Official Match Day Thread: Roosters v Panthers

[ROC181]

On a positive note I thought Suualli was fantastic in defence tonight , he shut down some raids and stopped To'o in his tracks which I haven't seen anyone do.
His attack and how we use him will improve no end but his athleticism and game awareness tells me he will be a beauty.
Thought young Fletcher Baker has a bit about him and this year will only improve him for the following years.

In the 1st half he stopped JFH who aimed at him and in the next tackle Martin got away from someones tackle and Suaalii just got him hard and stopped him. It's a shame we don't get to see him with more time and space with the ball.

[morley101]

We were terrible for 45 mins very good for 15 and competitive for 20 mins. If we don’t lose any more players to suspension we should have a much more experienced pack against Melbourne. Radley, Butcher & Sitili back. Smith needs 6 weeks at North’s before being considered, he was rewarded being 18th man for the persistence and hard work to get back fit. Smith hasn’t played for 18 months.

[Rooster_6]

Interesting press conference. Robbo claims Manu copped a shoulder charge to the head and we had to use an interchange to take him off.

Was a shoulder charge by Cleary after he had kicked the ball but it was a head clash so not sure it would’ve been a sin bin but definitely should’ve been put on report and I’d say he will cop a charge for it.

Grade 1 shoulder charge is 200 points, don’t think Cleary would have any carry over points but may be a risk for origin.

[BigCok007]

Trouble is they make the same errors - set completions of 67% is poor and been an issue all season and not improving and it puts a lot of pressure on a struggling and fragile defence - Chooks need to be 90 % plus and as i said on an earlier post the Chooks needed 56% or so of the possession to be a Chance of winning that game - possession ended up 60-40 to the Riff.

The defence tonight was poor one has to say as they let the Riff run at will - it started well very physical a straight line and in the Riff's face - then it was all over the place with players waiting to see what the Riff would do with the ball and it was like some of the Riff players had spiders on them as no one wanted to tackle them.

People can say the sin bin effected the result but they train for that they say so it should be something although not great that they should be able to cope with though.

A lot of work is needed on getting the basics rights - set completions and the defence

I finally get it, you’re a Souffs supporter aren’t you?!

[stringaz]

In the 1st half he stopped JFH who aimed at him and in the next tackle Martin got away from someones tackle and Suaalii just got him hard and stopped him. It's a shame we don't get to see him with more time and space with the ball.

I can't wait to see him rip. He's doing it already in the small space he has. There'll be a few long range beauties coming up.
He looks fast.

[ROC181]

We were terrible for 45 mins very good for 15 and competitive for 20 mins. If we don’t lose any more players to suspension we should have a much more experienced pack against Melbourne. Radley, Butcher & Sitili back. Smith needs 6 weeks at North’s before being considered, he was rewarded being 18th man for the persistence and hard work to get back fit. Smith hasn’t played for 18 months.

We don't get Radley for the Storm game...we get him after that.

[BraveTheWorld]

Well, pretty interesting game and I'll just outline a few of my thoughts.

I really think that we might need to find a replacement for Ikavalu. He does so many good things, and has some real talent, but it feels like he costs us at least one try a week. Whenever someone bombs to him, it feels worse than a 50-50% chance that he'll take it, especially if their outside backs are tall. I think Suualii to wing and possibly Billy Smith in at centre might be a better option.

JWH continues to go from strength to strength. Wouldn't trade him for any prop in the game.

Geez Anasta seems to deathride us. Not happy with how he ended at the club, or just trying to seem impartial?

The amount of set restarts we get on tackle 1 is almost laughable, and seems to consistently take around 50-minutes to receive our first one.

As with Ikavalu above, I really dislike overly criticizing any of our players, but I don't think Lam is really the answer for us, even with the injuries. Walker and Manu in the halves with Suualii and Smith in the backs, or Keighran and Walker (if fit) or Manu, with Verrills playing the 80 at Hooker might be better choices. He did some decent things tonight and I'm obviously not saying the loss was his fault, but I just don't like what I see on the whole from him. This isn't just a reaction to the touch-finder either.

The sinbinning was absurd and I can't believe commentators and analysts are confused about this issue. If the high contact was (using common sense) unavoidable, it shouldn't be a bin. Really simple. How Proctor wasn't binned last week and Tauks was this week, boggles the mind.

Suualii looks terrific.

All-in-all, not too deterred by the loss. Looking forward to Walker, Radley and Tupouniua coming back, along with Verrills playing 80.

[King Salvo]

Worrying right... as much as I sympathise, he's usually a positive dude who articulates stuff really well. For a few weeks now, he's basically just used his presser to say that the rules about high tackles are shyte & have decided the game.

That said, even Cleary ended his presser saying the call was BS. So did the ref (the bunker over-ruled him).

Whadda you do? The rules won't change back any time soon. Our players aren't coming back until next year. Add JWH and SST to the suspension list. Sigh... I was proud of our effort but I'm tired and deflated by how it happened because I think we coulda done a lot better but for Vland-arse's stupid policy. Get rid of him. Not saying we woulda won, but Vland-arse has wrecked the game. Enough!!! Can the policy. Fans really need to take a stand. Replace those stupid beanies with 'sack Vland-arse' beanies. Surely FANS should have been consulted?

I think Robbo and his team has more to worry about than sin bins though and in any case they bang on about how they train to defend with 12 players - seems either they dont train enough for this or they can't defend with 12 players let alone defend their errors

Chooks defended like they were admiring the way the Riff players passed /kicked and ran the ball- It was like some of their players had spiders on them - The physical Defence of the first 10 to 15 vanished and the old incomplete sets made it's weekly return as well.

The players are full time professionals so there is no excuses like the old days in promoting reggies players and expecting them to perform - They are supposedly well prepared.

Nothing was learnt from the last time they played in the semi last year- very similar game with the Chooks off to a fast start then the Riff storming back with only difference being there was no Chooks come back this time.

They need to get back to basics and work on their defence and ball control and set completions - conceded 72 points in last 2 games and another below par 67% set completion rate

[roostermcgregor]

"Originally posted by Rooster 6

Grade 1 shoulder charge is 200 points, don’t think Cleary would have any carry over points but may be a risk for origin.



I bet Cleary doesn't even get mentioned, cited , or called up by the match review committee.
If he does, he will be exonerated.
He will be free to play Origin - as he is one of the NRL "poster boys"
We are just about to find out how corrupt V'land - Arse and the NRL are.
There is one set of rules for Cleary & Co, old Burge Arse from Souffs was in the same category - they can do no wrong.
Yet the Roosters players like Radley get called up and suspended for lengthy terms.
The guys who hit our players high are let off scott- free.
All Trent Robinson talked about in the Presser was the inconsistency, and absurd rulings from the refs and bunker.
Get ready to be amazed even more, Trent.

[Johnny73]

"Originally posted by Rooster 6

Grade 1 shoulder charge is 200 points, don’t think Cleary would have any carry over points but may be a risk for origin.



I bet Cleary doesn't even get mentioned, cited , or called up by the match review committee.
If he does, he will be exonerated.
He will be free to play Origin - as he is one of the NRL "poster boys"
We are just about to find out how corrupt V'land - Arse and the NRL are.
There is one set of rules for Cleary & Co, old Burge Arse from Souffs was in the same category - they can do no wrong.
Yet the Roosters players like Radley get called up and suspended for lengthy terms.
The guys who hit our players high are let off scott- free.
All Trent Robinson talked about in the Presser was the inconsistency, and absurd rulings from the refs and bunker.
Get ready to be amazed even more, Trent.

This is for Andrew Abdo...I know the character was from Zimbabwe...

[Bruce 38-0]

Re the binning, I am semi hopeful that after Robbo’s presser and the 9 and Fox post games/ in game discussion that in the Annersly chat on Monday that they address what the player needs to do in those situations.

I also hope SST gets charged, we fight it and win.

[bondi.boy]

I’d give you a run before Ikuvalu ever puts on a roosters jersey again. He belongs in the red and black or preferably the reserve grade colours of another team

Last game he scored the 'winning' try.

[Thirteen]

Iku has to go. Too much of a target. At least catch the occasional bomb while under pressure.

[ism22]

Iku has to go. Too much of a target. At least catch the occasional bomb while under pressure.

I thought he did some good stuff, but their attack was relentless. We did well to prevent them from putting 40+ on us and Iku/Teddy had some good reads to prevent certain tries being scored.

Obviously not the result I wanted, and there's no way of sugar-coating it. But... not gonna turn on Iku. Instead, I'm gonna sink my jaws into my blueberry muffin and sip on my flat white. We did the best we could and still lost. B2B Pemriff & Drizz was always gonna be tough.

[zac]

Trouble is they make the same errors - set completions of 67% is poor and been an issue all season and not improving and it puts a lot of pressure on a struggling and fragile defence - Chooks need to be 90 % plus and as i said on an earlier post the Chooks needed 56% or so of the possession to be a Chance of winning that game - possession ended up 60-40 to the Riff.

The defence tonight was poor one has to say as they let the Riff run at will - it started well very physical a straight line and in the Riff's face - then it was all over the place with players waiting to see what the Riff would do with the ball and it was like some of the Riff players had spiders on them as no one wanted to tackle them.

People can say the sin bin effected the result but they train for that they say so it should be something although not great that they should be able to cope with though.

A lot of work is needed on getting the basics rights - set completions and the defence

no doubt but when you're understrength a sin binning can be the straw that breaks a camel's back. but you're right we made errors that we shouldn't have - not finding touch from a penalty kick when you're down a man is inexcusable.

but all up 6 tries to 2 away to a full strength panthers isn't the end of the world. we can get em next time. i thought jwh was great and joey s and baker continue to show promise. cleary was fantastic and his kicking game was pin point