Thanks for acknowledgment. You elaborated on some points which I was going to raise elsewhere but I'll post it here. You nailed it on the head................
Terry Lamb made a career merely out of being present otherwise known as support play or backing-up. Why is it the case that in the majority of instances in the last three years when Tupou has had his hands free ready for an offload that he's been unable to so? Because no one is present. In fact, no one feels the onus of responsibility to be present. No one is creating an offload for him. Why has Tagataese failed to have the majority of his line-breaks finished off? No one is creating a pass for him. Pomeroy creates his tries by being present; by chasing the hardest. Those things don't just happen to him whilst his standing around. Why do Hindmarsh, Myles and Crocker always mop up on the line-breaks and no one else? Every other player shifts it off and leaves them to do the dirty work.
The game applies far to much emphasis on the ball-carrier or the halves 'creating' the play. How much pressure was zeroed-in on Noddy at the Sharks to create something out of his back side when all the others provided him with no options meaning he had to force things. The onus has to be on every one of the 17 guys who are listed to be proactive, to be other-centric and think how they can best position themselves for the ball carrier in the development of any given play. There has to be a constancy of effort on every play, every pass, on every line-break whether offensive or defensive in orientation. The players need to bursting through holes left, right and centre providing options for the person with the ball in hand (primarily the play-makers).
As of the five game losing streak (excepting the Roosters game) we've had 12 players on their heels completely disinterested whilst the one guy hits it up. We've had people who not until the third play have bothered to get onside. The reason we had the team pushing-up, having a go in the streak and the Panthers game was because we were in the mood, in a good place. We've got to stop making it a 'feeling' and make it our culture.
I disagree with a lot of that HD. Taga has flat out blown most of his linebreaks by not passing to support- not the worst thing to do because at least we keep the ball, but something to work on in the offseason. If you watch Townsend you'll notice that he has the habit of lurking around his forwards waiting for the offload- he's made a number of half breaks because of it and as he gets more experienced and physically up to first grade those breaks will start to come. Kelly also has the knack of creating from second phase play as we saw against the Panthers for instance.
And Noddy... the only options Noddy ever wanted were crash line runners who could take the ball while they were getting belted. He rarely gave anyone else an opportunity to do anything with the ball.
That said, a glaring deficiency of this squad during the Ricky Stuart era (or at least post '08) has been the lack of hole runners. Tupou is not a hole runner, and neither is Gal- he actually looks for contact so he can take them on physically up high. Smith isn't either really, though he plays smarter than the other two. However, with the introdctuction of Tagataese, Bukuya and Frizell, (plus Pomeroy learning to run a hard outside-in angle) we have some good edge options for our halves. That is an area that *should* improve next season.
Also, I disagree that there has been no support play through the ruck- that has been a standout feature of Flano's coaching this year. He has got the big boys using their hands and challenging the line by running together. How many times has Smith put Taga in a hole since he's arrived? I agree it hasn't happened enough, but it has happened and that's a start at least.
That said, you are utterly correct about the overemphasis on the ball players putting ball runners in holes for points. My guess is that its come about as a result of coaches wanting (and being expected to have) more and more control over what happens out on the field. Its pretty hard to plan for what happens after two offloads are thrown. I seem to remember that one of the old RL sages- maybe Gibson- said that the game of RL was about possession and never dying with the ball.
Anyway, I suppose my point is similar to the one I was just trying to frame in a different thread. We want it all to happen now, but it simply won't- because it can't. The team is full of rookies. The coach is a rookie. We're short on leadership. Our best halves combination is yet to take the field this year. We have one, maybe two genuine class players. The checklist of things to work on is sooooo long- get Townsend straightening the attack when he receives the ball like he was when he came in to first grade, improve Graham's one-on-one defense, get Gardner's cleanup work and goal line tackling to be more consistent, get Fifita to run straighter early in the tackle count, get Pomeroy running the outside-in line consistently, get Frizell comfortable in first grade, get Gal to trust his halves, develop/sign some strike in the 3/4 line, ingrain a culture of 80 minute performances, develop Bukuya's passing/offloading game... and so on. It will take time to get where we want to go, but it will happen- there are the makings of a very, very good side there. We just need to hang in there.
What does this all have to do with the Sharks in Gallen and Flanagan. By blaming refereeing decisions, luck or fate we dis-empower ourselves. We begin to feel comfort with the concept that we can't possibly win because things are against us, the NRL has it in for us or luck simply won't favour us. We lose our free-will (which we readily possess) and submit to these "inevitabilities". The sooner we take the attitude that come what may, no matter the obstacles that are put in front of us that we'll do whatever it takes and we'll do whatever within our power we can do to still win then we will benefit greatly. We could have played much better in that last 20mins and have won comfortably. That was within our control. That should be the absolute and only focus for the boys this week.
I don't want Gallen and Flanagan or anyone else to ever blame refereeing decisions ever again even if they don't favour us. To blame absolutely nothing but what we could do but did not do. That when we concede a rough penalty to accept it and tell the boys to double up because they won't get past us. That when the head hunters come at us to tell them to take a harder hit because we'll never succumb to their level. That in all matters on the Rugby League field we'll always play hard and fair, with virtue and integrity. Build character in your men Paul and they follow you and we will win a lot more games than we currently have.
But this I agree with entirely HD. A Wayne Bennett-ism is that he reckons none of his sides have ever lost a game purely because of a refereeing decision. That's because there are always other opportunities to win the match.
In my book, a winner doesn't complain after the fact. What good does it do (except perhaps to take some media scrutiny of your team)? A winner just admits he got beaten, goes away and works on what needs to be fixed so that the likelihood of it ever happening again is minimized. In fact, to me complaining usually indicates that deep down the person was ready to lose- they may even have expected it.
I hate criticizing Gal because of all he is, but am starting to feel more and more and more that he is a bloke who
hates losing rather than one who
loves winning. To me there's a world of difference there. I don't blame Gal- I blame Ricky Stuart's excuse driven mindset and the historical culture of our Club, but until there is an attitude shift in terms of understanding what it takes to win then I think it will be hard to see us take that ultimate step, particularly when it comes down to the big games.
