*Official* NRL 2012 Season thread

[Ausage]

Ahh yes round 1. We had matched it with the Bulldogs eventually going down by 8 points. The year seemed full of hope. They'd put 50 on us at the minute.

 

[uvelocity]

told you to change it pews

fmd kill me now

 

[uvelocity]

maiden try and a hatty on the same night, well done korobiete!

making the 8 will be a waste of time if we defend like this though

 

[Ausage]

told you to change it pews

fmd kill me now

Lulz.

 

[uvelocity]

and four! haha

 

[uvelocity]

Lulz.

well my still being alive means everyone's a winner!

 

[uvelocity]

(except burgey)

 

[Ausage]

well my still being alive means everyone's a winner!

Including Penrith!

 

[uvelocity]

yep Penrith may receive another visit one day.

monday night extra is such a good show. paying out on clint newton ftw

 

[benchmark00]

Sounds like a thriller.

#trollinainteasy

 

[Spikey]

luke burt missed a goal. what a loser #sackhim #useless

 

[Simon]

Defence not the winner tonight.

 

[Burgey]

I really like the look of the Dogs (washes mouth out). The ball movement through the forwards makes them much more interesting to watch (and more difficult to defend) than most teams these days. Barba and Reynolds have been punishing uneven defenses all year and picking up Inu and Perrett solidified their edge. I think they're really solid in all areas and will be really hard to stop.

Makes me want to vomit.

Reckon they'll play Melbourne in the final. I'm just conditioned to expect Souffs to give us a good lol moment at some point, while Manly, Cows and Sharks aren't quite cut from the same cloth as the top 3.

PEWS I'm gathering you're a fan of Coote @6 then?

So depressing seeing both Coote and Gordon line up in our spine on the weekend.

The use of creative forwards around the ruck was, along with Hayne's run of form, the thing which really took Parra to the 09 GF. If the offloads don't stick then of course it's messy, but I can't really understand why more teams don't do it, and why it was coached out of Parra since 09 is beyond me. It's probably the easiest way to break up a defensive line in modern rugby league, with the propensity for gang tackling.

 

[Ausage]

The use of creative forwards around the ruck was, along with Hayne's run of form, the thing which really took Parra to the 09 GF. If the offloads don't stick then of course it's messy, but I can't really understand why more teams don't do it, and why it was coached out of Parra since 09 is beyond me. It's probably the easiest way to break up a defensive line in modern rugby league, with the propensity for gang tackling.

You'd probably remember it a bit clearer than I, but I seem to remember 09 Parra relying a lot more on second phase play to create holes for Hayne/Mortimer. The Dogs aren't doing that so much. Blokes like Pritchard and Kasiano are playing almost like halves, getting the ball one out, running to the line and spreading it wide to a second receiver (often another forward). Except instead of drawing a couple of defenders like an 80kg halfback, they're 110kgs and need to be covered by more players which creates holes for Barba/Reynolds. It's more systematic than Parra 09, but Parra didn't need it to be as Hayne was shredding set defensive lines alongside broken ones.

 

[Burgey]

You'd probably remember it a bit clearer than I, but I seem to remember 09 Parra relying a lot more on second phase play to create holes for Hayne/Mortimer. The Dogs aren't doing that so much. Blokes like Pritchard and Kasiano are playing almost like halves, getting the ball one out, running to the line and spreading it wide to a second receiver (often another forward). Except instead of drawing a couple of defenders like an 80kg halfback, they're 110kgs and need to be covered by more players which creates holes for Barba/Reynolds. It's more systematic than Parra 09, but Parra didn't need it to be as Hayne was shredding set defensive lines alongside broken ones.

Probably true. But it just shows that you only really need a slight variation from the norm to cause chaos in defensive lines these days, because of the ways they're programmed to tackle. You would think more sides would find their own variations on this theme. One out stuff just gets chewed up these days.

 

[Ausage]

Also NUFAN has asked me a couple of times about Ciraldo. With the majority of the season behind us I'm putting him firmly in the absolute dud category. He's a big boy with a big frame, but he falls off tackles more than any other forward and has next to no lateral movement. He's a pillow in attack too (though he has a semi reasonable offload), but I could at least handle that (we have a few pillows) if he could keep one of the edges solid. He might go ok in the middle of the field where his lack of lateral movement would be covered by others but he falls off even semi powerful runs I think he'd leave too much work for the other forwards.

 

[Ausage]

Probably true. But it just shows that you only really need a slight variation from the norm to cause chaos in defensive lines these days, because of the ways they're programmed to tackle. You would think more sides would find their own variations on this theme. One out stuff just gets chewed up these days.

Bellamy and Bennett have much to answer for. Actually Elliott, Furner and Kearney have much to answer for. It's not that bad when done well.

The problem is the grinding types of teams rely too much on field position and defensive discipline. Not many teams can maintain that kind of concentration in defense, and field position can only be relied on if you're good at manipulating the referees into keeping their whistles in their pockets and manage to hold on to the ball.

The thing nearly every team is doing to cause chaos in the defensive line is the decoy runner. I know the obstruction rule is supposed to stop it from disadvantaging a defender that correctly picks it but it doesn't always work that way. Any time a player without the ball runs into the defensive line it disadvantages a sliding defense, irrespective of whether they've spotted the decoy a mile out.

 

[chaminda_00]

For those tactics to work you need your ball playing forwards to be in career best form, like Moi Moi was in 09. If there not you end up losing the ball too often, when you keep trying to bring in 2nd receivers. That tactic can become very predictable, if you rely on it too much and your delivery is below top quality.

It is high risk tactic and requires near perfect delivery.If the delivery poor you end up losing the ball too often.

 

[uvelocity]

dunno if I can keep watching this ****

 

[uvelocity]

haha that was awesome. benji took a penalty tap on our 20 instead of kicking it out (due to kicking into the wind) & st george were all back past half way, free 30m running.

then we kick it dead. fml.