Theyre better at holding us up and waiting for the held call before they put us down then roll us. Because they're meeting us and hitting us but not letting us get to our stomachs it's viewed as a dominant tackle so they're getting extra allowances from the ref whereas when they're running at us you'll notice most runs the attacking teams are making it to their stomach and beginning to get up therefore they have the advantage in the refs eyes and we have to release and roll away earlier otherwise we are slowly down the ruck.
The first contact and hitting and sticking is so crucial. But most importantly you can tell off the first set what our attitude will be like for the game off our line speed. It feels like every 3 or 4 games we are right up in their face but then the following week we barely move forward. Holbrook would have to be addressing it but I just cannot understand why the players wouldn't be taking it on-board. Unless of course this 3 step up and hold is actually holbrook/ dymocks defence structure they're implementing this season.