Bulldogs Debate Page

[Hounddog]

I get the feeling if we beat the Storm we make the GF. And are highly likely to win it. All teams are playing terrible footy so the title is up for grabs.

Storm will be better, but I haven't found them to be fully convincing this season. Some games, yes, they blew the opposition away, other games they leaked points and lost games many expected them to win.

Harry will be back and the Broncos played intense and physical.

Inconsistency is teams struggling to recover after playing an intense game or 2. The rest of it is simply momentum and one team being switched on.

One hope for us is that the last 3 weeks has taken something out of them physically and mentally.

We need a good performance against the Sharks to start the Storm game fast and physical. If have a hunch that if we get on top there might be no way back for them.

If is hard to get a read on us, hopefully Cirro is going to taper the training and our energy levels will kick up.

 

[Hounddog]

Looks like Cirro has a firm idea about our best 17.

Kiraz and Hayes will come back in, but otherwise we are building combinations with this 17.

I'm surprised that Turpin hasn't got a shot at some stage in the last could of weeks. I hope Turpin is here next season.

The Sua fan club is growing, I hope that we lock him up long term, other clubs must be noticing.

While Sua might still need to work on his defence, he would be one of the more dangerous attacking players at the club. He has used his footwork and speed to make opposition defenders look like under 8s in recent weeks.

 

[Hounddog]

Disappointing first half, but the game swung on a massive chunk of possession to the Sharks.

Before that we were on top but fumbled our chances,.

Salmon and Curran much improved.

Good learning opportunity,

 

[Zoz2025]

Good first 20 mins but game just got away from us . Losing Kicks and Xerri plus no Kiraz tonight will be a big ask now . Not sure where the points will come if the boys are to mount a comeback: Hopefully at least play their best and take form into next week .

 

[Hounddog]

When Sharks got a run of posession we were a bit frantic.

We need more early ball to the centres and backrowers.

Sharks defended well, but the run off posession to the Sharks and Xerri going off HIA disrupted us,

 

[Hounddog]

Let's hope that next week is different. Salmon, Tuala and Curran played well.

We also lost the forwards battle, but posession is part of that.

We are not out of it, but only 2 weeks to get it together. Our energy and intensity at the start was good, Sharks got a run of posession in flukey circumstances and then we had 2 HIAs...

Play better and we will get more luck.

 

[Zoz2025]

Media writing us off already hopefully will inspire the team ...

 

[Hounddog]

Media writing us off already hopefully will inspire the team ...

I was hoping for a better performance, but we have had patches of good football this year.

Our win over Manly was the best 80 minutes. Second half against the Raiders was our best 40 minutes.

Raiders missed a lot of tackles that half, Sharks made some great tackles. But we had too much passing and not enough hard running.

Manly game is a good guide because it was an intense game and they tried to bash us.

It might only take a few small tweaks to get back on track..

If we want to score more points replace Xerri and Montoya with Sua and Rinakama. Defence might be suspect, but they only need to aim up for one game. Moving Tuala to centre is the safe option.

Perhaps play Sua on the wing outside Critter and Tuala at left centre.

 

[Hounddog]

Worst part of the game was the attempted flick pass from Burton to Montoya when we were well on top. Montoya rarely catches a ball like that, he doesn't have the speed, skill and anticipation. But it wasn't his fault, it just wasn't the right play.

Our defence was also well off for a couple of their trys.

The first Panthers game was our best defensive effort and some of the performances ealier in the season.

In attack and defence we lacked patience, positioning and execution.

While Cirro played it down, we were a bit frantic, we panicked or lost concentration.

Like us, the Storm also have a few out injured, they are also clunky and their attack hasn't been great without Harry.

Harry is back, and their attack looks a bit better than ours.

One good win will turn it around. We are better than last year, but not as good as our best performances this season.

 

[Beretta]

Season is done. Pathetic performance.

We will lose both games in the final series.

You can thank cirro for the mid year changes.

 

[Hounddog]

Season is done. Pathetic performance.

We will lose both games in the final series.

You can thank cirro for the mid year changes.

We are still a chance.

Any team can beat any other team in this seasons semis.

Except for the last Panthers game the last few weeks have been similar to semis. What the team needs is experience in playing semis.

And mostly we want players who will be here next season and who will be good enough to win a comp to get that experience.

I'm not happy with the performance against the Sharks, we didn't handle early adversity well and we couldn't sustain the energy. That is part of the learning experience for the coach and players.

We need to rejig our attack a bit especially early in games when the opposition is defending well.

Best defensive performances by an opposition this season, Penrith and Sharks in no particular order.

Our attack looked bad because the Sharks defence was good. Against good defence, fewer passes, run harder, complete sets, kicking game, and no penalties to let the opposition out of their end.

The team needs more patience and discipline and there are things we need to improve in attack and defence.

The coach is picking the right 17, this game silenced my doubts about Salmon.

Galvin isn't a pure halfback, but he offers a lot more in attack at halfback than Sexton does. This game Burton and Critter made far more dumb choices and critical errors than Galvin. Keeping Mann on the bench was weird he only played 17 minutes. We were resting Mann by playing him limited minutes.

 

[Hounddog]

There were some promising things in the loss to the Sharks, Salmon was really good, especially for the first 20 minutes.

Preston was pretty good filling in at left centre.

The only try we conceded in the second half was when Critter was well in field and the right edge defence was disorganised. That isn't the first try we have conceded in that situation this season. We need to try to stop it happening and perhaps Tracey has to spot the situation and fill in at right centre. Worry about the kick if it happens.

Curran was also pretty good at right edge backrow against the young Panthers. We could start Curran at right second row, Preston at left centre, Hughes at prop and Sua on the bench against the Storm. Sua is most dangerous in attack at left centre. We can bring him on if we need to score points or just leave him on the bench for most of the game.

Mann is our most important player, I expect him to play a lot more minutes against the Storm.

Game after that I expect Hayes, Xerri and Kiraz to play, we can drop Sua and Rinakama out and a forward needs to drop out for Hayes. It is a gamble but I would drop Marhoney, start Salmon at hooker, and Curran at lock. Bring Hayward on when Hughes needs a rest. Or perhaps we keep Marhoney and drop Salmon.

 

[Hounddog]

We are playing Friday night, not ideal, gives the Storm a longer turn around.

Fewer passes, run hard high completions especially for the first 20-30 minutes.

Sort out the edge defence, I don't want to see Burton in the centres.

I just want to see us give it our best shot.

 

[Beretta]

We are playing Friday night, not ideal, gives the Storm a longer turn around.

Fewer passes, run hard high completions especially for the first 20-30 minutes.

Sort out the edge defence, I don't want to see Burton in the centres.

I just want to see us give it our best shot.

Hughes is out for storm.

Melbourne have a few injury concerns.

 

[Hounddog]

Injuries probably balance out Pezet is a good replacement for Hughes, we are not going to use Injuries as an excuse.

I am glad that the club and players have taken notice of our critics in the media. They get a chance to answer them Friday night.

What were we working on against the Sharks? Salmon played long minutes and he looked like he has responding to a rocket. The attack looked clunky and disorganised, a pale shadow of our attack against Manly a few weeks ago. Defence was great in patches, but we didn't sustain the scramble intensity. Bench rotation was weird, but HIA's had an impact.

I am hoping that we were working on conditioning in the week leading up the the Sharks. And I am hoping that we will taper this week and work mainly on attack and edge defence organisation.

If we are good enough or lucky enough to beat the Storm, I would expect more conditioning work for most players.

If we lose against the Storm, I expect another light week of training working mainly on attack.

The club and players have put out a video talking the talk, we know what the intended next step after that is.

The 1985 Chicago Bears put out a "superbowl shuffle" video a few weeks before the big game and backed that up by winning the bowl.

Intent is the minimum requirement, and publicly stated intent is honest intent. Critter featured in the video, the boys don't want Critter looking like a fool, we prefer that the media look like a fool.

 

[Zoz2025]

I say go all out and throw caution to the wind on Friday night . Playing conservatively and caution will not get us over the line . Galvin needs to find another dimension in his play. He's just too predictable and teams have worked him out. Critta needs to get in play more and kick ass if he notices a player being lazy ..

 

[Hounddog]

If we have more in attack and defence, I expect it to be apparent on Friday night.

I also expect the Storm to go up a few gears and to throw some new attack at us.

Galvin is an asset because he can engage the line he is a bit of a run threat, and he isn't afraid to try things.

Galvin may try a few things that may or may not come off.

The other key player for us is Kurt Mann, just go all in on trying to win this game even if a few players can't back up for the next game or can't play as many minutes.

If we lose, we have a home semi, Xerri, Hayes, and Kiraz may come back in. Montoya might even be available.

If we win, the injured players definitely come back in, and any players that need a rest can get a rest.

Even if we go straight out with 2 losses, I would rather go all in one week 1 and see what it takes to win a week 1 top 4 game.

 

[Hounddog]

1. Dogs running out of juice at the end of the season.

We were pretty good against the Storm in round 25.

It isn't like last season when many players were carrying injuries and more were out.

Some are injured and some are out.

I'm 50-50 on this whole area, the game against the Storm will tell.

 

[Hounddog]

2. Up and in defence.

If the opposition stand deeper we do need to put in more energy, but it is punishing to play against. Tough for both sides.

Too late in the season to change our style, perhaps a reason to leave out Hughes and give Marhoney more minutes.

 

[Hounddog]

3. Edge defence

Our halves are not great defenders, the difference between Sexton and Galvin is marginal.

At times our second rowers can't cover or make bad decisions.

Centres are very important in position both sides of the field and we need some help from the middle.