2021 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[willhelm]

Fogarty never has been and never will be the flashy half that gets a ton of try assists. He’s the guy who organises the attack, gets players in position and calls the play. All the things that are easy for the casual observer to miss. I think most of you would agree that our attack has looked pretty good in patches throughout the year, yeah? We’re currently 7th on points for — it’s our defence that is letting us down and that’s not on Fogarty.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s a superstar or anything, but he’s far from our biggest issue at the moment. If I could wave a magic wand and fix every issue all at once, he likely wouldn’t be in the team, but these things need to be addressed on a priority basis. I think we will also be much improved with a better running 5/8. We desperately need a Cody Walker/Jack Wighton type player as they have all the complementary attributes that Fogarty doesn’t have (strength, speed, agility). Hopefully Turner will be that — I don’t know as I haven’t seen him play but HS said great things about him when we signed him and Warriors fans were sad to lose him.

It’s a shame that Ash has fallen so far as he was a genuine talent in 2016-17 but the combination of having to take on all the responsibility of being the main playmaker in his formative years, having the Hayne Stain in his ear, being mentored by Tyrone Roberts and Garth Brennan… it has all stunted his growth and resulted in what we’re seeing now: wasted talent. I wish him all the best but his future is not with us and is likely in ESL.

[5 Year Contract]

Oh I agree that Foges is solid I more meant to get another year when he is already signed for next year. His form has been down immensely on 2020 so that’s why I can’t fathom what he has done to get the extra year. That’s the sort of thing you would do for a player who has been playing out of his skin. This team seems to look directionless a lot of the time regardless of the amount of points we have laid on. Who knows maybe he’s just there for a backup in 2023. Our defence has been poor but it’s clear we really lack solid structure in attack, have a poor attacking kicking game, lack speed out of dummy half to get the ball rolling to our forwards. Our creativity amounts to Proctor crash ball wide 4th tackle all Fifita flat footed. 100% agree it’s not an easy fix but I think with a star half to lead and organise and a hooker who can’t get us rolling and glue up the middle i defence that gets us a hell of alot closer than we have been. Bang on about a Cody Walker type he just owns his side of the field and has his players outside him rolling and has the defence second guessing.

I’m hoping either Sexton or Turner (or both) step up and take over from Ash.

[JunctionBlock]

I would argue that he is a disproportionate part of our defensive issues if you go back a couple of weeks. I also think there are players who aren't listening to his organisation on the field and are overriding his calls or lack there of.

I would agree, he has done nothing this season to be called captain or be considered a "priority" to re-sign and yet he was re-signed well before we needed to.

[RavShamrock]

I was moreso referring to his effort particularly on D but how good someone performs is always relative and by his standards he was very good.

Not $1mil good and nor does it undo any of the past but he still played his best game in quite some time. My point was just that it was timely given the opposition

Yes I know HS all good

[Titanic]

Anybody want to comment on the defensive organisation starts from the fullback and how does AJ rate as that organiser? I'm not bagging him but I am searching for reasons why our defence gets so out of shape. Sorry I keep asking this but sooner or later someone who gets to the games will give an opinion.

[5 Year Contract]

Anybody want to comment on the defensive organisation starts from the fullback and how does AJ rate as that organiser? I'm not bagging him but I am searching for reasons why our defence gets so out of shape. Sorry I keep asking this but sooner or later someone who gets to the games will give an opinion.

For me our defensive woes stem from the following:

- we do not move forward. We are happy to sit on our heels and dive the opposing pack all the momentum which if they have a decent hooker puts us on the back foot

- No trust of the man inside of you. The amount of times we give away an overlap (proctor, Sami, Bk especially) because we cannot man up. Even more we just seem to open up holes. Everyone seems to either come in or race up when they see the ball coming their way and it just gives opposition room to shred.

-one on one/ not wrapping/wrestling. We have a huge lack of ball and all tacklers. So many times our halves especially just get bumped off or allow the offload.

-poor cover (maybe where AJs issue lies) the amount of times somneone punches through and cover is no where to be seen is ridiculous. Something I have also noticed with AJ this year is I’ve barely seen him make a 1 on 1 or ball and all to stop a try.

-sloppy middle. If they aren’t getting the overlap the opposition always seems to punch through the middle. Slow markers, gassed forwards. I often wonder if it’s to do with Holbrook rotations? He always leaves Wallace and co on about 5 mins too long. We also have a bad habit of allowing 1 off the ruck attackers barge over.

-who is our hitman? You could always depend on Bird or James to put a shot on to get the team pumped and charging forward. We have no one in defence who scares the opposition.

I could go on and on but our defence is absolutely miserable and the issue is when we are chasing points we don’t have the creativity to ever really claw back into it without leaking more points.

[Randomologist]

Random thought but when was the last time we actually stripped the ball from the opposition? Happens to us once a game and it's a massive shift but we don't seem to think about it until we're defending and it's the last set of the game.

[Titslover]

5YC I feel that is a bit unfair on AJ, I can’t comment on his defensive positioning because I haven’t been to a game this year, but he is a great tackler. Just this weekend he tackled Sivo 1on1 in open space which not many players could do, and smashed Opacic over the sideline as well.

I agree with all your other points though, the closest thing we have to a hitman is Tino but everytime he tries its almost a shoulder charge

[Whats Doing]

In regards to Fogs and our defence, it all starts with the half’s kicking capabilities on the 5th tackle. Fogs does not kick long and often does not find the grass resulting in the opposition starting most of their sets on their own 40. This results in the opposition being in try scoring position on their 5th tackle options resulting in more options to score rather than having their 5th tackle options being on half way and therefore limiting their try scoring options.

The top teams pin the opposition on the 1st tackle in their own 10 metre zone whereas we have the opposition starting their sets on their 40. This is disparity of 30 metres per set.

It is very much about field position and Fogerty is really lacking in this significant area of the game. Plus his form is so much down on his 2020 form,

[willhelm]

Tino is the hitman but he’s not currently effective because he’s doing too much dirty work in the middle. Put him on Proctor’s edge and let him hit.

AJ isn’t the issue with the defence; the middle getting rolled is. I think it’s a coaching issue as there is zero line speed ever. We seem to sit on our heels and try to absorb the impact and it just doesn’t work. With the modern momentum based game we can’t afford to let teams roll us like that, particularly not with Wallace and Peachey in the team. They get gassed then throw a loose arm or pull a leg and the set restarts. Then because we’re constantly retreating further to reset the line, the edges open up and our line gets broken. It frustrates the hell out of me.

[5 Year Contract]

Great points Will and hang. Just to be clear AJ is 100% not the issue in defence I’m just more talking of our cover defence being a step behind. You can’t expect AJ to save the day every time he just seemed to be a bit more lethal at it last year at stopping the breakaway but againIf the middle was doing its job he wouldn’t have to be doing it so much.

I wonder if our sitting on our heels and not moving forward is a Dymock ploy? Does he think it keeps the line more stable, leads to less broken play? As we have all said it just lets the opposition role forward quick play the ball then a charging forward punches through next to the ruck and they are away.

The game has left behind a few of our players with its speed now. But we aren’t alone,

[indoallstars]

Everyone in our team contributes to our **** defence including AJ as much as I love him. He is responsible for counting numbers and communicating/directing players to each side, there has been numerous times we have been caught short on numbers in overlaps and AJ is a contributing factor to that which is a skill he is still developing.

Our middle continues to get rolled and I echo the other comments on here that we don't come off the line, we don't hit with intention and we never apply kick pressure. To me this appears to be a coaching and potentially a leadership issue (leading by example and communication), I imagine if we had someone like Brandon Smith bringing energy in the defensive line others will follow but right now it's piecemeal and soft.

Don't even get me started on our edges where historically we have defended atrociously over the years, poor decision making, poor communication, poor execution and absolutely no trust. How many times do we see Fogarty, Kelly, Herbert, Sami making absolutely poor decisions. This is a trust and coaching issue.

I think our whole team has contributed to our woeful defence and it really highlights that we do need a real leader out on the field barking orders. It also makes me realize that maybe the problem is our defensive coach and the structures are not working. I never feel like our boys are ever revved up before a game, it's crazy from my playing days how much influence starting a game with energy can do and how much it also contributes to how you defend and picking up the scraps which feeds into the momentum of the team. I do think we really need to assess if Dymock is the right bloke for us moving forwards because I don't see our structure working nor do I see energy in defense. Can anyone point out anytime when our team actually tried to kill the other team and hurt them and actually bully them (like they seem to do us every 2nd game), I haven't seen any of that since Greg Bird played.

[Mexican titan]

In regards to Fogs and our defence, it all starts with the half’s kicking capabilities on the 5th tackle. Fogs does not kick long and often does not find the grass resulting in the opposition starting most of their sets on their own 40. This results in the opposition being in try scoring position on their 5th tackle options resulting in more options to score rather than having their 5th tackle options being on half way and therefore limiting their try scoring options.

The top teams pin the opposition on the 1st tackle in their own 10 metre zone whereas we have the opposition starting their sets on their 40. This is disparity of 30 metres per set.

It is very much about field position and Fogerty is really lacking in this significant area of the game. Plus his form is so much down on his 2020 form,

Couldn't say it any better Whats D. I am surprised at the few on here that think Fogs is even near an NRL quality half. He is nowhere near it. Probably the worst kicking game of a half I have seen for years. I have some sympathy for him in that he has had to carry the captaincy burden which in normal times would have gone to a bloke like Taylor had he proven himself, but he was never up to that job. We will just go around and around in discussing the teams performance until we get a decent 6,7 and 9.
We will continue to waste the ability of Fifita and to a lesser extent Tino until we get some decent creativity. Even Proctor who is deservedly carved up on here, but look what he was like with the Storm where he had players putting him through gaps all the time. Ever since he has been here he hasn't had that around him. I am not defending the other stuff ups he does, but again, never did in the Storm culture.

[JunctionBlock]

In AJ's defence he does count numbers and communicate positioning. After watching origin and our home games I'd say Ponga is a better communicator.

[willhelm]

Nice avatar, JB. I should change mine to Margot Robbie if we're doing celebrity crushes.