Force v Canes Rd 1

[James]

We are a team with a weakness in the tight 5, and unfortunately that's where injuries have come. 3 starters out injured. 3+ out who would've made the bench.

We looked promising when we found our rhythm. Unfortunately that didn't last when the line out died (no surprise with so many locks out) and scrum fell to shit. Again- no surprise. I think (hope) we'll perform well against the Aussie sides, Drua, MP and Highlanders.

[wholetruth]

I found this a bit strange from The Worst.

Western Force co-captain Nic White is adamant his side’s maligned opening round performance can be fixed quickly after their Super Rugby Pacific season began with a crushing defeat.

The definition I have of maligned is to say false and unpleasant things about someone, or to criticize someone unfairly.
Has there been any unfair criticism of the side?
Perhaps I'm just reading it wrong.
After all it is The Worst and they really don't know a great deal or care about the Force or rugby.
Maybe they should stick to promoting the comedy show that is WWE.

[GIGS20]

After this round were sitting last on the ladder.

I'm pretty sure there plenty of malignment going around due to that. Comparing our game to the rebels and even the Tahs, I think we're a good chance of climbing from here though.

[Garry Owen]

After this round were sitting last on the ladder.

I'm pretty sure there plenty of malignment going around due to that. Comparing our game to the rebels and even the Tahs, I think we're a good chance of climbing from here though.

Again it is just going to come down to depth, we do not have enough depth to cover the loss of 4 props, a hooker and our 2 best locks. We need much closer to our best 23 playing every game

[SNOB]

Again it is just going to come down to depth, we do not have enough depth to cover the loss of 4 props, a hooker and our 2 best locks. We need much closer to our best 23 playing every game

Is this a situation that we are allowed to hire in extras from wherever? I don’t know the criteria for that.

[andrewg]

We were simply outgunned by a bigger, better, more cohesive unit.
Isn't that sport?
What a great game to reinforce that the hard work doesn't stop in the pre-season.

A good lesson for those who believe that we should simply persist with the best of the "locally developed" players.
How do fans think the Swan Gold team would have gone against the Hurricanes?

We should listen to Simon Cron when he tells us that team building is an ongoing, continuous process.
I'm sure that we're alrady recruiting for 2025.

I don't just want us to buy a winning team, just because we have Tattarang $$s.
We are still bound by the restrictions of the Salary Cap.
Recruitment will always be limited by what better players are available and prepared to come to Perth

I'm enjoying the focus on developing local talent.
The Academy includes a good mix of players from the local player pool and from elsewhere - but that's a 3+ year program of building professional rugby players.
The WF is testing the best of local talent in the Wider Training Group during the pre-season and post-season activities such as the games against the Cheetahs.

Our players have to be held accountable for their own decision making on the field as the coach isn't whispering in their ears all match. The Coach isn't telling them to go out and get Yellow/Red Cards.

It's easy to forget that this is only Simon Cron's 2nd season.
I'm excited by the vast improvement is skills on display, across the player group, and that we are capable of playing an entertaining, attacking and winning style of rubgy.

[Tazzmania]

Now that the dust has settled and while a disappointing night out. We need to focus on the positives and like I did after each match last year I will try and put out some stats that show the good work that often goes un-noticed in the greater scheme of things.

The first stats to go up is our defence stats:



Stewart, Horton and Spink, stand outs, and Harris, Franklin and Tizzano worked hard too, and a special mention to young Faifua.

Team stats 115 Tackles 40 Missed tackles 74.19% completion rate.

[AndyS]

The academy is great, but academy systems are inherently limited. Players need to play to improve, and young players need to play a lot. A huge amount of training and a few games here and there makes for players good in theory and not in practice.

SR needs players at the top of their skills...it is what they are up against in the NZ sides. In essence, what we are putting up against them are new graduates, getting their first experience in the real world. And that goes exactly how you'd expect it to go, in any field of endeavour. Our SR teams are ultimately doing the job of an NRC, and as long as that is the case it will inherently set the highest standard achievable. It isn't just the Force's problem, but it absolutely is the Force's problem.

And as it stands, it doesn't look like it is going anywhere.

[Tazzmania]

and the attacking stats:



As expected White, Fines , Donaldson and Burey lead the attacking stats.

Harris, Stewart and Potter did well.

Special mention to Chase Tiatia.

[WFDom]

Now that the dust has settled and while a disappointing night out. We need to focus on the positives and like I did after each match last year I will try and put out some stats that show the good work that often goes un-noticed in the greater scheme of things.

The first stats to go up is our defence stats:



Stewart, Horton and Spink, stand outs, and Harris, Franklin and Tizzano worked hard too, and a special mention to young Faifua.

Team stats 115 Tackles 40 Missed tackles 74.19% completion rate.

Cheers Tazz

Out of interest what were the stats for the other starters you didn’t mention?

[Sheikh]

Now that the dust has settled and while a disappointing night out. We need to focus on the positives and like I did after each match last year I will try and put out some stats that show the good work that often goes un-noticed in the greater scheme of things.

The first stats to go up is our defence stats:



Stewart, Horton and Spink, stand outs, and Harris, Franklin and Tizzano worked hard too, and a special mention to young Faifua.

Team stats 115 Tackles 40 Missed tackles 74.19% completion rate.

I think that should be Minutes per Tackle, unless Potter was only on the field for 45 seconds!

[GIGS20]

and the attacking stats:



As expected White, Fines , Donaldson and Burey lead the attacking stats.

Harris, Stewart and Potter did well.

Special mention to Chase Tiatia.

Good work Tazz

Any chance of getting a Metres per carry stat in that list. I find that's a good one to see who's carrying effectively.

[Tazzmania]

Correct it should be minutes per tackle and minutes per pass + carry.

I will add metres per carry to next weeks stats, and if time permitting I will add minutes between tackle + pass+ carry to see a basic workrate involvement.

[shasta]

Speaking of stats; here's a few from Rugby Pass that seem to indicate some key improvements from past seasons. Only 3 scrums due probably a high error rate - but won them. Line-out as we know was a clusterf@ck - but fixable depending on availability. Hopefully that Round 1 injury update will be regular.

We did alright on the floor and while we got quick ruck ball, what we did with it was pretty ordinary.

One thing I noticed from Tazz's stats was that a certain blindside was not mentioned. An oversight ? (still haven't managed to watch a replay.)

[GIGS20]

That scrum stat is very interesting.

It's my recollection that we were belted in the scrums, but we have 100% win rate and they have 83%

I guess that means that, while we were under the pump, we did enough to get the job done and handled it well.

Lineout stats don't surprise me at all unfortunately. Probably looks better on paper than it actually was.