Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Jan 28, 2018 12:22 am  

Just watched it on Youtube. Bulls put up a good defensive show against far superior oppos (no slight intended). With spirited, 80 mins performances like that, you won't concede many points in C1 this coming season. Attack-wise, even as it stands, you should also put a few on the board at that level. Let's see what Kear instils over the next fortnight on the latter front. Kicking was awful but the kickers were given little by fitter, full time opponents.

With or without restructuring, Bongser predicts that you'll be further up the ladder in 2019. Mind you, he hardly shone in PW's prediction league last year!!

[Bulliac]

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:45 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Unbelievable crowd for a pre-season friendly on a cold night with zero away support.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the relatively low scoreline. My only beef was our very poor and disorganised attack. When we did have possession in their half, too often the line was static and flat, and over and over again players were getting the ball stood still, and getting tackled before they had moved. As a result, we kept spilling the ball and losing yards.

Last plays were also very ropey, the best we had were crossfield kicks to the winger, but that just got the ball caught and then instant tackle. No kicks behind the line, no planned plays from kicks.

We were very considerably outmuscled, so it is great credit that they stuck at it and in fact in the last quarter forced a few dropouts.

I don't think halfbacks would have made much difference as we were defending most of the game.

All in all a goof hitout. We won't be meeting many Torontos in this league, and as that's the best team we'll see this year by a long chalk, I think it shows we are moving in the right direction, and we have got a very har working squad.

Lol, I did spot a Maple Leaf flag on the terrace but I don't think many were hiding behind it!

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:09 am  

Bent&Bongser wrote:

Just watched it on Youtube. Bulls put up a good defensive show against far superior oppos (no slight intended). With spirited, 80 mins performances like that, you won't concede many points in C1 this coming season. Attack-wise, even as it stands, you should also put a few on the board at that level. Let's see what Kear instils over the next fortnight on the latter front. Kicking was awful but the kickers were given little by fitter, full time opponents.

With or without restructuring, Bongser predicts that you'll be further up the ladder in 2019. Mind you, he hardly shone in PW's prediction league last year!!

Attack-wise, a lot of our creativity will come through Chisholm & Keyes.

The defensive structures look fine at this stage.

[Bulliac]

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:34 am  

Highlander wrote:

Attack-wise, a lot of our creativity will come through Chisholm & Keyes.

The defensive structures look fine at this stage.

Think that's true. We had quite a while near their line, even getting around three drop-outs so, had Chissy and Keyes been on the field we may well have fared a little better, maybe even got on the board.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Jan 28, 2018 1:12 pm  

Chisholm will make a massive difference to the team , especially when the grounds firm up, and he strips fitter, I’m pretty sure we will have a average of 40 points a game in this league

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Jan 28, 2018 3:40 pm  

tackler thommo wrote:

In his latest interview Kear said poor attack is his fault as all coaching so far has been on defence. Attack coaching starts tomorrow. He was very open about it.

And I would agree wholeheartedly. The starting point IMHO in the rebuilding process of any new team is defence, defence and defence. If we can stop the opposition from scoring for 80 minutes then we won't go far wrong.

Last night's defence would have been more than adequate at our league level.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:59 pm  

The Leigh result, with their squad, really puts our result in to context.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Feb 04, 2018 6:08 pm  

I_Pitty_Stevo wrote:

The Leigh result, with their squad, really puts our result in to context.

That's what I thought when I saw the score. No disgrace at all

Were Leigh winning 12-0. At least we didn't let a lead slip ha

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Feb 04, 2018 6:50 pm  

I must admit that after seeing the number of penalties and errors they made against us, I thought Leigh would do them today.
However it was Leigh who were guilty of indiscipline, much like last year.

I like the look of that Paterika Vaivai bloke though. Can't see Leigh keeping hold of him for very long if they don't go straight back up this season, made decent yards with every carry and got plenty of offloads away as well.

Re: vs. Toronto Wolfpack (Pre Season) : Sun Feb 04, 2018 7:33 pm  

Nothus wrote:

I must admit that after seeing the number of penalties and errors they made against us, I thought Leigh would do them today.
However it was Leigh who were guilty of indiscipline, much like last year.

I like the look of that Paterika Vaivai bloke though. Can't see Leigh keeping hold of him for very long if they don't go straight back up this season, made decent yards with every carry and got plenty of offloads away as well.

Thought that Peter Mata'utia looked very good for Leigh too!