Force v Bulls Round 6

[GIGS20]

I'm not sure I'd be so harsh.

If you've seen the few runs ha has made, he's bloody good on his feet, and can pass magic balls at the line which are bloody hard to stop.

It's the infrequency with which he does it that's the problem, he needs to get the stupid kick first mentality out of his head. He's not alone in that. Kyle still dribbled through a couple of his useless panicky grubbers this week but the rest of his game made up for it and he's gotten away with it.

I don't want a bloke who can't kick in the 10, because sometimes we NEED to kick, I want a bloke who makes fantastic decisions about WHEN and IF to kick, when the kicks do occur, I want the ENTIRE team to be aware of it and organise an effective chase. I want the ball to hit grass and I want the opposition to be pressured into making mistakes.

That's what good kicking teams do, watch most of the Kiwi teams, even when they're putting it out, the kick is just another attacking weapon for them, if they do it well they can kick all night and still end up playing amazingly pretty rugby. That's what I want!

[valzc]

Anyone any ideas on why Badger was so quiet in the game or was it my imagination. I know he was chasing high balls and pretty good defence but seemed like noone wanted to pass him the ball. Adam had a great run on the wing at one stage of all places but didn't pass to Nick which could've been a good opportunity.

[Moono74]

The Badger may still be recovering from the minor ankle surgery he had prior to his return to the Force. Perhaps start him off the bench. As I have been saying give Mitch Scott a start on the wing!

[GIGS20]

I don't think it's that Moono, It's not like he was given the ball and did nothing with it, he wasn't given the ball.

It might be something to do with a centre pairing that's still in flux, maybe once everybody's comfortable and the teams humming we'll see more of him, Maybe missing the pre-season and playing in Japan sees him out of position more than we need.

I agree that we need more from our wingers, not sure what.
Perhaps the wingers need to look for more work?
Perhaps they should do more with the counter attack. If they're not in the general play, they should have the energy to get behind the footy and run it hard on the counter?
Maybe the inside backs don't trust them?

More questions than answers unfortunately.

[palitu]

The Badger may still be recovering from the minor ankle surgery he had prior to his return to the Force. Perhaps start him off the bench. As I have been saying give Mitch Scott a start on the wing!

I would have thought it is more along the lines that the centres weren't getting the ball out to him. He never seems to be a "back 3" in terms of receiving kicks, as he cannot kick, that naturally takes him out of the game a bit.

How do you inject him into the play more?

[MI5_Dog]

The Badger may still be recovering from the minor ankle surgery he had prior to his return to the Force. Perhaps start him off the bench. As I have been saying give Mitch Scott a start on the wing!

The leader of the Mitch Scott fan club strikes again.

[GIGS20]

The leader of the Mitch Scott fan club strikes again.

To be fair, if they play Scott and he gets the footy, he's better than Nick......I can't see the mere presence of Mitch Scott being commanding enough to change the problem.

There's also a bunch of capable outside backs to pick from, If Nick isn't the bloke we want, there are plenty of options (can the leader of the Brad Lacey fan club weigh in here?)

[agrugger]

What's the latest with Hodgson? I thought I had heard early on that he would be back for week 7.

Also, hadn't seen much commenting on Kane's play. I thought he did well for his first start.

[kipper_mckinnon]

Loved the performance but completely gutted by the result.
Thought I was brave putting $20 on at 6.75 for a force win.
You can imagine how much I was cursing at the tv when Holmes kicked the ball back to them with 2 minutes to go

[GIGS20]

Also, hadn't seen much commenting on Kane's play. I thought he did well for his first start.

TBH I didn't notice Kane all that much. That's both a good and a bad thing. It means he didn't do anything amazingly good which made me sit up and take notice, nor did he do anything so incredibly pratulous that I wanted to come on here and vent my spleen.

I guess in the wash up, given that plenty of 7s have gone to Loftus and stank (not just for the Force) I'd have to call it a good game for a first start!

[MI5_Dog]

Thought Kane was lucky not to get a couple of calls against him for entering from the side of the ruck.
When he did enter through the gate it was normally at full tilt with no regard to his own safety.
He seems to take the sort of run ups that Lillie took agains the Windies in the 70's (this analogy makes me officially old)
He played well but may need to temper his enthusiasm a little. That will come in time though.

What was great to see was the WA boys playing well together in the team and showing they are as good, if not better, than their 'cousins' from the east coast.

[Buddha Handy]

Good performance but only 1 point to take away is disappointing.

Positives

1) Burton and Godwin very good and hopefully will be our 10/12 combination in the future
2) Morahan actually looked dangerous and should play like this every week
3) There were more but can't think of them now

Negatives

1) Why have Burton kicking for goal over Sias? Especially in that atmosphere and pressure, a bit different to kicking at goal at McGillivray oval. Bad call
2) Cummins. Why bring him back if we are not going to get him involved. All he does is chase useless kicks. At a minimum just bring him in every now and then for a crash ball in the centres.
3) Discipline. Terrible, most penalties were justified.

[StimpsonJCat]

Last year proved that the Force can match it with most of the sides in the competition and were putting together some good 80 minute efforts and I think that's why some people are getting a bit peeved because we know they're capable of being a better side.

Force got lucky in 2014 bro.

[GIGS20]

Positives

3) There were more but can't think of them now

Negatives

1) Why have Burton kicking for goal over Sias? Especially in that atmosphere and pressure, a bit different to kicking at goal at McGillivray oval. Bad call
2) Cummins. Why bring him back if we are not going to get him involved. All he does is chase useless kicks. At a minimum just bring him in every now and then for a crash ball in the centres.
3) Discipline. Terrible, most penalties were justified.

Responses

Positives (3) Those were the positives that the forwards generated. There were so many your brain exploded. I'll help you out.
All forwards were passionate and hardworking, organised and (apart from the mauling debacle) well on task.
All forwards hit the ruck like a freight train, most of them achieving something upon arrival
In the main, the tackles were, if not dominant, at least parity
Set piece was about 1000% on the last couple of weeks

Negatives
(1) Burton has kicked beautifully when given the chance, I for one was relieved to see him step up to the tee (until he missed some massive sitters and then my confidence disappeared) he was the right choice at the time, it's only in hindsight that it looks like a bad decision. Possibly Sias might have taken over sooner, but it's not like he was potting them from 75 out is it?

(2) Yes, it is interesting how well he was kept out of the game. Was that poor structures by us or effective rush defense by the bulls. I would hope that he come in looking for the footy if he's starved like that!

(3) Yup, apart from the first scrum penalty, Greyling had a clear arm bind and pushed the shoulder down. The Ref seemed to open his eyes after that and called a pretty fair game.

[jargan83]

Force got lucky in 2014 bro.

You're a peanut.

Go make sure your Warriors jersey is clean.