Roosters v Wests Tigers: Schick Preview

[milanja]

Woeful,awful,crap etc etc etc second half! This centre combination needs to end NOW!!!

Yep, toops injury is really hurting the backline.

[Rooster_6]

It's clear we struggle when there's slow rucks.

Not sure you can really credit the Tigers but they got away with a lot in that second half. I can't recall one ruck penalty in that second half but there were so many regrips, crowding, hands on the ball and flops in that second half that were let go.

When you play with a traditional first and second receiver like we do you need at the least a normal speed ruck. If you're consistently playing off slow rucks your second receiver either has to receive the ball extremely deep or he's catching it with the defensive line already in his face which is what's happening a lot currently and really stiffling our attack.

The rain also played a big part in the slower rucks, bit of a kyrptonite for us I think...

[King Salvo]

Not able to back up week after week especially after a big game which there will plenty upcoming -Starting with the Sharks next Saturday Night for instance - seemed flat and out of sorts tonight and should be nearing their peak in reality- need to improve in a lot of areas one has to say honestly. As I said it was going to be hard game against an improving Tigers outfit whose win last win was no fluke IN coming back from 20-6 down at half time to win 30-26- Still Storm beat an Improving Knights outfit 44-12 and showed no ill effects of the previous game-rested Cronk as well- Roosters need to get to that level week in week out - i.e not much difference between Storms best and worst performance - quote a gap between the Roosters best and worst performances this year though including during a game even.

[Louis N]

What a terrible game of football.

Fergo and Latrell were our best by a mile. Why we are so hesitant to give them clean early ball is beyond me as they make 20-30 metres every bloody time.

the rot started with Jake dropping the kick off and gifting them their first try. From there it was just dumb decision after dumb decision by so many of our players.

it's games like tonight that show why we have a lot of work to do to have a genuine shot at the title

I thought we eased with that good lead. It looked like we'd bat up a cricket score. But then all the old bad habits including JWH's wayward arm. The bombed tries involved our State of Origin players apart from the first one by Gordon off a perfect Mitchell centre kick. Fergo saved a try and I thought Pearce ran too far up on his inside pass after Ferguson busted their line. Keary called Cordner on the inside pass to Matterson but Boyd bombed it. Or Tedesco is a master hypnotist. He did it more than once. But take into account the Tigers miles forward pass try. That was a joke.

[Tommy Smith]

The pocket ref was right in line 5m away for that forward pass for their go ahead try.

I ****ing give up.

I look forward to Archer coming out and saying they got it wrong and dropping the ref in the name of consistency.

[Tommy Smith]

It's clear we struggle when there's slow rucks.

Not sure you can really credit the Tigers but they got away with a lot in that second half. I can't recall one ruck penalty in that second half but there were so many regrips, crowding, hands on the ball and flops in that second half that were let go....

It's the way Archer has his refs operate.

They blow about 8-10 pens in the first half and barely any in the 2nd.

The palyers and coaches know this so they take more liberties in the ruck by holding down longer.

It's a shambles.

[Rooster_6]

The tigers turned up. We were expecting a tough one and the weather didn't help us but we'll need to play a lot better if we want to hold a top 4 place down.

Did they though? Outside of the one set they had in the first minute of the second half can you recall any more than a couple sets inside our 20m in that 2nd half?

We just struggled to finish them off. Really should have put 30 on them tonight. To concede 9 linebreaks, miss 41 tacklew and give up 1800m in a game is horrendous defence. Tigers battled to stay in the game but it was more a case of us denying ourselves.

[ROC181]

What a terrible game of football.

Fergo and Latrell were our best by a mile. Why we are so hesitant to give them clean early ball is beyond me as they make 20-30 metres every bloody time.

the rot started with Jake dropping the kick off and gifting them their first try. From there it was just dumb decision after dumb decision by so many of our players.

it's games like tonight that show why we have a lot of work to do to have a genuine shot at the title

But one simple drop should not cost us 6 points, specially with the bottom team. Why do they just drop their heads when they make a mistake or give away a penalty?

i remember last week v Storm where they were penalised and Smith wanted to argue with the ref and another storm player came to join the convo and Smith gave him a look to say, get back to your place and the player just walked away. That we don't have...

[liver1971]

Some very ordinary officiating as per usual however if we got beaten it would gave been our own fault. The game was there for the taking. There are some real danger signs there, complacency and sheer laziness sometimes. The Tigers played ok but it seems to me we just don't have that killer instinct to blow teams away. Generally we play better against the stronger teams. This all comes down to attitude. It's so frustrating watching a team with some much individual talent that really are their own worst enemy

[Rooster_6]

It's the way Archer has his refs operate.

They blow about 8-10 pens in the first half and barely any in the 2nd.

The palyers and coaches know this so they take more liberties in the ruck by holding down longer.

It's a shambles.

I'm not convinced Archer is competent enough to have his refs officiate in any particular way. I think it's just the fear of breaking the status quo for refs.

Everyone knows 10-15 pens a game is the norm, you'll see some outliers where there's a few less or a few more but you are right in saying teams know that refs are watching the clock and counting the number of penalties they have blown so far and they can make educated decisions around at what parts of the game they can push their luck.

There's no greater evidence of that than tonight when we were 2 down with 10mins to go right under the posts on the goal line, Tigers blatantly hold JWH down for too long. Perenara puts the whistle in his mouth, pulls it back out then puts it back in again and then pulls it out again deciding not to blow a penalty. Someone has got to ask the question what made Perenara re-asses his initial thought of penalty not once but TWICE! Was he looking at the clock, remembering the penalty count, assesing the context of the game and value of the penalty...

Who knows but we have a game where refs are no longer officiating games for what they see but trying to manage games and limit their exposure to criticism.

[Guest]

boyd cordner was our best

[milanja]

But one simple drop should not cost us 6 points, specially with the bottom team. Why do they just drop their heads when they make a mistake or give away a penalty?

i remember last week v Storm where they were penalised and Smith wanted to argue with the ref and another storm player came to join the convo and Smith gave him a look to say, get back to your place and the player just walked away. That we don't have...

There is nobody smarter or more influential to play the game, the guy is pure genius.

[Mickie Lane]

It was a clunky win.
After getting themselves right up for last weeks game against the Storm I think they were in a bit of a lull tonight. When your not right on your game those little things that should come off dont. Like the Cordner inside pass knock down bombed try & the Ferguson, Pearce not in sink bombed try. Michael Gordon wasnt 100% fit & it showed with that awkward performance he put in tonight.

[liver1971]

There is nobody smarter or more influential to play the game, the guy is pure genius.

We only need one Cpt
And we ALL know who it should be.

[peard]

Did they though? Outside of the one set they had in the first minute of the second half can you recall any more than a couple sets inside our 20m in that 2nd half?

We just struggled to finish them off. Really should have put 30 on them tonight. To concede 9 linebreaks, miss 41 tacklew and give up 1800m in a game is horrendous defence. Tigers battled to stay in the game but it was more a case of us denying ourselves.

tbh, roosters are totally beholden to our no.1 ticket holder the right honourable m. turnbull. i fear our chances went out the window with the dual citizenship thing . i live near brisvegas and can tell you there is a huge push for brisbane this year . Personally i hate the c**nts but news has deep pockets.

On another note, may i say i respect all of the posters on the chookpen and wish all well for the coming year.
- long time supporter (40 years)