Last night's episode of NRL Preseason

[K2G]

Anybody else watch the Titans portion of the episode? Thoughts?

I especially enjoyed the brief interview with Neil Henry, and him referring to our 6 and 7 (mainly Sezer) watch vision of Thurston and study how he plays at the line. I mean - it was an obvious thing we all hoped for when the signing of Henry was announced, but hearing him confirm the fact that he's sharing whatever insights he has about JT with our halves is a pretty exciting prospect.

Also, i was surprised at the repeated comments about our focus on defense this preseason and it being highlighted as the key area we need to improve on this season. Which is fair enough, defense wins games but in comparison with our attack, i thought our defense was decent. Most worrying was that the point was twice framed in the following way "we can score plenty, but we need to improve our defense" ~ which is strange because, regardless of the amount of tries/points scored, our structure, creativity and cohesion in attack was dreadful imo. I would've hoped that it's addressed/focused on as much if not more than our defense. Like has been said here many times before - i believe our horrible attack puts unnecessary pressure on, and increases our time in defense.

All in all it was a good episode. Stoked the fires of excitement...

The boys really do seem incredibly fit. Carty himself would have to be odds on favorite if current NRL coaches found themselves in a cage-match. dude is a beast.

[Hail Sezer]

Couldn't watch it over here. Any online links or anything?

[Mexican titan]

No I forgot it was on but I think your summary Kickit2G of our defence and attack is spot on.

[DIEHARD]

I missed it as well. Damn, any idea on replay times?

[lonegull]

Henry interview was very pleasing and it was interesting to hear from both the players and carty that Henry has brang plenty of new ideas to the titans, Henry seemed very focused on what he is trying to achieve with the titans and highlighted there defensive structure was a real week point, also interested to hear Henry say about our kicking game lacked a lot last year and that they have been working on options away from having only sezer.
Albert Kelly had a great interview and he seems focused on achieving thus year he was very positive on what is happening. All up it was a great segment but Henry interview really impressed me

[K2G]

I missed it as well. Damn, any idea on replay times?

Sorry DH. Kicking myself that I didn't post here to remind people. Hopefully it is replayed or turns up online eventually ;)


Henry interview was very pleasing and it was interesting to hear from both the players and carty that Henry has brang plenty of new ideas to the titans, Henry seemed very focused on what he is trying to achieve with the titans and highlighted there defensive structure was a real week point, also interested to hear Henry say about our kicking game lacked a lot last year and that they have been working on options away from having only sezer.
Albert Kelly had a great interview and he seems focused on achieving thus year he was very positive on what is happening. All up it was a great segment but Henry interview really impressed me

I also really enjoyed the Henry interview as well, brief as it was. Was so refreshing to hear an honest perspective that departs from the usual rhetoric we've become used to. Caught the comment about our long kicking game especially needing improvement, as it has fallen to Sezer to do most of, and that we need to develop other options. THIS!! Hopefully our hookers get the guidance and freedom to develop this aspect of their game, as it's a real weapon nowadays.

And yes. loved the short Kelly interview. Wasn't terribly reassuring about his foot injury which he summed up as "feeling good, doctors confident, worst case scenario surgery" - but loved his goals for the season "Win the 9's, play consistently through the year, make the finals, win a premiership" Hell yeah

[DavidBouveng]

lonegull, henry's comments about our kicking needing variety was what i took away mostly as well. i feel he is trying to get us up to scratch across the board.

with regards to his defence comments. i agree with you guys that our attack needs more work than defence, but if you think hard about it, i think our defence is more the result of having good defenders like bird,harrison,douglas,myles work their ass off, than a great defensive system. until we have a proper defensive system,those guys can only hold the damn from bursting for so long. i think if Henry implements it right, it will give us more energy and bounce when we have the ball.

i dont agree with him saying we have heaps of points in us, but i do think we should get the defence absolutely right, then we can just work on attack forevermore. they had more firepower than us, but i think i read that Trent Robinson focused almost only on defence with roosters last year and just said that the guys can do whatever in attack. again, having SBW, BBQ,Jenko and that helps of course... but it was a successful method.

[K2G]

Ben Ikin's interview with Kelly from this episode can be seen on the couriermail's cr*ppy paywalled website, in the article i posted a little while ago about Paul Carter being given 54 minutes to impress (here (http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/rookie-gold-coast-titans-utility-paul-carter-given-54-minutes-to-impress/story-fniabrr8-1226814227620))