Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:50 pm  

Dux wrote:

Gee whizz. That left edge defence is dreadful.

Been like that all season. The left edge is awful in defence. We have walsh, Turner and swift and its very vulnerable.

Turner can read play, he makes awful decisions which puts pressure on either side of him. I play 6 and Id dread to play next to someone like him in defence.

On the subject of walsh, I thiught it was 100% improvment in terms of effort, attitude and getting involved. Sure he wasn't back to his best but it's a improvment.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:08 pm  

SecondRowSaint wrote:

The left edge defence of Swift - Walsh - Tuner - Greenwood screams missed tackles to me. The only change that could happen here is having Burns defend on that side, but will he make such a significant difference? I don't want Greenwood on the right as he's more effective going forward on the left. I don't want Percival on the left as he looks better on the right. We won't swap our wingers round.

Spot on! Exactly what ive said all season even when was unbeaten and I got shot down with "we have best defence in the league".

Every week I could see with my own eyes that Greenwood (even tho was playing well) was missing to many tackles. Same goes for Turner and the stats of missed tackles proved that. They both miss 4/5 a game but then you add walsh to that edge and that's another 4/5 missed tackles on that edge.

You'll struggle with 12 + missed tackles on that edge each week and needs sorting fast!

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:11 pm  

The left edge is no less manageable than it was last season. If the forwards cut down the space aggressively and in unison it's very difficult for opponents to work a man advantage without taking a risk. They didn't do it tonight. They didn't do it last week. We know they CAN do it because they were very successful in making life hell for opposition forwards at the start of the season.

Let's see if the pack gains a second wind down the stretch. There's a long, long way to go. And plenty of time for other sides to suffer some of the injury nightmares we have.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:15 pm  

He looked a bit more organised tonight than the previous 2 games, seems as though Walsh is working the pass and kick to Percival, whilst Burns works the pass over to Turner. Think Walsh had to do 3 tackles in the Giants set of 6 as they targeted him he missed one, put in half a tackle and completed one tackle.
The main thing his involvement is getting better, hopefully he can get a good run of games with Burns to settle things down tactically.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:18 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

He looked a bit more organised tonight than the previous 2 games, seems as though Walsh is working the pass and kick to Percival, whilst Burns works the pass over to Turner. Think Walsh had to do 3 tackles in the Giants set of 6 as they targeted him he missed one, put in half a tackle and completed one tackle.
The main thing his involvement is getting better, hopefully he can get a good run of games with Burns to settle things down tactically.

I think he knows he let himself down badly last week. The effort and atiitude was there tonight which showed he was hurting.

A massive improvment and one step foward and needs to build on this each week heading into the super 8s

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:24 pm  

St pete wrote:

Been like that all season. The left edge is awful in defence. We have walsh, Turner and swift and its very vulnerable.

Turner can read play, he makes awful decisions which puts pressure on either side of him. I play 6 and Id dread to play next to someone like him in defence.

I agree that it's been a weakness all season, but I don't think it's been quite as weak as it has over the last couple of games. I think the reintroduction of Walsh, who clearly doesn't want to get near contact, has brought the worst out in Turner and Swift. It's panic stations every time the ball goes out that way.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:28 pm  

The thing that slightly concerns me is Keiron playing Flash on the bench. Given that he offers us very little I can only think it's a contingency in case Walsh breaks down. Which suggests that even Keiron is having second thoughts.

Walsh was often criticised in the NRL for playing when he felt like it. But he wasn't a bad defender. Certainly nowhere near as bad as he was tonight.

That leg really does worry me. I kind of expected that he'd be short of zip coming back. But it's very noticeable that he's struggling when forced to change direction. Either he's frightened that the leg will go under load. Or it's hurting. Or he's lost some degree of joint flexibility. Whatever the case - it needs to improve soon.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:33 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

The thing that slightly concerns me is Keiron playing Flash on the bench. Given that he offers us very little I can only think it's a contingency in case Walsh breaks down. Which suggests that even Keiron is having second thoughts.

Walsh was often criticised in the NRL for playing when he felt like it. But he wasn't a bad defender. Certainly nowhere near as bad as he was tonight.

That leg really does worry me. I kind of expected that he'd be short of zip coming back. But it's very noticeable that he's struggling when forced to change direction. Either he's frightened that the leg will go under load. Or it's hurting. Or he's lost some degree of joint flexibility. Whatever the case - it needs to improve soon.

When Wilkin and Vea are back in the 17, Flash won,t get a game.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:36 pm  

It would be nice to have an old-school loose forward. I know Sav is making a stab at the role. But he's too young to have picked up the skills which a wily old 28-year old veteran at loose possesses.

Re: "Walsh Watch" : Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:44 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

The left edge is no less manageable than it was last season. If the forwards cut down the space aggressively and in unison it's very difficult for opponents to work a man advantage without taking a risk. They didn't do it tonight. They didn't do it last week. We know they CAN do it because they were very successful in making life hell for opposition forwards at the start of the season.

Let's see if the pack gains a second wind down the stretch. There's a long, long way to go. And plenty of time for other sides to suffer some of the injury nightmares we have.

When you say the forwards cut down the space are you referring back to the start of the season when we were playing well and winning? If you are, we were still missing a lot of tackles down that left side. The combinations in defence down that side really need work on so that they can improve.