: Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:11 pm  

redeverready wrote:

Earlier in the season when you asked Hood about our form he was always very protective of Macca. In the last few weeks that hasn't been the case he's been very non- committal when questioned. The other people who have been their talking to him have also picked up on that it looks like his faith in him is wavering more and more each week.

As always fella, appreciated.

Many thanks.

: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:40 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

...
Performances like the one versus Cas simply infuriate everyone and overshadow all the fine words and efforts behind the scenes with the academy. More often than not the first team have shown that performances like the one versus Cas are in the main what we can expect this year. While that remains the same and the protagonists are kept at the club all we can expect is further decline.

I'd agree with that, with the following refinement; for 75% of the game we played passably well - if lacking in defence - and put together some great effort, some vaery entertaining rugby, and some fine tries. For a lot of the game it did have a feelgood factor.

The first half contrasted with the second underlines the point that I am going to make.

We started like sh#t, but despite this we came strong up to half time and we all felt good at the half time break, and had that been the end of the game, all the fans would have gone home encouraged, and been inclined to return next time.

But then came our signature defensive collapso-period. It cost us the game, and all the fans were taken from feeling good to sick to the pit of their stomach at us apparently throwing yet another won game away.

And despite us again playing passably well for the remainder of the game, coming back to challenge etc., the damage was almost complete, and the kick to fail to salvage even a draw was as predictably as the effect of sticking a pin in a balloon.

Despite everything that has gone on this season, it wouldn't be hard for the team to send the home fans away happ. We seem to be a forgiving and long-suffering bunch, if declining in numbers. And my point essentially is that you say the performance was infuriating, but it wasn't. At least the majority of it would equal reasonable happiness.

The stick we repeatedly beat ourselves up with is that the decent performance for the majority of the match is wiped out, indeed destroyed as if it never happened, in people's perceptions and memories of the game by the abject spell of rubbish defence and lack of application. Which undoes -and more- all the efforts for the majority of the match. And so the fact that for a lot of the game we played well, and the fans enjoyed it, becomes sunk without trace.

: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:02 pm  

FA's post is a handy reminder of why this forum is any cop - it and posts lke it are head and shoulders above any analysis you'll read in the T&A or anywhere else for that matter.

Let me throw in a heretical thought - can you coach concentration? Is it possible that when we are good is when we are following our coaching while when we are godawful it is because the instruction has been temporarily forgotten?

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:54 am  

af wrote:

FA's post is a handy reminder of why this forum is any cop - it and posts lke it are head and shoulders above any analysis you'll read in the T&A or anywhere else for that matter.

Let me throw in a heretical thought - can you coach concentration? Is it possible that when we are good is when we are following our coaching while when we are godawful it is because the instruction has been temporarily forgotten?

What by the entire team? At the same time? In every game? Its seems a touch unlikely!

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:03 am  

debaser wrote:

What by the entire team? At the same time? In every game? Its seems a touch unlikely!

When the pressure is applied, some clearly crumble far too often. Everybody does some times. I remember being shocked by a shocking attempted tackle by JP when we got dusted 66-4 by Saints. But some of our players do it too often. Some. Not all. Not so many that we're dead last but too many for us to be in a play-off berth.

This brings up another point - at the Fans Forum, were any questions asked as to why our form was so plain weird? The incredible collapses, the passable on the road, hopeless at home. I still suspect that this is not so much a poor-to-medicore team as a schizophrenic one, though I fully accept that the limited gametime I've seen puts me in a not-so-great position to judge.

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:25 am  

af wrote:

FA's post is a handy reminder of why this forum is any cop - it and posts lke it are head and shoulders above any analysis you'll read in the T&A or anywhere else for that matter.

Let me throw in a heretical thought - can you coach concentration? Is it possible that when we are good is when we are following our coaching while when we are godawful it is because the instruction has been temporarily forgotten?

Concentration can be coached to a certain extent, just as players can be made faster or stronger, but "natural ability" is also important.

I just think certain players are naturally more consistent than others and that we have more than our fair share of the inconsistent ones. I think this is because MacNamara is drawn to players that have underperformed in the past. He thinks he can turn them into into better, more consistent players.

When we've signed players such as Solomona, Platt, Sherrife, Jeffries, Sykes, Godwin, Tupou the message from the fans of their former clubs has always been "they're talented but inconsistent". MacNamara thinks he can overcome this, he might with one or two but most will remain agonisingly inconsistent.

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:34 am  

af wrote:

FA's post is a handy reminder of why this forum is any cop - it and posts lke it are head and shoulders above any analysis you'll read in the T&A or anywhere else for that matter.

Nail on head. af for Dave Cravens job

[Bulliac]

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:44 am  

af wrote:

FA's post is a handy reminder of why this forum is any cop - it and posts lke it are head and shoulders above any analysis you'll read in the T&A or anywhere else for that matter.

Let me throw in a heretical thought - can you coach concentration? Is it possible that when we are good is when we are following our coaching while when we are godawful it is because the instruction has been temporarily forgotten?

What actually makes the lapses worse is the fact that in some games, against the best attacking teams in SL, we`ve defended superbly for virtually the whole match, and to be fair no team is going to stop sides like Saints and Leeds from scoring at some point in the game. The defensive patterns are clearly in place, which makes the shambles of last Sunday (and too many other Sundays) so much harder to understand.

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:30 am  

Bulliac wrote:

What actually makes the lapses worse is the fact that in some games, against the best attacking teams in SL, we`ve defended superbly for virtually the whole match, and to be fair no team is going to stop sides like Saints and Leeds from scoring at some point in the game. The defensive patterns are clearly in place, which makes the shambles of last Sunday (and too many other Sundays) so much harder to understand.

It looks to me that when we have 2 or 3 player off their game defensively and others have to scramble to cover it exposes a real lack of quality, whereas when everyone is playing close to their potential it's good enough to get by.

If the defensive pattern is right but being let down by poor execution I'd expect to this improving over the season and having less collapses, as full time professional players are going to improve even it it takes them a long time. Can anyone point to us getting better or is the set up just wrong?

: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:38 am  

Its getting worse because the players dont have faith in the guys stood either side of them. Good defense is often about collective self confidense.