: Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:13 pm
I've allowed what I saw of the game to digest in my brain so i can post of of the sensible bit, not the frustrated bit.
There are lessons from the game that need to be learnt. Reassuringly, we've looked comfortable against most other SL sides but inferior to St Helens. Thankfully we have 6 months to get it right before Old Trafford.
We need to be more expansive. The 'drive it down the middle' game didn't work today, as it often doesn't when Peacock & the forwards don't have a good game. Ablett, i thought, was our best player on the crash ball. This sort of play is good, but it needs to be done once a said, preferably bringing Bailey or Lauititi onto the ball at pace, then trying to offload in the tackle.
When playing from the POTB the backs are standing far too flat. This prevents them moving onto the bal at pace as Saints backs did, giving the opposition defence much more time to organise themsleves. We can do this, usually when Burrow makes a run from the potb, but must do it more often. I think Disco is the better hooker for this, as Buderus' passes seemed to be very high & loopy, meaning the reciever had to slow down to collect.
We need to be looking at tackling lower than we do. When we brought a saints player to an immediate hault it was usually Burrow or McGuire, tackling at waist height, and using the opposition player's momentum to carry them onto the floor.
Sinny needs to step up (thought he was very good on sunday) and direct the play. Going short side to JJB in the second half when we had an overlap on the right was an obvious wrong decision. Danny is very quick, but he is not a midfield general. This should be made clear to him, as his job should be to find the gaps & support every break, so we don't end up going clear & being brought back as the player making the break gets isolated.
We also need to be looking at Discipline & temperament of the players. Stay calm, don't develop white line fever and don't become tryshy. For the sets we had close to the saints line we scored far too few points. Similarly, set completio needs to be higher. The boys don't need to look for the magic ball every time, simply move away from the potb, get over the gain line and keep the ball.
The final point is kicking. Everyone who does, or may, play on the wing needs to spend a lot of time under the high ball so they are confident going for a bomb against bigger guys. This basically means Sinny, Danny & pocket monkey spending 30 mins or so every training session putting up balls to Superman, Gibbo, Smith, Hall, Donald & Watkins.
Connected to this is our kicking out of hand. There is no point putting a garryowen up for the opposition fullback if no-one is chasing the kick, same with downfield kicks. The opposition are, suprisingly, professional footballers so will be able to catch an uncontested ball. Pressuring the take means they are a) much more likely to make a mistake, and b)much less likely to make ground after taking it.
Downfield kicks & clearances also need to be chased (i.e. sprinted after, rather than just jogging up the pitch) to prevent territory gain by the opposition. I only saw us properly chase a ball once, but when we did (and tbf it was Danny on his own) we forced saints into a dropout.
These are simple things that can be easily applied, and bluey should be looking at in the next few weeks.
and as an addition, can we please send Danny, Sinny, Webb & Burrow to train with Leigh Hinton & Jason Strange over at Carnegie. We only ever seem to make 20-30 m on touch kicks. Those two (Carnegie fullback & flyhalf) are putting into into the opposition 10 from the halfway line. If our players can learn to do this, it will give us a big advantage when the opposition are penalised.
