Masked Eagle
Bencher
Don't know if anyone else watched the replay of the 2011 GF on Sunday morning on Fox? But it hit me like a poke in the eyes, but IMO the biggest difference between our 2011 title winning season and ultimately our failure in 2012 wasn't with Des leaving, off field dramas, rep duties or any number of other excuses that have been trodded out. It was on the wings. Watching that replay brought home the stark reality of how important it is to have wingers who can defuse a bomb. Robbo and Hoppa were elite, probably the best combination of taking a bomb in the comp and whilst I am a huge fan of young Taufua and he has gone a long way to replacing the type of metres we used to get from young Hoppa, I think its fair to say its an area of his game which needs the most work. The difference between defusing bombs and giving the opposition tries, attacking scrums from 10m out or line drop outs is immense and greatly impacted on our title defence this year. It's what stops teams getting repeat sets and having those ridiculous 60-40 possession games which we had against us way too many times this year. Whilst you can still win those games, there is no doubt it can have an effect on your energy levels in the following weeks. Things weren't much better on the other wing either with Wolfman, Whare and Oldfield all having problems under a bomb.
Whilst this isn't an excuse for our last performance against the Storm. If we get a lot better in this area of our game in 2013 it will go a long way to helping up become premiers!
Whilst this isn't an excuse for our last performance against the Storm. If we get a lot better in this area of our game in 2013 it will go a long way to helping up become premiers!