Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 2:21 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

I don't think you can differentiate from excuses and facts, yes there are many factors why Sydney Roosters are much better than us. Sydney Roosters beat Canterbury Bulldogs in the semis last year 38-12 does that mean we can be excused by having experienced the same outcome, no its just a factual occurrence.

The fact they flew 12,000 miles, played in cold wet conditions and haven't played one game since the end of the NRL season makes your comparison laughable.

Also they are not the same team as last year. Only Tupou was in the same position as last year in their backs. Their Captain didn't make the trip and JWH didn't make the trip .

In comparison we didn't fly 12,000 miles, we have played to super league games plus 2 other practice games, we only had percy out injured and we are very familiar with the weather conditions. In fact we had Richards and Theo who didn't even make our 17.

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:05 pm  

St pete wrote:

The fact they flew 12,000 miles, played in cold wet conditions and haven't played one game since the end of the NRL season makes your comparison laughable.

Also they are not the same team as last year. Only Tupou was in the same position as last year in their backs. Their Captain didn't make the trip and JWH didn't make the trip .

In comparison we didn't fly 12,000 miles, we have played to super league games plus 2 other practice games, we only had percy out injured and we are very familiar with the weather conditions. In fact we had Richards and Theo who didn't even make our 17.

Nah, I'm not buying into this at all (20+ years ago maybe), you make it sound as though they have driven here in a mini bus, don't know each other and haven't held a rugby ball for months. Roosters would have been professionally well prepared for this match, fit and well conditioned, they would have used the journey over here as a recovery phase from hard training sessions and probably would have used the trip as a bonding exercise opportunity with just one single focus on the game, Robinson covered it on the Sky interview calling it removal of external distraction. They also wouldn't have been here long enough for the weather conditions to kick into there mindset.
Roosters are obviously not match fit and neither are Saints unless you think after a couple of games we hit the supreme match fitness button. Roosters played steady basic rugby and fed off most of our errors, there was only the roosters stand off who went full on as he had very much to prove for future selection.

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:02 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Nah, I'm not buying into this at all (20+ years ago maybe), you make it sound as though they have driven here in a mini bus, don't know each other and haven't held a rugby ball for months. Roosters would have been professionally well prepared for this match, fit and well conditioned, they would have used the journey over here as a recovery phase from hard training sessions and probably would have used the trip as a bonding exercise opportunity with just one single focus on the game, Robinson covered it on the Sky interview calling it removal of external distraction. They also wouldn't have been here long enough for the weather conditions to kick into there mindset.
Roosters are obviously not match fit and neither are Saints unless you think after a couple of games we hit the supreme match fitness button. Roosters played steady basic rugby and fed off most of our errors, there was only the roosters stand off who went full on as he had very much to prove for future selection.

Yes your right. Obviously 12,000 mile flight, the jet lag, the freezing conditions they ain't used to and the fact not had full contact game in 5 month worked in our favour.

We should be asking to play the next world series games in Australia as it's not fair they have the advantage of travel, jet lag and unfamiliar weather conditions every year

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:40 pm  

The roosters wouldn't have suffered any jet lag on two 6 hour flights going east to west. Jet lag is suffered going west to east as you are flying against time not with it. They will suffer it on their return to Australia as would any Brit team going to Aus for a WCC. Even then jet lag lasts a maximum of 72 hours before the body is adjusted to the new time zone.

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 6:04 pm  

cymraegrhino wrote:

The roosters wouldn't have suffered any jet lag on two 6 hour flights going east to west. Jet lag is suffered going west to east as you are flying against time not with it. They will suffer it on their return to Australia as would any Brit team going to Aus for a WCC. Even then jet lag lasts a maximum of 72 hours before the body is adjusted to the new time zone.

Australia to Britain in 12 hours, what's that in, a Tardis?

They would have jet lag both ways. One way is worse than the other but they will still get it.

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 6:27 pm  

Twentyman wrote:

Australia to Britain in 12 hours, what's that in, a Tardis?

They would have jet lag both ways. One way is worse than the other but they will still get it.

When I flew it took us 19 hours and all of us suffered bad from the flight 48hr later it hit us.

Also didn't the Aussie National side used to blame jet lag on them constantly losing the first test ?

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 6:38 pm  

Twentyman wrote:

Australia to Britain in 12 hours, what's that in, a Tardis?

They would have jet lag both ways. One way is worse than the other but they will still get it.

They didn't fly in one go they stopped in Dubai. I may have underestimated each flight a little, each flight should take around 6-7 hours from take off to landing. Which is when jet lag starts/finishes. This means that on both flights the players days would experience an extension of 2 hours to their day, this is not a long enough period to bring on jet lag.

Aussie players will always have an advantage in comparison to Brit players in this respect, especially if they have a camp half way

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 6:48 pm  

Roosters didn't fly Sydney to the UK in one go though, they wanted to eliminate any jet lag by setting up a training camp in Dubai. They then got a daylight flight to the UK to reduce jet lag and where in the UK for around 60 hours before match play. They only had a 4 hour time zone adjustment to overcome.
Like I said Sydney Roosters were well prepared and analysed it as an easier focus option.

Quote from the coach:Robinson, who had taken his squad to Dubai for a training camp as part of their pre-season preparations, saw his side quickly shake off the rust against a side already feeling wear and tear from the opening fortnight of Super League.
"It's hard for the Australian teams coming over but we've only had one focus," Robinson said. "The Super League teams have to play a couple of games. I f you train a whole off season and play that game as your sole focus,
sometimes it's easier.

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:27 pm  

We really needed Luke Walsh to have got over his issues at the start of this season. Right now it looks like he hasn't (although I did think his defence was much improved). Which leaves us in a tough situation because last season Jon Wilkin was our best playmaking option. By using him in a supplementary role when Walsh isn't offering anything better we lose twice over.

I feel some sympathy with Cunningham bemoaning Sydney City's fortune with the bounce of the ball. It really is mentally tough when the opposition scores two or three tries in such fashion. That said, you've just got to deal with it and some of our players looked beaten before the halftime hooter.

I just don't understand all this messing about with Turner. He's not a stand-off. He's not a loose-forward. Yes - he can PLAY THERE. But only as a fill-in. By moving him out of his favoured position we lose the attacking threat he unquestionably possesses for no gain whatsoever. Indeed, I'd say it's a net loss. With Percival out we just can't afford to be weakening our back line even further.

As for Cunningham's tactics. I don't know what he's telling the players - but the fact that the opposition seem to gain every time we try to expand the play to a completely flat backline suggests that something is going wrong somewhere.

To be honest I'm not fussed about us keeping the ball tight. We don't have exceptional strength in the backs so it's simply crazy to think we should be throwing it about like a basketball team. But if we are going to stay narrow then it's imperative that the forwards interlink with each other - either offloading repeatedly or working little off-the-shoulder passes to the back-rowers running in close support.

Cunningham is inexperienced. But I can't imagine he's instructing his players to be this conservative. I think questions need to be asked about our playmaking unit. It isn't functioning. Which brings us right back to Walsh & Wilkin. Of course it doesn't help with Roby out. But worse still is the perennial problem at full-back. It's such an influential position and yet again we aren't offering anything. I'm not going to start bashing Owens because he's young and only has a couple of games under his belt for the club. But you have to question the sense in putting someone like Owens in such a tough spot when we have so many issues in the creative department.

The club seems to be putting an awful lot of faith in Lomax and McDonnell's abilities to overcome what are very serious injuries. I just hope that faith pays off.

Re: General Tactical comments from last nights game. : Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:34 pm  

I should also add - it's probably not a good idea to make too much of a big deal over being outplayed by a good NRL side. Certainly Wigan don't seem to be proving that they are capable of offering a great deal more. Indeed, watching the game now Brisbane could easily stick sixty on them if they keep the pedal flat to the floor.