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Beretta said:
I said it before, signing Galvin mid year will be the downfall of our season.
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Sexton and Marhoney have been playing better since Galvin arrived.

Galvin played a role in 2 first half tries.

But also in some sloppy passes.

Being top of the table was perhaps a slightly higher position than our attack had earned.

Our right side defence often looks shaky when Critter isn't at right centre.

The media exaggerated how well we were going and tried hard to create an issue when we signed Galvin.

Overall Cirro and Gus know what they are doing. Sexton and Marhoney have some limitations. Most of our 1st place on the table was due to defence and systems.
 
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OldDogFan said:
Another experiment for next year: pair Woods with Galvin in the halves, move Burton to Lock and Hayward to Hooker. I eond how that might work out.
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I think Woods and Galvin are a likely long term halves combination. Galvin could play lock, and I agree that Burton could play lock.

People think that the Panthers had instant overnight success and that, leading the comp 1/2 way though the season means a certain GF appearance.

Even though reserve grade isn't winning, Woods seems to be playing well.

This season I'm not sure even Cirro knows how to get the attack firing. But I am confident Cirro knows what needs be fixed.

This season I think Marhoney and Sexton feature and depending on injuries, Galvin comes off the bench. Can we win a comp with Marhoney and Sexton? IMO probably not, but there is a slim chance that we can.

In 2026 Marhoney and Sexton are not at the club, Galvin, Woods and Burton play in the halves.

At right centre we need someone who can keep the defence tight when Critter isn't playing.
 
For the game against the Cows, games like this are where the coach earns his money and the players show that we are contenders.

Hopefully the Cows are no better than their position on the table.

Last 2 games the opposition played well in attack and defence. And we learned plenty about where we need to improve.
 
I had doubts all year. The last two games showed we are much further away than our position in the table would suggest. Our attack is far from crisp.

Galvin should give us more points. And I’m confident he will in time. But until he is much better at closing out games, playing him off the bench would be what I would like to see.

We are a better team with sexton at seven and Mahoney at nine. The bigger issue than Galvin is where Salmon and Toups fit in when they get back. Both add plenty of points. And are superior to most in defence.

Every year most people agree it’s not until after origin the premiers start to show themselves. Losing many more games and you can cross us off that list.
 
We still have a lot of improvement in us, Panthers played well as expected, Broncos played surprisingly well.

We played well for the full 80 against Panthers. Galvin added plenty in attack against the Panthers.

Galvin and Mann on the bench means that we are lacking size.

That size is probably Hughes or Toups off the bench, perhaps Todd.

Galvin is a more dangerous ball runner than Sexton and is a better ball-player, defence and consistency need improvement he is trying too hard to make things happen.

Our game could click at anytime, the squad is in better shape this year. We limped into the end of last season.
 
IMO long term Woods is replacing Sexton, Hayward is replacing Marhoney. Galvin joining the club doesn't have much to do with either of the guys leaving.

Both have lifted since Galvin arrived and I think that they will probably retain that form as they want a shot at a title with the Dogs this year.

Galvin isn't the polished player that he will hopefully one day be. Cirro is still trying to work out how to use him and what he needs to work on.

We need to bank a couple of wins to silence the outside noise and get our confidence back.

We will get the answer on what Galvin adds in September.

Minor premiership is nice, playing in a GF is better. Anything less is just gaining experience.
 
Team pretty much as expected with SOO players named.

Montoya dropped or injured.
 
Hounddog said:
IMO long term Woods is replacing Sexton, Hayward is replacing Marhoney. Galvin joining the club doesn't have much to do with either of the guys leaving.

Both have lifted since Galvin arrived and I think that they will probably retain that form as they want a shot at a title with the Dogs this year.

Galvin isn't the polished player that he will hopefully one day be. Cirro is still trying to work out how to use him and what he needs to work on.

We need to bank a couple of wins to silence the outside noise and get our confidence back.

We will get the answer on what Galvin adds in September.

Minor premiership is nice, playing in a GF is better. Anything less is just gaining experience.
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You right can't just put all the blame on Galvin . The Panthers game could had gone either way . Last week the first half was perfect without the origin players too ,
The team just became too cocky in the end and Cirro hopefully addressed it .
Galvin is young and give him a couple more years he will be built up . He is quite tall and when he starts putting in the kilos he will be like another Fittler I reckon .
Should beat the Cows if all the players are fit .
 
5/8 in reserve grade is vacant, perhaps Galvin will be dropped to give him a chance to work on things and to see how he combines with Woods.

Right side defence was shaky to non-existent in the final 20 mins, Galvin was on the other side of the field. I think Cirro will be focused on things like that.

Turpin was impressive against the Broncos, Salmon is also in the extended squad. Our defence in the final 20 was nothing like the defence in the first 40.

At 18-0 we had enough points, just completing sets, good end of set options, good defence and linespeed and no sloppy penalties, wins it for us.

Poor Kiks doesn't have a good record as captain, i didn't notice him keeping the team on track in the last 20 mins. We should have reset after the first Broncos try.

I also agree that the attacking structures used by the Broncos were excellent. Good depth, multiple runners running hard.

Mam looked good due to the depth and our defence becoming disjointed. We were flat on the left, with runners moving slower. Galvin attempting to pass to runners crowded by a fast linespeed.

Our side still occasionally lapses into bad habits in attack and defence, especially when Critter isn't on the field. It isn't just one player, and it hasn't just happened in the last 2 games.
 
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Hounddog said:
I think Woods and Galvin are a likely long term halves combination. Galvin could play lock, and I agree that Burton could play lock.

People think that the Panthers had instant overnight success and that, leading the comp 1/2 way though the season means a certain GF appearance.

Even though reserve grade isn't winning, Woods seems to be playing well.

This season I'm not sure even Cirro knows how to get the attack firing. But I am confident Cirro knows what needs be fixed.

This season I think Marhoney and Sexton feature and depending on injuries, Galvin comes off the bench. Can we win a comp with Marhoney and Sexton? IMO probably not, but there is a slim chance that we can.

In 2026 Marhoney and Sexton are not at the club, Galvin, Woods and Burton play in the halves.

At right centre we need someone who can keep the defence tight when Critter isn't playing.
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Not convinced we lost the game at right centre....

Tries came on that side but only Delouise Hoiter's try can be attributed to centre mistake.

Karapani try was on the wing with a poor final attempt from Tracey.

Walters try was a poor read at marker from Tracey who was concerned by the run from Willison.

Piakura try was more the fault of Sexton getting trampled by him.

Might argue that Xerri should have jammed in to assist but that meant leaving his man Hoiter to do so.

Earlier in the year, our scrambling defence was good as we managed to slow the ball runner sufficiently enough to allow extra cover defenders to finish off the tackle.

But when our line is broken and we dont slow down the play, our last line generally cannot hold up.

Tracey was immense last week against Panthers with some ripper last line tackles, but normally isnt that great as the last line.

If we are to get back to our defensive ethos, we need to scramble well.

Personally, i still think our defence is fine, its our attack that needs work. Galvin will improve it, but the swapsies is starting to confuse the players.
 
Hounddog said:
5/8 in reserve grade is vacant, perhaps Galvin will be dropped to give him a chance to work on things and to see how he combines with Woods.

Right side defence was shaky to non-existent in the final 20 mins, Galvin was on the other side of the field. I think Cirro will be focused on things like that.

Turpin was impressive against the Broncos, Salmon is also in the extended squad. Our defence in the final 20 was nothing like the defence in the first 40.

At 18-0 we had enough points, just completing sets, good end of set options, good defence and linespeed and no sloppy penalties, wins it for us.

Poor Kiks doesn't have a good record as captain, i didn't notice him keeping the team on track in the last 20 mins. We should have reset after the first Broncos try.

I also agree that the attacking structures used by the Broncos were excellent. Good depth, multiple runners running hard.

Mam looked good due to the depth and our defence becoming disjointed. We were flat on the left, with runners moving slower. Galvin attempting to pass to runners crowded by a fast linespeed.

Our side still occasionally lapses into bad habits in attack and defence, especially when Critter isn't on the field. It isn't just one player, and it hasn't just happened in the last 2 games.
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I definitely feel Crittas presence and voice in that last 20mins would have settled the nerves and we would have made better decisions and held on.

Because we lost however, everyone is focussing on every thing that we did wrong.

Lessons can be learnt.

Cows game is now vitally important. Must turn things around, but they are a danger team as they can score from anywhere. They have aerial threats on the wings as well as midfield with Nanai.

I would have thought Wilson would be playing purely to negate the aerial threat on the wing from kicks.

CC will likely make changes and dont be surprised if Salmon comes into the 17
 
I can also see Salmon coming into the side, our defence was great against Panthers

The blow out against the Broncos was the only time a team but a score on a side containing Salmon.

This season we haven't leaked many points with Critter at right centre.
 
While I would support dropping Galvin for a couple of weeks, I would also support bringing him back as starting 7 in place of Sexton if form warrants it.

Galvin currently plays better on the right side and has a good understanding with Preston. Currently Sexton is the better defender, Galvin is a much more dangerous ball runner. Kicking game roughly equal with Sexton being more experienced.

One of the reason why Munster is considered to be an elite talent is his attack is unpredictable. What Galvin potentially offers us is the ability to surprise the opposition.

IMO for the semis pick the best 17, Marhoney is probably part of that 17 due to his work in defence. The guy that can displace Marhoney is Turpin with Hayward starting at hooker.

Marhoney 9, Salmon 13, Hayward 14, Mann 15 is the likely line up. Halfback Sexton or Galvin. The rest of the team is obvious, but I'm not 100% sold on Montoya.

Hayward 9, Turpin 14 is an outside chance if Turpin can impress and, in particular, hit hard in defence. Turpin & Mann is some serious hitting power on the bench.

Injuries can mean that there are no decisions to make.
 
Deardon will be fired up for the Cows this week . He will be riding high after Queensland win . The boys will need to bring their A game ..
 
QLD and Dearden very good.

I'm surprised that Cleary didn't have the smarts to vary the NSW attack in the first half.

On the left they needed to stand deeper and put in some kicks behind the rushing defence. And they should have gone right more often.

Apart from that NSW wasn't that bad, QLD was just better.

In defence all of the QLD trys included some bad decisions or bad technique from NSW.

Defence wins big games.
 
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In defence a team can rely on a system, fitness, and video analysis on the opposition attack. When all of that fails scramble can bail the team out.

High completions, good kick chase, fast linespeed and good discipline can limit the amount of attacking opportunities the opposition has.

Attack is the harder part of the game, especially at the business end of the season. Because in a semi it is very likely that the opponent will bring all of the above in defence.

I fully support Cirro tinkering with the attack, because we come up short often and sometimes lose our way.
 
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I would also like to squeeze DSF, Hughes and Salmon into the side while retaining Hayward and Mann.

More size will help us in attack and defence.

I think that team selection, getting the attack to fire while maintaining and improving our defence isn't a easy needle for Cirro to thread. I hope that Cirro rolls the dice, a low risk compromise team is unlikely to deliver when it counts.

Cirro is well aware that our attack needs to improve.
 
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