Tooves defensive in 2013

[MK Eagle]

Its only 2 games in but the defensive line has looked far better than 2012 with attitude, desire & commitment over the full 80 minutes.
It was never an overnight quick fix with a new coach thrown into a pool of fire & considering the situation I stand by the fact Tooves had a very successful initial season as coach.
Often caught out in the ruck area in 2012 Tooves has nailed the fact players like she Rex, Rose & Lussick were quite vulnerable with lateral movement & almost clumsy in defence. Admittedly a Rose fan as an impact player, his defensive lapses are more the reason he is out of the 17 than his fitness levels which in fact compliment this factor.
These new faces like Fa'aso, Horo & Lawrence have exceptional defensive speed & touch wood thus far, has led to very minimal defensive lapses around the middle of the park.
When ppl see a shocking result like the 2012 final against the Storm & see a cluster of backs scoring the points its easy to blame the outside men but fact is, it starts in the middle of the park.
If this area continues to get the job done , & theres no reason it cant, only Storm , Dogs & Souths can come close to challenging for the title.

 

[KOMORI]

Defense wins premierships. Simple

I'd rather a team that puts more value on NOT having their line crossed than scoring a heap of points over the reverse: fortunately it looks (at this very early stage of the season) like our team value their line.... and handily enough can put on points from anywhere too

 

[Dan]

Yup our defense looks awesome with only the odd laps a few times on our right edge, which was more down to good attack than anything.

We look like a solid wall and my god is there some sting in what we are doing.

One thing I noticed after last night finally watching the Newcastle game is that Foran often gets caught too far in field but reads the play quickly enough to sprint into position to make the tackle. He is clearly the link man here, and was suffering a lot from having the slow and lazy T-Rex outside, at least now he has a decent defender outside him and that allows him the time to get back across, meaning we can compact a little in the middle and still slide out.

Everyone seems to throw a lot of traffic directly at him but his one on one tackle style means he rarely gets caught out. On the other side it looks like Bhurer, Ballin and Watmough are always there to help out DCE as well

 

[HappilyManly]

It simply is that all 13 Players on the field are committed.
No one has to do another's job, unless there is some injury etc.

It's how Manly wins Premierships - great to see the commitment in the newbies

 

[Jado]

Pep and grit.....

they got these this year, they lacked those last year

 

[eagles2win]

It simply is that all 13 Players on the field are committed.

They're clinically insane and off the street - well that's good news

 

[Brookie]

Pep and grit.....

they got these this year, they lacked those last year

i hope pep isn't short for peptides?
:huh:

 

[swoop]

Having mobile forwards help. Prime examples Lawrence and Kite who's defence have been terrific.

 

[Rex]

It seems 2V is building a more intelligent team. Not IQ wise (although that's possible too). But in being predisposed to respond in intelligent ways to different scenarios.

Power forwards was (and is) Des' preferred platform. It seems 2V's style is more targeted to having players who automatically respond intelligently to different situations. This requires having enough muscle, speed, endurance, mobility, etc - rather than having excesses in some areas and deficiencies in others.

 

[Jono]

I think that Melbourne game last year is still fresh in their minds. Hopefully they can go this whole game without the Titans scoring. Would mean we have gone 200 minutes without anyone scoring against us. We're currently at 2 hours. Not a bad effort for a team that supposedly won't make the finals this year.

 

[Dan]

It seems 2V is building a more intelligent team. Not IQ wise (although that's possible too). But in being predisposed to respond in intelligent ways to different scenarios.

Power forwards was (and is) Des' preferred platform. It seems 2V's style is more targeted to having players who automatically respond intelligently to different situations. This requires having enough muscle, speed, endurance, mobility, etc - rather than having excesses in some areas and deficiencies in others.

Yeah thr forwards know its 90% physical and 20% mental this year

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Dont players contribute at least 120% these days. Dans short changing us.

 

[Pittwater Legend]

4 tries in 3 games now. That is a terrific start.

I think we may have the best average on tries conceded after the Titans game.