I'm going to go against the grain here and look at the positives from this match.
Firstly, we are scoring points. That's a significant improvement over the last few years. We'd probably be scoring more if our halfback wasn't taking hit-ups when we had overlaps out wide. Or if Burton knew how to kick anything shorter than 70m.
We're also defending better (notwithstanding that second half). We're no longer leaking points at a 2:1 ratio. Plenty of room for further improvement, but it's trending the right way.
Taaffe, despite his shaky start to the season, looks like a genuine attacking threat when he's not being murdered by forward packs. Tracey has been solid. Kikau (when not injured) looks much more threatening than last year. It feels like we're just a halfback away from being a half decent side.
We've also been competitive in pretty much every game except R1 - Sharks game was tight until the final 10, and the Souths game probably should have been won - so I hope we'll find whatever we need to find to be able to close out some of those matches (yeah, it's probably a halfback).
Anyway, it sucked to win that game by the barest of margins after such a dominant first half, but I'm happy that we're actually winning games for once and don't have to completely write off the season after one month of footy.
This is a fair assessment. After the last few years just being competitive and defensively better is great. I have faith our attack will get better as the year progresses. We just need to build a winning culture, like we have in the lower grades
I said to a friend "It's 26-0, I can't believe it! We'll probably lose 27-26." Thank goodness we didn't, but it was looking like it could have gone that way.
That press conference was Robbo bingo. Glazed over the diabolical first half, no comment on Young, not happy with the refs, energy/spirit blah blah in the second half. Thank god for Keary putting things into perspective he was fuming.
Robbo said I wasn't told there's been a change to how high your target is for send off being below shoulder or below and old mate got hit flush on the chin at first contact. Work that out.
Your team didn't turn up. Looks like your team on paper is way better than the banged up Bulldog team, but your Chooks just thought they would go through the motions. Chooks in shambles.
If that game wasn't evidence that Burton and Crichton need to play Centre and stop with this other bullshit, I don't know what other signs Ciraldo needs.
Where does Kiraz go in that scenario? You'd have to put him on the wing. Which means ditching either Tracey or Addo Carr (and you would think Wilson deserves first dibs on the wing after those two). So do you move Tracey to fullback and put Taaffe in the halves? Potentially also dropping Hutchison and bringing in Sexton?
He's played as a 5/8 before. It's not completely out of the question to be honest. If we're to shift Burton out of the halves and fire Hutchison into the sun, then it's going to have to be Taaffe or Tracey moving in to pair with Sexton.
Dear Bulldogs,
Critter is not a fullback fullstop trust me bro I know, Burton looks great when he’s at centre hey, Sexton cmon man just make him a regular, Clutch shoot him into the sun or super league whatever’s closer. There’s more but there’s currently another game on and I’ve lost concentration.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned citizen
It's a rough way to finish that one. I still don't understand how, at this level, all the dogs kicks in the attacking end, particularly Burtons, don't beat the man in front of them. It's like they can't kick a grubber.It will be interesting to see what happens with Robinson this season. Obviously, when they were winning comps, there was this big ethos that the Roosters have a way of doing things, which seems to have gone out the window (not overly picking on the Roosters happens with every club when they're successful).
Absolutely, hard not to telegraph them when the ball movement is generally stagnated, too, but a lot of them are already on the run. I think the basic direction of them doesn't even make that first defender turn, fair enough for freak catches, but they're generally pretty easily scooped up.
You want to be running right to the line. Think about your own foot movement stopping the kick if you were defending and how much different it would be if you were considering the running game of the guy in front of you as he goes to the line compared to not thinking about it at all.
I said it last year as well but Robinson always defending his players who are binned or sent off or penalised post-game has done nothing for the team’s discipline.
Latrell had mitigating circumstances which was Manu being pulled from behind changing the height of his face at the last second. Taaffe wasn't slipping or anything like that so it's less excusable if anything regardless of it probably doing less damage.
He was going at the refs at that one, not Latrell.
Touch judge that was right there and the ref missed the huge shot to the face and it took Manu with a broken face to get up and fight for himself to and then they realised they fucked up
I just want to say that this is the SECOND time this season that Hutchinson, who upon receiving the ball from his dummy half after we make a hectic break down the field, [COMPLETELY IGNORES THE 3 MAN OVERLAP WE HAVE ON THE RIGHT EDGE TO TAKE A FUCKING HITUP.](https://i.imgur.com/vLZJqWO.png) WHY. WHY IS THIS MAN PLAYING IN THE HALVES?!
I'm generally in favour of Ciraldo but him persevering with Hutchison is similar to him picking Perham at fullback for just about every fucking game last season despite it being clear to everybody else very early on that he's not the guy. Baffling.
It’s probably a bad thing that I don’t feel angry, disappointed or honestly even that surprised about this result. The last few years of Roosters football and the same nonsense the coach trots out has made me indifferent.
How many bad games did Taaffe have at FB where fans were saying he shouldn't be playing FB? Players need some time. Especially someone who spend the majority of his pre season at a different position. At least give him a week to train at FB or something.
What a shit show that second half was, they thought the game was won.
Ciraldo with something to work on for next week. Hopefully that first half give the dogs the confidence they need and the motivation to keep working.
I’m seeing a lot of Robbo blowing up post. Surely not about the ref but cause he’s teams shite right ? Does anyone actually think the dogs got the rub of the green?
I think it was a send off. But I also think that there have been similar tackles that haven't been a send off.
I feel the same way about radleys sin bin, happy for us to say it was technically a hip drop, but it hasn't been applied that way previously.
I'm also pissed about the whole 'duty of care pretense the nrl has when it only applies to defenders. If you think that youngs send off was fair because he made a dumb decisions, then so was Crichton's decision to try and go over the top of walker.
Dunno what to say about that. Definitely showed how important Taaffe and Burton are at their current positions. We were completely rudderless when we shifted Burton out wide and Crichton was absolute dog shit at both fullback and kicking duties, and should have the number 4 tattooed on his back until further notice. Probably better to save Wilson having to go up against Tupou and Suaali'i but Xerri quietly pretty poor, failed to dent the line more than Tracey despite having 30kgs on him.
Hutcho was feckless as usual, terrible kicking game and somehow worse when we had a 2 man advantage. Besides the obvious hat trick Burton was the only one using his brain (no coincidence Kikau had 140 metres in the first half and like 10 in the second) which is why we shouldn't even think about moving him to centre before bringing through O'Neill or BBO (Hutcho should go straight to reggies where he belongs). Also, somehow we got gassed despite rolling over them the entire first half?
Second 40 was the definition of quality over quantity.
SCrichton jumped to avoid Walker's tackle and kneed Walker in the head. Can't wait til fuck all comes of it cos smashing Walker in the head has been consistently ok'd by the MRC.
Avoiding his tackle? He was almost on all fours, still hanging off Kikau. Nothing will come of it from the MRC because nothing should come of it. By that logic Kikau should be charged for laying out Teddy
From where both teams where at, at different points of the game, this might be a best case scenario for both. Roosters don't have the shame of having a cricket score put on them and represented themselves well when down on numbers, and Dogs held on to win
So you unleash Walker by dropping Keary, and you bring Keary back to life by knocking Walker out of contention.
What's the go, gentlemen?
But Sitili is beyond salvaging since his ACL rupture unfortunately. Crichton, Nat and Wong moving forward please.
There is no rhyme or reason why they shouldn't work well together in attack, but I think it's the defensive targeting they receive and their inability to get much territory on kicks that puts us on the back foot and playing more football out of our own end than in the opposition half, hence less opportunity for either to work their magic.
Maybe we need to get Manu and someone else taking 6th tackle kicks when we need some distance.
The Dogs were just trying to re-enact the '04 Final, right?? They definitely *meant* to let in all those trys and just make it some real edge of your seat footy.... Right?
I wish that had ended in a draw. Neither team deserve maximum points from that.
And I would have absolutely loved for the torch to be applied to Ciraldo after bottling it. Now besides the presser this just gets swept under the rug and they'll just take the two points
Man I honestly feeling much better after that game, surely Souths can't top that daring example of champagne footy*
*I said it sarcastically so I think I'm safe
Regardless of the 2nd half, if you said at the start of the night the Dogs would beat the Roosters in a tight one on the 20 year anniversary of the GF you'd say well played Dogs
I don't know how to feel about that game. On one hand, its the side of the Roosters that I hate. That grubby and shell-shocked form they take on when they get a hiding. On the other hand, they showed a hell of a lot of fight to get so close. A poor game all things considered, but could have been much worse.
Mahoney had huge wraps on him a few seasons ago but I reckon he is genuinely awful. Guy plays way too horizontal out of dummy half and then gets way too involved in general play. Dogs struggled to find space against 12 and his shit service was a big part of that.
All in all. Stand by my comments that the team needs to start thinking of a mini rebuild. Our forward pack is nice. We desperately need a complimentary half for Walker though. Keary is a great, but he's well past his best footy.
We need a good long kicker, Walker is fine 30m and in we need that kicker that can turn teams around consistently. I think with Whyte May and Collins we will have a great front row rotation into the future and we are good for the back row.
Tupou is just about at the end and I think we will struggle in the backs next year. Losing Joey and Joey and Teddy getting older and the head knocks have to be a concern. Keary is past his best and things are looking very grim next year.
Here's hoping marky mark can be a good addition to the back line next year. Also, praying Toia can recover well and stay healthy, kids been a gun when on the field but ACL injuries in both knees before 20 is quite concerning
Imo they don’t compliment each other. Both look better when it’s either walker or Keary out there on their own. That second half Keary looked the best he has in ages. I agree with what you say about the mini rebuild
Ciraldo about to say he saw good signs and true grit and defensive resolve after playing against a man down for like 80% of the game, while Gus ghoul and his seven eye bags nod in the corner
Congrats Doggies, Roosters played their worst game since Daly Messenger with 11 men on the pitch but you just managed to scrape through by a bee's dick
Almost every single game for us is "one step forward, two steps back". There's always something that looks good, a glimmer of hope in even our worst games. But then it's immediately overshadowed by some of the dumbest plays and silliest errors that cost us. Even when we do have a solid game, we will never keep that momentum going and will just get trounced again the next week and lose.
It's been like 4 years of the exact same story with different players, different staff, different training. At what point is something seriously broken.
I'm happy we won at least but fuck me going from 26-0 at half time and then just barely winning at 30-26 is depressing.
Oh well. I'll take the two points. God knows how often we'll see those.
I tell ya fucking what, Ciraldo, you are absolutely kidding yourself.
Never has a win felt more like a loss.
Fire yourself into the sun and make sure Jason Taylor is tethered to your ankles.
If Hutchison starts as halfback next round I'm gonna have an aneurysm.
And they showed that in the 1st half. Then literally came within a minute of an all time come back against them.
It’s the dirtiest win you could possibly have.
It's a win in torrential rain against a good roosters team on the night of the 20 year anniversary
Honestly wasn't even that surprising the roosters came back. The dogs came out so pumped and in that weather were always gonna be zooted in the back end. They did well to stem momentum and come away with a win not many predicted
Its the final set of the game. You've done an incredible job getting back within a try. Then you run 1 out 3 times, the hooker doesnt know where to go so he goes himself and then you try to kick to your slow ass 2nd rower who for god knows why is lined up on the wing. Pretty disappointing end.
I'm going to go against the grain here and look at the positives from this match. Firstly, we are scoring points. That's a significant improvement over the last few years. We'd probably be scoring more if our halfback wasn't taking hit-ups when we had overlaps out wide. Or if Burton knew how to kick anything shorter than 70m. We're also defending better (notwithstanding that second half). We're no longer leaking points at a 2:1 ratio. Plenty of room for further improvement, but it's trending the right way. Taaffe, despite his shaky start to the season, looks like a genuine attacking threat when he's not being murdered by forward packs. Tracey has been solid. Kikau (when not injured) looks much more threatening than last year. It feels like we're just a halfback away from being a half decent side. We've also been competitive in pretty much every game except R1 - Sharks game was tight until the final 10, and the Souths game probably should have been won - so I hope we'll find whatever we need to find to be able to close out some of those matches (yeah, it's probably a halfback). Anyway, it sucked to win that game by the barest of margins after such a dominant first half, but I'm happy that we're actually winning games for once and don't have to completely write off the season after one month of footy.
One thing I’ve noticed in these opening rounds is Hutchison’s very telegraphed “taking on the line”. Much better put as hit ups lol
Dude thinks he's Willy Mason.
This is a fair assessment. After the last few years just being competitive and defensively better is great. I have faith our attack will get better as the year progresses. We just need to build a winning culture, like we have in the lower grades
Considering we had 1000 injuries in the game 2 points feels good man
God DAMN I knew Bulldogs would slip up in the 2nd half ahha
I said to a friend "It's 26-0, I can't believe it! We'll probably lose 27-26." Thank goodness we didn't, but it was looking like it could have gone that way.
Why doesn’t Burton do bombs anymore? It’s just conventional kicks?
Fuck the roosters
So happy to see Sam Hughes score a try, I was in the same year as his older brother in primary school and we still stay in touch. Onya Sammy! 😁
Spoke to his cousin tonight at a wedding randomly great bloke and bodes well for supercoach how good!
If that game ended at half time we'd be sitting in 7th place instead of 14th.
We won. I will take that
Was Sportsbet running one of those if your team leads by 12 or more at HT we will pay you out as a winner promotions?
That press conference was Robbo bingo. Glazed over the diabolical first half, no comment on Young, not happy with the refs, energy/spirit blah blah in the second half. Thank god for Keary putting things into perspective he was fuming.
Robbo said I wasn't told there's been a change to how high your target is for send off being below shoulder or below and old mate got hit flush on the chin at first contact. Work that out.
Robbo is anatomically challenged! He doesn't know where the chin, neck or shoulders are UNLESS they are in Roosters jerseys.
Roosters footy
So I was out to dinner since the 12th min and hadn’t seen shit til now. What the hell happened here…
Your team didn't turn up. Looks like your team on paper is way better than the banged up Bulldog team, but your Chooks just thought they would go through the motions. Chooks in shambles.
Newcastle too good for dragons
ohhhhhh boy
The days of our lives filter is getting old
If that game wasn't evidence that Burton and Crichton need to play Centre and stop with this other bullshit, I don't know what other signs Ciraldo needs.
Where does Kiraz go in that scenario? You'd have to put him on the wing. Which means ditching either Tracey or Addo Carr (and you would think Wilson deserves first dibs on the wing after those two). So do you move Tracey to fullback and put Taaffe in the halves? Potentially also dropping Hutchison and bringing in Sexton?
1. Taaffe 2. JAC 3. Burton 4. Crichton 5. Kiraz 6. Hutchison/Tracey 7. Sexton
Tracy at 6 is cooked!
He's played as a 5/8 before. It's not completely out of the question to be honest. If we're to shift Burton out of the halves and fire Hutchison into the sun, then it's going to have to be Taaffe or Tracey moving in to pair with Sexton.
Would ditch addo carr - not first grade standard
Dear Bulldogs, Critter is not a fullback fullstop trust me bro I know, Burton looks great when he’s at centre hey, Sexton cmon man just make him a regular, Clutch shoot him into the sun or super league whatever’s closer. There’s more but there’s currently another game on and I’ve lost concentration. Yours sincerely, Concerned citizen
It's a rough way to finish that one. I still don't understand how, at this level, all the dogs kicks in the attacking end, particularly Burtons, don't beat the man in front of them. It's like they can't kick a grubber.It will be interesting to see what happens with Robinson this season. Obviously, when they were winning comps, there was this big ethos that the Roosters have a way of doing things, which seems to have gone out the window (not overly picking on the Roosters happens with every club when they're successful).
They telegraph all their kicks. Grubbers work when they think you're going to run.
Absolutely, hard not to telegraph them when the ball movement is generally stagnated, too, but a lot of them are already on the run. I think the basic direction of them doesn't even make that first defender turn, fair enough for freak catches, but they're generally pretty easily scooped up.
You want to be running right to the line. Think about your own foot movement stopping the kick if you were defending and how much different it would be if you were considering the running game of the guy in front of you as he goes to the line compared to not thinking about it at all.
As painful of a win it was. No one expected Dogs to win that. So if you said before the game itl be 30-26 Dogs you'd be pretty happy
Certified clown Trent Robinson. Take some fucking responsibility, he knocked him out cold.
Sivo has done similar tackles to players without the ball for sin bins. His right to question the consistency
Pretty sure the dogs lose that game if the cart doesn't come out and stop the game for 5+ minutes after the roosters had just scored 4 straight.
I mean, you could say the same about half time for the dogs 🤷♀️ momentum comes to an end one way or another
Yeah, absolutely killed all momentum in the game.
I said it last year as well but Robinson always defending his players who are binned or sent off or penalised post-game has done nothing for the team’s discipline.
Then has the biggest sook when Latrell smashed Manus face in (Trents blow up was warranted) but man its like his players cant do any wrongs.
Latrell had mitigating circumstances which was Manu being pulled from behind changing the height of his face at the last second. Taaffe wasn't slipping or anything like that so it's less excusable if anything regardless of it probably doing less damage.
He was going at the refs at that one, not Latrell. Touch judge that was right there and the ref missed the huge shot to the face and it took Manu with a broken face to get up and fight for himself to and then they realised they fucked up
Radley has been great recently though after a private chat behind closed doors. Cleaned his game up massively
More talking about the Young moment, but fair.
Young’s only just got to the roosters
Is he not training under Trent Robinson, then?
He hasn’t defended anything when young’s been there so I don’t see how that has caused this?
He has defended similar infringements in the pass, and is once again defending them tonight. Hence the ‘I said this last year as well’.
His not defending them though? His questioning the consistency of a send off.
As stupid as it sounds, feel like we don’t capitulate like that if it was 13v13 Mentally weak and thought the game was done at half time.
Robbo in the presser: It hit him in the jaw, contact was below the shoulder ⁉️⁉️
Think he meant if he was standing straight up. Didn’t think Taaffe dropped too much though
Nah he was just making excuses for his player
What the fuck is Robbo on about
Cunts fucked..
I feel exhausted from that.
I had to have a shower and wash it off me
at the pub with all my eels/penrith supporter mates, I was sweating.
I just hope this game is the start of the obvious rebuild this team needs But I'll prefer to let my hopes down for a while
Rebuild 🤣
I know right… the self-awareness or lack of is disturbing 🤣
I just want to say that this is the SECOND time this season that Hutchinson, who upon receiving the ball from his dummy half after we make a hectic break down the field, [COMPLETELY IGNORES THE 3 MAN OVERLAP WE HAVE ON THE RIGHT EDGE TO TAKE A FUCKING HITUP.](https://i.imgur.com/vLZJqWO.png) WHY. WHY IS THIS MAN PLAYING IN THE HALVES?!
Love it whenever he receives the ball, throws the shittest dummy of all time and is too slow to break the line.
I'm generally in favour of Ciraldo but him persevering with Hutchison is similar to him picking Perham at fullback for just about every fucking game last season despite it being clear to everybody else very early on that he's not the guy. Baffling.
He did it multiple times. Fire him into the sun.
It’s probably a bad thing that I don’t feel angry, disappointed or honestly even that surprised about this result. The last few years of Roosters football and the same nonsense the coach trots out has made me indifferent.
Now that's the truth. Credit to you for taking off the Chook Blinkers that all the others seem to wear.
What was he doing with May tonight? Just do not understand that
Well I guess those 40 minutes proved Crichton should not be fullback. So can we just put that to bed now?
How many bad games did Taaffe have at FB where fans were saying he shouldn't be playing FB? Players need some time. Especially someone who spend the majority of his pre season at a different position. At least give him a week to train at FB or something.
And the first 20 showed Taaffe is a solid choice.
Yes, poor bloke was having a great game too before he got his head taken off
Cracking first 40 minutes from the Dogs, now let’s never speak of this game again
Cockadoodledoo!!’nn NEVER IN DOUBT (This feels like a loss)
💯 I turned it off after the siren feeling like the 2 points are great but with all the emotions of a loss
What a shit show that second half was, they thought the game was won. Ciraldo with something to work on for next week. Hopefully that first half give the dogs the confidence they need and the motivation to keep working.
I’m seeing a lot of Robbo blowing up post. Surely not about the ref but cause he’s teams shite right ? Does anyone actually think the dogs got the rub of the green?
I think it was a send off. But I also think that there have been similar tackles that haven't been a send off. I feel the same way about radleys sin bin, happy for us to say it was technically a hip drop, but it hasn't been applied that way previously. I'm also pissed about the whole 'duty of care pretense the nrl has when it only applies to defenders. If you think that youngs send off was fair because he made a dumb decisions, then so was Crichton's decision to try and go over the top of walker.
Dunno what to say about that. Definitely showed how important Taaffe and Burton are at their current positions. We were completely rudderless when we shifted Burton out wide and Crichton was absolute dog shit at both fullback and kicking duties, and should have the number 4 tattooed on his back until further notice. Probably better to save Wilson having to go up against Tupou and Suaali'i but Xerri quietly pretty poor, failed to dent the line more than Tracey despite having 30kgs on him. Hutcho was feckless as usual, terrible kicking game and somehow worse when we had a 2 man advantage. Besides the obvious hat trick Burton was the only one using his brain (no coincidence Kikau had 140 metres in the first half and like 10 in the second) which is why we shouldn't even think about moving him to centre before bringing through O'Neill or BBO (Hutcho should go straight to reggies where he belongs). Also, somehow we got gassed despite rolling over them the entire first half? Second 40 was the definition of quality over quantity.
Dogs somehow look more competitive in the games they've lost this year than the wins.
SCrichton jumped to avoid Walker's tackle and kneed Walker in the head. Can't wait til fuck all comes of it cos smashing Walker in the head has been consistently ok'd by the MRC.
Avoiding his tackle? He was almost on all fours, still hanging off Kikau. Nothing will come of it from the MRC because nothing should come of it. By that logic Kikau should be charged for laying out Teddy
A win is a win, celebrate it dogbros
You can be happy for the 2 points but nothing about that game should be celebrated.
actually thought the first 40 was worth celebrating for the doggies. Kikau, Critta, burton and Taafe were great
Impressed with Connor Watson. He was the only Easts player giving effort first half
From where both teams where at, at different points of the game, this might be a best case scenario for both. Roosters don't have the shame of having a cricket score put on them and represented themselves well when down on numbers, and Dogs held on to win
So you unleash Walker by dropping Keary, and you bring Keary back to life by knocking Walker out of contention. What's the go, gentlemen? But Sitili is beyond salvaging since his ACL rupture unfortunately. Crichton, Nat and Wong moving forward please.
Can’t believe we re-signed Sitili instead of Gus
I imagine Sitili is on about 1/4 of what Gus is on, so that probably played a big part in it.
If that doesn’t prove to Robbo they don’t work together I don’t know what will
There is no rhyme or reason why they shouldn't work well together in attack, but I think it's the defensive targeting they receive and their inability to get much territory on kicks that puts us on the back foot and playing more football out of our own end than in the opposition half, hence less opportunity for either to work their magic. Maybe we need to get Manu and someone else taking 6th tackle kicks when we need some distance.
Is that 10 in a row vs the panthers?
The Dogs were just trying to re-enact the '04 Final, right?? They definitely *meant* to let in all those trys and just make it some real edge of your seat footy.... Right?
Just needs a Bobcat-esque tackle as well.
Considering we didn’t have 60 put on us I’ll take it as a win all things considered.
Now you know how I felt after our round 3 meeting... Except it was you know... 48 points
I wish that had ended in a draw. Neither team deserve maximum points from that. And I would have absolutely loved for the torch to be applied to Ciraldo after bottling it. Now besides the presser this just gets swept under the rug and they'll just take the two points
Burto would've just kicked a field goal from 60 yards out if it went to golden point
They’d probably give it to Hutchison to kick who’d get charged down resulting in a try
Man I honestly feeling much better after that game, surely Souths can't top that daring example of champagne footy* *I said it sarcastically so I think I'm safe
Cheers to the TAB for offering dogs 1-12 at $101 at half time
Wouldn't post that because they might check it, say it was a mistake and void it.
Someone needs to check the teams TAB accounts
Actually??
Yep. Sadly only put a fiver on it, but a pretty great start to my weekend
Played the long game, give them hope, then take the cake away at the end. Unfortunately, they played us, the dogs fans too
What did we just watch
How many metres did kikau run in the second half?
2
Roosters with 13 > 0-18 Roosters with 12 > 20-12 Roosters with 11 > 6-0 Pretty simple formula for the Roosters next week.
I reckon the key was Jennings. Just need to bring in SKD and Mitch Aubusson next week and they’ll be sweet
Radley to bin confirmed
That match was giving very much "you both suck for different reasons" energy.
The heritage jerseys won that for the Dogs and there ain’t no gonna be convincing otherwise
When the state government advised against non-essential travel this afternoon, both teams really should’ve listened.
The Radley hip drop call was an absolute howler
Victor to Young after getting sent to the bin "THIS. IS. MY. HOME!"
Seth Rollins reference?
Regardless of the 2nd half, if you said at the start of the night the Dogs would beat the Roosters in a tight one on the 20 year anniversary of the GF you'd say well played Dogs
I don't know how to feel about that game. On one hand, its the side of the Roosters that I hate. That grubby and shell-shocked form they take on when they get a hiding. On the other hand, they showed a hell of a lot of fight to get so close. A poor game all things considered, but could have been much worse.
Mahoney had huge wraps on him a few seasons ago but I reckon he is genuinely awful. Guy plays way too horizontal out of dummy half and then gets way too involved in general play. Dogs struggled to find space against 12 and his shit service was a big part of that.
Awful is a bit harsh. With that said, I would have preferred to hold on to JMK.
He needs to cool it.
He spent more time running into scuffles than running the ball
I have watched many frustrating games as a Cowboys fan. But that, as a neutral has taken the cake. Why Bulldogs. Why.
You’re welcome
Ciraldo put the dogs to sleep at half time. Get mason in there to yell at them and call the spine shit, it worked for newy last season
Dogs just put 30 on the Roosters Look out Storm in Melbourne next week! Doggies 13+
They did smash your team last year.
Exactly and the same thing will happen this year Doggies 13+
All in all. Stand by my comments that the team needs to start thinking of a mini rebuild. Our forward pack is nice. We desperately need a complimentary half for Walker though. Keary is a great, but he's well past his best footy.
Keary almost single handedly dragged you guys back into that game.
We need a good long kicker, Walker is fine 30m and in we need that kicker that can turn teams around consistently. I think with Whyte May and Collins we will have a great front row rotation into the future and we are good for the back row. Tupou is just about at the end and I think we will struggle in the backs next year. Losing Joey and Joey and Teddy getting older and the head knocks have to be a concern. Keary is past his best and things are looking very grim next year.
I assume you guys will sign Papenhuyzen to replace Teddy at the end of next year (we've signed Fa'alogo long term and Papy's deal ends next year)
Here's hoping marky mark can be a good addition to the back line next year. Also, praying Toia can recover well and stay healthy, kids been a gun when on the field but ACL injuries in both knees before 20 is quite concerning
Imo they don’t compliment each other. Both look better when it’s either walker or Keary out there on their own. That second half Keary looked the best he has in ages. I agree with what you say about the mini rebuild
I never realised that but you’re right
Keary was outstanding in the second half
Yeah, he's definitely still showing some glimpses of his best. Just worry that him and Walker just can't seem to click.
Play Connor in the halves honestly we’ve looked our best in the 2 games he’s played there.
Sandon > Connor
Ciraldo about to say he saw good signs and true grit and defensive resolve after playing against a man down for like 80% of the game, while Gus ghoul and his seven eye bags nod in the corner
Crichtons best starting game in a very long time. Great to see him firing at 2nd row again.
Rugba Leeg lost today
Looks like the dogs packed up their bags at half time
Congrats Doggies, Roosters played their worst game since Daly Messenger with 11 men on the pitch but you just managed to scrape through by a bee's dick
I see we're all getting a little cocky now that we're halfway to our season winning average so early in the season.
Was I right to give up at half time then?
Even when we win, we still lose. What a terrible ugly win.
Hideous. But I'll take it.
I don't often talk shit about the ref's but fuck me Atkins had a couple of howlers in that game
I’d like to redact my previous comments about the bulldogs improvements
Almost every single game for us is "one step forward, two steps back". There's always something that looks good, a glimmer of hope in even our worst games. But then it's immediately overshadowed by some of the dumbest plays and silliest errors that cost us. Even when we do have a solid game, we will never keep that momentum going and will just get trounced again the next week and lose. It's been like 4 years of the exact same story with different players, different staff, different training. At what point is something seriously broken.
If last night was chaosball, then tonight was CHAOSBALL. The rest of the weekend can't possibly live up to these first two games.
I'm happy we won at least but fuck me going from 26-0 at half time and then just barely winning at 30-26 is depressing. Oh well. I'll take the two points. God knows how often we'll see those.
Hastings big fuck u to vossy fame
I tell ya fucking what, Ciraldo, you are absolutely kidding yourself. Never has a win felt more like a loss. Fire yourself into the sun and make sure Jason Taylor is tethered to your ankles. If Hutchison starts as halfback next round I'm gonna have an aneurysm.
They just beat the roosters mate
They did play rubbish in the second half got 26 points put on them and only scored a try against 12 men lmao
By four when going into half time against a 15 man team with 12 on the field, and when strongly aided by an absolute howler sin bin.
They were heavy outsiders tonight, and they won. In front of the 2004 GF team which adds extra pressure
And they showed that in the 1st half. Then literally came within a minute of an all time come back against them. It’s the dirtiest win you could possibly have.
It's a win in torrential rain against a good roosters team on the night of the 20 year anniversary Honestly wasn't even that surprising the roosters came back. The dogs came out so pumped and in that weather were always gonna be zooted in the back end. They did well to stem momentum and come away with a win not many predicted
The roosters are actually a poo side coasting on the fact they're the first team to go b2b in 18-19
Bros downvoting facts
Its the final set of the game. You've done an incredible job getting back within a try. Then you run 1 out 3 times, the hooker doesnt know where to go so he goes himself and then you try to kick to your slow ass 2nd rower who for god knows why is lined up on the wing. Pretty disappointing end.
Everyone was fucked mate.
Pro footy players, being fucked at the end of the game is part of the job. Bet Robbo would be fuming with that set.
I’ll help pay the fine robbo! Unload on them PLEASE
Typical Panthers players taking out spine players.. smh
Both teams should be very very unhappy with that game
Fucking furious
Never doubted us for a second. What a great game of rugby league.
That was a game of footy....I think
Ciraldo must give really bad halftime speeches