General Blueys Round Review 2024

[Stalefish540]

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?

You can possibly put them down to injuries if you are willing to accept we aren't in the echelon of Penny, Storm, Broncos who have continued to win and convincingly despite major injuries this season. Accepting we are more so a middling team that is a sum of all parts itching at the four when fully fit or fighting for the eight then I think you can put the last two losses down to injuries somewhat. As a host of the players still playing look banged up also.

2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?

I have issues with the lack of variation to the game plan and certain things we are/aren't doing. We are trying to be Penrith, but even more conservative without the youth factor and playing far less football than they are.

I haven't seen any improvement or change to the game plan we rolled out last year, except we are doing it with an old squad that is now a year older.

The lack of contesting kicks that no other team does, at least not on a never contest basis. Also the lack of variation in attack, we are still a single side dominant team except we have a far less potent player in Capewell who isn't attracting the attention Niukore was giving that edge last season. So the attack hasn't evolved and we are using a far less potent version of it with Capewell there.

3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?

Lose to the Knights, Chooks, and Penrith away which is very possible given the cliff we have fallen off defensively currently and I think it would start getting very tough.

4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?

I wasn't as confident as others in the offseason our recruitment short term wise meant we were going to go to the next level this season. Capewell was middling last season and playing injured so wasn't super stoked on that one but noted his professionalism and standards would be valuable for the young guys. No real different to what we have seen this season, middling and injured. Roger was always going to be a roll of the dice short term, and while that will probably work out long term. Atm it's got some visible teething issues on both sides of the ball.

We lost Curran and Siro, who were both extremely useful last year. Dropped the solid Pompey for RTS and moved Niukore to the middle for Capewell. Some of it is circumstantial with injuries, but at this point we are a far less balanced team and none of those have really worked in our favour yet.

Even in our wins this year we have lacked the killer instinct to really put teams away. Other than Souths who are likely to get the spoon, the three wins we had so much ball and just couldn't put any of them away. Defensively we looked far stronger prior to the Manly game to start the season. 30 unanswered against the Dragons and 27 unanswered against the Titans who will both be bottom four is hugely concerning.

I think if I take a long term view the club is in a good spot and that's my main focus rather than a premiership this year. Webby is a smart coach and will continue to learn as he goes, it is only his second year so it's hardly surprising there are some issues. If we can keep all the junior grades in place with good coaching and systems hopefully in the mid term say five years we should hopefully see the fruits of that maybe sooner if we get lucky. We will always need a mix of hard nosed Aussies, but if we can somehow fill large chunks of the team with gun local juniors that would be the ideal outcome.

Lots of rambling, but the random cliff we have fallen off defensively the past fortnight has me a bit confused as to what the core issue is. Hopefully the boys can figure it out in that 10 day break before Newcastle. Because if the bottom four Dragons and Titans could figure us out, then Newy should be confident at home. Then the Chooks and Penrith will have no trouble smelling blood in the water if Newy get up, and I worry about how ugly things could get.

Has anyone checked if JFH is still homesick?

 

[Ref]

Other than St George the losses have been close.

I know the glass half empty pundits will say we lost to the Titans and the Dragons and they aren’t much chop.
But even the worst teams in the comp bag some decent scalps and win 4 or 5 games.

Injuries and suspensions have wrecked our forward depth.
Marata, Bunty, Jazz, Walker, Capewell from the main guys.
Zion and Leka suspended.
DemiSif injured.

We need to vary the attack though.
Imagine SJ sweeping to the left and TMM sweeps right and gets the ball.
We need shit like that.

 

[Makasene]

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?
Our injuries to middles seems to me to be the biggest impact on our game. Niukore, Walker, Bunty, Jazz - this is significant.

2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?
No doubts, it would be good to see some variation but ultimately the game plan is still effective if you can back it up good discipline and good defence - both of which have been missing of late.

3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?
Pretty confident, the table is very tight. I felt early in the season we have a default game that should see us into 7th / 6th - I still see that as realistic.

4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?
2023 we saw many players find their very best form - now, we may need to accept that they peaked and it is difficult to stay at that level all the time

 

[Inruin]

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?

You can possibly put them down to injuries if you are willing to accept we aren't in the echelon of Penny, Storm, Broncos who have continued to win and convincingly despite major injuries this season. Accepting we are more so a middling team that is a sum of all parts itching at the four when fully fit or fighting for the eight then I think you can put the last two losses down to injuries somewhat. As a host of the players still playing look banged up also.

2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?

I have issues with the lack of variation to the game plan and certain things we are/aren't doing. We are trying to be Penrith, but even more conservative without the youth factor and playing far less football than they are.

I haven't seen any improvement or change to the game plan we rolled out last year, except we are doing it with an old squad that is now a year older.

The lack of contesting kicks that no other team does, at least not on a never contest basis. Also the lack of variation in attack, we are still a single side dominant team except we have a far less potent player in Capewell who isn't attracting the attention Niukore was giving that edge last season. So the attack hasn't evolved and we are using a far less potent version of it with Capewell there.

3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?

Lose to the Knights, Chooks, and Penrith away which is very possible given the cliff we have fallen off defensively currently and I think it would start getting very tough.

4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?

I wasn't as confident as others in the offseason our recruitment short term wise meant we were going to go to the next level this season. Capewell was middling last season and playing injured so wasn't super stoked on that one but noted his professionalism and standards would be valuable for the young guys. No real different to what we have seen this season, middling and injured. Roger was always going to be a roll of the dice short term, and while that will probably work out long term. Atm it's got some visible teething issues on both sides of the ball.

We lost Curran and Siro, who were both extremely useful last year. Dropped the solid Pompey for RTS and moved Niukore to the middle for Capewell. Some of it is circumstantial with injuries, but at this point we are a far less balanced team and none of those have really worked in our favour yet.

Even in our wins this year we have lacked the killer instinct to really put teams away. Other than Souths who are likely to get the spoon, the three wins we had so much ball and just couldn't put any of them away. Defensively we looked far stronger prior to the Manly game to start the season. 30 unanswered against the Dragons and 27 unanswered against the Titans who will both be bottom four is hugely concerning.

I think if I take a long term view the club is in a good spot and that's my main focus rather than a premiership this year. Webby is a smart coach and will continue to learn as he goes, it is only his second year so it's hardly surprising there are some issues. If we can keep all the junior grades in place with good coaching and systems hopefully in the mid term say five years we should hopefully see the fruits of that maybe sooner if we get lucky. We will always need a mix of hard nosed Aussies, but if we can somehow fill large chunks of the team with gun local juniors that would be the ideal outcome.

Lots of rambling, but the random cliff we have fallen off defensively the past fortnight has me a bit confused as to what the core issue is. Hopefully the boys can figure it out in that 10 day break before Newcastle. Because if the bottom four Dragons and Titans could figure us out, then Newy should be confident at home. Then the Chooks and Penrith will have no trouble smelling blood in the water if Newy get up, and I worry about how ugly things could get.

Has anyone checked if JFH is still homesick?

This pretty much covers most of my thoughts as well.

I feel that this is where we probably should have been last year. However, we ended up with the right mix of players, assistant coaches, draw and most of all, the right head coach who managed to get everyone to buy in to his plan, getting career best seasons out of many players. We over achieved by a long way IMO. The bar was lifted way to fast and to high and therefore expectations as well which aren't being met. This season those same players haven't or can't sustain that lift in performance they had last year. I agree that the changes in personal this season haven't improved the team. I have thought that we are working towards a long term plan and doing our best to get competitive until we can get everything in place for that plan to come to fruition. It's just that our quick 'success' has kind of given everyone a hit to quickly and expectations are overly inflated by the same token without the foundations laid for that yet.

I expect us to still make the 8 this season assuming we get our players back and we can make a run for the last 10-12 rounds. Anything can happen in the finals from there but I suspect we aren't at a level that can get it done against the top performing clubs like Panthers, Storm, Broncos. Probably Manly, Sharks as well.

I think we are well on the way down the right path for some sustainable success. Probably, in my mind, seriously challenge in 5-6 years time assuming we can get the right players in the right places coming through. The over achieving last year has been awesome but possibly created an unrealistic expectation for band wagoners to climb on to. A slower improvement year on year would have limited that and built expectations at the same time.

Having said all of that, last season was an amazing feeling, especially for any long suffering Warriors fan. This season is shaping up as a better guide to where we probably are currently as a club.

 

[Muddogz]

1) we haven’t lost our big guns, but most players have had a niggle or two and Niukore and Walker who were key players last season haven’t played much at all. Middles depth has been tested.

2) Gameplan is fine, but grit and grind doesn’t work on the back of sloppy penalties. Red zone attack and defence has been poorer than last year and it’s lost us a few games.

3) I think we’ll make the 8, it would take a big improvement to be contenders though.

4) We overachieved last year and a few players had career best seasons. It was going to be hard to top last season. We are blooding a couple new players and showing signs of being able to recruit good players. Sustaining success is the key at the moment and that’s about making the 8 each year. We play at our best and we are more than capable of doing that.

 

[snake77]

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?
The injuries aren't helping. We have had injuries the last few years but that was a 1-2 key players. Someone would come back and someone else would get injured. This year the injury list seems to be getting bigger by the week. Some of the guys that are injured are probably unsung heroes a bit in that they may have had a larger role than we thought. Thinking mainly Afoa but also Tevaga to some extent.

The injuries are playing a part in that we are a 17 man team. This comes down to how we have tried to cover for the injuries. We seem to be using the interchanges on the starters and leaving guys on the bench. For one game that is fine. The guys have stood up when given an opportunity. Laban and Maiu'u being the main two and I'll admit with Maiu'u it is off one game. But runs like that is what we have been missing.

It might be a case of blooding some of the young guys to get the benefit later on.

The injuries don't help. But the losses are down to mistakes and not playing the full 80.

2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?
This is a tough one as how well are we executing it? The first few rounds some of our attack looked better in that it looked like we were not setting up plays in the opposition 20. It looked like the plays before the move to the right were dangerous as well. Where last year it looked like they were getting into position. This isn't looking as good at the moment. Is it due to Johnson being unable to train or the opposition scouting it. The second one will definitley be happening, especially with the better coached teams.

Like last year we still need to work on the attack on the left hand side. Some attacking kicks would be nice to see, we know Johnson can aim them in the correct place.

Some more work from deeper in our half would be nice to see. Keep the opposition on alert. Also means if we need to chase points or win late we don't need to battle our way up field first.

3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?
At the moment yes. But the confidence it we will be deep in the 8 is slipping. Even when we had some good stats around us like the best defensive side or people were hyping our attack. We were still not playing a full 80 minute performance.

Hopefully after a few days off they can come back with an improved performance. Mind you minus the days off I was expecting a better performance last week.

4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?
2023 was a great ride. I started the year expecting it to fall apart at some stage. As the previous years have conditioned me for that. Even with the 3 losses in a row early they hung in there, they were even a chance of winning but had some bad decisions. Late in the year my confidence started building. Even when the games seemed like hard work they came home strong.

This year the games start well but then start to fall off. Maybe 2023 is not comparable. My opinion is a little like 2013-2017 where we had years where we would race out in front in games and then sides would get momentum and we'd need to halt it and come home strong. That was more a home game feeling. But I've had that a bit recently.

Last year we would defend our line set after set. I don't have confidence in that at the moment.

 

[Warrior#214]

My two cents on #2 The Game Plan

I noticed a big step up in terms of the ‘shape’ that both the Chooks and Melbs were running in attack in each of their games on the Thursday night. They had both noticeably improved the way they were all involved in the the deception and depth runs on attack. It was happening on both sides of the field and working off different playmakers. We really only run shape off Shaun and it involves 1 or 2 players trying to hook up to create the deception and sharpen that attack. We need to develop in this area. It can’t just be built on that right side singling players out and pulling 1 under. It’s too easy to gear up for.

The repetitive bomb to a winger on the final kick and trap is a good baseline play too. But again we are now ripe for some variation. Any team studying tape will be setting up a certain way and so far we haven’t done much to make them jump.

We’ve definitely got the talent to evolve and execute a more progressive game plan. Just wanna see it!

 

[Dlenai]

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?
2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?
3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?
4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?

1. I put our losses down to short turnarounds and a lack of training to key members of our spine (SJ).

2. Not yet.

3. Still confident. Since 2023, a recurring theme of Webby’s interviews as well as other players, has been taking each month as a “block”. The team assesses a month of footy or every four rounds. It is a well-crafted method to break down a long season, to continually assess the teams performance.

I believe that this month, they planned not to train as much. The intensity of the teams performance has dialled down, and it looks pre-planned?

They have the next month of 7 day turn arounds, and I am genuinely optimistic that they will go on a run here in the next four weeks. If they lose against the knights, I will be concerned and disregarding everything I just said lol.

The performance against the dragons was so lacklustre and low energy, we look so clunky in the opposition 20 which has been the main strength of ‘23. With SJ not training in the past month or so, and metcalfs injury, Egan monitoring his elbow - a valid excuse is there. We are still competitive, and it looks like it was a plan to dial it down a notch in terms of intensity in order to focus more on the long turnarounds coming up; with one eye on Roosters & Panthers.

I hope I am right! Otherwise this is the worst take I’ve ever had.

 

[Dannevegas]

I think we’re too predictable atm. And too structured. Why doesn’t CNK never link with the left side, he literally never has, no wonder our left side struggles, nothings never on out there, was the same last year. It’s got to be planned but why?

 

[ToiletDuck]

Interested to get a short summary from everyone about how you think we are going? I put a few questions in if you want to answer that way.

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?
2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?
3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?
4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?
Partially down to injuries, though mostly due to one dimensional attack and poorer defensive efforts than last year. Handling is also worse.
I also think overall the competition is stronger this year than last year, which probably flattered us last year, and probably instilled a false sense of how good we were/are.

2. Are you starting to doubt our game plan?
Unfortunately yes. The short balls to edge forwards aren't working because our edge forwards don't break any tackles and it doesn't worry the opposition. There's also high risk of dropped balls in great attacking position (Ford).
I'm unsure why they have gone away from the plays that worked so well for them last year, creating an extra man and putting DWZ in the corner. Sure it can't be the only play but it looks like it's being used much less this year, and I don't know why.
The continued bombs by SJ against the Titans were absolutely baffling. It was as though they were so sure that that plan was the correct one, they just refused to change anything until the game was gone. That was a much bigger worry, the lack of adaptability.

3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?
We won't make the 8. Injuries combined with poor form and stronger competition this year means they will really struggle. Picking us to finish 10-12th.

4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?
Thought we'd be a much better side than what has been shown, given we lost no players of note and gained RTVS.
The side looks slow and tired. Backs look about as threatening as Souths' backline - who have come under fire for looking very slow. I don't think ours look any better.
I thought that even if the attack took time to click, that based on last year we'd be strong with low error counts, good defense and scramble. None of that has eventuated and they look far more like the Warriors of old.
I'm now of the opinion the side desperately needs youth, enthusiasm and some speed. They also really need another half, as neither Metcalf or TMM are the answer and it all inevitably falls on Shaun's shoulders - which he is doing a great job at coping with, but he needs some help, particularly as he is always carrying a niggle.

Tough times ahead I think, sadly.

 

[dean]

Would like to have won one or two more games but not worried.
All teams go through a stage of losing three or four games on the trot. It was going to happen for us at some stage.
AW will know how to correct things.
RTS is taking a little longer than I thought to become a centre and that may have affected our outsides but it will come right.

 

[Lets Eat (YeahNah)]

Pretty similar sentiment to the other opinions on here, but maybe leaning on the half empty side:

Note: 100% agree with kos summary

1. Do you put our losses down to injuries?

Our go forward is less effective and we are exposed with Mitch and AFB off, the injuries and depth are a factor and opposition must know our bench is cooked

I would let a couple of bulls loose and see if any excel, we would unearth some talent, other clubs bring in young players

Halves are a huge issue SJ crippled and if he goes…. We toes up

Also our core group is aged and need to bring in the youth


2. Are you starting to doubt our gameplan?

No plan B
No playing the width of the field
Jamming up on a hurt SJ

Is this a trust thing, a skills thing or a management thing


3. How confident are you we will still make the 8?

8 yes
4 no
Predict we make 8 win first finals game then blitzed

6th would be a pass mark considering our start has been below average



4. How has your opinion changed from end of 2023 till now?

Webby vs Kearny I can spot a couple of similarities

Webby can man manage for sure, but can he coach when under seige?


No way we should of lost to dragons and tits now we got to dig deep

 

[Woofa]

Feel the use of the bench and injection/ trust in youth hasn't been right. Teams game plan around our use of the bench for sure.

If AFB went down we would be more than cooked. Def need a plan B as mentioned.

I think a full squad with Marata, Metcalf, Bunty, Jazz, Walker, CHT even Sifakula (and a fit Johnson) would of made a HUGE diff. Panthers can slot anyone into the cog but that has taken many years of club wide development which is now our way which is great to see.

Playing really tough though, never giving up I think Webby on a good steep learning curve here also.. hopefully it all clicks soon. Toughest comp in the world here, I can only see Panthers, Broncs or Storm winning it right now. Prob Broncs if a betting man.

 

[Christchurch_Warrior]

I think we have a top 8 team we just are struggling with injuries. I suspect due to the large amount of players unavailable we have many players carrying injuries that normally they would miss a game for. Defensively we have not be great and I know that defense is mainly attitude but I bet it is hard to have the right attitude when playing busted.

I do think we need some more variation though. If you watched the Titans game the Titans always had 4 players set on their left side on the 5th. Two were blockers and the other two in catching positions. They looked well drilled. I get the premise around what we are trying to achieve with this tactic. The issue is we just cannot atm back this up with great defense. A plan B is required until we get more players back.

 

[Tookey 2.0]

I find it frustrating when we talk about injuries and a lot of the comments we get are "oh well every other team has to deal with injuries" or "it hasn't been our main players".

Those two statements are true, but I think we have to look at the facts - we had upwards of 4 players out and competed with Storm, Sharks, Knights, and Canberra who were all top 8 last year. We continue to lose players and then struggle against St George and Titans who are languishing at the foot of the ladder.

Even though we haven't lost Egan and SJ (for most of the year), there is a significant gap between Lussick and Roach - we've had to play our 4th best hooker, which screws with the rotation big time. Same for our forwards.

Most of these players would have trained together in set plays all year, only for those combos to be useless now that we're having to change up almost weekly. How many times has Webby had to tweek things on one side, or move someone else across to fix a problem due to an injury? Loads already and were not even in rd 10 yet.

Our depth is great imo, however when any team has 7+ players out they will struggle. I think this has always been the case across the NRL, with the exception of Penrith in these last 4 years or so.

Webby is a great coach, but when you have that many injuries there's only so much you can do. The next man up policy kind of falls over when you're playing 3 players on the bench who have a combined 4 matches between them, with Ale at 30 odd.

And on top of that, every team aims up against us, which were just not able to manage at the moment. Both Dragons and Titans essentially halved their average errors against us. That, and a couple of piggy back penalties from the refs make it really difficult for us.

I still think we'll be comfortably in the 8 at the end of the year, and currently the comp is so close that if we start getting it right we have a chance of clawing our way back into the top 4, but I've almost made my peace that were going to be facing an uphill battle from here

 

[Dantheman]

I find it frustrating when we talk about injuries and a lot of the comments we get are "oh well every other team has to deal with injuries" or "it hasn't been our main players".

Those two statements are true, but I think we have to look at the facts - we had upwards of 4 players out and competed with Storm, Sharks, Knights, and Canberra who were all top 8 last year. We continue to lose players and then struggle against St George and Titans who are languishing at the foot of the ladder.

Even though we haven't lost Egan and SJ (for most of the year), there is a significant gap between Lussick and Roach - we've had to play our 4th best hooker, which screws with the rotation big time. Same for our forwards.

Most of these players would have trained together in set plays all year, only for those combos to be useless now that we're having to change up almost weekly. How many times has Webby had to tweek things on one side, or move someone else across to fix a problem due to an injury? Loads already and were not even in rd 10 yet.

Our depth is great imo, however when any team has 7+ players out they will struggle. I think this has always been the case across the NRL, with the exception of Penrith in these last 4 years or so.

Webby is a great coach, but when you have that many injuries there's only so much you can do. The next man up policy kind of falls over when you're playing 3 players on the bench who have a combined 4 matches between them, with Ale at 30 odd.

And on top of that, every team aims up against us, which were just not able to manage at the moment. Both Dragons and Titans essentially halved their average errors against us. That, and a couple of piggy back penalties from the refs make it really difficult for us.

I still think we'll be comfortably in the 8 at the end of the year, and currently the comp is so close that if we start getting it right we have a chance of clawing our way back into the top 4, but I've almost made my peace that were going to be facing an uphill battle from here

This sums it up really well, hopefully with some troops due back soon we can go on a run and solidify a spot in the 8.

 

[AlwaysOptmistic]

First of all, blimmim hell with all this knee jerk reaction stuff.
Weve come close to winning in three of the games we lost and whilst the last fortnight has been a bit dispiriting with short turnarounds, check in with me after round seventeen when weve won seven more games and have Niukore, Capewell, Afoa back to shore up the rotations in the middle. (Plus give SJ a break for a week)

 

[mrblonde]

Frankly, I think we all need to factor in:
1. We're being taken more seriously this year by the opposition.
I know, no player/club official says that in public, it's always: "We're going up against a dangerous side, they can beat anybody on their day" when going up against a team that hasn't won in 17 games etc. Of course, how they act in private is quite different.
2. Conversely, because 2023 was better than everyone expected, are we taking the opposition less seriously?
See the Titans game after we got 12-0 in front for what I mean.

As to the gameplan: More grindy, yes, but Warrior-ball was always over-rated and over-risky when done as often as we used to do it and it's not like we now can't push the Warrior-ball Start Button when we want to.
Said 6 late December and still think 6. We're well capable of the mental and physical adjustments required.

 

[Lance155]

First of all, blimmim hell with all this knee jerk reaction stuff.
Weve come close to winning in three of the games we lost and whilst the last fortnight has been a bit dispiriting with short turnarounds, check in with me after round seventeen when weve won seven more games and have Niukore, Capewell, Afoa back to shore up the rotations in the middle. (Plus give SJ a break for a week)

Definitely not a thread for the knee jerk reactions. I think you will find majority of posts here are pretty reasonable comments without any panic. Will leave the erratic comments for the post match thread haha

 

[Tookey 2.0]

Frankly, I think we all need to factor in:
1. We're being taken more seriously this year by the opposition.
I know, no player/club official says that in public, it's always: "We're going up against a dangerous side, they can beat anybody on their day" when going up against a team that hasn't won in 17 games etc. Of course, how they act in private is quite different.
2. Conversely, because 2023 was better than everyone expected, are we taking the opposition less seriously?
See the Titans game after we got 12-0 in front for what I mean.

Any of our statsmen care to shed a bit of light on this. I'm convinced that the majority of teams are playing out of their skin against us, with very little errors and high completion rates.

I would love to see the difference stats wise between teams when they've played us this year vs their average against all teams but I'm pretty cabbage at that kind of thing...any one got a spreadsheet or something going?

Wrighty this sounds like it might be in your wheel house?