Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:40 pm  

Like the Salford game I felt we would have lost that last year, the investment in Croft paying dividends. If we could get anything approaching parity in the middles then we will go very well.

Impressed with Ruan, glad he got more game time. I also thought after the initial error Miller went well, took some towering bombs from Abdul very confidently.

Bentley's workrate and effort can't be faulted but he's such a loose cannon. That handbags with Abdul towards the end was just stupid, just suck it up we are in a winning position and don't give away anything daft. Thankfully the ref went in his favour.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:46 pm  

Broadacres wrote:

Like the Salford game I felt we would have lost that last year, the investment in Croft paying dividends. If we could get anything approaching parity in the middles then we will go very well.

Impressed with Ruan, glad he got more game time. I also thought after the initial error Miller went well, took some towering bombs from Abdul very confidently.

Bentley's workrate and effort can't be faulted but he's such a loose cannon. That handbags with Abdul towards the end was just stupid, just suck it up we are in a winning position and don't give away anything daft. Thankfully the ref went in his favour.

Agree with that. Very good win in the circumstances. Thought defence was outstanding overall. MOM is getting better and better imo. Cam Smith and Croft were superb and I thought Newman had a good second half. Goudamond impressed too.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:50 pm  

Hate all the yellow cards though. It’s an absolute farce. Players will just play act to get people sin binned and banned.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:56 pm  

Cam Smith has been Mr Consistent again hasn’t he? Was one of our players who out-played his opposite number. Ash is in superb form.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:11 pm  

So having watched it back, a few things stand out. Firstly how well we defended, we almost always work hard in defence, but we are communicating well and tackling as a team. This should give us a chance in most games.

We look like we are building with the ball, Croft in particular looks like the intelligent halfback we have been missing. We need to learn when to try to play and when to build pressure, but we are already better this year than for the last 2 years probably.

When it comes to weaknesses, we are definitely short in the front row, we know this, and it means we are having to soak up a lot of pressure and that will mean we are using up gas that otherwise we wouldn’t need to. It’s a worry as the season goes on. We are also still making too many errors and inviting the opposition onto us, which when we defend well isn’t too much of a worry, but it will take gas out of our tank.

Overall, better than I expected, for many reasons, and we move on to Leigh with confidence.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:13 pm  

That was fantastic win, we talk about attacking structure but it was our defensive structure that won that game.

I know the attacking grom deep is a risky game plan but when the weather gets better its giing to be a joy to watch.

How good is it to see genuine class at 6 again

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:18 pm  

Bentley thinks he is TMFMISL.

He'll probably be banned, but excuse me, the bias of the Sky pundits is appalling.

Sam Tomkins starts the show by highlighting why Catalans signing Michael McIlorum was a real statement of intent and he was the sort of player to compete for 80 minutes that they didn't have.

At the end of the show Tomkins goes on about how Bentley is too indisciplined and not a very good player (like Wilkin, clearly nursing some grudges from his playing days).

It would be interesting to compare the number of cards and bans received by Bentley and McIlorum over the last 4-5 years, and to hear what Tomkins has to say about that.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:20 pm  

We are still equal parts scrappy and daft sometimes, but we are anything but boring with the ball, and when we get the balance right we are very, very good.

Croft was excellent and as others have said his defence has been a pleasant surprise. I felt like the new recruits are building nicely and Ruan looked good enough to keep Donno out.

Bentley is frustrating, while Tomkins sounded like he had an axe to grind the one thing he was right about was Bentley is a constant mix of good and bad. The passage of play where he chases the kick makes a cracking tackle on Johnstone and then gives a penalty away is him in a nutshell.

Would expect him to get a ban. Maybe Sangare too given his binning.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:21 pm  

It’s great. I think we did plan to play with width on purpose against Cats but RS said we overdid it at times, which is fair enough.

Miller will look miles better in dry conditions.

Re: RD 3 | Catalan Dragons (H) : Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:22 pm  

Exeter Rhino wrote:

Bentley thinks he is TMFMISL.

He'll probably be banned, but excuse me, the bias of the Sky pundits is appalling.

Sam Tomkins starts the show by highlighting why Catalans signing Michael McIlorum was a real statement of intent and he was the sort of player to compete for 80 minutes that they didn't have.

At the end of the show Tomkins goes on about how Bentley is too indisciplined and not a very good player (like Wilkin, clearly nursing some grudges from his playing days).

It would be interesting to compare the number of cards and bans received by Bentley and McIlorum over the last 4-5 years, and to hear what Tomkins has to say about that.

TMFMISL. Those were the days. How many games do we think that hit on Mary Fasavalu would get these days?