Round 4, 2011: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v New Zealand Warriors @ Owen Delany Park Taupo, NZ, Sunday April 3 @ 12pm (Syd)

[brently]

from what i've seen and read gal made a number of errors but he's not alone in that. defence looked very thin for a couple of their tries. it'll be a good test for flano to see if he can turn them around in the areas they were wanting today. let's wait and see. go sharks.

 

[ABshark]

Yeah I didn't mean you in particular, just the way forums can swing from praise to criticism can look bad. I know you've expressed it previously, and feel pretty much the same as you do.

No worries. :cheers

By the way, I agree with your suggestion that Gal could use a few minutes off the field. I bet Flano feels the same way, hence his desire for another edge backrower.

 

[Born&bred]

If that's the worst as we play for a while, then I would be stoked. We were pretty good today, but couldn't put away our chances and the little things didn't fall our way like they have been. The key to making the finals is ensuring that there isn't a huge gap between your best performances and your worst.

Also, I'm not sure I agree with some people expecting our blokes to rock up every week with that brutal defence that we saw against the Dragons. The Bulldogs did it a few years ago, but they had better depth than we do (thanks in no small part to being over the cap). We need to defend well every week, but I don't think any side could maintain that kind of brutal intensity over a whole season- it would just be too draining. We need to win without it sometimes.

Fair enough AB - but we did needed today to shut them down in the middle.

Having said that - I agree whole heartedly about the bolded part.

We'll learn from this - Flanno is no idiot.

 

[Long Suffering Sharkie]

1. What were they thinking taking Brod Wright out of the scrum and putting him into the backline? Fishiai simply ran around him with his pace and scored an easy try. I don't understand why Sharks have Gardner packing in some of the scrums as a lock when we really need to have their backline covered with our pace men.

2. Poor 5th tackle/kick options was one of the reasons for our failure to convert our hard won yards into points. We don't seem to know what to do with the ball once we get inside 15 metres of the tryline. Does anyone in the side know what a grubber kick is?

3. Gallen needs to stop hogging the ball and let the halves get the ball out wide.:take that

4. Morris was awesome for most of the game but why was he off the field in the last 20 mins?

5. Ball control was great in the first half but was very poor in the second. Respect the pill please!:take that

6. Wade Graham started playing like a dynamo in the last 10 minutes down the left flank passing it out quick ...should have done that waaay waaay earlier.... and please he's gotta be quicker with his clearing kicks - how many chargedowns has he had in the last 4 weeks?

 

[ABshark]

Good post LSS.

 

[ben]

x 2

 

[snowman]

1 change i would make next week...

broderick wright to not defend on the scrum play...

our backs match up on theirs

that is all

 

[A.Snowden]

No more just hoiking the ball up in the air for the sake of it on the 5th, how bout some tactical kicks

 

[jasontitty]

Hey all just wanted to say that our Sharkies have been going great guns. 2nd Half of today and Canberra game were near write offs but will be attending to watch us whoop some Eagles A$$ on sat night.

 

[squiddy]

By the way, I agree with your suggestion that Gal could use a few minutes off the field. .

he needs a rest and be told to not be so demanding = we will never see the best out of a sharks half whilst Gal demands the ball on 2 or 3 plays each set

BUT

Dont get to caught up on yesterdays result - not wrist slitting

yeah we made too many mistakes but warriors were pumped looking for a win on home soil = always a tough gig , we competed dispite all the errors

Our prep wasn't ideal

Manly this week , test of character how we back up

We need a huge crowd !!

 

[sharkiesboomboomboom]

Hopefully this loss will burst the bubble a little bit (not too much) for the team, so that they go into the game against Manly without being too confident, knowing they have to work their butts off to win.

Although I'm disappointed with the loss against NZ, I'd prefer to lose against them than Manly, so if this is the loss they needed to get them all fired up for next round, I'm ok with it.

 

[Sixgill]

Hopefully this loss will burst the bubble a little bit (not too much) for the team, so that they go into the game against Manly without being too confident, knowing they have to work their butts off to win.

Although I'm disappointed with the loss against NZ, I'd prefer to lose against them than Manly, so if this is the loss they needed to get them all fired up for next round, I'm ok with it.

Agreed.

I am so hopeful of a win against the Seagles. A loss to the Warriors is annoying and disappointing but a loss to the Seagles is hell.

A win on the other hand...

 

[BurgoShark]

1. What were they thinking taking Brod Wright out of the scrum and putting him into the backline? Fishiai simply ran around him with his pace and scored an easy try. I don't understand why Sharks have Gardner packing in some of the scrums as a lock when we really need to have their backline covered with our pace men.

2. Poor 5th tackle/kick options was one of the reasons for our failure to convert our hard won yards into points. We don't seem to know what to do with the ball once we get inside 15 metres of the tryline. Does anyone in the side know what a grubber kick is?

3. Gallen needs to stop hogging the ball and let the halves get the ball out wide.:take that

4. Morris was awesome for most of the game but why was he off the field in the last 20 mins?

5. Ball control was great in the first half but was very poor in the second. Respect the pill please!:take that

6. Wade Graham started playing like a dynamo in the last 10 minutes down the left flank passing it out quick ...should have done that waaay waaay earlier.... and please he's gotta be quicker with his clearing kicks - how many chargedowns has he had in the last 4 weeks?

I was going to post my thoughts on the game but this guy already did it. I think #3 and #6 are connected - we looked great down that side once we started cutting Gallen out.

also ...

I'm not a Pomeroy fan at all, but if you are going to pick him - pass him the bloody ball once in a while.

It was a dissappointing loss yesterday, but if you told me a month ago that we'd win two of our first four, all against teams who made the 8 last year, I'd have taken it.

 

[snowman]

that was my biggest "pissed off moment" yesterday...

pom and toops have been cvarving teams up... and they had berrigan on them, and yet, we go to gallen who got cut in half by mannering every time...

in saying that, im impressed by mannering... him and luck just work and work and work and work

Wow ! I posted this last year about Gal and got hammored from pillar to post

i dont think people hammered you for that, i think they hammered you coz you were a knob...

now your a lot more rational, it would probably be applauded

 

[slide rule]

1 change i would make next week...

broderick wright to not defend on the scrum play...

our backs match up on theirs

that is all

That was puzzling.

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Same thing happened last year in a game against Penrith, except replace Br. Wright with Tim Smith.

Two tries that should not have been scored. Forwards go in the scrum, backs in the back line. I can understand putting Gardner at lock because he's not the biggest defender but for gods sake put someone mobile out there!

 

[snowman]

exactly, if any forward is going to be in the backline on scrum d, it should be toops

 

[deano the p]

or to a lesser extent JMO

 

[Fitzy2513]

It all to do with getting the defensive line reset quickly. Gards, goes to lock so that he can drop straight back after the scum and therefore he is not too far from the ball, the left edge back rower is in position quick cause he is already there etc etc. I remember Gould commenting on this exact issue, can't remember when and I cant remember who were playing but he used Sludge as an example, saying words to the effect of, "can you imagine sludge marking up to some of these forwards. Now centre is one of the most difficult positions to defend in so why coaches continue to have forwards with limited lateral movement in these positions when fast nimble backs are attacking off a scrum 20 metres out is beyond me. Well, we all seen the result.
We can blame, ball control, bad kicks, Gal, whatever, but this was the turning point for me.

 

[Sparkles]

I didn't get to see the game this time around, but from what is written here there are some pretty consistent comments that pop up when we lose, namely Gallen's role as a ball player. It's something that was missing from our two wins, where he concentrated on leading the brutal assault dished out with the rest of the forward pack and let the backs take the opportunities created through that momentum.

Interesting stats: Smith, Douglas and Snowden - 8 hit ups each. Gallen - 23.

Kelly - 30 takles. Maybe needs to be hidden better in defense?

Nothing drastic but needs to be addressed. And our forwards have been involved in some heavy duty action in the last couple of weeks, hopefully this is was just a drop in intensity after some incredible displays. I'm still quietly confident we can shake up the ladder.