Round 24 Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs North Queensland Cowboys, Sat 19th August @ 1300Smiles Stadium 7:30pm

[JimBob]

Beale to have back to back blinders and win us the game.

#SaveUsBeale

 

[BurgoShark]

Robbo V.2. Hopefully he's been watching tapes on his goal line defence because it was becoming quite the issue before the injury

He got isolated twice in one game versus blokes 25kg heavier than him. He will sort it out. A bad 10 minutes shouldn't be an indictment on an otherwise good defensive performance in the other 12 or so games he has played.

 

[northofthebordershark]

His form seemed to taper down as the season went on, hope he can bounce back quickly.

 

[BurgoShark]

Let's be honest if we can't win this game let's just pack up shop. They have almost a full team injured (12 players). I know they hav some good depth but we have what 1 maybe 2 players from full strength. After the last two weeks we just need a win. I'd like to see them put a complete performance in and smash them but a simple 2 point victory will do...

Who are these 12 players? Surely you can't count guys like Chudleigh and Scott who have been out all season.

Thurston, Winterstein, O'Neill, Kaufusi and Cooper are the guys missing from their best 17, but they have some decent replacements in some spots (Hess, Bowen, Ponga, Martin)

As for our "one or two from full strength" we've been missing at least two of Bird, Maloney and Brailey for most of the last 10 weeks. Since round 11 we have only had those 3 players in the lineup together 3 times, and in two of those games they were backing up after origin. The last time we had both Maloney and Bird in the lineup was round 17. The Sharks are not playing good footy right now, but injuries are definitely a factor.

 

[slide rule]

It's fair to count Scott as "missing" given that he is an Australian prop and probably taking up a considerable amount of their cap.

 

[HaroldBishop]

It's fair to count Scott as "missing" given that he is an Australian prop and probably taking up a considerable amount of their cap.

I think so. JT has only played seven games this year, if you're going to count one you have to count the other.

 

[BurgoShark]

It's fair to count Scott as "missing" given that he is an Australian prop and probably taking up a considerable amount of their cap.

Then we are "missing" Ben Barba, since he became unavailable around a similar time and it didn't give us any opportunity to spend that money elsewhere. I get that Matt Scott is a gun player and it counts towards their overall injury tally, but if a bloke is scratched from the lineup for an entire year you can't say that it contributes to any change in form between round 1 and round 23 or disadvantages them in round 24 because a bunch of other guys are missing.

 

[Capital_Shark]

Scott counts IMO.

We'd have 3 weeks left of our season if Fifita & Maloney played as many games as Scott & JT have this year.

 

[BlackWhiteBlue]

At the end of the day we have defeated ourselves in most losses this year. Teams arent forcing us to make the silly errors etc. simplify our approach and we can win our 3 remaining games

 

[Mr Ryan]

At the end of the day we have defeated ourselves in most losses this year. Teams arent forcing us to make the silly errors etc. simplify our approach and we can win our 3 remaining games

You could probably say that about all our losses for the past 2 years.

How many games have we played well in but lost because the other team was just better?

Cowboys Round 1 2016, maybe the Melbourne game at Shark Park this year?

 

[slide rule]

Then we are "missing" Ben Barba, since he became unavailable around a similar time and it didn't give us any opportunity to spend that money elsewhere. I get that Matt Scott is a gun player and it counts towards their overall injury tally, but if a bloke is scratched from the lineup for an entire year you can't say that it contributes to any change in form between round 1 and round 23 or disadvantages them in round 24 because a bunch of other guys are missing.

I think we used that money (at least in part) for Seggy?

 

[Greg86]

At the end of the day we have defeated ourselves in most losses this year. Teams arent forcing us to make the silly errors etc. simplify our approach and we can win our 3 remaining games

I listened to Lewy saying pretty well this, just get back to basics. Run hard Takle Hard Kick smart.

 

[stormshark]

I listened to Lewy saying pretty well this, just get back to basics. Run hard Takle Hard Kick smart.

Getting a bit sick of the talk to be honest. Time for our forwards to come out breathing fire. We need to really stifle these guys and finish them off after half time. Maybe show the team that semi game against Cowboys from last year.

 

[Capital_Shark]

Getting a bit sick of the talk to be honest. Time for our forwards to come out breathing fire.

Yeah I wouldn't mind sacrificing a bit of social media content while they closed ranks, met bare minimum media requirements, focus and let their footy do the talking.

 

[HaroldBishop]

Getting a bit sick of the talk to be honest. Time for our forwards to come out breathing fire. We need to really stifle these guys and finish them off after half time. Maybe show the team that semi game against Cowboys from last year.

Yeah same, means sfa now.

 

[Bundy Shark]

if the game's result was based off pre game talk by our players we'd be on fire, we can talk up what we are going to do or need to do as good as anyone, we just don't deliver.

 

[BurgoShark]

At the end of the day we have defeated ourselves in most losses this year. Teams arent forcing us to make the silly errors etc. simplify our approach and we can win our 3 remaining games

Yeah - I was sitting there in the crowd against the Broncos thinking "they keep pushing passes and dropping the ball. Just play the next 4-5 sets up the bloody middle and get to kick". Last week reminded me a lot of the round 26 performance last year versus the Storm. They didn't just play poorly; they didn't play to a game plan resembling anything we've seen them do well over the last 2 years.

 

[JimBob]

He got isolated twice in one game versus blokes 25kg heavier than him. He will sort it out. A bad 10 minutes shouldn't be an indictment on an otherwise good defensive performance in the other 12 or so games he has played.

I know I love Robbo and gobbo4robbo and all that, but on an actual serious note if (when) Robson retires at the end of the season would anyone appose the idea of bringing him back as an assistant defensive coach? Robbo coped a lot of criticism over his career but one thing people couldn't knock was his defence, especially on the goal line.

Could benefit the smaller guys like Brailey and Townsend to have Robbo work with them on goal line defence.

 

[Thresher]

Yeah - I was sitting there in the crowd against the Broncos thinking "they keep pushing passes and dropping the ball. Just play the next 4-5 sets up the bloody middle and get to kick". Last week reminded me a lot of the round 26 performance last year versus the Storm. They didn't just play poorly; they didn't play to a game plan resembling anything we've seen them do well over the last 2 years.

Except in round 26 last year at least we looked fast.

 

[puma1355]

should win this game if fair dinkum - a loss and we are gone. Not good enough