2022 NRL Round 15 Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs. Gold Coast Titans @ C.ex Coffs International Stadium, Coffs Harbour, Saturday 18th June 3:00pm

[Western Sharkie]

I'd be showing our forwards their metres compared to the back 5 personally.
Challenge the pride a bit.

To be fair, the forwards are normally running directly into brick walls most of the time, whereas the backs will have more open space opportunities where they are running kick returns which will help with their numbers.

 

[apezza]

Just seen in the Sheds vid of us singing the team song.
If Fitz can somehow transfer the enthusiasm & intensity of the team song into on field we’ll be up there as hard to beat as much as the Storm & Panthers.

Our team singing is very impressive.

Yep. Didn't drop a ball or give any dumb penalties away!

 

[Gards]

Nah they didn't mate, definitely went long

They went long on the dropout with about 4-5 mins to go and went short when there was about 45 seconds to go, it was intentional but went about 25m

I have a pure speculation theory about that.

I don't think Fitz cares about our attack this year. He never talks about it in the press conference. But he always talks about defense and consistency. I think he's focussed purely on creating a strong defensive with a low error rate. Only after he's done that will he turn his mind to attack. It'll probably take a full season and another off season for this team to reach the level he's after. This whole season is just a defense project. Attack is just "play whats in front of you and always look for points".

If this were the actual case it would explain having a halves pairing of 2 heads up type players in Hynes & Mozza but it isn't supported by what we have seen especially early season where we could see a clear structure with our attack and it was working brilliantly

Most coaches talk about defense in press conferences cause he can pin that on his players attitude, mistakes, discipline and effort but criticizing the attack looks worse for the coach if it brings into question his gameplan, attacking structures, creativity, bench use/selections ect

Some teams like Barret coached bulldogs had no clue how to score points but the coach isn't gunna admit that and will divert the media towards completions, errors, missed tackles ect. Sometimes they might mention missed opportunities or not taking their chances - again this is player focused.

Defense makes sense as a building block of a team and you need it sorted to win the battles in the finals and against the best teams but you gotta know how to put points on too, it's harder to grind out a win these days under the current rule set and some defenses can be difficult to unlock and find a way through.

If defense were Fitz primary focus/project it isn't going that great lately but he has specialist coaches under him that work on attack and defense and they would be spending plenty of time at training on both aspects.

In terms of where we need to get to, the top 2-3 teams are as strong in defense as they are in attack

 

[vicsharkfan]

Well at least we picked up 4 points last two weeks playing like dirt. Years gone by we drop probably one maybe both games. Hope we have another gear to go to I worry this is as good as 2022 will get…

 

[HaroldBishop]

They went long on the dropout with about 4-5 mins to go and went short when there was about 45 seconds to go, it was intentional but went about 25m

The one with 4 mins to go is what I was talking about mate, was in my post.

 

[snowman]

Ramien was just getting up to play the ball. Refs ****ed up there.

the ref didnt **** up, he called a penalty against the titans, the bunker ****ed it

 

[snowman]

No probably not but we have a way better roster a more heralded coach and we still produce **** , we have had a ridiculous easy draw so far this season , we are pretenders at present

The players need to improve but coach Fitzgibbon needs to improve moreso

being pretenders is what we were picked pre-season.

our betting odds were 8th best, 50% of experts in league circles had us out of the 8

we are 4th with a favourable draw, but you can only beat what is in front of you

this game is better for us than a 40 point win

the only thing a 40 point win does is shadow over the cracks, there were no excuses in this game for poor erros ect, but we still did it

so now instead of fishing and laughing for 2 weeks, we have something to work on

if we come out against the dogs with the same level of performance, then yes, i will start sharpening the knives on fitz, however, this is the majority of the same squad for the last 3 seasons that have been ill disciplined and poor with the ball, so we are getting exactly the same and climbing the ladder

 

[snowman]

The one with 4 mins to go is what I was talking about mate, was in my post.

i'd take a guess that the titans knew our ball control was **** and were hoping we would make an error on the 1st or second tackle, further upfield. a short drop out they have to go 90m on 4 tackles, an error and they have to go 60m in 5

 

[Sparkles]

being pretenders is what we were picked pre-season.

our betting odds were 8th best, 50% of experts in league circles had us out of the 8

we are 4th with a favourable draw, but you can only beat what is in front of you

this game is better for us than a 40 point win

the only thing a 40 point win does is shadow over the cracks, there were no excuses in this game for poor erros ect, but we still did it

so now instead of fishing and laughing for 2 weeks, we have something to work on

if we come out against the dogs with the same level of performance, then yes, i will start sharpening the knives on fitz, however, this is the majority of the same squad for the last 3 seasons that have been ill disciplined and poor with the ball, so we are getting exactly the same and climbing the ladder

So the carry over players haven't improved after a full (and longer than usual) pre-season and 4 months of footy.
We're climbing the ladder because of the new blood, and when they're out we're the same team we used to be? You'd think that's a massive concern. How long does Fitz paper over that issues?

We'll have to recruit our way out of this by that reckoning, and a lot of blokes will need to have some serious chats with their managers very soon...

 

[snowman]

we have 3 new players in the squad, so 14/17 on game day that were in the squad last year

we made 16 errors as a team, nicho 1, finucane 0, mcinnes 0 - 15 errors amongst the 14 remaining players

so yeh, we are basically getting the same results as last year from the same players, and people are expecting different

the difference is, we have better defensive structures and a better attacking structure, allowing us to win games we wouldnt have last year

i agree, we need to recruit, and recruit well

how long does fitz have? i'd say more than likely next season

once he stamps himself with more players from his mould and selects the ones he wants to persevere with, then it becomes his responsibility to make them better

 

[bort]

we have 3 new players in the squad, so 14/17 on game day that were in the squad last year

we made 16 errors as a team, nicho 1, finucane 0, mcinnes 0 - 15 errors amongst the 14 remaining players

so yeh, we are basically getting the same results as last year from the same players, and people are expecting different

the difference is, we have better defensive structures and a better attacking structure, allowing us to win games we wouldnt have last year

i agree, we need to recruit, and recruit well

how long does fitz have? i'd say more than likely next season

once he stamps himself with more players from his mould and selects the ones he wants to persevere with, then it becomes his responsibility to make them better

We also have better players on the park, which is partially due to having full cap back but also some older contracts, which for the most part you'd say didn't really work out, off the books.

 

[MrDravid]

we made 16 errors as a team, nicho 1, finucane 0, mcinnes 0 - 15 errors amongst the 14 remaining players

Outside Nikora (4) and Moylan (3) no one made multiple errors

 

[snowman]

Outside Nikora (4) and Moylan (3) no one made multiple errors

Mulitalo is listed with 2

 

[Rob]

Saying we haven’t improved is a stretch.

Moylan, Sifa, Noodles, Ronaldo, Katoa, Wilton, Braily have improved on last year, our half back is better than last year.
We can’t change everything in 1 season

 

[snowman]

Saying we haven’t improved is a stretch.

Moylan, Sifa, Noodles, Ronaldo, Katoa, Wilton, Braily have improved on last year, our half back is better than last year.
We can’t change everything in 1 season

we have improved in a lot of areas, which was my point, but handling is one area we havent so it shouldnt come as a shock, despite everyone being shocked

 

[apezza]

we have improved in a lot of areas, which was my point, but handling is one area we havent so it shouldnt come as a shock, despite everyone being shocked

I think overall we have improved except for handling errors and dumb penalties (could also argue goal kicking).

Unfortunately these two (or three if you include goal kicking) are crucial to whether we win or lose. Luckily, our improved attack has helped us win some games we would have lost last year.

 

[Wiz]

Saying we haven’t improved is a stretch.

Moylan, Sifa, Noodles, Ronaldo, Katoa, Wilton, Braily have improved on last year, our half back is better than last year.
We can’t change everything in 1 season

Players have improved sure but the team performances haven’t which is the point there is no point in players improving if the team doesn’t... that’s actually a worse look for the coach.

Our defence lately has been woeful and our attack has been clunky despite the better players we have - we are just lucky we have faced the warriors and titans twice already too, let’s just hope it’ll get better in time

 

[HaroldBishop]

Players have improved sure but the team performances haven’t which is the point there is no point in players improving if the team doesn’t... that’s actually a worse look for the coach.

Our defence lately has been woeful and our attack has been clunky despite the better players we have - we are just lucky we have faced the warriors and titans twice already too

We've won 9 games vs. 6 last year at the same point in the season.

Look, I'm as frustrated as you but we're all expecting too much, too early.

We're top 4, I reckon we all take that at the start of the year.

 

[Wiz]

We've won 9 games vs. 6 last year at the same point in the season.

Look, I'm as frustrated as you but we're all expecting too much, too early.

We're top 4, I reckon we all take that at the start of the year.

True

 

[Proud Shark]

It's the fact that we started hot and then faded that is frustrating.

If we had lost our first 3/4 and then gotten to where we are now it would feel very different.