Official Round 5 - Bulldogs vs Panthers - Team and Game Discussion Thread

[spiritofaslan]

News / Live Score Link

https://www.bulldogs.com.au/draw/nrl-premiership/2022/round-5-bulldogs-v-panthers/

 

[BomberBurton]

Still not my pick for strongest possible side.

 

[Captain Ibis]

Ava and Schoup unlucky. Either way I think Trent needs to stick with this lineup for a few weeks.. I'm not so annoyed about him changing the halves three times if he is now going to stick.. it's clear that Wakeham and Averillo don't take enough pressure off their halves partner.

 

[spiritofaslan]

Mid week Press Conferences: JAC, Vaughan, Jackson, Dufty.

Pretty much 90% questions about Flanagan. Taking the pressure off Burton a bit.

Josh Addo-Carr

Paul Vaughan

Josh Jackson

Matt Dufty

 

[BomberBurton]

No pressure on flanno at all hey.
Perform or you're out!
Averillo should not be played there again.
Wakeham showed signs, yet once again, was not afforded the time to develop plays with his other half and feel safe (rightfully so as well).
BBO is the only other realistic go to option we've got atm.

 

[Captain Ibis]

all three have had enough games in first grade to show what they've got and out of the three Kyle has been the better performer on his day. The issue is not Kyle, it's Trent. I know the Roosters discarded him but they want somebody who can win them a premiership right away where as we're in a rebuild and just need somebody to play well enough to lift us from the bottom of the ladder as a start.

 

[spiritofaslan]

I suspect that maybe the idea all along has been "try alternatives in the halves" until Kyle has his confidence built back up again and dominates in NSW Cup.

He's doing that now, and what better way to test his resolve, than against the premiership heavyweights of the Panthers.

If he can perform against the best in the comp, it'll be a huge confidence boost.

Seems that Gould has taken him personally under his wing.

 

[Captain Ibis]

I also think Trent was maybe hoping for some X Factor and seeing if possibly another option could provide it, hence the Averillo experiment. As many have said, why wait if he's made the decision that the other two are not up to it? Kyle's issues last year were more about having nothing to work with rather than his own ability. The more game time he gets along side Burton/behind a better pack the more his confidence will grow.

 

[spiritofaslan]

Flanno needed his confidence back, and to know inside that he CAN dominate a game and provide what the team needs and Barrett was after. Best way to do that is get game time in a lower grade. Hence why many other players (and up and comers) for us have dropped back grades.

Better to do that then smash their confidence completely and have them doubt if they do have the talents to make it.

Okunbor is a perfect example of this as well.

New and improved Flanno has the raw talent to kill it at the top level, he just needs that confidence to go with it.

 

[BomberBurton]

I sincerely hope all that is the case.
Only time will tell.

 

[Captain Ibis]

Man, the poor discipline is really letting us down. That game turned out a bit better than it started out but we just gave them crazy amounts of ball.

 

[Captain Ibis]

I thought Stimson looked alright when he came on too which is promising

 

[spiritofaslan]

Didn't watch the game as I got busy with a few things and kinda had it on in background and wasn't really in the room.

Seems it was a massive improvement from what I heard on Up Late with Matty Johns. Errors hurt us, but the intent was there. Reckons if we get rid of the sloppy errors (though it was slippery out there), we should start beating sides soon.

 

[Captain Ibis]

Didn't watch the game as I got busy with a few things and kinda had it on in background and wasn't really in the room.

Seems it was a massive improvement from what I heard on Up Late with Matty Johns. Errors hurt us, but the intent was there. Reckons if we get rid of the sloppy errors (though it was slippery out there), we should start beating sides soon.

To be fair to the boys Storm and Panthers can do that to the best of teams so after this run of the top sides I think we'll see some better footy... Kyle definitely helps steer the team around a lot better than the other options.

 

[spiritofaslan]

I dunno why, but I just have this strange feeling we might actually get up against Souths.

Key to beating them is shutting down Walker. Cook has been nowhere near his best these days, and Souths are without Latrell.

 

[Captain Ibis]

I dunno why, but I just have this strange feeling we might actually get up against Souths.

Key to beating them is shutting down Walker. Cook has been nowhere near his best these days, and Souths are without Latrell.

yea me too, I think if our discipline is good our pack can get over the top of theirs.

 

[Bad Billy]

Gettin worried now.

 

[spiritofaslan]

Interesting press conference.

It's clear the sin binning screwed us up badly, and that we need some calls to start going our way.

Chris Patolo - taken to hospital.
Braidon Burns - tweaked hamstring.

....

Honestly we are looking and playing better than what some people realise. Award 2 of those rubbish no try calls, and we are right back in the game.

As our draw starts to now taper off to mid and lower ladder sides, I think we'll start seeing things change. We just need some wins to get team confidence and belief back, and certainly with Flanno in the halves we seem to have fresh spark there.

If Burns is out for an extended period I'd say Allan or Schoupp straight in.

 

[boxer]

Did we have 2 disallowed try’s?

 

[spiritofaslan]

Did we have 2 disallowed try’s?

Three.

Burns "held up".
??? "forward pass".
Naden "knock on"