Qualifying Final 2022 - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs North Queensland Cowboys, Saturday 10 September 7:50pm @ Pointsbet Stadium

[snowman]

Yep, I don't know why people get their knickers in a knot. We've had a soft draw, it's a fact.

have we had a soft draw? check out the cowboys run home, it was no different to ours

again, i ask, with the soft draw, why did only one out of 30 people pick us in the top 4 this year?

do you know why? because we played manly twice, titans twice, knights twice, all teams that finished above us last year and we were expected to lose to

we didnt

soft or not, we won games and won them when other teams couldnt

 

[Proud Shark]

Just regarding Hynes attempted field goal, he takes it on the 2nd tackle, 25 metres out. We could have taken another couple of hitups.

Also the below screenshot shows Moylan not in a position ready to receive the ball from Hynes in case he can’t get the kick off in time. I know he isn’t a kicker, but you’re a 6 so think like a 6. With defenders rushing out of the line it’s a great opportunity to attack a broken line. Also at least put the thought in cowboys mind that he might take the kick or Hynes might go to Moylan.

Plucking at straws I know.

with 20s left on the clock we might have gotten one extra hit up. I guess he wanted to go early to try catch them off guard.

 

[Proud Shark]

have we had a soft draw? check out the cowboys run home, it was no different to ours

again, i ask, with the soft draw, why did only one out of 30 people pick us in the top 4 this year?

do you know why? because we played manly twice, titans twice, knights twice, all teams that finished above us last year and we were expected to lose to

we didnt

soft or not, we won games and won them when other teams couldnt

The strength of the draw changed based on the strength of teams this year. Before round 1, Manly, Knights and Titans weren't all expected to be as **** as they were. No one could predict that, we just got lucky with it.

The cowboys draw was relatively soft too.

 

[snowman]

Just regarding Hynes attempted field goal, he takes it on the 2nd tackle, 25 metres out. We could have taken another couple of hitups.

Also the below screenshot shows Moylan not in a position ready to receive the ball from Hynes in case he can’t get the kick off in time. I know he isn’t a kicker, but you’re a 6 so think like a 6. With defenders rushing out of the line it’s a great opportunity to attack a broken line. Also at least put the thought in cowboys mind that he might take the kick or Hynes might go to Moylan.

Plucking at straws I know.

there are a few moments in time i think we would want back, this is one

tracey trying to grab the ball instead of diving on it is another

brailey trying a stupid ****ing crash ball play to finucane is just about the worst

and then not slowing down the ruck with 17 seconds to go, give away a 6 again, kick the ball out of the guys hands, ****in do something

but the final one, nicho electing to run with the wind in the first half of golden point was the most perplexing, i still dont know why he did it

 

[Milkshark]

there are a few moments in time i think we would want back, this is one

tracey trying to grab the ball instead of diving on it is another

brailey trying a stupid ****ing crash ball play to finucane is just about the worst

and then not slowing down the ruck with 17 seconds to go, give away a 6 again, kick the ball out of the guys hands, ****in do something

but the final one, nicho electing to run with the wind in the first half of golden point was the most perplexing, i still dont know why he did it

Another is Kennedy sprinting back to start a 7 tackle set with 12 men on the field.

 

[Gal The Goat]

Yeah we were missing Nicho and a forward I think. They were missing Munster and Grant. I guess the discussion was about us v the roosters though, if we lose two more and they win two more, they'd have been above us.

I still think we finished well above where we had expected, even if we dropped a couple more. If you told me we'd have 15/16 wins this year I'd have been pretty happy with that. We did everything we could with the draw handed to us, and you're right. If we had just gotten the win last week we'd be backing ourselves in with the week off to get the job done against the Raiders or Eels.

We've just been very lucky with how things have worked out. making the grand final with two games against Cowboys and the Raiders would have been the dream, as they are probably the two teams everyone else would have loved to play in the finals. As it stands, to get there we will have to go the hard way. If can, you can throw the whole soft draw concept out the window as we will have beaten Souths and Penrith in back to back weeks to do it. I'm not getting my hopes up for that just yet though.

Just back on the Roosters they also dropped games against Dogs and Dragons early on so people like Gus can’t expect them to lose them than say other teams had it to good.

Agree we did have things work our way at times through the year, but when they were against us we still beat the teams that week.

I think we can beat the Rabbits again, hopefully we do and then I think everyone can be proud of our season. It’s also probably a better time to play Penrith rather than in the grand final anyways. We would be massive underdogs and can just throw it around, they will have May out, their players could be also thinking about the week ahead.

 

[Gal The Goat]

there are a few moments in time i think we would want back, this is one

tracey trying to grab the ball instead of diving on it is another

brailey trying a stupid ****ing crash ball play to finucane is just about the worst

and then not slowing down the ruck with 17 seconds to go, give away a 6 again, kick the ball out of the guys hands, ****in do something

but the final one, nicho electing to run with the wind in the first half of golden point was the most perplexing, i still dont know why he did it

Yeah just one of those moments back please and we are in a prelim.

Out of all of them the “crash play” set just played out to a repeat set probably wraps the game up

 

[snowman]

Yeah just one of those moments back please and we are in a prelim.

Out of all of them the “crash play” set just played out to a repeat set probably wraps the game up

there is nothing more predictable than bang average blayke throwing a crash ball 3m out from the line

cotter read it and folded finucane like he was toddlers washing

 

[Wiz]

Just regarding Hynes attempted field goal, he takes it on the 2nd tackle, 25 metres out. We could have taken another couple of hitups.

Also the below screenshot shows Moylan not in a position ready to receive the ball from Hynes in case he can’t get the kick off in time. I know he isn’t a kicker, but you’re a 6 so think like a 6. With defenders rushing out of the line it’s a great opportunity to attack a broken line. Also at least put the thought in cowboys mind that he might take the kick or Hynes might go to Moylan.

Plucking at straws I know.

No mate you are not plucking at straws - this play did my head in !

I thought it was on the 3rd not even on the 2nd - I was thinking why did he just try and take it from that far when we could’ve got closer… wow just wow

 

[Mr Ryan]

We’re actually on the easier side of the draw - in regards to travel.

At least we are in Sydney for the rest of the season.

Canberra or Parramatta have got a road trip to Townsville to navigate

 

[bort]

Another is Kennedy sprinting back to start a 7 tackle set with 12 men on the field.

I don't agree with that, I know it's in fashion to criticise Kennedy but if he had got a decent run off the quick tap that is probably more beneficial than wasting another few seconds at that moment. He can't just stand there indefinitely and not tap the ball. He tried to get set off on front foot so we can make some ground and with quick ptbs maybe get a penalty or 6 again.
Got dominated in tackle though so didn't work out, but I think the idea was sound. My criticism for this moment was getting dominated in tackle not trying to get on the front foot.

Just regarding Hynes attempted field goal, he takes it on the 2nd tackle, 25 metres out. We could have taken another couple of hitups.

Also the below screenshot shows Moylan not in a position ready to receive the ball from Hynes in case he can’t get the kick off in time. I know he isn’t a kicker, but you’re a 6 so think like a 6. With defenders rushing out of the line it’s a great opportunity to attack a broken line. Also at least put the thought in cowboys mind that he might take the kick or Hynes might go to Moylan.

Plucking at straws I know.

As pointed out, no time to do anything but kick. Would be lucky to have squeezed in one more play.
Looks like Moylan may have been in position to be another kick option, but I'd have to re-watch to check that.

 

[snowman]

I don't agree with that, I know it's in fashion to criticise Kennedy but if he had got a decent run off the quick tap that is probably more beneficial than wasting another few seconds at that moment. He can't just stand there indefinitely and not tap the ball. He tried to get set off on front foot so we can make some ground and with quick ptbs maybe get a penalty or 6 again.
Got dominated in tackle though so didn't work out, but I think the idea was sound.

he could have walked it back and passed the ball to talakai or ramien to take the first hit up, the clock doesnt stop

 

[Milkshark]

I don't agree with that, I know it's in fashion to criticise Kennedy but if he had got a decent run off the quick tap that is probably more beneficial than wasting another few seconds at that moment. He can't just stand there indefinitely and not tap the ball. He tried to get set off on front foot so we can make some ground and with quick ptbs maybe get a penalty or 6 again.
Got dominated in tackle though so didn't work out, but I think the idea was sound. My criticism for this moment was getting dominated in tackle not trying to get on the front foot.


As pointed out, no time to do anything but kick. Would be lucky to have squeezed in one more play.
Looks like Moylan may have been in position to be another kick option, but I'd have to re-watch to check that.

You’re entitled to your opinion.

They kicked it from the 35 metre like so the defence was waiting for him.

 

[bort]

he could have walked it back and passed the ball to talakai or ramien to take the first hit up, the clock doesnt stop

The clock would stop at some point, can't just walk up and never tap ball until time runs out. I'm not sure the exact rulings around it.
He definitely also could have chewed up a little time while their defence got set and found a bigger body. I'm not saying that isn't a legitimate option as it definitely is. I'm just saying (imo) the option to go quick and try and make something of it and get us going forward is far from a guaranteed loss - unfortunately instead of 15m and a quick ptb he made 5m and a slow ptb

Maybe he spends so long wasting clock that Talakai gets jammed by set defence and drops the ball. Not that unrealistic.

You’re entitled to your opinion.

They kicked it from the 35 metre like so the defence was waiting for him.

I'd skew my opinion in favour of the time wasting idea if I knew how long we could get away with wasting. I'm really not sure at what point ref would stop the clock if we just slow walked the ball back? I assume the ref has discretion to call time off at any stage he feels time is being wasted excessively.

The execution on the tap was definitely lacking, he needed to use some more footwork to try avoid being dominated in the tackle. Doing a bad job of the quick tap definitely made it a bad option.

 

[Milkshark]

74:30 ball kicked dead
74:38 Kennedy starts 7 tackle set

76:29 cowboys kick ball over sideline
76:51 set restart

79:39 cowboys score

It’s a game of seconds

It’s important to note the players weren’t slowing the ptb down taking time off the clock. Cowboys prob don’t get time for that try had we been smart

 

[bort]

74:30 ball kicked dead
74:38 Kennedy starts 7 tackle set

76:29 cowboys kick ball over sideline
76:51 set restart

79:39 cowboys score

It’s a game of seconds

It’s important to note the players weren’t slowing the ptb down taking time off the clock. Cowboys prob don’t get time for that try had we been smart

Could we have found 21 more seconds from that 20m restart? I wouldn't think so but again I don't know how ref would allow us to waste time.
There were multiple players still just getting back onside/flat footed on 30m line but they were more to his right and Kennedy went left into the set ones. Also Ramien went with him but ran an unconvincing line so drew no attention.
Actually ended up a decent set, made it to their 30 on the last and tackled Feldt about 6 out.
Depending on how much we could have milked maybe slower would have been better but at the time players also didn't know Cows score with seconds left so they played to play rather than to defend a lead (which rarely works out well for us).
Defended poorly that next set, they rolled a kick dead for a 10m restart.

Definitely agree with the last point - there were plenty of moments in the game we could have been smarter.

 

[Milkshark]

Could we have found 21 more seconds from that 20m restart? I wouldn't think so but again I don't know how ref would allow us to waste time.
There were multiple players still just getting back onside/flat footed on 30m line but they were more to his right and Kennedy went left into the set ones. Also Ramien went with him but ran an unconvincing line so drew no attention.
Actually ended up a decent set, made it to their 30 on the last and tackled Feldt about 6 out.
Depending on how much we could have milked maybe slower would have been better but at the time players also didn't know Cows score with seconds left so they played to play rather than to defend a lead (which rarely works out well for us).

Definitely agree with the last point - there were plenty of moments in the game we could have been smarter.

Yep, I’m not arguing with you mate. My point is only the whole team needs to be smarter.

 

[Shortfin Mako]

Yep, I’m not arguing with you mate. My point is only the whole team needs to be smarter.

Hope that was a lesson learnt.

 

[bort]

Yep, I’m not arguing with you mate. My point is only the whole team needs to be smarter.

All good mate I don't think of it as arguing, just having a convo about it as fans.

 

[Milkshark]

All good mate I don't think of it as arguing, just having a convo about it as fans.

That’s good. Sometimes these conversations turn into arguments and I’m not here for that