: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:22 pm  

Code13 wrote:

Poor team selection, poor team management and poor team tactics are the reasons the World Cup was lost.

Not the grapple tackle.

not imo, poor performance was the one and only reason we performed so poorly,

We picked the best team available, had the best coach available, but simply played poorly and made mistakes professional players simply shouldnt have made

: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:34 pm  

Tony Smith had a great track record, but our disorganisation and general inability to defend has to be his fault

: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:58 pm  

'' think there's a happy medium to be found. They've gone too far with the wrestling style in the tackle and we've got to look to have more discipline and grind it out on occasions. Our problem was the refereeing to their style. Because we had to adapt on the run, every tackle you went in to you had to concentrate that much harder and apply new techniques. The focus was so much on that that it drained you. We had to change the way we defended and because it wasn't an instinctive thing, it was energy sapping. That's why people came up with the mistakes they did. ''

I think this paragraph is very interesting from waht jamie said. its nice too see someone providing an explanation and some analysis as to why players that we see perform so well all year suddenly become so error ridden. I also full agree with him about having a 12 week pre season to really get fit and practice skills. the sooner the clubs agree to get rid of four fixtures and the season is aligned with the nrl starting in march the better.

: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:46 pm  

The Australian influence is here people. More moaning off the pitch has seemed to occurred more by our players!

: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:12 pm  

NickNJ wrote:

Interesting he touches on the different styles of play offered within the NRL and SL, very true and no coincidence we failed with a team of leeds/Saints players who play with speed of the play the ball.

The main reason for our poor showing in the WC for me was the grapple, it slowed us down and we never had momentum. Now with the two ref system in the NRL I can see the grapple being eliminated from the game and speeding up the play the ball in the NRL...so for once, I can see the Aussies copying our game and not vice versa. Riddiculous how we don't play to the same rules!!

Christ someone with a sensible comment about our failing in the World Cup. I thought I was going insane as nobody else appeared to notice it.

rl : Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:57 pm  

All the Aussie games were ref'd by NRL refs bar the final which they lost! Even if they had all played under the same rule interpretations we had a poor squad selection. 22 going instead of 24.
Awful team selection. The attack didn't have a clue and the defence wasn't worthy of the description. Smith was not up to the job and out of his depth.
Add a divided squad and that was the recipe for disaster.
What we got was a disaster.
However it wasn't the disaster that it would have been if the WC had been played in this country.
I hope the report into England's World Cup isn't a whitewash.

: Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:13 pm  

NickNJ wrote:

The main reason for our poor showing in the WC for me was the grapple, it slowed us down and we never had momentum.-

All the ‘grapple’ did was highlight how ineffective we are at opening up defences. Personally I wouldn’t mind the play the balls slowing down, it would mean a team would have to work to break teams down. Leeds/Saints success is based largely on quick PTBs and broken field running, without that England looked lost.

Re: rl : Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:31 pm  

Father Ted wrote:

All the Aussie games were ref'd by NRL refs bar the final which they lost! Even if they had all played under the same rule interpretations we had a poor squad selection. 22 going instead of 24.
Awful team selection. The attack didn't have a clue and the defence wasn't worthy of the description. Smith was not up to the job and out of his depth.
Add a divided squad and that was the recipe for disaster.
What we got was a disaster.
However it wasn't the disaster that it would have been if the WC had been played in this country.
I hope the report into England's World Cup isn't a whitewash.

the first NZ - AUS game was reffed by Klein too, which they won comfortably.

: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:04 pm  

Im bored of this wrestling excuse. We played rubbish, we dropped the ball, we passed like idiots, we missed tackles. What because they wrestled on the ground a bit longer than in SL?!? Get over it. We were over confident and badly organised.

: Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:27 am  

Tre Cool wrote:

Im bored of this wrestling excuse. We played rubbish, we dropped the ball, we passed like idiots, we missed tackles. What because they wrestled on the ground a bit longer than in SL?!? Get over it. We were over confident and badly organised.

Spot on.