With Myles gone and Mini soon gone

[Vasco]

Can't score points if your forwards aren't doing their jobs. And we are getting thumped in the middle. Forwards win games, not backs.

We are not getting thumped in the middle at all.

It's creativity in the halves and lack of speed out wide that is costing us.

[Guest]

we pretty much suck across the park in my expert opinion

[theGman]

Lou Goodwin seems to be a workhorse in NYC.

A big step up to NRL but he could be one we already have coming through without the need of paying big dollars for another backrower.

With Ryles and Miles more than likely off at the end of the year, I'd like to think another metre eater in the front row is what we need in the pack.

Have we forgotten about young Lama Tasi? Don't discount his workrate. Arona offers the same.

[Spanner in the works]

We are not getting thumped in the middle at all.

It's creativity in the halves and lack of speed out wide that is costing us.

Really? Then how are teams making 60 metres against us every set? You can't win games doing that. And how come can't most of our forwards regularly crack 100 metres?

[Spanner in the works]

Have we forgotten about young Lama Tasi? Don't discount his workrate. Arona offers the same.

Are we pinning all our hopes on two players who have played less than four games between them? Good luck...

[Vasco]

Really? Then how are teams making 60 metres against us every set? You can't win games doing that. And how come can't most of our forwards regularly crack 100 metres?

I'd like to see an official stat on what you are claiming.

From watching games against the Warriors, Dragons, Titans, Bulldogs and even Manly, we weren't "getting thumped" by the opposition.

We were in winning positions in all of those games and weren't conceding big metres up the middle. As stated earlier, it was a lack of creativity and class out wide that proved costly.

As for our forwards regularly cracking 100 metres. I can't remember us doing that often during the second half of last season when we were winning.

[John Corey]

Can't score points if your forwards aren't doing their jobs. And we are getting thumped in the middle. Forwards win games, not backs.

At no stage against the Titans were we thumped up the middle. The problem prior to the Titans game was giving away ridiculous penalties EVERY game. Against the Titans we fixed this and our forwards were fine. We had plenty of opportunities in the opposition 20 but didnt have the skills to get over the line. I honestly believe we need to drop Minichiello and replace him with a fullback that has ball playing ability. All the decent teams have fullbacks that are quick and play like a 5/8. We do not. Minichiello is now a liabilty. He cant pass, has never been able to tackle, and his support play (when one of our forwards has an opportunity to offload) is non existant. He is never there. What happens when the Storm, Warriors, Dogs, Saints forwards pop their head through the line and get an arm free? Their fullback is there to take it. Where is Mini when one of ours does this?
Mini is not our only problem. But its a good place to start.

[theGman]

Are we pinning all our hopes on two players who have played less than four games between them? Good luck...

I would love a Snowden or Bodene Thompson type of player but it's a lot more economical to nurture and develop the ones in your system that have potential. Saints have done this splendidly with the likes of Matt Prior, Dan Hunt & Beau Scott. This policy has allowed them to retain their high profile players & welcome back Gaz. Now Mr Handshake is grooming up'n'comer forward Jack Bosden the same way. This 22 y.o Sharks reject would be a handy aquisition for our team.

[Spanner in the works]

I know what I saw. We aren't getting enough out of our forward pack to get into a position to score points, and the fact we are languishing near the bottom of the table attests to that.

[supermario]

Vaso, Would these be the stats you want?

V Dogs Rnd 3
Meters Made:
Dogs 1176
Roosters: 1406

Completions

Dogs 28/36
Roosters 26/37

All Run Meters
Kennedy, M 168
Leilua, J 147
Minichiello, A 146
Perrett, S 140
Anasta, B 99
Nuuausala, F 94

V NZ Rnd 5

Meters Gained
NZ 1209
Roosters: 1132

Completions
NZ: 25/39
Roosters: 21/39

All Run Meters
Kenny-Dowall, S 142
Leilua, J 138
Minichiello, A 110
Kennedy, M 108
Myles, N 97
Ryles, J 91

V Bris Rnd 6

Meters gained
Roosters 981
Broncos 1378

Completions
Roosters 21/34
Broncos 31/40

All Run Meters
Kennedy, M 114
Ryles, J 93
Carney, J 90
Minichiello, A 90
Myles, N 86
Leilua, J 84

Vs Dragons Rnd 7

Meters Gained
Roosters: 1381
STG: 1173

Completions
Roosters: 25/37
STG: 27/39

All Run Meters
Carney, J 152
Minichiello, A 147
Pearce, M 125
Leilua, J 118
Myles, N 104
Kenny-Dowall, S 93
Waerea-Hargreaves, J 90

Vs titans Rnd 8

Meters Gained
GC: 1248
Roosters: 1228

Completions
GC: 27/37
Roosters: 29/37

All Run Meters:
Myles, N 174
Kennedy, M 145
Leilua, J 109
Nuuausala, F 99
Minichiello, A 99
Waerea-Hargreaves, J 84

These stats, on their own, are interesting.

Kennedy is the only forward consistantly around or over the 100 meters mark
Our backs are running alot of meters.......though that could be due to the amount of dummy half running they are doing.
Completion rates (barring the Brisbane match) have been comparable if not better than the opposition.
Meters Gained (barring the Brisbane match) have been comparable if not better than the opposition.

My comments do not take into account field position at any given point of the matches displayed and are only stats of our losses since losing to the dogs in Rnd 3

[Spanner in the works]

Good thing we have our backs to make all our metres...

[theGman]

Vaso, Would these be the stats you want?
These stats, on their own, are interesting.

Kennedy is the only forward consistantly around or over the 100 meters mark
Our backs are running alot of meters.......though that could be due to the amount of dummy half running they are doing.
Completion rates (barring the Brisbane match) have been comparable if not better than the opposition.
Meters Gained (barring the Brisbane match) have been comparable if not better than the opposition.

My comments do not take into account field position at any given point of the matches displayed and are only stats of our losses since losing to the dogs in Rnd 3

Thanks Muz. Your stats PROVE to me that the main ingredient required is Todd Carney. How much we miss his creativity and unpredictability.

Last year would have been fairly similar to this year without Todd's consistantly good performances. Hopefully we get our mojo back soonish.

[Spanner in the works]

Thanks Muz. Your stats PROVE to me that the main ingredient required is Todd Carney. How much we miss his creativity and unpredictability.

Last year would have been fairly similar to this year without Todd's consistantly good performances. Hopefully we get our mojo back soonish.

How does it prove anything? Why are forwards called forwards, when our backs consistently out do them in going forward? It's a well known fact that halves need good go forward to be effective. And it's not up to the backs to provide it.

[BUDDY]

Have we forgotten about young Lama Tasi? Don't discount his workrate. Arona offers the same.

Absolutely GMan. There is also Goodwin coming through and Cherri to come back. But we are losing a few forwards for next year. Possibly Ryles, Miles, Anasta, Conn and Piggy (fingers crossed). Kennedy is the only consistent proven metre eater in first grade. Miles is arguably our second best forward and our best workhorse. I'm not saying that we go out and buy 3 or 4 forwards but one front rower who gets through a bit of work and plays decent minutes would help. I'd be worried if our genuine front rowers next year are Kennedy, Masoe, Tasi and JWH. A couple of injuries and we would be in trouble.

We should also target a couple of speedsters.

[supermario]

Gman and Spanner, your actually both right.

Spanner, the backs are doing alot of work regarding meters gained. I would rather their high amout of meters are due to long range tries.

Gman, We need someone like Carney to add that piece to the jigsaw because in the past 4 - 5 weeks, we have been in great attacking positions, but have not had the options to finish it off with a try.