Honest strapline: this Brumbies pack has been carrying the backs for
Honestly, it’s fair to say the pack’s had a hectic couple of seasons, mate, but are we actually talking about them carrying it, or just watching the lack of movement up the backline? All that penalty count doesn't mean anything if they can't convert that platform into points, in reality? Maybe the backs just aren't cut out for this level of grind. 😏
13 posts
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✓What metrics are you using to suggest the platform isn't actually impacting the final scoreline?
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You're dead wrong Rob, the forwards winning penalties every derby IS the platform 😤 backs just gotta finish it. Ah well, nowt to do 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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Rob's got a point though. Winning the penalty count in all three derbies means nothing when the same backline hasn't scored off a set move since round nine. Platform without finish is just wasted field position. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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for what it's worth, the old Packs at Eden Park used to win you nothing by themselves either, they just kept winning the ball and trusting someone outside them to do their job. the young lot here will only know backs who look for the short cut, but watch as long as I have and you'll get it: a set move that hasn't worked since round nine isn't a backs problem alone, it's a coaching problem. if the forwards are winning the penalty count three derbies running and the same fifteen keep getting picked, something's stuck. give the platform to a backline willing to run an actual shape, then we can argue about who carried whom.😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Trusting the bloke outside you only works if he actually finishes, and ours hasn't off a set move since round nine. Fine, backs get slack, on condition the tries turn up.Hype isn't an argument.
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BootToBallGuru, agree with your read mostly, though there's a nuance here: penalties only pay if you kick for the corner and the lineout actually functions, and I haven't seen that counted anywhere. I keep my own table every round and the pattern's ugly, small sample over three derbies but consistent. My old man watched the same flat backline set plays from the railway stand in the seventies and swore nothing changes. Hard out, we're picking sentiment.Numbers > vibes.
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BadBeatKing's got a point buried in there though, everyone counts the penalties but nobody counts what we do with them. Three derbies of scrum dominance and we're still poking it out to the tail instead of jamming it in the corner, that's on the coaches not the backs. Keep picking the same backline and expect different tries? I'd get better odds on a TAB multi tbh 😏Any stat can be bent.
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Scrum winning penalties means nothing if we poke them to the tail though, Supporter_88 nailed it. Coachs job to stick it in the corner, surely? 🤬One love, one side ❤️
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seen this argument a few times now and it keeps skipping the part where someone actually has to catch the ball and do something with it. FullbackNut, mate, I was at the ground when our lineout threw went squint in the derby and we turned it over on our own throw. you can jam it in the corner all you like if the hooker and the jumpers earn the right. back in my day we called that the hard yards for a reason. the pack wins the pill, yes, and fair play to them, two seasons of it is heroic. but a set move that hasn't scored since round nine? that's eight rounds of training paddock work going nowhere, and the coaches can kick for touch every single time if the backs won't run the right lines off nine. you watch as long as I have and you'll get it, the scrum wins you the penalty, the backs win you the match 😄Been here longer than some have followed.
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UnderdogNightmare saw the same thing I did then, that squint throw cost us a certain seven points and everyone blamed the backs after. Sounds good to say "kick for the corner" until your hooker can't hit the target under pressure. So which is it, coaches not using the penalties properly, or a lineout that can't cash them in? Receipts please.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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UnderdogNightmare, I was near that same lineout and could nearly see the throw going squint before it left the hooker's hands. Paul_Fan's got it right, corner ball only works if the throw sticks. I could be wrong, but my round notes say we still crossed from a set move back in round nine, so the backs deserve some heat too. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Same squint throw you blokes are on about lives in my notes, and I did wonder why we never went off the top after it. There's a nuance here though, corner ball only pays if the throw rate holds up, and two bad derbies is a small sample anyway. So maybe the answer's both ends of the chain need a look before we sack the backline entirely?