Raiders of the lost art show how to beat Bulldogs
Roar Rookie By Sparks, 8 Sep 2012 Sparks is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Canberra Raiders, Canterbury Bulldogs, Geoff Toovey, NRL, Rugby League
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One must wonder if Geoff Toovey did any homework for last night’s game against the Bulldogs. A fortnight ago, David Furner and his Canberra Raiders side gave the rest of the NRL the blueprint for how to beat the Bulldogs.
To not try and replicate that simple game plan tonight in one of the biggest matches of the year is negligent.
It is well known that the Bulldogs’ outside backs rush up in defence; and as such, they are extremely vulnerable to short kicks in behind the line, with Canberra exploiting this to maximum effect.
This ploy was particularly successful against the left defence of Jonathan Wright and Brett Morris, where opposing winger Sandor Earl scored a hat-trick by the 50th minute.
On the other side of the field, the other Raiders winger Reece Robinson scored two tries. After the early successful onslaught, the Bulldog defence was in two minds about how to defend. The tried and true method of rushing up was for once working against them and resulted in a 34–6 thrashing.
Doubt in such a fast physical game is your best friend. It creates time and space and most importantly, tries.
Perhaps fortunately for Manly they survive another week due to their top four finish, although with a couple of injury worries and captain Jason King and Steve Matai on report they are facing an uphill battle.
Their likely opponent will be the Cowboys, who should pose too many questions for the hapless Broncos, who have limped into the finals with one win from the last seven games.
The Bulldogs deserve their week off having been the most consistent team of the year. Their next opponent won’t become clear until next weekend. Perhaps it will be the Raiders.
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The Crowd Says (18) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Explore:
- Canberra Raiders, Canterbury Bulldogs, Geoff Toovey, NRL, Rugby League
September 8th 2012 @ 7:04am
eagleJack said | September 8th 2012 @ 7:04am | Report comment
Im sure Jason Taylor will appreciate you copying his article. Don’t worry about Tooves and his coaching staff. They are astute tacticians as seen with the many trick plays from kick-offs etc against slow moving umbrella defences. They would have been well aware of the tactics used by the Raiders.
The difference is that last nights game was at a different level of intensity compared to the Dogs/Raiders game. It is one thing to go in with a number of game plans but you must adjust on the run. The Dogs didn’t turn up against the raiders and were duly put to the sword. A different Dogs side took the field last night. And Manly were off a few percent. Things don’t always go to script.
September 8th 2012 @ 12:02pm
PuntPal said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
I read the JT article and its a bit rough on Sparks to say he copied it…more of a continuation of it, as JT was saying Toovey ‘should’ use the tactic Canberra employed, whereas this article was pointing out he didnt use the tactic.
And I disagree with your argument eagleJack…Toovery got exposed last night as coach and Des showed why he is paif the big bucks and Tooves gets the scraps. He didnt seem to react and change things up when it was obvious that things werent clicking in attack.
Manly looked disjointed from the start. Their backline movements were awful and they didnt adjust when it was clear that B Stewart wasnt getting the timing on the wrap around.
When Manly’s dirty defence gets pulled up for ‘accidential highshots’…seriously, Manly have been doing this for years – swinging arms at the shoulder that ‘accidently’ make contact with the head. Doggies had the approach of lying down for the penalty whenever they could and good on them. Blokes like King and Matai are always pushing their luck with their tackling styles
And your dismisal of the Raiders performance against the Doggies is typical of the Sydney-centric approach to most people, who think that the Doggies could not have just been outplayed that night.
The Raiders have shown Manly, Doggies, South and a whole host of teams that you can grind all you want, but you need to have the attacking players capable of breaking the line. THe Raiders have Ferguson, Dugan, Croker and Robinson (to name only a few)…they cut the Dogs to shreds because they are a genuine contender that has the best form on the board at present.
I
September 8th 2012 @ 12:22pm
eagleJack said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
Sorry Im not trying to disrespect Sparks but in all honesty the only difference between the articles is that JT wrote it before the game and Sparks wrote it after. Change the tense and voila.
Yes, Des is an outstanding coach. Far better than Toovey. But how good was Des in his rookie year? That is the worst performance Manly have put together in 2 years. The players were off with their timing. But they could have still stolen it at the death so I don’t think it is all doom and gloom. Next Friday night at the SFS will be a completely different story.
September 8th 2012 @ 12:35pm
Sparks said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Seriously, can someone point me to this article?
September 8th 2012 @ 12:33pm
Sparks said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
Exactly PuntPal!
The Raiders have the speed and size out wide to trouble any opposition. It is perhaps this fact that condensed the Doggies defensive line even further than normal in an attempt to shut the ball down, thus making the Doggies even more susceptible to kicks in behind the line. While it is true that Manly doesn’t have the same kind of weaponry out wide, the fact that not once was it employed is rather baffling.
September 8th 2012 @ 7:22am
Manly Man said | September 8th 2012 @ 7:22am | Report comment
Ahhhhhhhhhh the Dogs do so many decoys it’s not funny they deserve what the Storm got the filthy scummy ratbags
September 8th 2012 @ 8:08am
steve b said | September 8th 2012 @ 8:08am | Report comment
real bad loser ahhhhhhh !
September 8th 2012 @ 10:26am
Mals said | September 8th 2012 @ 10:26am | Report comment
Probably not even a Manly supporter Steve, just on here to stir the pot. Plenty of keyboards warriors come out after matches have been won or lost.
September 8th 2012 @ 12:01pm
solly said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:01pm | Report comment
They do use a lot of decoy runners but the Bulldogs get around the obstruction issue (usually) by having their ball receivers very deep.
September 8th 2012 @ 8:00am
Haz said | September 8th 2012 @ 8:00am | Report comment
I think the biggest problem was that Manly, the side with more big-game experience, panicked in the second half. All of the forwards tried to be ball-players rather than just running the ball up strongly: Watmough and Williams are the two biggest culprits. Williams is just too bloody lazy to hit the ball and the line at speed. The only time he did, he made a 40 metre break.
September 8th 2012 @ 9:01am
solly said | September 8th 2012 @ 9:01am | Report comment
Interesting points.
This was similar to their last encounter Round 20. In that match, Manly looked as if they wanted to smash Canterbury whereas the Bulldogs looked as if they wanted to play professionally. In the end, the Dogs won.
When things weren’t going Manly’s way, they resorted to niggling tactics (fair enough, I have no problem with that). In the first half, Canterbury got sucked into that niggling conest but come second half, they were back to being professional. Again, they won.
It’s the Bulldogs professionalism that has been earning them their wins this season; Morris, Perrett, Barba etc are just the icing on the cake.
September 8th 2012 @ 9:50am
Prak said | September 8th 2012 @ 9:50am | Report comment
There are a lot of indicators showing that the Canberra game was more of an aberration rather than tactical genius by Furner and the Raiders.
Jono Wright, who had let in the 3 Sandor tries and dropped the ball for the Nicholls try, wasn’t supposed to be playing as his partner was expecting. And anyone who is a first time parent knows that the last thing they want to be doing is be at their job because they are not going to be a focussed on the job at hand. Other factors include, Ennis not playing, Tolman only playing 30 odd minutes in the game, Dessie not preparing the team as well as he had before. Too many dropped balls in the first half and going over the sideline twice within minutes of each other early in the tackle count, also played a part. Granted the Raiders were more switched on in that game and from being at the ground, definitely had the better body language before the game.
Last night Manly looked to try and bash the Bulldogs into submission but when the Dogs got the early try meant that the tactics had to be changed and weren’t prepared for that. Jason King seemed more intent on knocking eveyone’s block off rather than leading from the front. Ennis being off the field helped Manly get back into it but the early try in the 2nd half gave the Dogs the ability to control the match. Not sure if Manly can get all the way to the GF having to play an extra game now.
September 8th 2012 @ 12:15pm
solly said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
The Raiders look pretty disciplined during that match. Everytime Cantebury tried their attacking raids, the Raider’s line stayed straight – absolutely straight. I was pretty impressed with that. It doesn’t always happen.
You are right about Manly’s approach. They had the same tactic against Canterbury in Round 20. Then, they were more interested in smashing Canterbury than in playing good football.
The Bulldogs were simply too professional then and they were too professional last night too.
September 8th 2012 @ 9:54am
Meesta Cool said | September 8th 2012 @ 9:54am | Report comment
If any team take the field with the game plan designed to’out bash’ the Bulldogs, they are going to be the losers. this is the biggest, hardest pack I have seen for years, even the standoff tackles as hard as Dallas Johnson. You will not out muscle this pack, go to plan ‘B’…
Steve Matai again… he must have a season ticket for the judiciary, if last years suspensions for Manly players at finals time is still in vogue, he should get maximum 1 game…
The Manly forwards really ‘pushed the limits of aggression last night, IMO they were lucky not to have another two players on report, this is such a pity, when they concentrate on the football instead of the man, they are the best team in the league!.
September 8th 2012 @ 12:25pm
solly said | September 8th 2012 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
The Manly pack are pretty good too, they simply got distracted by their own aggression.
September 8th 2012 @ 1:42pm
Jimbo said | September 8th 2012 @ 1:42pm | Report comment
Lyon was dearly missed, he creates a hell of a lot down that right hand side. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the Manly attack looked really disjointed the whole night. Also, I think Foran in particular was quite disappointing, and I wasn’t particularly impressed with him against the Titans or Broncos either. Watmough and Matai made a few braindead moves, and I have been wondering for a while whether the niggle and penalties they give away outweighs what they bring to the team. Jorge Taufua was the one bright spot, he ran hard all night.
TBH I was really surprised Manly came into this game as favourites, they have coasted to wins against average teams the last few weeks, and their second halves, as widely documented, have been pathetic, which is fine when you are playing the Broncos, but certainly not against the Dogs.
September 12th 2012 @ 12:42am
Billy Lindores said | September 12th 2012 @ 12:42am | Report comment
Manly were caught in the hype of trying to physically dominate their opponent rather than outplay them.
Their heads werent in the game and their execution suffered as a result.
This and losing Jamie Lyon taken into consideration, they still only lost by 6 points against the dominant team of the competition this year.
If they had stolen the game at the death everyone would be saying the way to beat the dogs is to bash them into submission.
Puntpal – why are you criticising Manly for unsportsmanlike defence eg ‘accidental high shots’ then applauding the Dogs for laying down in the tackle?
September 12th 2012 @ 10:55am
solly said | September 12th 2012 @ 10:55am | Report comment
You’re right.
Both teams made far too many errors and only the fact that the Bulldogs regained their composure, I think, allowed them victory.
With the amount of mistakes they were making, it the Dogs had played Melbourne, they may very well have lost.
Even with their pumped with tesosterone, Manly are still a very, very dangerous team.
As a Dogs supporter though, I’m glad they’ll lose to North Queensland…