Official Craig Fitzgibbon

Bundy Shark said:
& have a higher aim his expectations, said in the presser he didn’t think we were that bad in the first half.
WTF,
gives me little confidence we will ever be ruthless or clinical if the first half according to him wasn’t that bad.
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CrazyMatt said:
He actually said that? That is alarming.
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He's not wrong though. We had some great periods defending our line in the first half. It was just the errors that were killing us. A general statement about playing well or not isn't just down to whether you're holding the ball. He also said despite going okay, we weren't chancing our arm enough or working hard enough in transition (I'm still not sure exactly what transition means @Sharks NRL Prospects ).

Low and behold, we held the ball in the second half, they didn't and points came. We did chance our arm a little more, but we certainly didn't start playing significantly better. We just went up a little and they went down a bit giving us opportunities we didn't have in the first half.

Worth watching the presser if you haven't. McInnes makes some comments about it being such a simple game. Hold the ball, do the little things and the good things will come.
 
Proud Shark said:
He's not wrong though. We had some great periods defending our line in the first half. It was just the errors that were killing us. A general statement about playing well or not isn't just down to whether you're holding the ball. He also said despite going okay, we weren't chancing our arm enough or working hard enough in transition (I'm still not sure exactly what transition means @Sharks NRL Prospects ).

Low and behold, we held the ball in the second half, they didn't and points came. We did chance our arm a little more, but we certainly didn't start playing significantly better. We just went up a little and they went down a bit giving us opportunities we didn't have in the first half.

Worth watching the presser if you haven't. McInnes makes some comments about it being such a simple game. Hold the ball, do the little things and the good things will come.
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IMO, I think we were lucky we were playing the Dragons yesterday & not another 10-12 other teams because the first half, according to Fitzy where ‘we weren’t that bad’,

I think the scoreline could’ve been something we weren’t able to run down nor run over if it wasn’t for we were playing the Dragons, who, on average scored & let in their weekly average minus 2pts in both attack & defence. (they average a 32-14 scoreline season to date before playing us)
 
Proud Shark said:
He's not wrong though. We had some great periods defending our line in the first half. It was just the errors that were killing us. A general statement about playing well or not isn't just down to whether you're holding the ball. He also said despite going okay, we weren't chancing our arm enough or working hard enough in transition (I'm still not sure exactly what transition means @Sharks NRL Prospects ).

Low and behold, we held the ball in the second half, they didn't and points came. We did chance our arm a little more, but we certainly didn't start playing significantly better. We just went up a little and they went down a bit giving us opportunities we didn't have in the first half.

Worth watching the presser if you haven't. McInnes makes some comments about it being such a simple game. Hold the ball, do the little things and the good things will come.
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Transition is any time the ball is not physically being possessed by one team, or possession is transferred from one team to the other - plus what happens either side of that in preparation for and reaction to what is happening.

Think kick pressure, kick chase, diving on loose balls, proper positioning for kick-offs and drop-outs, kick defusal, riding the side-line when the other team kicks for touch, working after a line break to push up in attack or defence, getting place to shift quickly after recovering a short kick-off ,reacting if a kick hits legs or there is an intercept etc.

Most people see these things falling as either "attack" or "defence" depending on who has the ball during the play. NRL coaches see transition as its own thing, and as a way they can gain an edge. It is coached.

One example from my playing days is that in our team the lock never chased attacking kicks. My job was to sweep across field behind my own players in-line with the ball, so that if the opposition managed to catch it and break the line there was a defender who is in good position to make a tackle and wasn't running full steam in the wrong direction. Each season I probably did that 200 times and made just 2-3 tackles. Someone watching might have thought I was lazy but in fact I was following the coach's instructions for where to be during a specific type of transition.
 
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Sharks NRL Prospects said:
Transition is any time the ball is not physically being possessed by one team, or possession is transferred from one team to the other - plus what happens either side of that in preparation for and reaction to what is happening.

Think kick pressure, kick chase, diving on loose balls, proper positioning for kick-offs and drop-outs, kick defusal, riding the side-line when the other team kicks for touch, working after a line break to push up in attack or defence, getting place to shift quickly after recovering a short kick-off ,reacting if a kick hits legs or there is an intercept etc.

Most people see these things falling as either "attack" or "defence" depending on who has the ball during the play. NRL coaches see transition as its own thing, and as a way they can gain an edge. It is coached.

One example from my playing days is that in our team the lock never chased attacking kicks. My job was to sweep across field behind my own players in-line with the ball, so that if the opposition managed to catch it and break the line there was a defender who is in good position to make a tackle and wasn't running full steam in the wrong direction. Each season I probably did that 200 times and made just 2-3 tackles. Someone watching might have thought I was lazy but in fact I was following the coach's instructions for where to be during a specific type of transition.
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needed you on the TU break down the sideline
 
Bundy Shark said:
IMO, I think we were lucky we were playing the Dragons yesterday & not another 10-12 other teams because the first half, according to Fitzy where ‘we weren’t that bad’,

I think the scoreline could’ve been something we weren’t able to run down nor run over if it wasn’t for we were playing the Dragons, who, on average scored & let in their weekly average minus 2pts in both attack & defence. (they average a 32-14 scoreline season to date before playing us)
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That may be true, but he can only comment on the game being played, not the hypothetical one not being played.

I'd hazard a guess he doesn't say the same thing if we concede 2-3 additional tries in the first half.
 
Sharks NRL Prospects said:
Transition is any time the ball is not physically being possessed by one team, or possession is transferred from one team to the other - plus what happens either side of that in preparation for and reaction to what is happening.

Think kick pressure, kick chase, diving on loose balls, proper positioning for kick-offs and drop-outs, kick defusal, riding the side-line when the other team kicks for touch, working after a line break to push up in attack or defence, getting place to shift quickly after recovering a short kick-off ,reacting if a kick hits legs or there is an intercept etc.

Most people see these things falling as either "attack" or "defence" depending on who has the ball during the play. NRL coaches see transition as its own thing, and as a way they can gain an edge. It is coached.

One example from my playing days is that in our team the lock never chased attacking kicks. My job was to sweep across field behind my own players in-line with the ball, so that if the opposition managed to catch it and break the line there was a defender who is in good position to make a tackle and wasn't running full steam in the wrong direction. Each season I probably did that 200 times and made just 2-3 tackles. Someone watching might have thought I was lazy but in fact I was following the coach's instructions for where to be during a specific type of transition.
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Thanks again, very interesting particularly your experience at lock. I appreciate you humouring my ignorance today!
 
Back on Fitz, the bloke is a man after my own heart the last couple of pressers. Basically told the journos both times to stfu about runs/metres stats.
 
Colqohuon should start. I don't think we can have Hohepa at Hooker in this next two games. Heck i'd even prefer the tooth at DH for a spell, but start with Berrell ( as I've said before)
 
I know Cam can, at times give us a quicker PTB but I’m not sure, when you weigh it all up with his hit ups, metres gained etc it’s worth it.
I know, yesterday as the most recent example, he did get some quicker PTB’s but he also made & got some sweet FA metres gained in hit ups as well as being dominated, in fact, one in particular he lost metres.
Not doubt he is always willing & putting his hand up for a carry, just think sometimes, he’s better off passing before the line to get a betterment for the team in terms of getting us out of our own end..
 
Bundy Shark said:
& have a higher aim his expectations, said in the presser he didn’t think we were that bad in the first half.
WTF,
gives me little confidence we will ever be ruthless or clinical if the first half according to him wasn’t that bad.
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He should have gone to Specsavers
 
@Proud Shark another great example of transition play would be Hiroti on the Kennedy kick return and subsequent Ronnie line break (61st minute). Gets himself behind the ball to make himself an option, but doesn't get it. he won't get anything in the stats column but they score from that possession and the break doesn't happen without his effort there.
 
Blue_Eyes84 said:
Whatever Fitz said at half time clearly worked.
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And whatever he said before kick off didn't...

I dunno, we were kinda flat but it's a 80 min game. I agree with Fitz we weren't terrible in that first half, just clunky with the ball and some bad handling

Dragons were actually doing a half decent job of things

I also agree that against a top team that first half might have lost us the game so it still needs to be better but keep in mind our spine has 3 players with less than a handful of NRL games under their belt and even then we ended up getting the job done and winning convincingly

There were still some good moments from players in that first half and our blokes heads never really went down, they kept at it
 
Gards said:
And whatever he said before kick off didn't...

I dunno, we were kinda flat but it's a 80 min game. I agree with Fitz we weren't terrible in that first half, just clunky with the ball and some bad handling

Dragons were actually doing a half decent job of things

I also agree that against a top team that first half might have lost us the game so it still needs to be better but keep in mind our spine has 3 players with less than a handful of NRL games under their belt and even then we ended up getting the job done and winning convincingly

There were still some good moments from players in that first half and our blokes heads never really went down, they kept at it
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Against a top team, with half our spine out, we will be up against it for sure.
Although some changes may occur, like Will may not risk trying the offload or going for the Stoney pass.
 
bort said:
Against a top team, with half our spine out, we will be up against it for sure.
Although some changes may occur, like Will may not risk trying the offload or going for the Stoney pass.
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I honestly thought we weren't bad as some were making it to be. Just tried to force a miracle sometimes but we kept our cool.
 
G.H Shark said:
I honestly thought we weren't bad as some were making it to be. Just tried to force a miracle sometimes but we kept our cool.
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We got made to look worse by fact they played near there best too. Still didn't find them very threatening, but obviously the concern was if we didn't clean things up.
And as I said above, against a better team no Hynes no Blayke we are up against it anyway, a Will Kennedy knocked on contested kick won't be the make or break factor.
 
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