2024 Season reviews

[gangrenous]

I did give thought to if there were breaches but didn’t remember that one! Thought that’d only change competition points so didn’t bother looking closer.

Well, have to try and find a real example

[Finchy]

I did give thought to if there were breaches but didn’t remember that one! Thought that’d only change competition points so didn’t bother looking closer.

Well, have to try and find a real example

For what it's worth, I'd skip over the Storm getting the wooden spoon in 2010 but only conceding 363 points to be the second best defensive team with a F/A of +126.

[The Nickman]

Good defence makes the Top 4, good attack wins you the comp… you need both, gents

[Regs Revolution]

Good defence makes the Top 4, good attack wins you the comp… you need both, gents

He’s right, you know…

[Azza]

Good defence makes the Top 4, good attack wins you the comp… you need both, gents

If only we could have combined our 2016 attack with our 2019 defence.

[RedRaider]

Precisely that in vlandysball you can have lengthy sections of momentum, making sure that you maintain field position and attacking position and converting those opportunities goes a long way towards locking a game up and tiring the opposition.

Only playing a low points game is going to get you picked off plenty of times when the refs give the momentum to the side who is down for the come from behind win.

I just picked a random year and found a counter-factual to Red’s claim immediately. In 2016 Parra only had 324 points scored against. Second in defence for the year. Conceding over 100 fewer points than most of the top 8. They came third last.

The problem with using Google is that you have to check the facts against what is shown.
In 2016 Parramatta had 12 competition points deducted for exceeding the salary cap and also had all points up to and including Round 9 not included in their stats. When the additional 119 points 'against' are added to show the full 2016 season then Parramatta had 443 points scored against. It still had them as the 5th best defensive side and with their full attack actually would have showed a positive For/Against.
The fact remains though, if a side is the 2nd or 3rd highest point scorer (ie Raiders in 2015, 2017, 2018) there is no guarantee you will make the 8. If you are a top 2 or 3 defensive side, then those sides, so far, have always made the 8.

https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seas ... mmary.html

[Finchy]

Good defence makes the Top 4, good attack wins you the comp… you need both, gents

He’s right, you know…

About the good defence and good attack?

[RedRaider]

Good defence makes the Top 4, good attack wins you the comp… you need both, gents

He’s right, you know…

About the good defence and good attack?

If you don't make the Top 4 then it is tough to win the comp. To get into the 8, let alone the 4, the side needs to be stronger in defence. To give ourselves an opportunity to win a comp we need to be stronger defensively. The less the opposition scores the greater the opportunity of winning. Most NRL coaches know it and preach it. They say it because it's true.

[The Nickman]

Good defence makes the Top 4, good attack wins you the comp… you need both, gents

He’s right, you know…

About the good defence and good attack?

If you don't make the Top 4 then it is tough to win the comp. To get into the 8, let alone the 4, the side needs to be stronger in defence. To give ourselves an opportunity to win a comp we need to be stronger defensively. The less the opposition scores the greater the opportunity of winning. Most NRL coaches know it and preach it. They say it because it's true.

About every… wot

[benda]

Of course premiership contenders need to excel in both aspects of the game, nobody is suggesting otherwise.

However in every team sport I've ever followed, a cohesive attack is built on the foundation of a solid defence. If players don't buy into the vision and are willing to put in the hard work for their teammates during the preseason you've lost the season before it has begun - an aspect seemingly lost to most people in the Cory Horsburgh story.

The next biggest challenge for a head coach, facilitating the rapport and chemistry.

You can have the greatest attacking structures and biggest playbook in the world, but it's all for nought if you have no resilience and can't stop the opposition.

There is no objective answer to this question, but I'd hazard a guess that perennially successful teams like the Storm will always continue to focus on fitness, resilience and defence in their offseason programs, and build on that.

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Can say exactly the inverse and it would be just as true. It you don't score points, you lose morale and your defence suffers. Not a big stretch to think that's what's happened to us this year too

If we want a clue into how Storm players think, listen to how intricate Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater are about their old attacking moves and combinations. Whole sets were planned a certain way, with certain targets in mind. Nothing was left unturned. Cronk said recently the Raiders need to find another way to win other than just grind, and to add some attacking dimensions

Totally agree. Most top sides take advantage of the possession that we simply do not know how to convert into points.

Instead of taking the conversation and jogging back for kick off, these missed opportunities mean we need to defend and get into an arm wrestle.

Hence morale and attitude drop and then our line breaks open to concede points. Over and over again.

[Seiffert82]

If you're into stats then check out rugbyleagueeyetest.com

The analysis he produces confirms what I see on the field. Our general field play is middle of the pack. We usually generate good field position (especially on the back of Fogarty's kicking game).

However, our red zone attack is statistically way less efficient than it should be. Everyone can see it and it's supported by the stats on whether the field position is converting to points. Having a better decision maker at 9 and a fullback who is more adept in a ball playing role will help. Walker sounds like he could tick that box, as does Weekes and Stewart. We now have a little bit of speed in Savage and Weekes, which has been missing, Tamale may also help in this regard if he replaces Rapana.

However, we need to do a lot more work in defence. Compared to most teams, we don't maintain the field position we should be, and our goal like defence can be fragile. Some of that is due to poor line speed, some is discipline and much of it is individuals simply missing too many tackles.

I'm not here to die on some philosophical hill. Both aspects of our game need to improve. I firmly believe the young players coming in plus some time to build combos should help our attack. It's gonna take a fair bit of hard work to improve our defence, and it's in that aspect of the game you can reinforce the club's culture.

I'll wrap up by saying it's always nice to hear coaches like Marshall and Walters talk about focussing on their attack over the offseason. May as well put a line through those teams.

Will see what happens.

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[Canberra Milk]

I'll die on this hill if you don't!

I'd even go further and suggest that a lot of the benefits of good defence are actually just the mental/attitude markers: concentration, communication, fitness, 1%ers, teamwork, etc etc. It's those that probably propel the good defensive teams forward, rather than the defence itself. And the positive effects of those those will often spill over to attack anyway. Unless you've got an overly controlling / risk averse coach

A huge reason I wanted Savage fullback is because I thought we just didn't have enough attacking ammo in key positions. He was a genuine attacking weapon, so get him in a key position with his hands on the ball. If there's issues with his concentration/defence etc try to iron them out. That's still true now. It's a weak attacking spine. We have tactical kicking in Fog, ball running and defence in Strange/Weekes, and crickets from the #9s. One of the problems with moving him to wing, even if he's done well there, is we're trying to get blood out of a stone with our spine again

To finish on a positive, there's a bit to look forward to at least, with the young spine players we have coming through.

[The Nickman]

Good one, Echoes.

[greeneyed]

Top 50 NRL players for 2024

22. Joseph Tapine
Club: Canberra Raiders
Position: Prop
Rank change: ↑ from 25
BUZZ SAYS: The new captain of the Canberra. Made more tackles than any other starting prop this season. Started in all of the green machine’s 24 games this season.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... c89e39a731

[NoMan]

You can’t half tell Buzz didn’t watch Raiders games.

[Seiffert82]

You can’t half tell Buzz didn’t watch Raiders games.

C'mon now, that's a little bit unfair.

We played Cronulla twice this season...

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