Crunch time arrives for the Cowboys and Bulldogs this Saturday night

Jimmmy, The fact is JT gets the ball 80% of the time inside the opposition 20. He kicks 75% of the time. He attacks right to left 80%. Morgan kicks caused 2 errors from Penrith. He can be a threat to the opposition back 3 with his ability to kick longer and higher than JT yet he doesn't have his hands on the ball enough now. He also play both sides of the ruck. I suggest a player who runs quicker with the ball wil alsol bring his support player onto the ball quicker? Morgan can accelerate and go through the line which makes defenders hold back also. Thurston goes across field slowly making himself an support players easy targets. The Cowboys back 3 make the first 2-3 runs of every set one out. The forwards take tackle 3-5 one out and then the ball goes to JT. Opposition teams only have to defend the middle 3rd and if the Cowboys try and shift it wide early they can't beat teams down the edges because the backs are spent rucking it up. The forwards aren't getting back quickly enough to carry the ball earlier in the sets or working hard enough to run in numbers. Lazy or old. Show them a video of Clyde or Lindner in the 80- 90's. If Asiata is ball playing with forwards like Taumalolo, Scott and Hess they can create doubt in the opposition defence. He needs to start. If Morgan and Martin are closer to the ruck they can catch tired or poor defenders out with their speed and footwork. It come down to effort as a collective unit. The Tigers are beating Melbourne with ball movement and bodies in motion. The Storm are killing the Cowboys because there is no ball movement. Green has to make some changes and fast IMO.

Rob I will agree with you on a couple of points. We do lack pace and have done so for a long time. It hasn’t stoped us winning a GF and making another one though but it does limit our attacking options. The Cows have had the same game plan for a long time now. Get the piggies powering forward , follow up with some JT or Morgan finesse to get Cooper, Hesse or one of th wingers over. We complete well and the plan has worked a treat but ATM our forwards ain’t doing much powering and feeding it to JT at first receiver every fourth tackle is predictable and unsurprisingly teams are shutting him down easily. We can’t make our players faster so my suggestions are 1 give players permission to offload . JT 13 and Hesse both have a great offload but they are scared to use it. Greene is too conservative in this aspect IMO. 2 Mix it up way, way more. Give it to Morgs at first receiver three or four times in a row. Use JT as the decoy, keep the opposition guessing . Morgs is way under-utilised and proved he can be a genuine first receiver. I do disagree about JT though. By the end of the season you will be proved wrong as long as our forwards lift and we start playing smarter.

In reality if an other halfback in the comp had played the same in the first 5 rounds they would now be struggling to make the Q Cup team. JT has been a great player but in all honesty his game has falling away since 2015. He can't kick a 40/20, he can't break the line, he doesn't lead the kick chase, he can't support the ball carrier and is a liability in the defensive line. These play made him a legend. He offers zero as an attacking threat and is now being targeted in defence. That's not being nasty it's being truthful. I fear the season will all be about JT's last year in the NRL and not about the Club. The players should never be bigger than the team. They showed last year he wasn't needed. The forward pack is over balanced with one out ball carriers instead of ball players and defensive workers also. They're one of the slowest teams in the comp and if Coote comes back they will become even slower. They are limited to trying scramble or barge over the line from 10m out.

True about this competition. I don’t think games against the Cowboys, Storm and Broncs become easy because of their position on the ladder. I think their position is more due to others over performing than them underperforming by too much. What it means is instead of looking at the draw and thinking “we’ve got an easy run with the Tigers, Titans and Warriors coming up” there are no easy games. Although to paraphrase a poker saying “if you look at the ladder and can’t work out who the easy games are, you are the easy game” ?? We’ve always said there’s no easy games in this comp...well that’s truer than ever this season. I think we need to remember it’s only round 5. The same people who were claiming the Warriors were a lock for the spoon are now calling them a top four certainty. There’s a long way to go. I wasn’t a fan of the Woods / Graham swap. These numbers are what’s been reported but who knows. Graham was supposedly on a 1M backended deal and we’ve signed Woods for 800K (some of that may be TPAs). But we’re still paying 400K of Graham’s contract. So instead of paying 1M for Graham we’re effectively paying 1.2M for Woods. It’s hard to put a positive spin on that. I don’t know how much of that was planned and how much was due to spending overs thinking the cap would be higher and then having to clear house. Either way poor management. Woods’ edge is he has a few more years in him than Graham but are you better having two years of Graham or four years of Woods? One concern with Graham was how long he had left as he’s struggled with neck and shoulder injuries and concussion over the last couple of seasons. His effectiveness was down. I wasn’t sure how he’d back up after the World Cup but he’s bounced right back. Woods isn’t as bad as people like to make out but he’s no Graham.

The cowboys are struggling at the start of their sets .the back five have failed as a unit to make ground out of the 20 .every side has easily read the one two punch of the wingers and centre this has added pressure to the hole set .gone is the right side no look pass offence of late last year in comparison with the clunky lottery of 2018. So we have a lot to do this week . Will green swap the halves around ?he must be tempted

Fair call KC, it is a bit of a radical suggestion, to some people it might even be described as heresy. At this stage of the year and with a 1-4 record and with the utmost respect to Paul Green, I do believe some drastic measures are needed. JT has really struggled in his comeback so far and with a slight drop in pace is being woefully exposed in attack, they need to shift their focus away from him because at the moment they're just too predictable. We all know how tough he is and what he does off the ball, but it's in attack that they have to improve and with a slightly underdone JT directing them he's turned into a liability. Never thought I'd ever say that, but there it is. Massive game coming up, enjoy.

How can the doggies win with Woods and Klemmer

hmm very interesting idea mate, I actually never thought of that idea. I do think we need to have faith in Coach Green. Saturdays game is a big one, we need to win!

I think the Cowbies attacking ability is their biggest issue at this stage, JT seems to have reverted back to the only "go to guy" as was the case in seasons past. Which totally cancels out the good work they did last year without him, the rise of the Morgan era looks to be stalled. I'd like to see JT start from the bench and allow the Morgan / Martin / Coote combination given another chance,,because thus far opposition defences are giving JT an absolute towelling at the moment and it's preventing them from scoring points.

Hey TB, what is the difference between a tough and easy draw this year? The Tigers have shown that any team can win on any weekend. Who would have thought the Tigers would have won twice against the Storm in the first 5 weeks of the comp? I thought the storm were going to come back to the field this year but two loses to the Tigers, no way. I am still worried about your boys on Saturday night. IMO Foran has been great and Moses at the back has been better. There is enough talent in this team to beat us and we need to play well to win this one. You sound like a pretty level headed guy and I was just wondering on your thoughts on signing Woods and letting Graham go. Personally I think this is the worst decision made of all time. Graham was a leader of men and just hard as a rock, while Woods to me seems more concerned about how his hair looks.

The Cowboys "face an uphill battle to make the finals". Both sides are one win and points differential from 8th place. The comp this year is very even after 5 rounds, so I don't think the Cowboys are too concerned, just yet. Agreed, neither side is playing great footy at present but the Cowboys have shown they can fly home in the second half of the season. They have too many classy players not to be challenging come finals time. The Doggies however will be looking to use this year to develop the side. They have had a tough start to the draw and it won't get better soon.

As a warriors fan Baz, everyone was saying we'd be 2 from 10 with the strength of our draw (only wins over Tigers and Titans predicted). The fact we are 3 ahead of that only 5 games in is a huge bonus - looking back its hard to determine the strength of a draw prior to the season starting With the way the season has gone, now is the time you want to play the Cowboys and Broncos. Panthers does look a winnable game also - they arent going to blow teams away with points.

I expect to see the Cowboys win their next 3 games at home.

Dogs have had a pretty tough draw to start the season and it’s not getting any better, Cowboys A, Roosters H, Panthers A, Broncos A It’s hard to find a way that the Dogs won’t be 1-8 heading into their round 10 clash against the Eels.

That whole article is about the cowboys

The family club looks like it's been through the family courts and has been left in a dis functional mess . And I think the cows might be still suffering from a post grand final hangover. It's a funny old game rugby league.