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

[HaroldBishop]

I hate it more when we kick early one of the ruck and put in a poor chase. It just gives up easy metres. If you are going to kick early you have to atleast throw it two wide to draw up the wingers. We kick on the fourth and they bring it back to the 40. ****ing crazy.

That annoys me too and we do it a lot. We also never seem to put enough pressure on opposition kickers.

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Townsend has a weird floating long kick. It seems to hypnotise the opposition sometimes.

I've never seen anything quite like it but I'm still not sure whether it's good or bad because it doesn't get to where it's going very fast.

It has a really flat trajectory. It must be harder to position yourself for the catch because you don't really get a chance to get right under it like you would with a bomb.

Remember guys, we were without an extra 350 meters and 70 tackles in Gallen and Smith today.

St George were 155 runs for 1572 metres.
Cronulla were 181 runs for 1516 metres.

http://live.nrlstats.com/matches/nrl/match17573.html

Look at the team stats for runs to see the difference. We dominated in the 1st receiver runs, meaning props taking hit ups off the dummy half. They smashed us with dummy half runs and kick return metres.

I don't think we lacked for metres in attack at all. Getting over 1500 metres is usually a sign of a very dominant game in that regard.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Agree. And making metres has never been an issue for us anyway, finishing it off is the problem.

I know this is a bit left field but is there any merit in playing Carney at fullback and bring Chad in to the team? Or is it too late in the season to be trying something like this?

 

[Long Suffering Sharkie]

Green also missed the tackle that let in merrins try

No, that was Bryce Gibbs but I think some of the team were caught off guard as they had been waiting for that dropped ball to be called.

When we defend as a straight line we are the best in the competition but the moment there is broken play we get cut to ribbons because we wait for the ball carrier to come to us...that's why Benji Marshall, Jonathon Thurston and Ben Barba always carve us up.

 

[Ibanez]

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan lays in to sideline officials after tough NRL loss to St George Illawarra
By Steve Jancetic
AAP
July 15, 2012 8:56PM



Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan warned careers were in danger of being cut short by refereeing clangers as he took aim at the men running the sidelines after the Sharks' top four NRL spot was left in jeopardy on Sunday.

Flanagan was dirty at several calls he claimed went against his side in their 18-10 loss to St George Illawarra - the defeat opening up the opportunity for South Sydney to jump up to fourth on the ladder should they beat Sydney Roosters on Monday night.

On the back of a tough few weeks for the men with the whistle, Flanagan said sideline officials were almost immune to criticism despite making three calls in a 10-minute stretch late in the loss to the Dragons which he claimed changed the course of the game.

The first involved a Wade Graham pass for Anthony Tupou to score which was called forward before first Ben Hornby, from a line drop-out, and then Matt Cooper, in the match-sealing try to Trent Merrin, appeared to be guilty of knock-ons.

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of those types of things happening in our game," Flanagan said.

"Once again I don't think it was the two blokes in the middle - it was the two blokes on the side that called that one.

"If that didn't go forward - the Cooper one - I'm a bad judge."

Dragons coach Steve Price was definitive on how he judged the Cooper call.

"That clearly went backwards," said Price.

Flanagan didn't mince his words in highlighting the importance of the calls.

"They decide careers in the end - we're talking about coaching careers, players career, fans' seasons, top four - there's a lot that goes into it," said Flanagan.

"I know they (the referees) understand that, it's tough sometimes when you're sitting on this side of the table when you've lost a game."

Asked if he feared a refereeing error deciding a big game, Flanagan said: "I hope not ... what's a big game, a big game's every week for me. Today was a big game for us, a big game for the Dragons."

The Dragons stayed two points out of the top eight with the win, and while a Rabbitohs win could drop the Sharks to fifth, another loss next week could drop them as low as eighth.

"It's really important, we've been there nearly all year," Flanagan said of finishing in the top four.

"It comes down to the important part at the end of then season, we don't want to stuff it up.

"Over the next couple of weeks there's some sides above us and around us that play each other, but in the end we'll just concentrate on our own job."

The Dragons got some breathing space on Canberra, who failed to pick up two points in a 38-26 home loss to Gold Coast, who are tied with the Raiders on 18 points.

 

[stormshark]

Agree. And making metres has never been an issue for us anyway, finishing it off is the problem.

I know this is a bit left field but is there any merit in playing Carney at fullback and bring Chad in to the team? Or is it too late in the season to be trying something like this?

I think we should try it while Gards is out, can to hurt to try and spark something different!?

 

[Sharky Pete]

I thought Flanno made a lot of valid points there.

 

[Gumby]

I say leave him where he is. If we were outer the top 8 I'd say yes give it a go but not on this occasion. Think carney and Robson need to knuckle down at training this week (same with the rest of the team) get back to our winning formula and put some serious points on an under performing raiders outfit next week. And make a good run home to the finals.

 

[snowman]

If that is not a knock on from cooper i give up

i didnt have a problem with it, i was more dirty at hornbys knock on from the drop out

How good would Gordon be if only we got him before June 30th

I seriously was just saying this to my dad, if joined we would be such a better team

how so? he isnt coming back for the panthers, would he be better for us cheering on the sideline?

You need a new set of glasses.
Not only was that a knock on but the next pass to Merin was also forward.

the pass to merrin was exactly like wades to toop's, i had no problem with either

I thought Flanno made a lot of valid points there.

yeh, im glad he is getting his opinion out in the media without getting a fine

 

[JimBob]

Snowman by all reports Gordon could have played 3 weeks ago. Apparently he doesn't want to play again this season so he is certain to be 100% for the Sharks pre-season training.

 

[DeathMoth]

I thought Flanno made a lot of valid points there.

he did. the reffing is at a pretty low standard at the moment. this years premiership will no doubt be decided by one or more bad calls on the day of the grand final and most likely in the matches leading up to it.

still, i'd like to see Flanno lay the boot into the boys more so than the ref this week. we should've smoked those fools. i mean, it's ****ing St George. If there was ever a week to get up off the line in defense and give the opposition no chance of going forward, this was the week. but, as i've said the last few games, we're standing back and letting them make nearly 10 m before an attempted tackle is made. almost every hit up their forwards made earned them at least 10m.

When we played the Broncos a few weeks back, we were up in their faces every tackle for the first 25mins. this was the most dominant the Sharks had looked for most of the season. not because it was the baby broncos, but because the boys hardened the **** up and rushed up as a unit in defense. that's what the boys need to bring to every game, it makes all the difference.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong. I'm not a great footy mind or anything, i know **** all about the game, but common sense would tell me that if the attacking players can't penetrate a wall of blokes standing 10m away and make 10m easy, then if that wall of blokes moved up like even 6m, that would reduce their runs to 4m (considering all tackles are made). 5 tackles, 20meters. Dominant as ****. Can anyone shed some light on why the boys might do this one week and ****ing rule at it, yet not do it any other time?

 

[samshark]

The Hornby knock on was the only one I had a real problem with.
Cooper's was likely forward but wasnt clear and the sharks no try was definately a clear forward pass.
Thought our halves were very ordinary yesterday and that cost us the game plus the Dragons played well.
A poor pass from Carney, a few wrong options with a couple inside balls that should have gone outside and a couple poor kicks such as Carney's 40/20 attempt on the 3rd tackle with 11 mins to go were the difference for me.

 

[samshark]

he did. the reffing is at a pretty low standard at the moment. this years premiership will no doubt be decided by one or more bad calls on the day of the grand final and most likely in the matches leading up to it.

still, i'd like to see Flanno lay the boot into the boys more so than the ref this week. we should've smoked those fools. i mean, it's ****ing St George. If there was ever a week to get up off the line in defense and give the opposition no chance of going forward, this was the week. but, as i've said the last few games, we're standing back and letting them make nearly 10 m before an attempted tackle is made. almost every hit up their forwards made earned them at least 10m.

When we played the Broncos a few weeks back, we were up in their faces every tackle for the first 25mins. this was the most dominant the Sharks had looked for most of the season. not because it was the baby broncos, but because the boys hardened the **** up and rushed up as a unit in defense. that's what the boys need to bring to every game, it makes all the difference.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong. I'm not a great footy mind or anything, i know **** all about the game, but common sense would tell me that if the attacking players can't penetrate a wall of blokes standing 10m away and make 10m easy, then if that wall of blokes moved up like even 6m, that would reduce their runs to 4m (considering all tackles are made). 5 tackles, 20meters. Dominant as ****. Can anyone shed some light on why the boys might do this one week and ****ing rule at it, yet not do it any other time?

Good question and its not rocket science is it?
To give you an answer, its all in the head, well a lot anyway. I played the game at a decent level but whether you're an NRL star or an A-grade weekend player anyone will tell you some weeks you are just right up for it and others you're not.

In the first 30 mins the Dragons were just running harder and tackling harder than us. Simple as that. Whether the boys were down mentally or feeling tired or under the weather or all of the above, thats why some weeks teams can be right up in the oppositions face and others they are not.

 

[DeathMoth]

Good question and its not rocket science is it?
To give you an answer, its all in the head, well a lot anyway. I played the game at a decent level but whether you're an NRL star or an A-grade weekend player anyone will tell you some weeks you are just right up for it and others you're not.

In the first 30 mins the Dragons were just running harder and tackling harder than us. Simple as that. Whether the boys were down mentally or feeling tired or under the weather or all of the above, thats why some weeks teams can be right up in the oppositions face and others they are not.

The team needs an attitude coach then. Someone to teach them how to just be a bunch of ****ing mad dogs once the whistle blows. ****sake it's only 80m a week, just man up and win the comp

 

[samshark]

The team needs an attitude coach then. Someone to teach them how to just be a bunch of ****ing mad dogs once the whistle blows. ****sake it's only 80m a week, just man up and win the comp

Easier said than done. Sharks had some tough games recently, down on stars, the flu going through the team etc etc
At NRL level the players are pretty equal physically so a team only has to be off their game a little bit mentally and they will get dusted. Doesnt take much.
Still, whilst the Dragons came out harder with a bit more intensity I thought it was a couple of mistakes and wrong options which cost the win.

 

[Riverside MF]

I thought Mitch Rein and Brett Morris killed us.
Morris is a weapon!
Our forwards got dominated as well.
But I thought Taufua stepped up and so did Tupou! (suprisingly)

Robsons touches I thought lacked class.
Ah well. On to next week at home to belt the Raiders!

 

[Timmyb22]

What i took out of that game

The Robson experiment is over, he has a place in this team, its just not at halfback, its as bench hooker, his grubbers at the opposition goal line are great but that's the only kick type he offers, at bench hooker he'd get plenty of time because de gois plays bugger all minutes, and we'd have two other players to take the 5th tackle option, which Robson isnt the best at.

The Chad needs to come in at halfback, i mean look at my display pic and tell me you dont want that man in ur team haha, in all seriousness though he brings a unique long kick and has a level head on his last tackle options, i think in turn this would create more stability for Carney than Robson does, not to mention i see Chad as the future of our club.

Wade Graham was a amazing today hes really found his niche as a glenn stewart type ball playing backrower, wonderful buy, bet gus was sitting in commentry muttering, ****in sharkies haha

Tupou looked great out there looked very quick for somone whos just a had a knee reco, hope he plays like this or the rest of the season and keeps improving

Collin best needs to work on his positioning in the backline during attacking sweeps, every time he got the ball off a backline sweep he was caught flat and had no momentum, meaning he got shut down quickly, a guy of 33 years of age should be able to do this by now, all he has to do is run a little deeper and run onto the ball not receive a flat pass at the defensive line.

Gal and jez really are the glue that holds this forward pack together, and while wade was amazing yesterday, he cant do what jez and gal do in terms of work in the middle of the field, Gal and Jez as most of you could see were sorely missed yesterday, cant wait to have them back next week

I see matty wrights attack getting better every game, he getting more involved and while i think hes doing a good job, i see him at centre in the future, he showed some speed yesterday that i didnt think he had, really think this extra room has allowed him to show what he can do

Lastly this is my biggest concern

WHY THE HELL DONT WE MOVE UP TO THE DEFENSIVE LINE TO MEET ATTACKERS!!!
we leak more metres than any other team and its rubbish, dragons were running all over us yesterday and its can be solved by moving up,
why do we wait for them to come to us we should go to them, i dont understand it, for a team that excells at getting goal line repeat sets from the oposition team wouldnt we wanna limit their metres so we can get down the other end of the field easier???

this is my biggest frustration when we play, if we dont let other teams get so many metres it makes attacking so much easier for our team

some negatives some positives but i look at this loss as somewhat positive

a team cant perform full throttle all year its defies the principle of fatigue so you need a dip to come out and hit your peak when it counts later on in the year,
wayne bennet coached something simlar the year dragons won, its periodisation

only way form here is up and we have the potential

 

[snowman]

Snowman by all reports Gordon could have played 3 weeks ago. Apparently he doesn't want to play again this season so he is certain to be 100% for the Sharks pre-season training.

link?

 

[snowman]

also, great to finally meet Kiwi Shark and have a beer with him

sorry i wrote myself off and couldnt string together a proper sentence

se you again in the finals

 

[DeathMoth]

i haven't really had a good chance to write my full spiel as Timmyb just did. so here i go. i know yesterday i flew off the rails and burned the entire team as a bunch of kooks and i won't retract that statement because i'm a proud ******** and cool with sounding like a jaded **** after losing to that ****in team. if anyone has a problem with that, suck me on the sav.

- Graham is killing it. His moves on the left side are dangerous, whether he winds up passing or going it alone his dominance in that area is proving a real handful for defenders. as his notoriety grows he will continue to attract more defenders and potentially open up new holes and opportunities for new plays. as this happens Wade, everyone around him and Flanno will have to continue to work on new ways to keep his effectiveness up.

- i mentioned before about the whole not running up in defense. as someone pointed out this is more an attitude issue than anything. this worries me. tough times, players out, bird flu, whatever...bring your ****in A game, compete hard and just maintain intensity. a side as physical as the Sharks needs that intensity to dominate field position and hence the game. the lack of intensity is a serious worry to me. if it's a mental thing, it's a choice. you choose whether to be intense or hold back and go through the motions.

i dunno if any of you guys have heard of a dude called Henry Rollins (who sang for the band Black Flag for a period before starting his own band). he could take the stage any night of the week, no matter what his ailment, no matter how long he'd been on the road with **** all money, dirty clothes, sick and whatever...and he would ****ing deliver pure intensity from start to finish, every time, without question. a guy like that, with that attitude of "well my job is to come on and just haul ****in ass and that's exactly what i'm gunna do" is the approach needed to be adopted. Gallen can do it, Graham can do it, Smith can do it. EVERYONE needs to do it. Maybe Henry should come in and give the guys a chat. (that would ****in rule!) enough about that. (Youtube some Rollins Band live clips if you want to know more about that intense son of a bitch)

- Robson, a few guys are burning him. I'm not willing to do that. He has some flaws in his game but his short kicking game is really good. All those grubbers into goals that get a repeat set are great. Repeat sets are really important. However, why are they just repeat sets and not tries being scored? perhaps there needs to be better communication/play calling or even actual plays in place. Melbourne score from that **** all the time because Slater is just storming (pun!) through. Where's our blokes charging through for a grubber they should know is coming? The problem doesn't just lie with Robson. He's creating opportunities with those kicks, no one is taking them.

- Toops has made a great return from injury. I hope he continues to improve and prove us all wrong. If we're stuck with him for a couple more years i do hope he mans the **** up.

- We really need Smith and Gal back. At that point shaft Boogy to the bench. Sorry Boogy, but your magic has been lacking recently and Wade is just too gnarly to have sitting on the sidelines.

- It's been said before, Degois needs more minutes.

- Carney seems to have lost his magic. Early season he was putting on the line breaks, making some of his own, scoring solo tries and generally just menacing teams. Now, he's got nothing. He's gotta find his goods and find them before the finals.

- Ross, Gibbs and Fafita really stood up yesterday i reckon, and they have been recently. More of this please.

- Despite any of the credit i've given out there.....MOVE UP IN DEFENSE. BE INTENSE AND BE UNBEATABLE.