NRL Round 4- Bulldogs Vs Knights - 3:00pm Saturday, 28th March - Accor Stadium

[MullosLefttoRight]

What did Mason say?

He was fairly scathing of the Dogs pack, could definitely be construed as not giving us enough credit but in fairness we were missing our two best players and our big middle signing so I do think it's reasonable for him to be expecting more from the Dogs in those circumstances.

He went into our sheds after the game instead of the Dogs.

 

[HarVeeGee13]

A lot of their fans are crashing out. It's far from the only time the stuff which makes them a good team but not an actual contender has been illustrated, but Melbourne or Brisbane illustrating that stuff doesn't burn as much.

 

[mozza]

The Dogs overachieved massively last year. They don’t have the creativity to be a top side. They haven’t won a finals game since 2014 and I don’t think it’ll change this year.

 

[HarVeeGee13]

You can be a good regular season without top-line spine talent off the back of a deep roster of guys who all work really hard. But who wins those big games in September and October? Top line spine players and apex predators in your pack. Every year. Every year!

Raiders in the same basket as the Dogs for mine, their fans are massively in denial about this but the Broncos would have done them by 20 if Brissie didn’t keep shooting themselves in the foot and then against the Sharks they ran out of ideas when their usual “bludgeon & hope” game plan didn’t cause the other team to fall over.

 

[Macca89]

Is he still employed by the dogs?

 

[Grandpa Joe]

Croker and McEwen for me are the most improved players so far. Crossland is just Newcastle honestly should be our next captain.

McEwen this week was outstanding, but been below average prior.

I didn't think Croker had this ceiling in him his been really good and improving each week.

 

[Grandpa Joe]

Unfortunately that face was a lot prettier this time yesterday...but yeah, he embodies those values the Knights were originally built on.

Was my first thought!

 

[Celticman98]

You can be a good regular season without top-line spine talent off the back of a deep roster of guys who all work really hard. But who wins those big games in September and October? Top line spine players and apex predators in your pack. Every year. Every year!

Raiders in the same basket as the Dogs for mine, their fans are massively in denial about this but the Broncos would have done them by 20 if Brissie didn’t keep shooting themselves in the foot and then against the Sharks they ran out of ideas when their usual “bludgeon & hope” game plan didn’t cause the other team to fall over.

Also with Raiders there'll be some hangover from last year winning the minor premiership then going out in straight sets with how they lost their matches. Agree on the Broncos match especially.

Bulldogs don't scare any of the top sides and I agree with Mozza, can't see them doing too much if they make it to September this year.

 

[Defence wins games]

Also with Raiders there'll be some hangover from last year winning the minor premiership then going out in straight sets with how they lost their matches. Agree on the Broncos match especially.

Bulldogs don't scare any of the top sides and I agree with Mozza, can't see them doing too much if they make it to September this year.

Whether it is coincidence or not, the Dogs attack has done a nosedive into the depths of despair, like what happened at the Knights last season.
Without stating the obvious….just saying.

 

[Sarge]

Whether it is coincidence or not, the Dogs attack has done a nosedive into the depths of despair, like what happened at the Knights last season.
Without stating the obvious….just saying.

Well I for one am enjoying it

 

[mozza]

To be fair the Dogs attack has been trash since they signed Galvin. I think Gus’ ego has as much to do with their poor attack as Obi does.

 

[Sarge]

To be fair the Dogs attack has been trash since they signed Galvin. I think Gus’ ego has as much to do with their poor attack as Obi does.

True

 

[HarVeeGee13]

IMO Burton is the bigger issue, at least Galvin wants the ball. They’d instantly get better if they played SOS at 7, Galvin 6, Burton centre. Probably still not great because AOB, and also SOS isn’t that good. But they’d be better.

 

[Frank McWilliams]

Can’t believe the knockers of Dogs, yes they ain’t going well but surely Ciraldo as head coach is in charge and comments on team failures are based on built up angst of AOB, yes I am happy with our change of Coach but surely he , AOB isn’t the reason they are going bad, more likely internal problems, Coach, assistant coach, Gus, Galvin and other internal problems, am mildly happy with problems

 

[Kurriboy]

Knights had AOB and couldn't attack, AOB goes to Dogs and suddenly Dogs attack struggling, Knights attack so far (touch wood) improved. I have no idea on the internal issues at the dogs, but you will get people linking those facts together and are already seeing it in the media, facebook cronies putting up stories about AOB at the dogs and is his position as attacking coach safe.

The media vultures will get their clickbait up and will hone in on whatever they can harvest angst from. It's what they do.

For instance, a team runs the ball up the middle and fails to score it's they need to get more width. A team that spreads the ball but doesn't score hasn't earned the right to spread the ball. A team that does either and scores is lauded for their game play, whichever it is they tailor their article to that. It's all BS.

On this forum, AOB earned this with his dead boring coaching style that generated no attack. No sympathy from me. But people will comment on the stark difference between AOB's results and Holbrooks. The same as if Holbrook struggled, you would get the AOB defenders posting how AOB wasn't the issue etc.

Such is life.

 

[Les Misérables]

Time to move on Les. Maybe see a therapist about your addiction to AOB

Its not as though he retired into obscurity. We literally just played the team he is coaching, who he hoped would beat us. The same team he is trying to encourage Ponga to sign for.

Forgive me for sticking the boot into an ex coach the day after he takes his first L against us. He's earned it

 

[JOJO82]

Was so good seeing him all sad in the coaches box after we pumped the dogs..... He thought he had the last laugh after beating us in the trial.

So refreshing not having to see 5 hit ups followed by a bomb that nobody is allowed to contest.

 

[EASBay17]

Its not as though he retired into obscurity. We literally just played the team he is coaching, who he hoped would beat us. The same team he is trying to encourage Ponga to sign for.

Forgive me for sticking the boot into an ex coach the day after he takes his first L against us. He's earned it

Think people need to decide whos responsible for a teams attack, is it the head coach or is it the assistant coach? Cant have it both ways.
On the dogs its the roster more than anything for mine. You have a hooker who does nothing but shovel the ball for 80 minutes, a halfback who is playing like a run first 5/8 , a 5/8 who is a centre with a good bomb (as overated as they come), a fullback who puts up good numbers but isnt a ball player and a distributing lock in salmon who is predictable as because he wont run.
If they shifted chricton back to the right, burton to the left, galvin to 5/8 , POS jr to 7 and started mann at 13 they would be better overnight.

 

[jamesgould]

Think people need to decide whos responsible for a teams attack, is it the head coach or is it the assistant coach? Cant have it both ways.

I think the general consensus on here is that if AOB is the head coach then he’s responsible, if AOB is the assistant coach then he’s responsible.

I’m sure he had a little smile to himself about us playing so well on Sunday and would have been happy to see it. He spent six years here, you don’t just suddenly switch off all that time and effort put into a club.

 

[HarVeeGee13]

Think people need to decide whos responsible for a teams attack, is it the head coach or is it the assistant coach? Cant have it both ways.

I don't think it's "having it both ways" because every head coach is different. Some head coaches are overbearing micromanagers who don't delegate, some are more relaxed man managers who trust their assistants, some are very tactical and rely on the assistants to give the players a cuddle, etc etc etc.

The Dogs attack wasn't good last year either, true, but it's gone from the 10th best - still good enough to win them games given how good their defence is - to dead last, bad enough that their defence has been under massive pressure each game in a way it wasn't last year. If they didn't get handed tries they shouldn't have they would have the worst attack in the comp by a comical amount. They would be averaging 10 points per game.

The issues we're seeing - they always seem to play with either way too much or zero depth; their halves seem to play short to the back rowers *almost every time* irrespective of what the defence is doing because I guess that's the system; their playmakers seem to miss some pretty glaring opportunities a lot, almost like there's a proscription against going through the set routine; everything seems a bit lateral, a bit slow, decoy runners etc do not execute at pace - look a lot like the ones we had.

Further, our attacking assistant last season has gone to a club which is attacking a fair bit better than they were same time last year.

It's not "having it both ways", it's observing and drawing conclusions. Have we not all had different bosses? Some are overbearing, micromanagers; some are more chill, competent, make you feel trusted & like they have your back; some seem totally asleep at the wheel; some are cringe morons who are very hard to take seriously. Would you not expect this to sometimes be the case with the boss of a footy team?