Pretty good analysis, apart from where he may have confused Blayke with his brother.
When Do We Call It A Year?
- Thread starter HaroldBishop
- Start date
Pretty good analysis, apart from where he may have confused Blayke with his brother.
Capital_Shark
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"The grind" we were known for getting into doesn't exist the same anymore. The grind has changed. Its no longer about being able to sustain relentless set pieces every 20 seconds after a penalty.
Good kick chase is very important and as such so is putting good pressure on the opposition kicker.
We need to focus on the middle 3rd and play through Brailey. Until we're inside their red zone don't go within 15-20m from the sideline. Our big powerful backs need to be charging up the guts getting quick PTBs (no fighting the tackle too much just finding their front fast) early in sets hopefully drawing a 6 again call before getting the big boys pouring into the gap behind the markers.
I don't doubt our ability to score tries on the front foot. If we can't D & game manage we gotta get better at getting in point scoring opportunities.
Good kick chase is very important and as such so is putting good pressure on the opposition kicker.
We need to focus on the middle 3rd and play through Brailey. Until we're inside their red zone don't go within 15-20m from the sideline. Our big powerful backs need to be charging up the guts getting quick PTBs (no fighting the tackle too much just finding their front fast) early in sets hopefully drawing a 6 again call before getting the big boys pouring into the gap behind the markers.
I don't doubt our ability to score tries on the front foot. If we can't D & game manage we gotta get better at getting in point scoring opportunities.
Sparkles
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Cool article. I like the GIF's.
Where SJ put Aitken on his rear end... SJ should have lit the afterburners and punched through that hole. He really only had one guy left to beat. Instead he aborted and headed back infield, with the end result.... the defence had time to reset and deal with... the inside ball to Nikora. Again.
On the Wade tries - our attack works best when SJ plays both sides of the field. I've banged on enough about it, but it's clear from this article too.
To be fair, there was good work to start with, drawing in defence and giving the play space to unfold. It doesn't seem that hard. Chad is first receiver, runs a little play inside to open it up for SJ and the outside backs (who are STANDING DEEP) to read the situation and make the play.
You coud run the exact same play the other side of the field and hit Nikora. Wade is running pretty much the same line.
The Woods/Fifita defensive combo bumble... Wade really should shoulder more of the blame in that clip. He left a massive hole in the line when he rushed up and completely missed the tackle.
It's no coincidence the rules change to remove our popular (and heavily relied upon) tactic of just conceding a penalty at the slightest sign of danger has hurt us. We went from coming within inches of Rabbits and Storm to not being able to keep up with Tigers and Dragons and barely beating a ragged Cowboys outfit.
Johnson has been noticeably better last two rounds... against Dragons and a haggard Cows team, like to see him keep his involvement (kicking and running) up against better teams, at least he gets another dud team to keep practising against this week.
Johnson has been noticeably better last two rounds... against Dragons and a haggard Cows team, like to see him keep his involvement (kicking and running) up against better teams, at least he gets another dud team to keep practising against this week.
Gards
Jaws
On SJ: he's running for a career-high 87.6 metres per game himself and sitting equal-first in total try assists with six.
Shaun is like a broken fire alarm
You don't really like it but it keeps surprising you
Shaun is like a broken fire alarm
You don't really like it but it keeps surprising you
It shouldn't be a surprise that our (depending on source) million dollar half is going okay. And you shouldn't have to dig into specific stats to be able to see it. From a viewers standpoint he, and quite a few others (yes, that includes Chad) aren't playing well enough.
He did have a pretty good round 1 against the bunnies (a struggling team).
19 runs for 112, 2 TAs and did most of our kicking - now that is a high total runs ms but he took some efforts to get there, that's because it's almost all a handful of steps then pass the ball (he only played the ball (PTB) 3 times)
Against a much better team, Melbourne he wasn't nearly as effective.
15 runs for 107m (2 PTBs), the kicking split was much closer 7-5 SJ-Chad but he only kicked a total of 221m (with only one kick being a grubber or bomb) so bad kicking game from him when we arguably needed it the most.
Round 3, the new rules that should suit him vs a weak team.
14 runs for 86m, 4 PTBs, 2 errors and kicked less than Chad (which he should basically never do as he's a much better kicker). A very bad return from break.
Round 4 against the haggard cowboys team.
4 runs for 45m & 2 PTBs - a bit more first receiver than he is used to (he did more than usual but Moylan did a lot more than I had expected) or just passing much earlier rather than running a few steps first?
Did virtually all of the kicking over Moylan. A lovely 3 try assist to help pad his stats up for the season, partially helped by Ramien having a blinder* but definitely a solid effort by Johnson.
Round 5 against the loser Dragons we got pretty easily beaten although Johnson actually looked okay (wouldn't call it a million dollar performance though).
14 runs for 82m 0 PTBs one TA and most of the kicking again, which is good
Worth noting also that article semi-argues against he isn't running enough by quoting his average meters but it's more likely so far this season his halves partner will run very similar if not more and SJ is very rarely actually getting tackled.
I don't think anyone saying he should run the ball more means he should take more 4m runs where he doesn't get tackled (and then hammer the ball at Nikora/Ramien as they hit the defensive line so they can't catch it).
In terms of running meters, based off the stats above his best game was when he actually did very little running himself and gave early ball to his teammates! *And Ramien and Ronaldo feasted on earlier ball
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Not to mention his horrific passing game that night.
An interesting parallel to his best game being the one he runs with it the least before passing
Sparkles
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You're right that running metres are different to running the ball. It's the option to run that he's not taking that's the issue people are talking about. The plan for opposing teams should be to congregate around anyone outside of SJ. I think we've seen that a few times, and the result is hospital passes and inside balls as receivers have no space outside.
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Might be calling this thread in three weeks time.
stormshark
Jaws
TBH we were never a top 8 team this yr. Will be interesting to revisit the "Where will we Finish" thread at rd 24. I had us 10th, if we can get 10/12th under changed circumstances i will be amazed. Year was called 2 weeks ago.
CrazyMatt
Jaws
I called the year when Morris left. I wish he could of at least stayed until the end of the year.
Gards
Jaws
If we could ever run out the same ****ing group of players 2 weeks in a row and kept our head coach top 8 was achievable. The teams from 6-16th are all beatable even with our rabble
season is done though I feel, the losses and apathy will just snowball from here . I'm already losing interest and dreading what could be a very embarrassing 3 weeks as a Sharks fan
Looking forward to moving on from this era of Cronulla Sharks
HaroldBishop
Megalodon
Yep, it's absolutely killing us, so frustrating.
Gards
Jaws
it's beyond a joke
I dead set don't think we have had the same squad line up on the field to play 2 weeks in a row since 2018
and rarely if ever have had our full strength squad out there. some **** is always concussed, injured, suspended or playing pokies
Sharkmate
Bull Shark
We do have an easyish finish but need to stay in touch. 9 out of last 12 games are winnable.
vicsharkfan
Jaws
I’ll cop a year of interruptions if it means we get a couple of seasons in a row with some luck on the injury front.
Too right. It ain’t going to be pretty.