gangrenous wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 6:40 pm
I think the only thing stopping us being premiership contenders at present is there are still a lot of dumb decisions.
Even if we eliminated all of that, we're still very limited in the red zone, we have Hodgson who's decision making can be shakey, and then 2 (3) halves and a fullback who arent creative or skilled ball players... The ceiling is basically this unless Sezer/Williams picks it up in a serious way, or Wighton/CNK takes a huge ball playing leap
Our short kicking game is also very inconsistent.
'give the ball to BJ or Toots' works OK in the red zone.
Yeah I’m actually fine with this approach. I think as long as the Raiders hold their heads, they’ll have the chances and I’ll back they’ll find a way.
Last year we probably lose this game, but Charnze being tough as hell, Bateman and Sutton not giving an inch and their will to win is giving the boys an extra leg, I hope we can get it over manly, because the boys looked flat after half time and may be fatigue from playing high energy footy ?
Sid wrote:Nothing I’ve seen this round has convinced me that Raiders or Rabbitohs are as good as storm or roosters despite all 4 being on equal wins and rabbits beating roosters back in round 1. Still though right now I’ll bloody well take being best of the rest
We haven't clicked yet is the good thing, wighton has to get the errors out of his game and we can change gears. I'm happy so far, plenty of improvement left in this team.
I’m on board with Pizza Cat. Reckon it might stick
Yeah hard to say why it suits, but I like it
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The spiral of silence refers to the idea that when people fail to speak, the price of speaking rises. As the price to speak rises, still fewer speak out, which further causes the price to rise, so that fewer people yet will speak out, until a whole culture or nation is silenced. This is what happened in Germany.
If you do not speak, you are not being neutral, but are contributing to the success of the thing you refuse to name and condemn.
With all this talk of fatigue building, is there any chance we might see the odd forward rested for a game here or there to freshen up? There are reasonable back up options with the horse, Guler, Collins and even the forgotten Bateman able to hold down a position if we need to rotate. Is that something that is ever done?
MATCH REPORT: Canberra Raiders within touching distance of top with win over Brisbane Broncos
Two points. That's all that separates the Canberra Raiders from the top of the NRL ladder. But for a late try to the Brisbane Broncos, they would've been there.
"That doesn't worry me [not being top]. Winning's the thing that worries me. When we have been winning recently we've been winning by big points, but we can't defend," Stuart said. "Now we're putting a lot of pride into our defence. That's the important part for me at the moment is the way they're defending and showing that resilient, comfortable style defence."
Canberra Raiders' Jack Wighton using his head as halves switch kicks into gear
His defence was the catalyst for the move, but Jack Wighton's multiple weapons are the reason he's excelling in it. Anyways, whatever's happened, here's the scene. Wighton attacks the line and looks to grubber in behind only for the ball to ricochet up onto his head for the perfect pass to Ryan Sutton to score his first NRL try.
CANBERRA RAIDERS 26 (Joey Leilua 2, Nick Cotric, John Bateman, Ryan Sutton tries; Jarrod Croker 3 goals) bt BRISBANE BRONCOS 22 (Kodi Nikorima, David Fifita, Corey Oates, Jack Bird tries; Jamayne Isaako 3 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referees: Matt Cecchin, Adam Cassidy. Crowd: 17,193.
-PJ- wrote:I keep looking at the NRL ladder and second guessing myself..
Then..
I'll go back and have another look..
I know what you mean, Peej. I've been guilty of the same thing. Plus, we had 17k in Canberra
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The spiral of silence refers to the idea that when people fail to speak, the price of speaking rises. As the price to speak rises, still fewer speak out, which further causes the price to rise, so that fewer people yet will speak out, until a whole culture or nation is silenced. This is what happened in Germany.
If you do not speak, you are not being neutral, but are contributing to the success of the thing you refuse to name and condemn.
gangrenous wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 6:40 pm
I think the only thing stopping us being premiership contenders at present is there are still a lot of dumb decisions.
Even if we eliminated all of that, we're still very limited in the red zone, we have Hodgson who's decision making can be shakey, and then 2 (3) halves and a fullback who arent creative or skilled ball players... The ceiling is basically this unless Sezer/Williams picks it up in a serious way, or Wighton/CNK takes a huge ball playing leap
Our short kicking game is also very inconsistent.
the ceiling is 5-1 and a win on our (physically) off week? I can handle that. That was the loss we had to have, but we won.
imo the criticism of our halves is mostly unwarranted. They are getting the ball where it is needed well enough... We got around their up and in defence a few times to make big yardage (before Joey's try a standout). And we scored 26 points.
The ceiling I speak of is clearly being a step below the only two teams that matter this year
The storm and roosters
This sort of football will take us a looooooong way, but we do need some creativity in our ball playing to go all the way imo
I disagree admirably, with our back five, we need our halves to be serviceable, and not a weak link, with Jack and Sams improved defence, I think that's all we need, we have a great forward pack of rep players. Our window is open, it's up to the guys and some luck to make it to the big dance... imo.
What’s the go with Croker’s goal kicking? He cost us top spot today which is neither here nor there but he needs to start slotting a few or he will cost us games. Is it off the back of his knee injury or has he just got the yips or what?
Billy Walker wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 8:51 pm
What’s the go with Croker’s goal kicking? He cost us top spot today which is neither here nor there but he needs to start slotting a few or he will cost us games. Is it off the back of his knee injury or has he just got the yips or what?
He was a bit down last year too, I think
The spiral of silence refers to the idea that when people fail to speak, the price of speaking rises. As the price to speak rises, still fewer speak out, which further causes the price to rise, so that fewer people yet will speak out, until a whole culture or nation is silenced. This is what happened in Germany.
If you do not speak, you are not being neutral, but are contributing to the success of the thing you refuse to name and condemn.
gangrenous wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 6:40 pm
I think the only thing stopping us being premiership contenders at present is there are still a lot of dumb decisions.
Even if we eliminated all of that, we're still very limited in the red zone, we have Hodgson who's decision making can be shakey, and then 2 (3) halves and a fullback who arent creative or skilled ball players... The ceiling is basically this unless Sezer/Williams picks it up in a serious way, or Wighton/CNK takes a huge ball playing leap
Our short kicking game is also very inconsistent.
the ceiling is 5-1 and a win on our (physically) off week? I can handle that. That was the loss we had to have, but we won.
imo the criticism of our halves is mostly unwarranted. They are getting the ball where it is needed well enough... We got around their up and in defence a few times to make big yardage (before Joey's try a standout). And we scored 26 points.
The ceiling I speak of is clearly being a step below the only two teams that matter this year
The storm and roosters
This sort of football will take us a looooooong way, but we do need some creativity in our ball playing to go all the way imo
I disagree admirably, with our back five, we need our halves to be serviceable, and not a weak link, with Jack and Sams improved defence, I think that's all we need, we have a great forward pack of rep players. Our window is open, it's up to the guys and some luck to make it to the big dance... imo.
Billy Walker wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 8:51 pm
What’s the go with Croker’s goal kicking? He cost us top spot today which is neither here nor there but he needs to start slotting a few or he will cost us games. Is it off the back of his knee injury or has he just got the yips or what?
He was a bit down last year too, I think
Still 81% career percentage ? I'll back him every day, I'd say around 70% this season at a guess ? Not bad even though a little off at the moment
Mission accomplished = 2 competition points. The Raiders are now on 10 competition points after 6 rounds. It took us until Rd 12 to get to 10 competition points last year. That is a clear improvement. Having said that, out defensive organisation in this game was woeful. So many times our players were mostly on one side of the park. This left the wide spread to the opposite flank an easy way to put points on us. 22 points scored against us is not a good result.
We don't deserve to be No.1 based on that defensive disorganisation. Although I have to say I noted that the Roosters were similarly disorganised against the Storm. They had up to 10 players within 25 meters of the sideline many times against the Storm and the Storm chose not to kick to the open spaces which I think would have resulted in 6 Storm players against 3 Chooks a number of times during that match.
The good news for the Raiders is that we have so much improvement in us. The 17 that played today had JB, CNK, Ryan Sutton, Hudson Young and JJ Collins as new comers over the 2018 side. Throw in positional changes and it is clear that this side is very much in transition. We still have too many bone head decisions being made, but so far it is not costing us competition points. Sea Eagles at Lottoland next Sunday. If we can hold our defensive structure together more often I think we are going to give this match a red hot shake.
Billy Walker wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 8:51 pm
What’s the go with Croker’s goal kicking? He cost us top spot today which is neither here nor there but he needs to start slotting a few or he will cost us games. Is it off the back of his knee injury or has he just got the yips or what?
He was a bit down last year too, I think
Still 81% career percentage ? I'll back him every day, I'd say around 70% this season at a guess ? Not bad even though a little off at the moment
I'd really like to see Williams and Wighton play first and second receiver, rather than left and right.
It plays to Williams' strengths as he can call more of the play and Wighton can attack the line wider out on both sides. It's bad enough for defences holding back thinking he might pass to Croker, but BJ running off him is frightening. It also gives Wighton a bit more space - his errors seem to come when he's hemmed in.
Also, it would allow Bateman to run back across the play rather than having to link to his centre - his lateral passing is the weakest part of his game.
It was great to get a win against the Broncos in front of a big home crowd. Although we only got away with it by 4 points in the end, I think we had them under control pretty much the entire match, even when we were down by two points for that very brief period. Great effort, particularly against a desperate Broncos side who I thought had their best game so far this season. Those are the positives I take from the match.
We definitely need to fix up those massive overlaps before Manly next week. I think our defensive structure was exposed tonight and hopefully it was just a communication thing that can be fixed. Also, Williams needs to stay away from the long kicking. I know is Wighton can be very hot and cold but he needs to do the majority of the long kicking imo... Williams just isn't finding space or getting enough ground.
All in all, there's still a decent gap between us and Storm/Roosters despite how close the ladder is currently. Plenty of time still in the season for improvement though.
Billy Walker wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 8:51 pm
What’s the go with Croker’s goal kicking? He cost us top spot today which is neither here nor there but he needs to start slotting a few or he will cost us games. Is it off the back of his knee injury or has he just got the yips or what?
He was a bit down last year too, I think
Still 81% career percentage ? I'll back him every day, I'd say around 70% this season at a guess ? Not bad even though a little off at the moment
Billy Walker wrote: ↑April 21, 2019, 8:51 pm
What’s the go with Croker’s goal kicking? He cost us top spot today which is neither here nor there but he needs to start slotting a few or he will cost us games. Is it off the back of his knee injury or has he just got the yips or what?
I’m sure he’s got a coach/expert working with him, but he’s a bit off plane/out of shape at the moment, compared to his usual standards. For the golfers out there, he’s pulling them instead of hitting draws - big difference
He’s not quite timing them either, maybe he’s trying too hard? He likely needs to just take some pressure off himself and he will come good.
I have always thought Sezer is a better kicker (only slightly), but JC is very good. I’m sure he will work it out.