Round 9: RAIDERS vs TITANS

[gotitans101_]

got off a plane in LA and caught the last 2 minutes what was that?

you don't even wanna know.

[Titanic Believer]

They went up the middle. It has been our weakness. Bird does make a difference, The score would have been much worse without Ryan James. He was the only player with any impact I hardly saw Taylor in the second half. Basically there is a lot of rebuilding still to do and while the Raiders are in form, I don't really think at our best we can monster any team. We may have some wins when others are off their game but not when the other teams are at their best. It's time to find some dominant forwards and the rebuilding begins when Myles leaves. Don't get me wrong Myles tackles his heart out but he has no attacking impact.

[JunctionBlock]

Ok, positivity. Burr is still doing some dumb sh!t but at least he's having a hard go. Made more metres than anyone else. Up there with the tackle count too. Hoffman didn't look terrible in a terrible team. James showed what he's capable of. I thought he was our best, it's a shame the rest of the team didn't follow. He conceded one penalty.

[Hail Sezer]

Yeah agree with you JB I thought James and Hoffman were our best, with Moseley also providing some nice plays albeit some poor defence. Burr is very raw but has a high workrate and like you said he really has a go. A lot of learning to do but I really am a fan of him and have faith in him.

Taylor was almost non-existant and with Bird's suspension he really needed to step up. Disappointing.

[K2G]

We looked for short-cuts that whole second half. wild passes, hail-mary kicks, short kick off, harassing the reffs for penalties... Looked afraid of the hard work - but there was still enough there to be positive about i thought. Like the panthers thrashing, I think it'll be one of those losses we take a lot out of tbh. How to deal with disappointing reffing and harsh penalties needs to be addressed by the coach.

Elgey was far too quiet and Sezer far too dominant today. Other than our forwards getting smashed, that was the biggest difference between today and our last few wins i thought. Elgey will learn to call the shots with experience.

Ryan James was huge for us on both sides of the ball. Bagging him is ridiculous. Petty had some great moments too, and Douglas had a typically solid game. If we had another James and Pettybourne in our pack, we'd be a much better team.

Hopefully Myles makes his mind up about his future soon. He has made some epic cover tackles for us over our last two games - but he just doesn't seem to be all there for us right now.

White is a bit of a waste of space off the bench. Would love for us to sign a big forward before June 30.

Ioane probably needs to string a few together before he shows his worth, and Taylor the big idiot tried his guts out, but also needs a few games to get back up to speed.

Burr is coming on nicely. He is going to be a good one.

Mosesely also showed his inexperience with that butchered try today - would've scored himself had he dummied before wighton lined him up, but his work to create the line-break was special.

Mead had a shocker.... but I really liked what Hoffman provided for us today. Zillman was nowhere to be seen.

Lee and Croker pwnd Roberts today - but if anyone deserves a pass, it's probably jimmy who like Taylor, always tries his guts out.

Mortimer was meh. Made a few silly decisions like the 'who do i pass it too' 360 spin around on the fifth tackle - but between him and falloon ... i'd probably rather persevere with morts.

Love Don's work for us. Could've got more involved - but is becoming a bit of a danger man for us out on the left.

Tough loss, but I think we will bounce back and be better for it.

[Smakked]

That was the worst defensive effort i have seen by any team for a long while. Cant believe we couldn't put players on their back at all.

[rj62]

Two weeks ago most here (me included) were jumping through hoops with the excitement of what our team did. Today everyone wants the entire team sacked and changed and people here are even having a go at each other amd also criticized everyone and everything.

Reminds me of Bronco supporters. Sadly.

I get that frustration leads to this but Jesus it makes for ordinary reading. Fact is we won't be world beaters right away because we won a few on the trot. We won't be world beaters right away because we signed LG. we won't be world beaters the day DCE turns up and we certainly won't be world beaters with members who are continually critical to the point of extreme when we have a loss albeit a big one.
If you can coach better, or recruit better or get more out of who we have, get in there and have a go, otherwise just support the team ffs.

I actually thought we were due for a loss off the back of these past 3 wins and Canberra in Canberra can always be a tough one on the right day. Today was the right day for them.

I'd rather look ahead than back and I'd rather stand behind the people running the show at the moment than stab their eyes out with a rusty knife. I reckon they know a shed load more than I and most of us here will ever know about what's happening on and off the field with the players, club, facilities and contracts.

Just my 2 cents worth....

[JunctionBlock]

Just to show how much our right side defence is going to get hammered, Don didn't make one tackle today. Didn't have too.

[DavidBouveng]

not a huge amount to say. hoff was really good in a beaten team. I like Burr. James also.

most others were quiet or just got outplayed.

our 'inspirational leader' has had two poor games inside a week and maybe it is he who has his value incorrect, not the titans.

as for Bird... anyone saying we wouldnt have got flogged with him playing are kidding. he's no better than James for temper / attitude and when it comes to the end of the game and all is lost he is just as likely to do something and get him self suspended as he is to help us.

across the board we were down, and maybe it brings us down to earth after all our positive press and wins lately.

on a totally different note...i thought Don was a head down bum up 100% attitude guy... but his one handed carry of the ball today for his tries was a bit risky, as was him flicking it in goal. i didn't mind the flick actually, as he backed his skill, but it doesnt seem like the Don i thought he was. hope they quietly coach him to use two hands where possible ( iknow on one of his tries he only could use one hand)

p.s. Mortimer was fine today. no problems with him coming off bench

[gotitans101_]

I actually thought we were due for a loss off the back of these past 3 wins and Canberra in Canberra can always be a tough one on the right day. Today was the right day for them.

We were due for a loss yes, but can you really blame people for being angry for losing the way we did? We are the first team to have 50 put on us this year, that's just not good enough.

[Titanic Believer]

How can a big hulk like Taylor only have 21 run metres?

[rj62]

We were due for a loss yes, but can you really blame people for being angry for losing the way we did? We are the first team to have 50 put on us this year, that's just not good enough.

I don't like it either, not one bit but I also know spewing vitriol here won't make us a better football side.

[K2G]

not a huge amount to say. hoff was really good in a beaten team. I like Burr. James also.

most others were quiet or just got outplayed.

our 'inspirational leader' has had two poor games inside a week and maybe it is he who has his value incorrect, not the titans.

as for Bird... anyone saying we wouldnt have got flogged with him playing are kidding. he's no better than James for temper / attitude and when it comes to the end of the game and all is lost he is just as likely to do something and get him self suspended as he is to help us.

across the board we were down, and maybe it brings us down to earth after all our positive press and wins lately.

on a totally different note...i thought Don was a head down bum up 100% attitude guy... but his one handed carry of the ball today for his tries was a bit risky, as was him flicking it in goal. i didn't mind the flick actually, as he backed his skill, but it doesnt seem like the Don i thought he was. hope they quietly coach him to use two hands where possible ( iknow on one of his tries he only could use one hand)

p.s. Mortimer was fine today. no problems with him coming off bench

Good post mate.

The one area where I thought we missed Bird today, was his influence on Sezer on that right side. I think Bird simplifies Aiden's game if only by demanding the ball so often. Sezer really looked confused with options today. He has the skills to do it all, but often chooses the wrong option, or by thinking too long reduces his time to make the right choice. Bird helps him play smart imo. That we didn't force one drop out, or attempt to do so more often was criminal i thought. With all those big boys Canberra have, I expected us to be turning them around far more than we did.

But I agree, Bird in and of himself doesn't help us stop/score 40 points.

Completely agree with your sentiments re: Myles - kidding himself if he thinks he's earned a pay rise. We will miss his intangibles if he goes, but not enough to break the bank for.

Also, I think Don doesn't score either of his two one-handed tries, had he taken your advice mate. Unless he learns to get lower, sooner and spear in, his one handed efforts are the only way we score those tries. His in goal passing is another story...

Love your posts recently DB. Quality.

[DavidBouveng]

cheers mate.

i will re watch his tries again...but his first one he definitely had time and space to use two hands. second one he strode over and diced with a few defenders trying to get closer to posts... he just seemed a bit balls out today.
last one was a miracle and only possible with one hand, both knees up, boths feet up, and sphincter tightened to extreme levels.

it was just a prevailing cavalier way of carrying ball that will one day come back to bite us if he isn't careful. more than that...i just never saw Don that way. Maybe its the bushie in him, but i thought he was a really cautious player.

EDIT: i re watched them just now. first one was closer than i thought. but i think even running and diving exactly the way he was, two hands was better and possible. especially when hes carrying it in the arm the defenders coming from. doesnt take much to jolt it out.

but he scored 3 tries, played well....i think its a lesson he can earn from before it hurts us.

[DavidBouveng]

as for losing, im very ok with it. you learn from losing more than winning, and we need to be a team that learns as much this year as possible as DCE brings alot of expectation to us.

Burr is progressing, LG is moving along. James is breaking out along with Roberts. Hoff and Zill are jostling and sorting out who is the best. The rest of the pack is falling into a pecking order (petty near top, white down bottom).

Hopefully we learnt a bit about defence today, and improve our ruck work. I trust the new coaching regimen to adjust and make the changes to our game more than the former crew would have.