Official match day thread: Roosters v Saints

[King Salvo]

The full video shows the true facts instead of these stills which conveniently put Dom in a bad light as expected - I knew what happened having watched the game - Dom Young did the right thing- As the commentator Wazza Smith said - " Young Jamming in got a piece of him and he certainly helped out Robert Toia" - 18:39 when this occurred

Doubt that Dom will get an apology by his knockers though

[ARD]

Whyte was very good overall but his inside effort on the try was poor, he needs to be moving better through the middle and covering - his mistake or not. He should’ve gotten hands on Flanno at very least.

Dom Young is a maniac and will win and lose games on instinct and I think Trent will continue to embrace that part rather than coach it out of him. He’s raw but can be brilliant, it’s the trade off and consistency will take time.

[Rooster_6]

The full video shows the true facts instead of these stills which conveniently put Dom in a bad light as expected - I knew what happened having watched the game - Dom Young did the right thing- As the commentator Wazza Smith said - " Young Jamming in got a piece of him and he certainly helped out Robert Toia" - 18:39 when this occurred

Doubt that Dom will get an apology by his knockers though

The only thing Young got was a piece of the turf.

Seeing as you refuse to provide any analysis on the stills maybe you can explain what he's doing here at this time stamp instead?

https://youtu.be/7xMlTD7BoGg?si=CvRvFjlgaXCbFvCQ&t=1450

[King Salvo]

Toia's alignments are spot on!

Holmes attacks the ball with speed which makes Young panic. Dom then jams in which creates an overlap. Blind Freddy can see it. It's clear as day in the image above!

Nope the actual game footage shows the true facts. Never believe what you cannot see in person or on replay.

[King Salvo]

This guy just will not ever admit to being wrong, by the time Luai puts Lafai over to score it's a 2 on 1 overlap because Young is on the ground 15m away instead of sliding he's literally an English SKD

Nope you see what you want to see according to your agenda and I see actual footage with no agenda

[ChookMaster]

And I was critical of those missed tackles that he made last year that lead directly to tries, I made multiple posts at the time. In fact I used it as the reason as to why I thought Robinson had been resistant to give him more game time when plenty on here wanted to see him play more.

My concern in that play is Va'a gets caught well behind the line, trying to take a play off which is just part and parcel of his development. Those kind of errors at this level will rarely go unpunished.


Cook plays out the back to his first receiver on a hitup shape, Whyte marks his man who is DeBellin who runs the hitup decoy in this case, you can see the space Spencer is going to be worried about on his outside because Va'a hasn't pushed up into the line. Emre Guler the 10 is going to run and unders line back at Whyte who needs to peel of DeBellin and pick up Guler.




You can see Whyte now has eyes on Guler, Spencer has shifted too far to his left because he's concerned about that space on his outside shoulder (over chased) as Va'a still hasn't made it into the line which means the spacing between him and Whyte is too big and simple dummy brings them undone.




Now a Radley, Collins or a Butcher in Whyte's position below is probably making an attempted cover tackle in that position... not sure if they're going to make it because that's a lot of space to cover (TV is deceptive) so you could argue you want more from Whyte but reality is if you're going to carry a big forward like that they're just not going to be making those kind of cover tackles. The root cause of the try and the easy fix was Va'a not moving up into the line. Spacing of your middle forwards in defence is just too crucial if you're going to carry big forwards, otherwise you're asking too much of them.

Na it was lazy from Whyte. It’s as simple as that. Lazy from Va’a not pushing up thinking the hooker was going to JDB however if you actually watch it through Whyte has to slide there.

If you actually look at that still imagine Va’a has fully turned his head thinking Kyle has passed it.. lmao

[HunchoRooster]

I know I'm kind of repeating myself but again wasn't Spencers fault, he had to over chase because Va'a doesn't move up into the defensive line. It's easy to be made to look foolish in that kind of scenario but you can't blame Spencer he essentially had no defender on his outside shoulder and ended up overchasing.

I must admit I didn't look at it that forensically, you are probably right. Whoever was at fault, I don't want to be conceding tries like that this season.

[ism22]

I must admit I didn't look at it that forensically, you are probably right. Whoever was at fault, I don't want to be conceding tries like that this season.

IMO the result wasn't as drastic as it seems. 2 tries to 5 with the last try being scored in the last 5 when we were pegging hail mary's all over the place (was almost 3 tries to 4 which woulda essentially been a 'win' as the Dragons were full strength).

The analysis above from Rooster_6 is top notch. My only comment is that the Dragons were pinned in their half for long stints (unfortunately we couldn't convert our possession into points). However they got a heap of tries for being 'bigger, faster and stronger'. By that I mean that rep players (notably de Belin and Cook) just crashed down the middle.

Not saying this won't happen throughout the season but IMO a lot of these dumb tries come off the back of inexperience and exhaustion. Players have gotta build this footy brain and match fitness somehow... getting schooled by Cook and de Belin is one way.

["gaz"]

Apparently one of Robbo's pre game instructions for the trial, was to keep the attack very basic and to keep our attacking moves and skills under lock and key.
I think Robbo is trying to keep the Roosters off the radar.

[Bates]

Apparently one of Robbo's pre game instructions for the trial, was to keep the attack very basic and to keep our attacking moves and skills under lock and key.
I think Robbo is trying to keep the Roosters off the radar.

Hi gaz. That's odd!

Round 1 is just around the corner so the opposition won't have to wait too long to see how we play.

Perhaps we'll unleash our new attacking moves in the finals

[Waylander]

Apparently one of Robbo's pre game instructions for the trial, was to keep the attack very basic and to keep our attacking moves and skills under lock and key.
I think Robbo is trying to keep the Roosters off the radar.

Yep. Chad mentioned that they kept some of the plays they’d been working on under wraps. It will be interesting to see if it’s any different this week against the Knights.

[Yak]

Va’a “Might’ve” made an error?

Come on.. I can respect your take on wanting more from Whyte even though I’ll agree to disagree but to pretend Va’a only might’ve made an error when he’s clearly clocked off on the play lacks consistency in your expectations.

I’m not so sure he clocks off here. Cook comes out and feigns to kick just slightly. King is at A defender in the line and if a kick goes through and hits the post DeBelin is all over it. I think he hesitates thinking he might have to turn and cover the kick. But he does need to react quicker once the play continues out his way. Or at the very least communicate better with his inside man who doesn’t have him in his vision anymore.

All three are at fault in some way. Whyte does need to bounce off his leads into inside pressure better. I get he’s a big guy but if he wants to be considered an elite prop at some stage he needs to be a good mover in D. Spencer needs to protect his inside shoulder before he worries about what’s happening on the outside. Especially if he’s getting nothing from Whyte. And Va’a needs to change his pace better.

Dom Young on the other hand is just bog average all round unless he’s given the ball with space in front. Give me Tupou, Smith, Toia and Nawaqaniatawase as the backline every day of the week.

["gaz"]

Hi gaz. That's odd!

Round 1 is just around the corner so the opposition won't have to wait too long to see how we play.

Perhaps we'll unleash our new attacking moves in the finals

You are right Bates - Round 1 the opposition will see how we play.

Did you notice some of the teams loaded up with there best players in both the trials? Dragons, Titans, Tigers etc. Yet teams like Melbourne, Penrith, Broncos, Roosters also focused on playing their new or back up players

Why do you think those team's coaches made those decisions ?

Putting a strong side out unfortunately back-fired on the Titans who where thrashed by the second string Broncos, exposing there defensive weaknesses to everyone. Des will put the strong side out again this week, with the hope there has been a massive improvement in defense. What will be there mindset going into Round 1 be if they don't?

My take from the trial match:

Saints
Goal - Play to win - How - Use full first grade team (Watch Flanno's body language in the coach's box, very animated he came to win)

Roosters
Goal - Give the young players a taste of NRL/ Get match fitness for Flegg/NSW Cup and NRL..
(Robbo doesn't mind seeing his trial team face adversity) How will they respond? How do they mentally and physically handle the step up in grade?
Who might be ready to be next man up if required?

Robbo is keeping a very low profile this off-season (no media)
He is also keeping his cards very close to his chest based on the first trial
The whole team was deliberately restricted in attack by Robbo.
Hit it up for 5. then a long or high kick on the last.
The team on the field was totally unbalanced at times to ensure everyone got game time at playing St George's 1st grade squad. (For example 4 halves on the field playing in various positions)

It is interesting the way various teams/coaches approach the trials

["gaz"]

Yep. Chad mentioned that they kept some of the plays they’d been working on under wraps. It will be interesting to see if it’s any different this week against the Knights.

I wouldn't expect the Rooster's game plan to change a lot in the second trial match. Maybe a competitive first half with the plan to give the players at least half a match for match fitness, focus on the basics, team defence, apply pressure on the opposition etc

[Bates]

You are right Bates - Round 1 the opposition will see how we play.

Did you notice some of the teams loaded up with there best players in both the trials? Dragons, Titans, Tigers etc. Yet teams like Melbourne, Penrith, Broncos, Roosters also focused on playing their new or back up players

Why do you think those team's coaches made those decisions ?

Putting a strong side out unfortunately back-fired on the Titans who where thrashed by the second string Broncos, exposing there defensive weaknesses to everyone. Des will put the strong side out again this week, with the hope there has been a massive improvement in defense. What will be there mindset going into Round 1 be if they don't?

My take from the trial match:

Saints
Goal - Play to win - How - Use full first grade team (Watch Flanno's body language in the coach's box, very animated he came to win)

Roosters
Goal - Give the young players a taste of NRL/ Get match fitness for Flegg/NSW Cup and NRL..
(Robbo doesn't mind seeing his trial team face adversity) How will they respond? How do they mentally and physically handle the step up in grade?
Who might be ready to be next man up if required?

Robbo is keeping a very low profile this off-season (no media)
He is also keeping his cards very close to his chest based on the first trial
The whole team was deliberately restricted in attack by Robbo.
Hit it up for 5. then a long or high kick on the last.
The team on the field was totally unbalanced at times to ensure everyone got game time at playing St George's 1st grade squad. (For example 4 halves on the field playing in various positions)

It is interesting the way various teams/coaches approach the trials




Flanno is highly competitive so I get why he started with some of his best players.

This year is the start of the rebuild so it makes sense that Robbo gave the newbies a run.

As far as Robbo keeping his new playing system under lock and key. This is total BS! Teams will find out soon enough and it's not like we're a premiership threat! No magical new way of playing will get us anywhere near the top 4 with our current roster.

The Broncos will unfortunately lap us. Round 1 will be Robbo's reality check!

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