Re: Through green eyes 2019
Posted: August 12, 2019, 9:46 am
Through green eyes: As I saw it
"If we were playing a grand final tomorrow, I'd be confident. If we were playing in the grand final tomorrow, against whoever is perceived as being the best team, I reckon we could beat them. It didn't happen tonight but Melbourne are on top of the competition and we've got them next week."
Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart
Round 21 2019. Sydney Roosters 22 - Canberra Raiders 18. It was a battle for second in front of almost 20,000 people at Canberra Stadium - and the Raiders came off second best, just. The Roosters scored four tries to three, two of them from kicks and the other two set up by a player in extraordinary form, James Tedesco. Canberra's first two tries came from offloads, and the third from a great Hodgson kick in behind the Roosters' defensive line. That final try, to Elliott Whitehead, brought the Raiders withing striking distance - but too often, the Raiders looked panicked in the final stages, and the good attacking opportunities broke down in the end.
It felt disappointing, even though Raiders fans can console themselves with the fact that they pushed the Roosters right until the death - and were always in the contest. Ricky Stuart kept any disappointment well contained, and gave his team an upbeat message about his belief in their prospects in the post match press conference. It was an interesting contest between the two coaches - and some of it was revealed in their public comments.
Roosters' mentor Trent Robinson said this, the day before the game about the Raiders: "They've been playing some good footy but we sort of know what they do – they're quite conservative. We know how we want to defend that and how we want to go after them there. Then we also know our style of play and what we want to stick to."
He was almost daring the Raiders to stray from their game plan of win the middle and kick to the corners - and the Raiders were probably too often guilty of that. The Raiders too often played laterally, trying to find a way around the Roosters' defence, but couldn't really do it. The Raiders' kicks far too often found Tedesco.
Robinson's press conference after the game also gave us some coded insights into his team's tactics for the match.
"It was a bit of a stop-start game, I think that's the way they like to play that. It wasn't a rhythm sort of a game and I guess I was really pleased about [it]. If you want to go toe to toe, we'll play that longer style game, and kick returns and all of that. And if you want to play stop-start, we'll get down and dirty and play that as well. I think there was a good combination of those two today, which made it that style of a game."
The Roosters' tactics were to slow the Raiders' in the ruck, and they were successful. Their tactics were to stand offside, particularly in the red zone. The referees did little to police it, but that's something the Raiders can't control. The kick in behind the offside Roosters' line from Hodgson for the Whitehead try is one way to overcome those sorts of tactics.
After the game, Trent Robinson vented about one of the Raiders quite legal tactics - the one on one steal.
"What is it, has that added to the spectacle of our game?," Robinson said. "It's extra weight the refs are constantly looking at the ball and who's stripping. So, it ends up being a strip, slow play-the-ball, people in the ruck, honestly has that added value to the game?"
This is something that the Raiders have exploited better than any other team this year. As revealed in the NRL Fans' Poll, the rugby league public like the rule. I can see why Trent Robinson doesn't like it. It changes momentum, it adds to unpredictability. And coaches like Robinson don't like unpredictability. But the fans quite rightly do. It certainly adds to the spectacle.
Ricky Stuart was asked about the one on one steal, post match. He used the opportunity to point to another tactic from the Roosters - which was to repeatedly slow the momentum when the Raiders had the ball in hand - by calling for injury stoppages. Somehow, the injuries only became fully apparent when possession had changed hands.
This is what Stuart said: “There are a number of rules in the game at the moment that is putting far too much pressure on the referees, and that is one of them because, a lot of the time, they have to guess.
"There are so many more rules in the game," he continued. "We’re creating and putting too much pressure on the blokes in the middle. I feel sorry for them. We need to make it a little bit easier for them and not make it harder. We want to fasten the game up and get more football. The amount of stoppages in 80 minutes of football today is far greater than what it has been over the last couple of years."
As I walked out of the ground, I was annoyed by the Roosters' tactics and the refereeing, I admit. The refereeing gifted momentum to one side, then another. As one wise person said after the game, the referees intervened too much... and too little.
On this cold Canberra morning, in the light of a new day, I have to give credit to the Roosters' performance. They have some great players, some cool headed players with big game experience. They have a coach who drills them hard and looks for every possible advantage. Some of it is deliberate cheating, but a lot of what they do is very professional. The Raiders are going to have to be better - perhaps just a bit better - if they're to beat outfits like the Roosters.
Stats that mattered?
The Raiders ended the match with a 58 per cent share of possession and had the ball in hand for almost nine minutes more than the Roosters. Canberra had the better of possession and territory in both halves - but the territorial advantage in the first half was more pronounced (almost 65 per cent). The completion rates weren't great from either team, but the Raiders had a slight advantage (73-72 per cent completion rate).
With all that possession, the Raiders made more runs (195-159), running metres gained (1687-1577), post contact metres (500-410) and kick return metres (254-112) than the Roosters. Canberra produced 46 tackle breaks (Roosters 30), 20 dummies (Roosters eight) and 18 offloads (Roosters three). The Roosters came out in front in kick return metres (237-150) and line breaks (three to the Raiders' two).
The number of kicks were close to level (Raiders 19, Roosters 18), with the Raiders gaining slightly more kicking metres (479-447) than the Roosters. Both teams produced one forced line drop out. The Roosters bombed more (eight to three), while the Raiders grubbered more (seven to one). The Roosters defused 100 per cent of the Raiders' kicks, while the Raiders had a kick defusal rate of just 60 per cent. That difference proved costly.
The Roosters had to make more tackles (358-312) - and the Roosters missed more tackles (46-30) and made more ineffective tackles (30-11). Canberra had an effective tackle rate of over 88 per cent, compared with 83 per cent for the Roosters.
That set of statistics for the Raiders would see most teams end up winning. But the Roosters took their opportunities and won the small moments. The Raiders didn't. Ultimately, four tries to three was the only stat that mattered.
Memorable moments?
It was a great contest, one which had my heart often beating hard and fast in my throat. It's been a long time since a game has affected me like that. There was drama in the match no doubt. Perhaps I'm feeling deflated... but I'm struggling to find memorable moments this morning. Amongst the Raiders' tries, the first was the best, with John Bateman offloading in superb style to Jordan Rapana. In defence, the one moment that sticks in the mind came from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. With 30 minutes remaining, Angus Crichton made a huge break, before CNK cut him down. Not only that, Nicoll-Klokstad followed up by gathering up a loose Roosters' pass on the next play - extinguishing the danger. Sadly for Jarrod Croker, it wasn't to be a 250th game to remember, missing the victory and having to leave the field for an HIA with a few minutes left.
Best performers?
Josh Papalii. 17 runs for 173 metres, 43 kick return metres, 46 post contact metres, two tackle breaks, three offloads, 32 tackles, 100 per cent tackle efficiency.
John Bateman. 17 runs for 113 metres, 33 post contact metres, one line break assist, one try assist, two tackle breaks, one one-on-one steal, four offloads, 35 tackles, 87.5 per cent tackle efficiency.
Josh Hodgson. Nine runs for 34 metres, one line break assists, two try assists, one one-on-one steal, three offloads, 11 dummies (although that sometimes involved over-playing), 40 tackles, 85.1 per cent tackle efficiency, three kicks for 72 metres.
Nick Cotric produced eight tackles breaks, and Joe Tapine seven.
Top tacklers: Josh Hodgson 40, John Bateman 35, Josh Papalii 32.
Most metres gained: Jack Wighton 177, Josh Papalii 173, Sia Soliola 147.
My player ratings:
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 7
Bailey Simonsson 6
Jarrod Croker 7
Nick Cotric 7
Jordan Rapana 7
Jack Wighton 7
Aidan Sezer 5
Josh Papalii 8
Josh Hodgson 7
Sia Soliola 7
John Bateman 8
Elliott Whitehead 7
Joe Tapine 7
Siliva Havili 2*
Dunamis Lui 7
Corey Horsburgh 5
Ryan Sutton 6
*Limited minutes.
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"If we were playing a grand final tomorrow, I'd be confident. If we were playing in the grand final tomorrow, against whoever is perceived as being the best team, I reckon we could beat them. It didn't happen tonight but Melbourne are on top of the competition and we've got them next week."
Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart
Round 21 2019. Sydney Roosters 22 - Canberra Raiders 18. It was a battle for second in front of almost 20,000 people at Canberra Stadium - and the Raiders came off second best, just. The Roosters scored four tries to three, two of them from kicks and the other two set up by a player in extraordinary form, James Tedesco. Canberra's first two tries came from offloads, and the third from a great Hodgson kick in behind the Roosters' defensive line. That final try, to Elliott Whitehead, brought the Raiders withing striking distance - but too often, the Raiders looked panicked in the final stages, and the good attacking opportunities broke down in the end.
It felt disappointing, even though Raiders fans can console themselves with the fact that they pushed the Roosters right until the death - and were always in the contest. Ricky Stuart kept any disappointment well contained, and gave his team an upbeat message about his belief in their prospects in the post match press conference. It was an interesting contest between the two coaches - and some of it was revealed in their public comments.
Roosters' mentor Trent Robinson said this, the day before the game about the Raiders: "They've been playing some good footy but we sort of know what they do – they're quite conservative. We know how we want to defend that and how we want to go after them there. Then we also know our style of play and what we want to stick to."
He was almost daring the Raiders to stray from their game plan of win the middle and kick to the corners - and the Raiders were probably too often guilty of that. The Raiders too often played laterally, trying to find a way around the Roosters' defence, but couldn't really do it. The Raiders' kicks far too often found Tedesco.
Robinson's press conference after the game also gave us some coded insights into his team's tactics for the match.
"It was a bit of a stop-start game, I think that's the way they like to play that. It wasn't a rhythm sort of a game and I guess I was really pleased about [it]. If you want to go toe to toe, we'll play that longer style game, and kick returns and all of that. And if you want to play stop-start, we'll get down and dirty and play that as well. I think there was a good combination of those two today, which made it that style of a game."
The Roosters' tactics were to slow the Raiders' in the ruck, and they were successful. Their tactics were to stand offside, particularly in the red zone. The referees did little to police it, but that's something the Raiders can't control. The kick in behind the offside Roosters' line from Hodgson for the Whitehead try is one way to overcome those sorts of tactics.
After the game, Trent Robinson vented about one of the Raiders quite legal tactics - the one on one steal.
"What is it, has that added to the spectacle of our game?," Robinson said. "It's extra weight the refs are constantly looking at the ball and who's stripping. So, it ends up being a strip, slow play-the-ball, people in the ruck, honestly has that added value to the game?"
This is something that the Raiders have exploited better than any other team this year. As revealed in the NRL Fans' Poll, the rugby league public like the rule. I can see why Trent Robinson doesn't like it. It changes momentum, it adds to unpredictability. And coaches like Robinson don't like unpredictability. But the fans quite rightly do. It certainly adds to the spectacle.
Ricky Stuart was asked about the one on one steal, post match. He used the opportunity to point to another tactic from the Roosters - which was to repeatedly slow the momentum when the Raiders had the ball in hand - by calling for injury stoppages. Somehow, the injuries only became fully apparent when possession had changed hands.
This is what Stuart said: “There are a number of rules in the game at the moment that is putting far too much pressure on the referees, and that is one of them because, a lot of the time, they have to guess.
"There are so many more rules in the game," he continued. "We’re creating and putting too much pressure on the blokes in the middle. I feel sorry for them. We need to make it a little bit easier for them and not make it harder. We want to fasten the game up and get more football. The amount of stoppages in 80 minutes of football today is far greater than what it has been over the last couple of years."
As I walked out of the ground, I was annoyed by the Roosters' tactics and the refereeing, I admit. The refereeing gifted momentum to one side, then another. As one wise person said after the game, the referees intervened too much... and too little.
On this cold Canberra morning, in the light of a new day, I have to give credit to the Roosters' performance. They have some great players, some cool headed players with big game experience. They have a coach who drills them hard and looks for every possible advantage. Some of it is deliberate cheating, but a lot of what they do is very professional. The Raiders are going to have to be better - perhaps just a bit better - if they're to beat outfits like the Roosters.
Stats that mattered?
The Raiders ended the match with a 58 per cent share of possession and had the ball in hand for almost nine minutes more than the Roosters. Canberra had the better of possession and territory in both halves - but the territorial advantage in the first half was more pronounced (almost 65 per cent). The completion rates weren't great from either team, but the Raiders had a slight advantage (73-72 per cent completion rate).
With all that possession, the Raiders made more runs (195-159), running metres gained (1687-1577), post contact metres (500-410) and kick return metres (254-112) than the Roosters. Canberra produced 46 tackle breaks (Roosters 30), 20 dummies (Roosters eight) and 18 offloads (Roosters three). The Roosters came out in front in kick return metres (237-150) and line breaks (three to the Raiders' two).
The number of kicks were close to level (Raiders 19, Roosters 18), with the Raiders gaining slightly more kicking metres (479-447) than the Roosters. Both teams produced one forced line drop out. The Roosters bombed more (eight to three), while the Raiders grubbered more (seven to one). The Roosters defused 100 per cent of the Raiders' kicks, while the Raiders had a kick defusal rate of just 60 per cent. That difference proved costly.
The Roosters had to make more tackles (358-312) - and the Roosters missed more tackles (46-30) and made more ineffective tackles (30-11). Canberra had an effective tackle rate of over 88 per cent, compared with 83 per cent for the Roosters.
That set of statistics for the Raiders would see most teams end up winning. But the Roosters took their opportunities and won the small moments. The Raiders didn't. Ultimately, four tries to three was the only stat that mattered.
Memorable moments?
It was a great contest, one which had my heart often beating hard and fast in my throat. It's been a long time since a game has affected me like that. There was drama in the match no doubt. Perhaps I'm feeling deflated... but I'm struggling to find memorable moments this morning. Amongst the Raiders' tries, the first was the best, with John Bateman offloading in superb style to Jordan Rapana. In defence, the one moment that sticks in the mind came from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. With 30 minutes remaining, Angus Crichton made a huge break, before CNK cut him down. Not only that, Nicoll-Klokstad followed up by gathering up a loose Roosters' pass on the next play - extinguishing the danger. Sadly for Jarrod Croker, it wasn't to be a 250th game to remember, missing the victory and having to leave the field for an HIA with a few minutes left.
Best performers?
Josh Papalii. 17 runs for 173 metres, 43 kick return metres, 46 post contact metres, two tackle breaks, three offloads, 32 tackles, 100 per cent tackle efficiency.
John Bateman. 17 runs for 113 metres, 33 post contact metres, one line break assist, one try assist, two tackle breaks, one one-on-one steal, four offloads, 35 tackles, 87.5 per cent tackle efficiency.
Josh Hodgson. Nine runs for 34 metres, one line break assists, two try assists, one one-on-one steal, three offloads, 11 dummies (although that sometimes involved over-playing), 40 tackles, 85.1 per cent tackle efficiency, three kicks for 72 metres.
Nick Cotric produced eight tackles breaks, and Joe Tapine seven.
Top tacklers: Josh Hodgson 40, John Bateman 35, Josh Papalii 32.
Most metres gained: Jack Wighton 177, Josh Papalii 173, Sia Soliola 147.
My player ratings:
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 7
Bailey Simonsson 6
Jarrod Croker 7
Nick Cotric 7
Jordan Rapana 7
Jack Wighton 7
Aidan Sezer 5
Josh Papalii 8
Josh Hodgson 7
Sia Soliola 7
John Bateman 8
Elliott Whitehead 7
Joe Tapine 7
Siliva Havili 2*
Dunamis Lui 7
Corey Horsburgh 5
Ryan Sutton 6
*Limited minutes.
Do you agree or disagree with the ratings? Let us know!
Plus follow us on Facebook: The Greenhouse Forum and Instagram: @TheGHRaiders
If you can put some sentences together and you'd like to write a regular column for The Greenhouse, let us know! We are keen to have more contributing writers!