NRL Round 5 - Bulldogs Vs Knights - Accor Stadium - 6:15pm Sunday 6th April

[Celticman98]

Sharpe had a bad game last night but there's no way I'm moving him back to the wing. He's should be staying at 5/8.

No player can be great every game it just doesn't work out like that. Even KP was ordinary last night.

Fletch's 4th game in the halves and will no doubt get better over time.

 

[waynesworld]

Thank you. It’s so weird that people have who’ve watched footy for years don’t get this. There’s this weird thing which happens in footy where the spine players on the team which made more metres and had more of the ball usually end up playing better than the ones on the other team. And it’s rare for the discrepancy to be as big as it was last night aside from games which end up with one team scoring 50.

There isn’t a single player in the comp who could have overcome the yardage, possession and territory disadvantages last night. Not one. And the Dogs are a very good team, a seriously good defence, who had basically zero fatigue put into them by the way the game was going.

I’m really not worried if we keep bringing the same effort and intent. Handling will improve. We won’t lose two players in the first 30 seconds every week. Passes will start sticking. We’ll have more games which are about even for possession and field position and all that and Sharpe & Ponga will create plenty of points in those games.

I think people understand this. From my POV, I think Cogger is just so passive, so it’s like Cogger needs a good team performance to have a solid game. Gamble is a limited player as well but he takes the game on and plays with a hard edge like the rest of the team. Think he adds just as much value as Cogger in an organisational role, then his fight and competitiveness on top makes him my preferred option.

 

[OnTilt]

I haven't been paying attention in the second half but super mann did bump him off to score

The guy has potential, but you can tell his playing his 2nd NRL game, some of his contact in defence isn't up to par. Team mates are covering for him a fair bit.

 

[Kurriboy]

Yeah everyone loves to give Cogger crap on here. But won’t mention a thing when Sharpe has a shocker.

If Cogger is struggling so much, why can’t Sharpe take control of the game and start kicking and setting up plays?

Thats because Cogger is playing at or near his ceiling, which is pretty low. Clearly Cogger is not the clubs future, why do you think that would be? Because he is real NRL standard.

Sharpe on the other hand, ceiling is much higher, clearly is the future of where the club is going teaming up with Brown and Ponga.

Cogger has played in a winning grand final, even though he won the NRL lottery with that one and won't win another. He is vastly more experienced in the halves than Sharpe and thats saying something.

There is more to the opinions than one or two games from Sharpe vs Cogger.

 

[Frank McWilliams]

Was a huge effort, especially the forwards, our spine was ordinary but was more about defending and fatigue.
As far as kicking I don’t see why Crossland doesn’t kick more has a big boot.
Best and Gagai did well but mostly charging runs out of own area
Injuries hurt us this week and will again next along with suspensions I fear, looking forward to a Thompson double with Tyrone in 17, please not 18 play him Cup if not in 17 keep him at it

 

[Chaister]

I’ll give McEwan a pass for the Mann try as it was just his second game and he’d had to play way more minutes and do a lot more defence than what he’s ready for. I thought he Cant should be really ****ing proud of themselves to be honest, and I’m not particularly bullish on either of them as much as a lot of people seem to be.

 

[Les Misérables]

I don't know what the clubs plan is, but when you're getting your *** kicked against every team every week in yardage, PTB speed and possession surely the brainstrust sees the recent loss of quality middle as an emergency that needs addressing.

We never had this problem with Klemmer and DSaf. And if I'm Ponga, that's the first problem I'd like addressed. So far, we're losing our best middle to the Dogs next year and there aren't even any rumblings as to who he may be replaced with, let alone bolstering the pack with more middles. If they're waiting for juniors they'll be waiting too long to keep Ponga at the club

 

[slotmachine]

I'm likely robinson crusoe here, but I really don't think cogger was any worse than Ponga or Sharpe last night. Kicking game was pretty decent given the circumstances.

Ponga going into this weird mode where he wanted to kick every time he touched the ball in good field position certainly was a thing. MIA 2 weeks running.

So far, we're losing our best middle to the Dogs next year and there aren't even any rumblings as to who he may be replaced with, let alone bolstering the pack with more middles

Yeah Leo and Elliott were clearly our two best middles last night and they're not here next year. Concerning.

 

[Kurriboy]

I don't know what the clubs plan is, but when you're getting your *** kicked against every team every week in yardage, PTB speed and possession surely the brainstrust sees the recent loss of quality middle as an emergency that needs addressing.

We never had this problem with Klemmer and DSaf. And if I'm Ponga, that's the first problem I'd like addressed. So far, we're losing our best middle to the Dogs next year and there aren't even any rumblings as to who he may be replaced with, let alone bolstering the pack with more middles. If they're waiting for juniors they'll be waiting too long to keep Ponga at the club

Clearly his brother is the plan there.

But we still need another middle.

 

[Grandpa Joe]

Worst game Sharpe has had in FG. By far.

Absolutely appalling, sadly Cogger was far worse. Marzhew wtf.

Ponga MIA again, not that he had any space.

Still shaking my head at Jacob tearing his hammy running on, 2 mins early we could have played Brodie

KPP and Lucas being back will improve us out of sight.

No Jacob or Jack next week, I guess we move Elliott and Frizell up front and put Cant at lock?

 

[MullosLefttoRight]

Defensively we did as much as we could and much more than I expected - discipline/handling is a massive problem but is fixable. Everyone needs to step back from the ledge a touch, the circumstances of that game were obscenely bad, just about everything went the worst way possible.

Biggest takeaway is that AOB needs to concoct a complete protection plan for Greg defending kicks - teams aren't going to stop attacking him and having just Bradman blocking attackers running through isn't working. He's obviously among the shortest wingers going around and is too heavy to get himself high enough in contests to compete - I don't know the exact solution.

Something to consider is playing a bit more unorthodox - look at what the Eels did with Zac Lomax over a few of the opening rounds of the season. He was attacking from centre with Jordan Samrani on the wing, but he dropped back to contest and return kicks - I think there's a certain zone of the field from which this could be valuable if Bradman drops back instead of Greg, clearing kicks isn't a problem because you want Greg returning the ball and they won't be contested, but from their 40-halfway you generally get a contest which Bradman may be more suited to take. I'll be honest I don't love the idea as it leaves us vulnerable in other ways, but Greg is basically losing every contest every week so I'm not sure we can afford to not consider it.

 

[slotmachine]

Clearly his brother is the plan there.

The guy who isn't signed for 2026 and hasn't played a game of first grade. Bold plan

 

[Sarge]

Yeah everyone loves to give Cogger crap on here. But won’t mention a thing when Sharpe has a shocker.

If Cogger is struggling so much, why can’t Sharpe take control of the game and start kicking and setting up plays?

He has been in the halves for 5 mins ,Cogger has had enough chances .Clearly not up to it

 

[Chaister]

Thank you. It’s so weird that people have who’ve watched footy for years don’t get this. There’s this weird thing which happens in footy where the spine players on the team which made more metres and had more of the ball usually end up playing better than the ones on the other team. And it’s rare for the discrepancy to be as big as it was last night aside from games which end up with one team scoring 50.

There isn’t a single player in the comp who could have overcome the yardage, possession and territory disadvantages last night. Not one. And the Dogs are a very good team, a seriously good defence, who had basically zero fatigue put into them by the way the game was going.

I’m really not worried if we keep bringing the same effort and intent. Handling will improve. We won’t lose two players in the first 30 seconds every week. Passes will start sticking. We’ll have more games which are about even for possession and field position and all that and Sharpe & Ponga will create plenty of points in those games.

We gave ourselves so few opportunities in good field position due to the handling errors there was such high pressure when we did get good field position. It felt like we had to score right away. It’s hard for any team to suddenly pull off a try in those circumstances, especially against a good defensive unit like the Dogs who had energy from not needing to do a lot of defence.

Compare that to the Dogs: they needed multiple opportunities and fatigue effect to break us down but they were able to because they gave themselves enough opportunities by holding the ball.

So I’m not especially pissed off with Cogger for this game in isolation. There weren’t enough opportunities for any of the spine to shine. My concerns with him is that I don’t think he’s actually fast and athletic enough to play in the NRL. Even if he did know how to set up a play we wouldn’t really know because he gets caught with the ball in hand so much.

 

[OnTilt]

Agree, a big part of the problem is Coggers kicking game. Because his long kicks are so poor, the other team is getting the ball on at least the 20 which allows other teams the chance to put it an attacking kick nearly every set.

No team is winning anything when they give up so many metres to the opposition every set

Exactly, making errors every other set and a pretty poor kicking game means he is getting bombed to far more than he probably should in a game and they are landing on the try line.

 

[Kurriboy]

The guy who isn't signed for 2026 and hasn't played a game of first grade. Bold plan

I'm sure they will resign him.

 

[frankLauda]

The Dogs had rushing defence. Blistering line speed, and can maintain that for most of the 80.

We needed a kicker that could put kicks in behind the line, of chip over the top, or cross field. Although cross filed kicks probably would not have been successful with Kiraz and Montya on there wings.

Cogger tried one chip over the top late in that game. I think Sharpe may have tried a short kick also. Both poorly executed.

That’s were Hastings is far better then Cogger. He can identify and has more time. Some one like Cody Walker would have been doing those kicks, putting the rushing defence in two minds.

The halves failed miserably to see and execute that. I don’t blame Sharpe, but Cogger should be better.

The tigers don’t have no where near the line speed. So if we can match them in the forwards guys like Sharpe and Ponga will come into the game.

I’d be seriously considering dropping Cogger for Hastings. But also I think Cogger will play better against the Tigers. As soon as Gamble is fit, he needs to come back into the side.

 

[slotmachine]

I'm sure they will resign him.

Everyone was sure Leo would get re-signed too.

 

[Defence wins games]

DylB would make no difference to this team. We need to find a way to match the elite speed and pressure if we are going to be true contenders. We will never do that unless we get an elite forward pack. That concerns me.

But the Dogs don’t have an elite forward pack.
They are super fit, hunt as a pack in numbers and have incredible line speed? which just strangles opposition teams.
And they play a simple, smart game.

 

[Chaister]

I don't know what the clubs plan is, but when you're getting your *** kicked against every team every week in yardage, PTB speed and possession surely the brainstrust sees the recent loss of quality middle as an emergency that needs addressing.

We never had this problem with Klemmer and DSaf. And if I'm Ponga, that's the first problem I'd like addressed. So far, we're losing our best middle to the Dogs next year and there aren't even any rumblings as to who he may be replaced with, let alone bolstering the pack with more middles. If they're waiting for juniors they'll be waiting too long to keep Ponga at the club

I don’t think our pack their yardage metres are the problem to be honest. We definitely need another middle to replace Leo no doubt, but I think even injury depleted the last 2 weeks they’ve done their job. Our pack were also in the top 4 last year for post-contact running metres.

We’re getting into **** field position because we drop the ball ALL THE TIME, not because the forwards can’t make metres IMO. A lot of sets last night the Dogs were only getting 30ish metres themselves despite having all the energy from not needing to defend.

Honestly hold the ball and we’re a much better side all round.