Not fit enough

[kruT]

Half of the team still underdone, Effort by most is substandard, Robbos preseason on "New attitide in D" is still a work in progress. A couple of players looked ok in rd 1, Half of the team played half a game in rd 2, Collectively better fitness in rd 3 but still way off the pace...

[Parkway_Drive]

It's a work in progress, wouldnt mind seeing one or 2 of the young tyro forwards getting some exposure in firsts, Baker doesnt have it atm, perhaps never will, reminds me of Dallas Hood lol.

Will be better once we have Verrills starting with Watson spending a few less minutes than he had to last night.

Jared usually takes about 4 weeks to get into his work but I think his absolute best is behind him. Collins progress is to be expected less than 12 months after a ACL, Tauks looks the goods.

Im concerned about Chrichton, looks unfit, Sitili is very lazy without the pill especially laterally in defense.

Radley looks a touch off the pace at the moment, he looks a bit heavy to me but perhaps he is spooked by the crackdown on the defensive high shots.

When is Egan Butcher back? We have missed his aggression with the ball.

Suaalii should be back in firsts soon, Billy Smith is trying hard but has that error in him and I dont think he has the same metre making ability Suaalii promises with such a huge frame.

[zac]

any team will struggle with a lack of possession. if we cut down silly errors and have more time with ball in hand then we'll go better

[Kelby]

Just not good enough

[RoosterChick]

We need more grunt up front. On Friday night we were on the back foot from the first tackle. Hopefully Lindsay will improve. Siua is trying but can’t do it every week at the high intensity. Seriously worried about Jared. His efforts so far are well below what we need. Angus is not going great. Could have something to do with off season surgery and his arm still in a protective sleeve. Sitili needs to really work on his defence. I watched the bears game and Renouf Anoni was impressive. He might offer more atm. Maybe coming off the bench. Actually a few of the Bears players are knocking on the door and don’t be surprised to see Adam Keighan get a call up. We need a goal kicker and he was great kicking from the sideline and his general play was good.
But coming back to the most obvious issue is the fact we aren’t getting the go forward and our line speed is slow in D. We need much more effort.

[mightyrooster]

The forwards are a worry but the main problem I see is a lack of possession and the spine still working on combos.

We keep making stupid errors and giving away dumb penalties. This leads to the lack of possession.

Also, Teddy keeps over playing his hand in attack when we need Luke and Sam to build their combination. It also doesn’t help that our first choice hooker is out. This again leads to dumb errors and throwing away possession.

The lack of possession leads to fatigue from too much defence and since the players are still striving for match fitness being the start of the season, the problem just piles upon itself.

We need to play simple football, control the ruck, complete sets, build up fitness and combos, before all the fancy stuff.

[Rooster1908]

The forwards are a worry but the main problem I see is a lack of possession and the spine still working on combos.

We keep making stupid errors and giving away dumb penalties. This leads to the lack of possession.

Also, Teddy keeps over playing his hand in attack when we need Luke and Sam to build their combination. It also doesn’t help that our first choice hooker is out. This again leads to dumb errors and throwing away possession.

The lack of possession leads to fatigue from too much defence and since the players are still striving for match fitness being the start of the season, the problem just piles upon itself.

We need to play simple football, control the ruck, complete sets, build up fitness and combos, before all the fancy stuff.

This seems to have been a problem for us in the last few years and for some reason there has been no improvement .

[mightyrooster]

This seems to have been a problem for us in the last few years and for some reason there has been no improvement .

You’re not wrong. It’s so frustrating.

[The Brain]

Spot on ..late run of respectability coming up but it will not be enough to win the comp

[OMR]

What’s even worse is that we’re giving away possession on the first 2-3 tackles therefore not building any pressure on opposition defense, and causing us to make more tackles and tiring out.

[Bansai Pipeline]

I don't see how anyone expected otherwise tbh.

Talk of winning it this year went out the window when the Storm didn't let go of Smith. He might have been the X factor.

Even then, our pack is unbalanced. We're missing one, maybe two, quality young props.

[bondi paul]

The forwards are a worry but the main problem I see is a lack of possession and the spine still working on combos.

We keep making stupid errors and giving away dumb penalties. This leads to the lack of possession.

Also, Teddy keeps over playing his hand in attack when we need Luke and Sam to build their combination. It also doesn’t help that our first choice hooker is out. This again leads to dumb errors and throwing away possession.

The lack of possession leads to fatigue from too much defence and since the players are still striving for match fitness being the start of the season, the problem just piles upon itself.

We need to play simple football, control the ruck, complete sets, build up fitness and combos, before all the fancy stuff.

A good post MR. The change in personnel and players having limited game time due to past seasons injuries is the surface problem, I may be highly criticised here due to most having our great coach on a pedestal but he too is part of the so called problem.
I’ve followed Easts over 50 years and in that time I’ve never seen a team under the one coach who are so I’ll disciplined and error ridden with a lack of possession who could win games against these odds due to individual flair or moments of team brilliance that was on the back of a great defence. We currently don’t have the cattle or the defensive system and mind set that Robbo has based his coaching on as seen in past seasons.

[Bansai Pipeline]

The curse of the long term coaching contract.

Signing a coach up forever never ends well in the NRL.

[roostermcgregor]

To win a premiership you need a dominating forward pack with punishing defence.
That defensive mindset filters through to your backs, and then you begin to create great defensive structures.
That's what won the Panthers the comp last year, and won our comps in 2018 & 2019.
In fact, its the same story since this game was invented in 1908.
If your pigs dominate, they give you field position, which allows your backline to finish things off and score points.
If the pigs are dominated, you are constantly coming out of your red zone, and you push the pass , or hope for the Hail Mary play, to get you out of trouble.
The pushed pass usually doesn't come off
That means incomplete sets, mistakes, errors with the ball, and handing the ball back to the opposition.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Its really that simple.
It also explains why our side has struggled against the top 5 teams , who have the more dominant forwards.

[mightyrooster]

A good post MR. The change in personnel and players having limited game time due to past seasons injuries is the surface problem, I may be highly criticised here due to most having our great coach on a pedestal but he too is part of the so called problem.
I’ve followed Easts over 50 years and in that time I’ve never seen a team under the one coach who are so I’ll disciplined and error ridden with a lack of possession who could win games against these odds due to individual flair or moments of team brilliance that was on the back of a great defence. We currently don’t have the cattle or the defensive system and mind set that Robbo has based his coaching on as seen in past seasons.

This is true but we’ve won 3 premierships under Robbo in the space of 9 seasons. I’m not ready to hit the panic button just yet. 50 years is a long time. I’ve been a supporter since 1978, so I guess that’s 43-44 years.