take care of the rest.
 
The Raiders kicked 2 40/20s, and won the forwards battle. They had a lot of possession and their halves had a great platform to kick off.

We kicked 2 40/20s against the Tigers and easily won the forwards battle, they had no field position.

The Warriors fullback is fast, I don't think he concedes many 40/20s, I think that he might struggle under the high ball.

The Warriors spine doesn't seem to be exceptionally skillful with a brilliant kicking game. They do have big mobile hard running forwards who a break tackles.

Critter is a safer bet starting against the Warriors pack.

I wish we had Hughes, but guys like Underhill and Hayes will need to match it off the bench.

Salmon is our version of Paul Gallen, just a bit smaller and smarter.

Lose the forwards battle, and we probably lose the game.

Breakeven in the forwards battle, we proably have the speed, skill, kicking game and fitness to edge them.

If Hughes was 90% fit, I would rush him back for this game, 15 minutes off the bench might make a difference, or Underhill needs to play the game of his life.

I think Thompson, King and Salmon should do ok

It is possible that O'Sullivian sits on the bench and gets no game time becuase we might need 4 forwards off the bench.

If we lose, the media will construct some narrative that a smaller half might have stopped us being steamrolled by a bigger pack. Not even Johns or Thurston could do that.

O'Sullivan starting might allow us to establish early momentum, but 40/20s are unlikely. O'Sullivan off the bench could win it for us if we have laid a platform.

Not an easy decision, but I am trusting Cirro to make it.

Considering reserve grade, Zyron or AJ might play against the Warriors. Zyron is ex-Warriors, big and powerful, might be what we need off the bench for limited minutes.

But Underhill and Hopoi are probably better options than Zyron?

Bench forwards is another tricky decision for Cirro, more important this week than most weeks.
 
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Some of the media criticism of the Tigers is over the top.

However, our first try was way too easy, Skelton is a fairly poor defender, but their entire right edge was very poor most of the game.

It is like us earlier in the season, have a few guys out injured, lose a few games, lose confidence, the defence loses energy and connection.

I believe Benji, they trained hard and intended to play, that went out the window when our forwards rolled forward and we kicked a 40/20.

I was involved in a very embarassing loss at school, our melt down involved a bust up between the attack and defence at halftime. I was a defender and we did a reasonable job of playing attack in the second half, but our attackers were poor defenders.

We had won a few games, and we turned up confident, that lasted 5 minutes.

And the Tigers second half was way better than ours.

The headmaster had been announcing the results of our games at assembly, for some strange reason, he didn't announce that result :)
 
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I think our team has progressed beyond the "mentally fragile" phase.

Being tested in all kinds if ways earlier in the season sometimes works out great at the end.

The coaches and players know what to watch out for and they know how to keep fighting.
 
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Right edge defence was apparently suspect in reserve grade.

Reserve grade missed O'Sullivan and Conti went off HIA.

Our forwards were outmuscled. But AJ and Zyron played well.

I don't think we will see Conti in NRL this season, Xerri and Sua need to improve their defence, but are good in attack.

Their edge was better in attack and defence? Alatini was switched from left to right and partnered with Montoya?

Dykes, Todd and Spinks perhaps still a chance.

When one edge leaks soft trys and line breaks, that saps the energy and confidence of the whole team. We had that earlier this year on the left side, Tracey was playing injured. Montoya was playing injured/ill. But I think some of the other guys were ok.

Cirro watches reserve grade, poor defence means no chance of NRL selection.
 
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Critter on the bench is not a bad idea he's probably still got an injury.
I would put the same team at starting lineup against the Tigers and see how it goes. If Sullivan is starting to wobble or they're getting on top of him sure let's bring critter back on. If not we can put critter in the centre later on .
Another option put critter at centre have to take Rama off put him on the bench and put Touala on the wing. He could probably handle the Warriors a bit better than Rama.
 
If O'Sullivan can do what he did against the Tigers against the Warriors, we will all be happy.

Tigers were not as bad as some think, but there is no doubt that the Warriors are a big step up in class.

Critter off the bench is ok for a few weeks.

If prefer to keep the same wingers and centres, but after a couple of weeks we could give Kiraz a rest.

I am keeping an open mind on O'Sullivan, he has always had talent and he has always known what plays to do, in the past he has struggled with consistent week after week 80 minute performances.

I prefer him to Sexton, O'Sullivan gets more involved, and seems more confident.

Critter at 7 was good against Manly and the Titans, it was a way of preserving his body, defenders can put more shots on him in the centres.

2-3 weeks of not playing centre might get Critter closer to fully fit.

If Critter is 100% and O'Sullivan is playing well, i would consider Kiraz or Tuala at fullback and Tracey on the bench. IMO Tracey could play some minutes at lock or hooker off the bench.

Between now and the semis someone will get injured and 6 into 5 will be straightforward.
 
I am hoping that the Warriors game will pan out like the Manly game last year.

Round 21 2025, featuring a brilliant performance from Tracey.

Manly came out with intent to bash us in the forwards, we matched them, wore them down with energy and execution, then dispatched them convincingly at the end of the game.

The game took a lot out of both sides, neither side fully recovered.

I consider that game to best the best performance in the Cirro era and the only true 80 minute performance. The slick execution at all game was absolutely great.

IMO the best Dogs performance since 2002.

It is going to take a performance like that to beat the Warriors. That starts with matching them in the forwards.

Match the physicaility, effort and completions of the Warriors, their attack is nothing special. But they have big tackle busting forwards, we need to defend well enough to limit the damage they can do.

This time around we have the depth, and we can rest and rotate some forwards.

If you are wondering why there wasn't much media commentary on the Manly game, it didn't suit the media narrative.
 
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Looking at the reserve grade team, I think 1-20 is the team, though AJ or Underhill might come in for Readon.

O'Sullivsn might start, but more likely he plays lock similar to how Hayward played lock last year, That role suts a halfback, becuase IMO the lock plays like a traditional hakfback at first receiver.

If Hayward needs a rest Gordon might come on instead of O'Sullivan, but we might just give O'Sullivan a spell at hooker.

We will by trying to beat the Warriors with footwork and speed up the middle, Hayes, Hopoi and Curran suit that plan.

The danger is being ournuscled by the Warriora bench wuth our smaller mobile forwards on. Underhill or AJ might replace Hopoi to give us more size.

But i think we will be relying on line speed and working together just like 2025. We need ball in play to wear the Warriors down, we need to aviod dropped balls, 6-agains and penalties.
 
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