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Message: [QUOTE="Nerd, post: 3446749, member: 11778"] I hope the team including the coaches watched the Cows v Sharks game last night. Just about everything the Cows do is better than us. Lets start with defence. Our want to be million dollar prop tackles by wrapping his arms around the attacker then after a few steps backwards lowers them to the ground. That's how you tackle your children when mucking around in the backyard. The good teams put their bodies on the line for a collision first either high or low in the tackle then force the attacker either on their back or facing the wrong way. This dominance in a tackle is rewarded by a slow play the ball and takes away the attackers thoughts about off loading as they are more worried about self preservation and not losing the ball. Flegler, Patty and especially Kobe are the exceptions but all the forward pack are guilty of this passive defence at certain stages. Our defence was so soft against the Eels both Moses and Brown were taking the ball into our line and looking to offload like front rowers. I'm an ex prop and maybe a bit old school but rarely did you get your hands on a halfback during a game but if they did have the temerity to take it into the line you "roughed" them up so badly that the thought of doing that again quickly left their mind. A good example is how Arey has been bashed lately when he gets caught with the ball. The other defensive stand out is our passive line speed. As I've said before the defending team constantly leaving right on or slightly early normalises this action with the ref. Then when we occasionally do have this type of line speed the ref sees this as not normal and pings us for leaving early/not coming back the 10 etc. Last night was a great example. Sometimes the ball runner was barely making it past the advantage line before hitting a wall of defenders. There is no way all those defenders can be there without leaving early but because they have been doing it all game they get away with it more than not. Defence is 80% attitude then technique. At the moment we have neither and our defensive coach needs to be shown the door. Our attack is often one dimensional with a single forward taking the ball up and being belted by the defence. All teams are guilty of this during a game but that at the moment is our game. It doesn't threaten the defence and is easily contained. The Cows on the other hand sometimes run a decoy on the first and or second tackle with a long pass to the runner which forces the whole defensive line to come up and also stops them gang tackling the attacker. Having more than one player in motion in attack gives the attacking team options and moves around the defence. The other one that the Cows do exceptionally well is that an attacker and not always a forward will start his run more than 10 m directly behind the play the ball and will take the ball at full speed close to the dummy half and will travel 8-10 m before hitting the defensive line. The Cows used it more than once to get out of trouble and it puts the defence on the back foot straight away as the whole line then struggles to get back the 10 m. I understand this requires a competent dummy half who can pass long from the ground and is something possibly Paix can do. Paix either needs to become an 80 minute player or we desperately need another hooker. If we can't unearth anyone else maybe Walters can fill this role but he needs to see at the most 10 minutes either side of half time and that's it. Billy Walters is a 14 at best but more likely injury cover that should spend most of his season in Q Cup as emergency injury cover only. Contrast the Cows attack with ours and it's not a pretty sight. Haas was obviously the biggest player on the field as a junior and coming through the grades and running between defenders and carrying them upfield would have made him a stand out. The problem for Haas is that in the NRL not only is there guys as big as him but also they quickly work you out. All the teams have worked out that the first tackler can't go in high on Haas as he will take the hit and carry them forward but the first tackler going in low stops his momentum and then they just finish him off over the top. Combine this with Haas having the slowest play the ball in the comp and his runs have now become a small rest for defending teams. I know I'm singling out Haas a lot here but any forward that thinks he is worth a million a year needs to put a Taumalolo type performance in nearly every game. I know that running in between defenders is the way to run and which applies to all players except in my opinion to front rowers. Props are there to intimidate the opposition and sometimes need to go through not past defenders. When smaller defenders like hookers attempt to go low on Haas he needs to just head straight over the top of them. Having a 120 kg behemoth rumbling over the top of you a couple of times a half soon takes the effectiveness out of this defender. Maybe Haas can be coached to hit in defence and run over and through players in attack but he shows a serious lack of aggression on the field and I believe this may be like speed which is something that can't be taught to a player. You either have it or you don't. The next part of this rant is on the coach. Earlier in the year both the Cows and the Roosters were getting the pointy end of 50/50 calls from the refs and both Payten and Robinson made their displeasure known with the media both after games and for the following weeks. Compare how they are now treated with 50/50 calls to the sharp end of a pineapple we regularly get from refs during a game. Walters needs to stop being Mr Nice Guy and stand up for the players when we receive dud calls. The NRL may do nothing but the refs read the papers like the rest of us and planting the seed that refs aren't giving us a fair go could be the turning point in a game. Walters is ex media so surely has mates that he could drop some whispers/scoops to who would do this work for him. The other one is Flegler being singled out by refs. Hargreaves and big Nelson regularly get away with shit that would have Flegler sent from the field and suspended for weeks. Early on I'll admit Flegler was a penalty magnet but he has adjusted his tackling style to hit lower and now it's just wrong that he keeps getting penalised then put on report for tackles that aren't charged or even deemed a fine by the judiciary. Does anyone think Bennett would cop this treatment? He would drop a few one liners to the media and all of a sudden it would be the talking point of NRL shows, Bennett would take all the heat and the refs would feel obliged to back off targeting Flegler. I don't expect an inexperienced coach like Walters to be able to pull off this sort of stunt that an old master like Bennett can but he needs to step up and stand up for his players. The Sydney based media are going to bag Walters and the Broncos as whingers no matter what he says but behind the scenes Walters could play this up as a classic us and against them mindset with the players just like what is done with QLD Origin teams. Anyway my wishes for next season is that Haas can be moved on, Walters stands up to the NRL for the club and his players and that we can find a decent 9 in the off season. [/QUOTE]

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