What do we need to win a comp next year ?

[ROC181]

First Post of the year for me, GUTTED!

For me I would like to see a new approach by Robbo of One game at a a time meaning that every game must be important to win it. This idea that he times it right for the finals, well it worked well pre covid six-agains BUT he has admitted a few times that he has had to change because he isn't perfect and often gets it wrong so next year, get as many games won under the belt, like Penrith and Storm have done so, and then if we get enough wins to be in a safe spot, pull the reigns OR not but don't rely that we will be right by the final rounds because if we are not right, then we are catching up and going hell for leather and getting bad injuries at the worst possible time. Penrith are sitting pretty because every game had to be won like the Storm have done in the past.

That It!

[Thirteen]

We had a great squad this year. If we were fit and healthy we’d win the comp. Look at Penrith, Sharks, Cowboys, Souths and even Parra. They are all coming into the finals series mostly at full strength.

[King Salvo]

Improve on the basics - set completions and minimise errors and improve their discipline - played with a tad too much emotion today when cool heads were needed and playing footy was required.

Need to look at someone like Penrith - a very fit and focused side who play consistent footy at speed for 80 minutes week in week out- Yes they are a younger side but that is the level of footy that is required if they wish to compete for premierships.

[Inflictor]

We had a great squad this year. If we were fit and healthy we’d win the comp. Look at Penrith, Sharks, Cowboys, Souths and even Parra. They are all coming into the finals series mostly at full strength.

100%
After 20 minutes today we were going to win the comp. Then the injury gods took the piss out of us again. This year they teased until the knock out semi against Souths.

[ROC181]

We had a great squad this year. If we were fit and healthy we’d win the comp. Look at Penrith, Sharks, Cowboys, Souths and even Parra. They are all coming into the finals series mostly at full strength.

Hey 13, I was going to send U & Mickey a text pre game to give em hell at the ground, but I was afraid of jinxing the result...Oh Well


BUT Keary came out in some news article this week stating that in the NFL admin have introduced a ban on more than 1 day of hard contact in training to avoid injuries and he was surprised that the NRL hasn't followed suit. With all the bad injuries we have, where other teams at our level have small or zero, I wonder if the way we train is the problem with all of our ACLs, and some problems with tackling technique. Maybe its quantity rather than quality? Something has to be wrong as to why we get decimated by bad injuries in a season...or maybe the B2B has just been bad luck for us and when Penrith win their B2B, they will take over our bad luck and suffer.

[TumutChook]

Cronk.


we lack real direction in general game play.

we had them down to 11 men twice today, and we were headless.

or a season where we don’t lose so many players to injury.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. We seriously lack leadership & once Teddy was off we went to water. We had a 2 man advantage but played like absolute idiots who had no idea how to hold the ball & score, or at least play at our end. Teddy is the only leader at the club. In 18/19 we had Cords/Cronk/Friendy/Aubbo/Morris who all lead from the front, knew when to slow things down & grind it out, but we have no one now. Only other person that talks is JWH, but he’s on the field half a game & he’s not a balanced bloke in that regard. Radley is just a brain dead bogan & can’t control himself & has had multiple double sin Bunnings in crucial games. If I’m an oppo player I’d rub his face in the ground on first tackle knowing he’s dumb & would react putting him off his game (granted todays sin bins were a soft & never a binning in my eyes) but that’s not the point. Toops not a talker, Walker same, Keary doesn’t lead, Suaalii is a kid etc. This is where Butcher needs to step up. I’m not sure who’s out there that we get, but we certainly need more voices & leaders for when things go south.

[TumutChook]

3 big tickets and none have really changed since the start of the season.

- Leadership, we missed leadership on the field today. Friend and Cordner were such underrated leaders, their game never changed regardless of the level of opposition or the external noise that would be going on in a game/around a game. We have struggled time and time again whenever there’s been some emotion in a game to settle and play footy, exposed again in week 1 of the finals. Teddy has grown in this area but needs a couple more to go with him. I worry that Brandon Smith may just be more fuel to the fire.

- Three-quarter depth. Happy with the first choice options but we have absolutely no depth. Matt Ikuvalu used to get some stick on here but he was light years ahead of every depth option we’ve used this year.

- Halves combo of Walker & Keary, feels like one has to take a back seat so the other can excel. Really need to identify what their partnership will look like early on next year was not a fan of Walker running plays 1 and 5 and Keary running plays 2,3 & 4 that we saw back end of the season. Appreciate it was was a temporary fix to a less than ideal situation but would like to see some more freedom given to Sammy Walker, felt like he was snatching at his plays too much as he was starved of opportunities.

I did say our 2nd rowers would be a big issue to solve this year but I’m happy with what I saw from Crichton at the back end of the season, Nat Butcher is a solid 2nd choice option, I still think Tupouniua has a lot to offer and Wong looks very promising coming through the grades so I’m confident we’ve got enough options to make it work next year.

Agree with you there, we are rudderless & Teddy can lead but not the calibre of Boyd. Our issue is as soon as there is hype, a build up, a bit of bullshit we collapse & get absolutely flogged like Souths have shown the last few years. I worry too as Rads is dumb & falls for stupid stuff, JWH us a hot head, Watson looked like he wanted to fight & then you add Smith next year, I mean jeez penalty city & pretty easy to ruffle with that list.

[SamKerrSimp]

Cronk.


we lack real direction in general game play.

we had them down to 11 men twice today, and we were headless.

or a season where we don’t lose so many players to injury.

How does Cronk playing change this? The first time they were down to 11 we gave up a penalty that got them downfield then immediately gave up a 4th tackle 6 again that lead to a try and we were on the back foot the whole time they had most of the possession while they were down to 11 Cooper Cronk doesn’t change much there

[Tommy Smith]

We had a great squad this year. If we were fit and healthy we’d win the comp. Look at Penrith, Sharks, Cowboys, Souths and even Parra. They are all coming into the finals series mostly at full strength.

It's absolutely this and only this. People need to stop overthinking our demise.

We were without Manu. And then after 15 min we were without Teddy. Then 5 min later without Toups. Then 5 more mins later without Crichton.

Our 3/4s were Naiqama, Hutch, Butch and Momo. Like seriously quadruple ****ing lols.

That's cursed levels of shit luck.

It ain't rocket science.

No good having a star studded roster if they ain't on the field.

[BraveTheWorld]

As a few others have said, if we had our full roster available this finals series, we'd be playing in a GF and likely winning it. The difference of having a few of your best players out at this time of years it undeniable. With Teddy, Manu, Collins, Tupou and Crichton all on the field, we'd have handled the Bunnies today.

Regarding next year? Better luck with injuries, start the season better, finish in the top 4 to win and get the week off, and improve our temperament and gaming managing abilities as a team. You won't win a comp by belting every team physically for multiple weeks. It's a great starting point, but you need intelligent, coherent game-managing to back it up. We've struggled with that since Cronk left. Some Hookers can fill this hole, but Smith isn't that type of player. Not sure where we find improvement in that area.

[Funky Chicken]

Next year? Here's what I'd like to see/what I think:

1. Brandon Smith is a big upgrade on Sam Verrills. Not that Verrills is bad but Smith is probably a top 3 hooker whilst Verrills simply is not. Smith should get us into a top 4 and probably would've been a difference maker if he was in todays game.

2. Remain injury free. Easier said than done but for today I think if we had our full team (Including Collins and Manu) we win by plenty and probably only could've been threatened by Penrith in the entire finals.

3. Re-signing Lodge is a must.

---

With that in mind our strongest team next year is probably the best in the competition and we don't really have an excuse not to win it if we keep them fit:

1. Tedesco 2. Tupou 3. Smith 4. Manu 5. Suaalii 6. Keary 7. Walker 8. Collins 9. B. Smith 10. Lodge 11. Crichton 12. N. Butcher 13. Radley

14. Watson 15. JWH 16. Baker 17. E. Butcher

I agree with pretty much everything you said and I don't mind your side and mine is pretty close, but I would go with;
1. Tedesco 2. Tupou 3. Need a new recruit 4. Manu 5. Suallii 6. Keary 7. Walker 8. Collins 9. B. Smith 10. Lodge 11. Crichton 12. N. Butcher 13. Radley

14. Watson 15. JWH 16. May 17. E. Butcher (Others: Tuku Hau Tapuah, Josh Wong, Rob Toia, Jaxson Paulo, Sitili Tupunoua, Fletcher Baker)

[bondi paul]

We won’t win another comp with Victor the Restrictor. His best is behind him and for a so called experienced leader he is far from it.

[SamKerrSimp]

The club will struggle to afford Lodge

[weplayforprems]

Such a frustrating end to the season (again). For the third straight year it feels like we’ve been playing with one hand tied behind our backs because of key injuries at the wrong time (last year being an almost laughable writeoff after a few rounds), especially after we had the tease of being so close to full strength against the Storm a few weeks ago (Sitili and Billy aside) not even last for a half that game.

I thought the lads were brave yesterday even though we just had to be better when we had them down to 11. Particularly the first time where it felt like we couldn’t even hold the ball and somehow let them score.

Ultimately yesterday burned us because for whatever reason we were complacent or experimenting too much in the first half of the season. We were the second best team in this comp and maybe even the best but losing awful games to the Knights, Dogs, Saints and Raiders (and being very lucky to beat the Warriors, too) killed us on the ladder and left us too much to do. You can’t win this thing from outside the top four.

I think we were the only team that could have stopped Penrith. And it will be hilarious seeing them torch Souffffs in a fortnight. The Bunnies will flog Cronulla unfortunately after “mysterious” non-suspensions to key players this week (seriously that Burgess hit on Teddy was worse than three incidents combined that cost Rads a third of the season on the sideline last year).

As a neutral I hope Raiders or Parra make the GF and win it because I’m still not sold on the Cows. Penrith will rewrite records if that’s the GF.

Proud of the fight the boys showed over the back half of the season. And the integrity to be the only team that doesn’t pull embarrassing Matthew Mitcham rubbish after every third tackle like we saw yesterday.

On paper we should win the comp next year. Just please give us a bit of injury luck. Up the Chooks!

[Eggspert]

We need to learn in the off-season how to score tries against 11 men & how to defend against 11 men also need to work out why some usual suspects can't stop getting baited & sin binned.