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| Quote Mugwump="Mugwump"At times I felt like I was watching the Rugby League equivalent of the French army capitulating en masse before Guderian's Panzer armies in 1940.'"
Don't you mean "in the first 40"?
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| Quote Mugwump="Mugwump""A few missed tackles" doesn't begin to describe BOTH sides' almost non-existent defence. At times I felt like I was watching the Rugby League equivalent of the French army capitulating en masse before Guderian's Panzer armies in 1940.
Tiredness after an intensive Easter schedule can only go so far in explanation. After all, busy Easters are nothing new. Yet compare with the bone-crunching defence that was a regular feature of Wigan-Warrington games not two or three seasons hence.
Far too many sides have seemingly given up on expansive play [ibased on a solid forward foundation[/i. Instead of setting up a platform teams are now skipping that stage entirely and pinging the ball left and right as though it were radioactive and prolonged exposure might result in instant death. Consider the absolutely diabolical stats posted by the entire Wigan front row at Leeds where players such as Tony Clubb managed no more than three of four drives in EIGHTY MINUTES.
I mean, sure - it makes for an entertaining game - especially when neither side seems capable of defence. But what happens when you suddenly meet a side that doesn't miss tackles - as was the case in the WCC? Or - more importantly - the Grand Final, where Wigan couldn't make so much as a yard down the centre channel against Saints' big pack and even though their backs providing forward momentum they very rarely looked like scoring against a committed defence which didn't leave yawning gaps for players to romp through with nary a finger laid on them.
In any case, for a side committed to giving their backs every opportunity Wigan have blown a remarkably large number of chances already this season. Consider the early game against Widnes in which they blew countless opportunities whilst seemingly cruising - only to then go on and lose the game. It's all well and good celebrating "thrilling back play" - providing the backs are dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. After all, eighty yard breaks which result in the linesman's flag being raised don't put any more points on the board.
It's ironic that precisely at the time when we really do look like we've turned the corner in terms of junior development - pragmatic, tactically sound rugby seems to have gone completely out of the window. I really do fear just how many bad habits these kids are picking up currently.
If anything we seem to be reverting to the very same kind of "unprofessional" rugby which landed us in our current and interminable predicament against Australia.
I couldn't agree more. How many mistakes does this kid make? And we're not just talking mundane errors. He really does seem to be taking a leaf out of the Francis Meli school of spectacularly cataclysmic blunders. I fear he is getting way ahead of himself joining the NRL at such a young and inexperienced age. The Australian competition really is not the arena you want to be joining if you are defensively suspect. If he makes half the errors he has so far this season they'll bust him down to the lower leagues so fast his head will spin. And once you pick up the kind of tag that Francis Meli was saddled with it's practically impossible to shake off.'"
Defender makes poor read , attacking player scores shock!
In all my years of watching RL I'm sure this has happened before even to the best of players , and it will happen again.
Remind me, how many points did wire score in total? Someone must have been doing some defending at some point then?
Remind me how many hit ups the great Mose made v Leeds last night? I bet he's on far more money per carry than Clubb is.
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| Quote Saddened!="Saddened!"Wane is irresponsible and was totally at fault for the incident happening in the first place. He wound them up so much with his 110% aggression approach that it was inevitable that as soon as they started to lose the forward battle (And the did massively throughout the entire game) their players would snap.'"
Err... What?
You're saying that Ben Flower snapped because they were starting to lose the forward battle after two minutes (two minutes in which the other side never had possession)?
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| Quote Wellsy13="Wellsy13"Quote Wellsy13="Saddened!"Wane is irresponsible and was totally at fault for the incident happening in the first place. He wound them up so much with his 110% aggression approach that it was inevitable that as soon as they started to lose the forward battle (And the did massively throughout the entire game) their players would snap.'"
Err... What?
You're saying that Ben Flower snapped because they were starting to lose the forward battle after two minutes (two minutes in which the other side never had possession)?'"
I'm afraid many of Sadend and his cronies blame Wane, even though it's obvious to any sane man that, Flower got a whack in the mush, and responded understandably with a whack in the mush to Hohia. What no one can expain, and that includes Ben Flower, is the second punch. No way is Wane to blame for the first or second punches, but his comments in the build up and the ridiculous documentary did him no favours.
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| Quote SuffolkCherryPie="SuffolkCherryPie"I'm afraid many of Sadend and his cronies blame Wane, even though it's obvious to any sane man that, Flower got a whack in the mush, and responded understandably with a whack in the mush to Hohia. What no one can expain, and that includes Ben Flower, is the second punch. No way is Wane to blame for the first or second punches, but his comments in the build up and the ridiculous documentary did him no favours.'"
Defend Wane all you want, but he doesn't help himself. Surely even you must be a little concerned that he said he expects more aggression from Flower! Is he expecting him to commence punching the children next??
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| Quote The Reaper="The Reaper"Defend Wane all you want, but he doesn't help himself. Surely even you must be a little concerned that he said he expects more aggression from Flower! Is he expecting him to commence punching the children next??'"
No, he's expecting one of his prop to do his job - Run hard and hit hard. He's worried that with all the focus on him and his behaviour, he'll play soft, which is the worst thing a prop can do. Don't talk soft. Every coach from the kiddies up to the pros tells their big lads to be aggressive. I know a lot of people don't like Wigan, that's up to them, but it's absolute madness and unbelievable bias when someone hears a coach say to his prop "be aggressive" and think that it's permission to knock people out every game, which of course, Ben Flower did every time he stepped on the pitch, and not that one isolated incident..
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| Quote The Reaper="The Reaper"Defend Wane all you want, but he doesn't help himself. Surely even you must be a little concerned that he said he expects more aggression from Flower! Is he expecting him to commence punching the children next??'"
Look at the way saints are now playing in their forwards under Cunningham. Far more aggressive. What do you think KC is asking his team to be? More gentlemanly?
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| You're both missing the point. He said he expects MORE aggression from somebody that's just served a 6 month ban for punching an unconscious player half his size...
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| Quote The Reaper="The Reaper"You're both missing the point. He said he expects MORE aggression from somebody that's just served a 6 month ban for punching an unconscious player half his size...'"
When you find a dictionary definition that shows aggression = punching someone then come back.
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| For anyone blaming Wane for what Flower did, I think you seem to be not quite understanding that adults are responsible for their own decisions! Wane never told him to punch another player, and he never made him do it.
Wane may have some responsibility in getting his players over-hyped, but it's up to Flower to use that responsibly. He didn't. Hence he got a ban.
As for Wane saying he wants more aggression, aggression doesn't mean punching. Stop being precious.
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| Quote Wellsy13="Wellsy13"For anyone blaming Wane for what Flower did, I think you seem to be not quite understanding that adults are responsible for their own decisions! Wane never told him to punch another player, and he never made him do it.
Wane may have some responsibility in getting his players over-hyped, but it's up to Flower to use that responsibly. He didn't. Hence he got a ban.
As for Wane saying he wants more aggression, aggression doesn't mean punching. Stop being precious.'"
I don't think for a minute Wane meant he wanted him to go out and throw more punches, but it doesn't really matter what he meant - the fact is, his player is returning from a long ban for violence on the grandest stage of our game, his 'more aggressive' comment to the media is ill-informed and doesn't create a good impression, particularly to the casual viewer who will have just seen a replay of the incident and then hears the coach saying he wants to see 'more aggression' - it's not a good look for the game.
I'd say he needs to engage brain and think about the impression he's giving of our game before commenting in public - having said that, he absolutely comes across as the type of bloke that would like our game to have the reputation of being played by 'meat head thugs who you should be scared of' - he certainly wants his team to have that reputation.
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| I've not actually heard Wane's comments. But did he actually mean "I want him to come back and be more aggressive than he was before." Or did he mean; "before his ban he was an aggressive player and I want more of the same."
The words "more aggression" in isolation can mean either.
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