Round 19, 2012 NRL: Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs St George Illawarra Dragons @ WIN Stadium, Sunday 15th July, 3:00pm

[Gards]

I have major concerns about carney at the moment, just to pissed to type, but will get around to it later

He needs space but our platform is not really giving that to him. Plus it is actually possible he is not as good as all the hype in his Roosters year built for him... there's a bit of Tim Smith about him...

For the record I think Carney is a good player

 

[Gards]

I thought Wright had a great game, he got turned inside out once but so does everyone. The play where he claimed to have gotten out of the in goal made me nervous, ball was at the tips of his fingers and could have been bumped out with the toe of an opposition's boot. Apart from that he was reliable and strong AND stepped Morris no worries

Yea I thought he might have knocked on then but was good effort. I loved his step and run down the side line. Gould was saying Morris did his homework but no where did it say Wright had a step on him! LOL

 

[goodbyepenrithhellosharks]

I thought Wright had a great game, he got turned inside out once but so does everyone. The play where he claimed to have gotten out of the in goal made me nervous, ball was at the tips of his fingers and could have been bumped out with the toe of an opposition's boot. Apart from that he was reliable and strong AND stepped Morris no worries

he has done a great job, since gards got hurt...if only he could bust that line a few more times...but hey we could of done a hell of a lot worse

 

[goodbyepenrithhellosharks]

He needs space but our platform is not really giving that to him. Plus it is actually possible he is not as good as all the hype in his Roosters year built for him... there's a bit of Tim Smith about him...

For the record I think Carney is a good player

i just cannot seem to put my finger on it just yet, But by platform do you mean the pigs go forward then I cant agree. A few chook supporters still laugh how he went missing in the finals and that got my radar up a bit

 

[Thresher]

Fair dinkum I reckon Wright is a first grader for years to come, not sure on exactly the position but he's strong and reads play well.

He actually seemed surprisingly quick on a few of his runs this arvo and it took more than one player to bring him down each time, his legs pumped well in the tackle, hard to stop the momentum.

 

[Gards]

Maybe Wright can be built into a backrower cause as he gets older and bulkier I doubt he is going to get much quicker. I know some peeps want him at centre but I would hope we have superior options in the coming years.

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Fair dinkum I reckon Wright is a first grader for years to come, not sure on exactly the position but he's strong and reads play well.

He actually seemed surprisingly quick on a few of his runs this arvo and it took more than one player to bring him down each time, his legs pumped well in the tackle, hard to stop the momentum.

I agree mate. First time I've seen anything resembling speed or evasiveness from him.

On that Morris break he seemed to be running at the same speed in field.

That big step was good too.

If we had an 80 minute hooker (we don't) he'd maybe make a good bench utility.

 

[hitman124]

I feel Carney is getting better every week, I loved what he did today. He is damn quick, strong, aggressive. Yes he threw a costly interception, but every player is entitled to one of those every now and then, the main thing is in the play he was having a go. This is going to sound crazy, but I was really happy with today's effort.

We were robbed. A couple of errors here and there, mistakes from the refs, gave St Puke the 8 point advantage. I can take many positives out of the game.

 

[Thresher]

I feel Carney is getting better every week, I loved what he did today. He is damn quick, strong, aggressive. Yes he threw a costly interception, but every player is entitled to one of those every now and then, the main thing is in the play he was having a go. This is going to sound crazy, but I was really happy with today's effort.

We were robbed. A couple of errors here and there, mistakes from the refs, gave St Puke the 8 point advantage. I can take many positives out of the game.

I'm crazy too, I was proud of the boys today (even though I lost $50 on the punt)

 

[Webbyshark]

Wright's position in the team is a weird one for me. He's very solid at the back defensively, superior to Gardner but his ability to bob up in attack is nowhere is a good as Gardner. So whats the better option for the team? Someone who's better defensively or someone who can create offensively

 

[Mark^Bastard]

I feel Carney is getting better every week, I loved what he did today. He is damn quick, strong, aggressive. Yes he threw a costly interception, but every player is entitled to one of those every now and then, the main thing is in the play he was having a go. This is going to sound crazy, but I was really happy with today's effort.

We were robbed. A couple of errors here and there, mistakes from the refs, gave St Puke the 8 point advantage. I can take many positives out of the game.

Yeah Carney wasn't that bad. He's not a half back, his natural game is to float in and out. We should expect that of him and pair him up with someone that can be a natural half back.

 

[Thresher]

Wright's position in the team is a weird one for me. He's very solid at the back defensively, superior to Gardner but his ability to bob up in attack is nowhere is a good as Gardner. So whats the better option for the team? Someone who's better defensively or someone who can create offensively

depends on the balance of your team I guess, tough one but I know he would perfectly fit into one of the teams somewhere

 

[HaroldBishop]

Not sure if it's just me but this year feels a lot like 2008.

 

[Thresher]

Not sure if it's just me but this year feels a lot like 2008.

yeah I can see that, we won't end up minor premiers though and I'll reckon we'll make the semis

 

[Long Suffering Sharkie]

Carney was disappointing today....he ran and passed the football well in the last ten minutes but prior to that I was unimpressed with his play...he did about three or four of his usual inside hospital passes to Bukuya which are so predictable. It fools no one and wastes opportunities for Bukuya to gain more metres by running wide (not inside).

He opted to run with the ball many times but the Dragons could tell what was going to happen and he consistently got smothered, ball and all so the backline movement stalled...

Carney's pass to the feet of his centres was a shocker and was cleaned up by Morris (who scored 15 seconds before half time...why oh why didn't you grubber the ball for Gordon in the corner!)

Seriously, the team and Flanno need to sit down and watch the backline decoy plays that are posting tries for the Bulldogs...Other than Wade Graham we are totally useless inside the opposition 20 and don't know how to get over the line.

Our backs wasted the opportunity to get a couple of repeat sets by not chasing our short kicks properly...:gal:

Sorry to say it, but we don't look like a top 4 side yet. Not showing the finishing touches that the big guns have.

Keep Matthew Wright at fullback and don't rotate him with Gordon. Gordon isn't big enough or safe enough. However Wright is starting to sniff around the ruck for offloads so we will get a few line breaks soon - give Wright time to make the fullback position his own.

We missed Smith big time but it was good to see Toops and in a few weeks he'll be back to his old form.

And the longer De Gois is on the field the better off we'll be!:good::good:

 

[Blix]

I have missed the last couple of pages, BUT, for mine we are to much one off the ruck.

I started counting how many we were coming off the ruck, when I started thinking they looked really predictable.

Over the next 3-4 sets we were one of the ruck for like 3-4 tackles of each set.

 

[hitman124]

People are implying Carney isn't playing like he did in 2010. Give him the 2010 SKD to work with, and the stability of a Pearce and it would be a different story.

 

[since1967]

Carney didn't have his best game, but it's just that.... 1 game. I was actually very pleased with today's effort. Dragons were pretty much playing a semi final at home and we were without gal and smith. Enter those 2 into the game and Taufua and green disappear. We then have a bench of probably bakuya, tupou, fifita and Morris. I actually think gards will add something when he is back as well. It's 1 team I hate to lose too, but I liked most of what I saw. If we play like that with the addition of smith and gal over the next 7 to 8 weeks we will win more than we lose.

 

[teflon77]

This game was made for Teflon to destroy our ****ed halfback.

Again his poor play will be disguised by a couple of repeat sets of short kicks. Doesn't excuse his over reliance on the inside ball and total lack of ball playing skill for a halfback. He is way to kick happy. That play were he kicked on the third tackle around the 74 minute or so and Brett Morris returned it back to the field of play is the perfect example. If he throws the ball to Gordon wrapping around, Morris comes off his wing and Wright scores in the corner. The bloke just has no vision. Townsend throws that ball and we score in the corner.

And his accuracy on his long kicking is awesome, he seems to hit the fullback and winger every time. He is trying to do this isn't he?

 

[Thresher]

Again his poor play will be disguised by a couple of repeat sets of short kicks. Doesn't excuse his over reliance on the inside ball and total lack of ball playing skill for a halfback. He is way to kick happy. That play were he kicked on the third tackle around the 74 minute or so and Brett Morris returned it back to the field of play is the perfect example. If he throws the ball to Gordon wrapping around, Morris comes off his wing and Wright scores in the corner. The bloke just has no vision. Townsend throws that ball and we score in the corner.

And his accuracy on his long kicking is awesome, he seems to hit the fullback and winger every time. He is trying to do this isn't he?

yeah we found it hard to hit the turf with our long kicks, especially in the first half. Maybe Robs was missing our usual go forward to give him space