Official Craig Fitzgibbon

Gotta respect Fitz’ turning this team around. And by that i meant mentally. A team so often caught with their pants down against depleted teams and not stepping up against quality opponents also.
Yeah we’ve not beat the top 2 this year, but we’ve beaten the reat of the 8.

15 minutes in yesterday i thought here we go, gunna get beaten up by yet another depleted souths team. But after we conceded that first soft try, we actually regrouped and turned it on.

Seeing baldy fired up in the coaches box is great, we dont often see it. I feel this year the team has actually decided enoughs enough
 
BlackWhiteBlue said:
Gotta respect Fitz’ turning this team around. And by that i meant mentally. A team so often caught with their pants down against depleted teams and not stepping up against quality opponents also.
Yeah we’ve not beat the top 2 this year, but we’ve beaten the reat of the 8.

15 minutes in yesterday i thought here we go, gunna get beaten up by yet another depleted souths team. But after we conceded that first soft try, we actually regrouped and turned it on.

Seeing baldy fired up in the coaches box is great, we dont often see it. I feel this year the team has actually decided enoughs enough
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This is definitely something new and is indicative of the intensity, focus and belief in the group at the moment. I thought the intensity in the crowd in the Monty Porter was definitely up, far more vocal and less complacent than it has been for a couple of years. Good to see all around. Let's go and back the boys.
 
Way he spoke in the presser he was pretty happy with the team but definitely sound like there are a few things he will be highlight as needing work still, and I think that will get a lot more focus from him over the week than what we did do well.
 
bort said:
Wilton binned, Iro injured, Talakai injured... 13 minus 3
That's how it works, right?
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Nah it's cause Nicho & Nikora were passengers

It's like they weren't even on the field... 🥱🧌

apezza said:
Fitz revealed something very interesting in the press conference yesterday.

When discussing AFB off the bench, he mentioned that he noticed last year in the prelim our middles were under a lot of fatigue at the backend of the competition.

He is now making a conscious effort to rotate our starting middles to keep everyone fresh.

Toby coming back soon with his spark will add to our middle rotation and will also be fresh.

Guys like big Tom and Kaufusi have been able to have their workload managed and it's really showing the results in their performances.
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Yea and he also made the point that AFB is a genuine first grade starter and the bench thing is only temporary

I dunno though, he can still give AFB the same minutes and amount of stints from the bench - maybe potentially even a few more minutes without having to endure the opening softening up period.

It isn't showing disrespect to the value we place on AFB or his quality, just give players the roles they are most effective in and AFB seems more dangerous from the bench. It's not like we don't have other quality middles to start the game for us.

Let's not forget we don't have Sifa next season - who is going to provide that hard punch, leg drive and PCM up the guts for us from the bench? Seems like that's all going to fall on Rudolf.

49erShark said:
This is definitely something new and is indicative of the intensity, focus and belief in the group at the moment. I thought the intensity in the crowd in the Monty Porter was definitely up, far more vocal and less complacent than it has been for a couple of years. Good to see all around. Let's go and back the boys.
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Were you in the stands? It didn't sound that loud over the mic on the telecast (I watched replay of highlights). I was sitting centre stand between the posts at the top of Monty Porter. Dunno if it was just the acoustics of that stand (first time I have sat in there) but yea but was prob the loudest I have heard a crowd at Shark Park in a while - fans really got riled up with the bs call and non calls from the ginger ninja

Also massive shouts for some of our defense and tackles

Some bloke behind me on the piss in a corporate box was giving it to Todd Smith all game and can't say he didn't deserve it
 
Gards said:
Were you in the stands? It didn't sound that loud over the mic on the telecast (I watched replay of highlights). I was sitting centre stand between the posts at the top of Monty Porter. Dunno if it was just the acoustics of that stand (first time I have sat in there) but yea but was prob the loudest I have heard a crowd at Shark Park in a while - fans really got riled up with the bs call and non calls from the ginger ninja

Also massive shouts for some of our defense and tackles

Some bloke behind me on the piss in a corporate box was giving it to Todd Smith all game and can't say he didn't deserve it
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Yeah I sit behind the sticks towards the front in MP. That was the most intense involvement I thought for quite a while. Fans have become spoilt and complacent because we have actually been good/great for a decade now and everyone just seems to expect wins and love to bag our own players. Gradually been getting quieter since the 2022 post covid year when Nicho was winning Dally M and the pent up post covid energy contributed to a big vibe. But since it is pretty much all members and lots of families and kids it's hard to really let loose in MP. Not like the mungo nutjobs who used to congregate in the corners of the hill near the bars. Maybe the Shire is actually becoming civilised or something. Also fans are finally starting to figure we are being done over every week by the refs. It has got beyond ridiculous.
 
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Been hyper critical of this bloke for years but the last 8 weeks I’ve been impressed

Said it exactly how it was today. He’s filthy. As he should be.

Can’t blame this guy for the loss today this is squarely on the players
 
Wilson said:
On that, I thought his presser was brilliant
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Same, I’m critical sometimes how much he gives them (players) a free hit by sugarcoating a shite performance)
He didn’t publicly lambast them but I think my using the phrase smart arse their way meant we were looking for easy options with out effort.
Good on him I say, the players dish this up too often for a team who have enough maturity & s team who sees themselves as a contender & for a top 2 spot up for grabs is pi55 weak & reeks of oversized ego’s.
 
Wilson said:
In the presser - what does he mean by smart-arseing our way through the game?
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I thought it meant like taking shortcuts, easy options and complacency.

I like how he mentioned that this is pretty much what we’ve been doing every season around this time. Didn’t worry about leaning into the “why” (because I’m sure they have done that plenty of times) and basically said to just man up and ****ing fix it.
 
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He’s usually reserved in the pressers so for him to be so blatantly pissed off says a lot.

Might be the loss we needed to have , reset and have another 4 games to get ready
 
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Tiger Shark said:
He’s usually reserved in the pressers so for him to be so blatantly pissed off says a lot.

Might be the loss we needed to have , reset and have another 4 games to get ready
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Yeah I liked him in the presser.

We've pretty much thrown away a decent chance to finish second by losing to the spooners. Bloody disappointing.
 
apezza said:
Yep. And took away the safety buffer for top 4.

Now, every game is a must win
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Wouldn’t be surprised if they lose a few more finish 5/6th like last year tbh.

This team just lacks the killer instinct that it takes to win a comp. Not sure what’s missing but yeah something is off. Thought maybe they were getting better with it but once again showed their true colours unforch
 
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Sharkyle said:
Wouldn’t be surprised if they lose a few more finish 5/6th like last year tbh.

This team just lacks the killer instinct that it takes to win a comp. Not sure what’s missing but yeah something is off. Thought maybe they were getting better with it but once again showed their true colours unforch
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I think they have shown the last few months they can (if we are on front foot).

Don't think we could turn around a game against the other top 3 if we are behind more than a try though
 
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