by Dip Mon Jul 25, 2016 10:48 am
We're playing attrocious. Should make the top 8, but we'll have to probably win 5/6 to have any chance of the top 4, because we're 1.5 wins behind Canberra.
Yes we've been hit by injury, origin and suspension, and our depth isn't fantastic, but really the most disappointing thing has been the way we play. So much dropped ball, and just no cohesion in attack. Boyd and Oates are the only two players in the backline who seem in any sort of form at the moment.
They're also not playing smart. They only ran one on one at one of the worst defenders in the league on Friday, and when they did Boyd scored. Why not do that again.
In defence they're not being aggressive enough with their line speed. Friday night was pretty representative of the last 2 months. No matter where the opposition start their set, they are always in position to put up a bomb on the last. I only remember one long kick by Penrith on Friday night. That was the great kick he did that forced a drop out from half way.
About the only silver lining we have at the moment is an okay draw coming home, and the fact that at the start of the season we showed we had the ability to be premiers. If we hadn't shown that I'd say this season is a write off (like Souths for example), but there is a small chance we can come back because we have the players to be able to do it. I also think this is one of the softer years in the comp for some time. Melbourne and Cowboys will be tough, but there is something about about Cronulla that makes me think they're going to crash before the final hurdle (perhaps 49 years of history). I don't think the Dogs, Raiders, or any other teams are good enough to win 3-4 matches in a row against top 8 opposition.