Round 2 2015: Cronulla Sharks v Brisbane Broncos Friday 13 March @ 8:35pm @ Remondis Stadium

[Dazman]

First of all. I can't dispute Gallen's passion for the club, but unfortunately he has become too ingrained in the make up of the club. So much so, that our team is dominated by him on the park. This is why it always seems like the team breathes a sigh of relief when he is out and suddenly looks free to play football.

The problem is that his ego cannot take a step back. If you make 200m plus in a game as a forward you have either made a great line break, or you are handling the ball way too much. I don't mind him taking two hitups when the team needs a lift in energy, but from the start of the game???? It shows a lack of respect and confidence in your team mate's ability. He has become the elephant in the room. No one wants to bag him because of what he has given to the club, but he is choking the life out of this football team. He also tries to be a half back, when he doesn't have the skill to do so.

Unfortunately he needs to move on and the Sharks need the balls to not re-sign him. It will be tough to swallow for a lot of fans, but so are the lifeless performances we put on the field each week.

I really enjoyed watch the Sharks under Shephard and without Gallen. They played with freedom and energy. They may have still lost a lot of games, but at least I enjoyed watching them and it showed great signs for the future.

Back to Gallen, he is also choking the life out of the Blues. I know it sound like I'm hating on him, but I actually have huge respect for the guy and his passion, but until he can drop his ego and become a 60min quality Front Rower who looks for the occasional off-load, he is a liability. He also needs to be relieved of the captaincy. We need a fresh mind, without the negative shadow that Gallen casts over the team.

Thoughts?

 

[hamsy44]

First of all. I can't dispute Gallen's passion for the club, but unfortunately he has become too ingrained in the make up of the club. So much so, that our team is dominated by him on the park. This is why it always seems like the team breathes a sigh of relief when he is out and suddenly looks free to play football.

The problem is that his ego cannot take a step back. If you make 200m plus in a game as a forward you have either made a great line break, or you are handling the ball way too much. I don't mind him taking two hitups when the team needs a lift in energy, but from the start of the game???? It shows a lack of respect and confidence in your team mate's ability. He has become the elephant in the room. No one wants to bag him because of what he has given to the club, but he is choking the life out of this football team. He also tries to be a half back, when he doesn't have the skill to do so.

Unfortunately he needs to move on and the Sharks need the balls to not re-sign him. It will be tough to swallow for a lot of fans, but so are the lifeless performances we put on the field each week.

I really enjoyed watch the Sharks under Shephard and without Gallen. They played with freedom and energy. They may have still lost a lot of games, but at least I enjoyed watching them and it showed great signs for the future.

Back to Gallen, he is also choking the life out of the Blues. I know it sound like I'm hating on him, but I actually have huge respect for the guy and his passion, but until he can drop his ego and become a 60min quality Front Rower who looks for the occasional off-load, he is a liability. He also needs to be relieved of the captaincy. We need a fresh mind, without the negative shadow that Gallen casts over the team.

Thoughts?

Won't happen but agree.

 

[1990 sharkie]

I've been bagging him out for years

 

[BlackWhiteBlue]

I've been bagging him out for years

Did it before it was cool did ya?

 

[1990 sharkie]

Did it before it was cool did ya?

It's still not cool it's blasphemy. I've just always thought he is over rated

 

[BlackWhiteBlue]

It's still not cool it's blasphemy. I've just always thought he is over rated

Gallens not over rated. He is the hardest working player in the sport. His downfall is involving himself in plays that shouldnt involve him. If he wants to take 2 hit ups a set im cool with that. But stay away from anything that involves passing or kicking

 

[1990 sharkie]

Gallens not over rated. He is the hardest working player in the sport. His downfall is involving himself in plays that shouldnt involve him. If he wants to take 2 hit ups a set im cool with that. But stay away from anything that involves passing or kicking

He is the hardest player because he wants everything. We have 3 other forwards play 50 mins combined so he can look good in the super coach game? He isnt a team player but wait , he bleeds for this team... my arse , he bleeds for himself

 

[Long Suffering Sharkie]

The major problem with our attack is predictability which means the opposition have time to adjust and slide for the next tackle and shut down any prospect of a potential line break.

So the chances of creating a three on two overlap diminishes and we get pushed over the sideline when we go wide. Sometimes it's like watching dodgem cars at the circus - we keep bumping into a tackler everywhere we probe.

The suggestion of putting Robbo as hooker and Ennis as half is not as silly as it sounds. That move would would significantly reduce our predictability.

 

[ben]

Ladies its round 2. Relax.
noone wants to see who we should drop and who we should promote. Just watch the footy or dont, this forum is for personal opinion not to sit there and whine, I really did see positives in last night game; David Fifita was good and barba attacking the line,boogs looked the goods and Leutele stood up hodges. Its early days, I do believe they will get it together. Have an ounce of faith.

Well that shocked me. You really think Barba was good? My god. Him and beale were worst on ground. The players I thought were surprisingly good were holmes, d fifitia (in parts), ennis, leutele. Im starting to think barbs could be one of the most over hyped worse signings the club has made since vagana. I saw nothing from him. In fact if barba was off the field i think we would of done better. He was upstaged big time by robbo. Also beale is a liability. His energy is good. Like an excited dog. But jack reed made him his bitch.

 

[Sir Chadley]

Well that shocked me. You really think Barba was good? My god. Him and beale were worst on ground. The players I thought were surprisingly good were holmes, d fifitia (in parts), ennis, leutele. Im starting to think barbs could be one of the most over hyped worse signings the club has made since vagana. I saw nothing from him. In fact if barba was off the field i think we would of done better. He was upstaged big time by robbo. Also beale is a liability. His energy is good. Like an excited dog. But jack reed made him his bitch.

Mate I don't know what game you were watching. Yes Barba still wasn't great but upstaged by Robbo? You've got to be kidding. And I have no idea why you think Beale was ****. When or if he gets more space he will score tries. Don't know how you could say Holmes was good, he only ever ran first pass from dummy half. Only once did he almost get into space in the second half, had he beaten just one more tackle and he was away.

Sorry, still shaking my head. Upstaged by Robbo. You've got to be kidding.

 

[Proud Shark]

You could see how out of place both 6's were, however Milford backed himself once or twice and tried to break through, when he did that he looked dangerous.
Barba on the other hand looked indecisive, once or twice I thought he was a chance if he put the foot down but he'd either pass or have half a go.
Hopefully this comes with confidence as I did think he was the only guy that with the ball in hand had the defence in two minds. Not sure he will find confidence if we keep playing like this though.

 

[Proud Shark]

Do we need to stand deeper or run straighter in backline moves? Wingers may as well not be out there as when the centres get it they are as good as over the sideline. How do other teams create so much space?

 

[evertonshark]

Do we need to stand deeper or run straighter in backline moves? Wingers may as well not be out there as when the centres get it they are as good as over the sideline. How do other teams create so much space?

First receiver stands too far away from the dummy half and needs to try and straighten before passing and drag the defence in imo. The defence just has to move towards the sideline and is never in 2 minds.

 

[shark 101]

First receiver stands too far away from the dummy half and needs to try and straighten before passing and drag the defence in imo. The defence just has to move towards the sideline and is never in 2 minds.

Agree with this. Robson and gordon aren't first grade quality ball players. Their positioning is wrong and timing and pass selection is usually the wrong one. Not sure about barba yet.

 

[Super Impose]

First receiver stands too far away from the dummy half and needs to try and straighten before passing and drag the defence in imo. The defence just has to move towards the sideline and is never in 2 minds.

With the structure that we have, we could have Mick Cronin and Steve Rogers in the centres and they would struggle.

The first thing that those guys would do , would be to tell the back rowers to get out of the way.

The modern method of back rowers and centres playing in "lanes" makes it so hard for them to make an impact.

 

[Gards]

Robson contributed more than Barba last night and was more involved so yes I would say Robson upstaged Barba. Reminds me a bit of when we first signed Carney and Robson looked to be offering more however Barba's issue is confidence so he shouldn't be written off so quickly and I will say again that I think Barba's passing game has been good.

 

[CHOGM]

I think sterlo hit it on the head last night when he aside we need to get more 2nd phase going and forget about the backline moves. We don't have the halves to create backine plays that are ever going to be anything but reasonable. What we do have is a team full of forwards who can offload and backs quick enough to capitalise.

We should be looking for points from Barba/Gordon/Val running off toops/Fifita/heino and Gal off loads.

 

[BundyShark]

Offloading in the forwards sounds good but they need to be to runners who are expecting it.
There's no point giving a poor offload which simply puts pressure on the receiver and sometimes loses ground.

 

[Great White Shark]

sharkies, the club have much bigger problems than a lot of this. On the field, number 1,6,7 are just not quality. Fullback needs to score tries, not just be safe (how many tries did he score last year and year before?). Robbo is a nice guy but turns 34 this year and we still have him for one more year (Lockyer/Joey retired earlier!!). Barba, confidence player, really low on confidence, will take months to shake. Beale and Barba are other club's problems. Ennis was a good signing but not running direct enough. Forwards WAY too old. Toups, Heighington, Gal, Lewis. Within 2-3 years we may very well lose half our team to retirement and then we start again with a 'rebuilding phase'. Our rebuilding should be now (after the spoon).

IMHO, not sold on Flanagan. Should be rebuilding after the shock of ASADA. Not sure where he comes into it. And it annoys me to hear him asked whether 9 straight losses was in his mind and him responding: "I wasn't here last year, weve only lost two in a row". Well, we were in the position were were last year in part because of Flanagan....and the fans have certainly felt those 9 home losses!

Have you also noticed that the membership tally is not on the website. Wondered why.....because our membership is really down this year. I can also tell you (as a sponsor) that sponsors have not yet seen the changes that are being promised at the club. Gorman has some good ideas but we will wait and see. Hard to accept these were communicated to the players....their first round was awful. Not even close to the passion Gorman was talking about. I'll wait a few weeks and make my views heard to him. Give the club another month.

But when you look at roster longevity, performance, membership, sponsorship......big mountain for Gorman. Thank god for that development!

 

[CHOGM]

Offloading in the forwards sounds good but they need to be to runners who are expecting it.
There's no point giving a poor offload which simply puts pressure on the receiver and sometimes loses ground.

Agreed. Too often last night fifita was ready to offload but no one there. The pass to Parker was perfect, so why wasn't that Gordon looming up? I don't think Flanno is coaching them to focus on second phase but it's stupid because the strength of our team is forwards who can off load.