It already happened last night. Johnsy had a hysterical meltdown about it last night but there are two reasons why the two incidents can't be compared:
1. Morris was injured when Hodges slid into the tackle. He wasn't submitting to a tackle. He wasn't able to.
2. Burgess threw his shoulder into the tackle last night and was purely looking to hurt the player.
I was at the game last night and it was really frustrating to see them keep going down the left side and coming up short. Great defence though and Gillett had a massive impact.
3. Gillett
2. Hunt
1. Milford
A bit of perspective though folks - yes it is disappointing watching some of the attacking options at the moment, but think about the position last year and how they improved. Couple that with the fact that their last three wins have been utterly dominant and they have let in just ONE try in the last three matches.
Pretty good position to be in.
Maxwell only really has control when the players let him. If he refereed that match between Parra and Cronulla 15-odd years ago when Hayne binned or sent off three Cronulla players it would have been as bad or likely worse.
The difference between Hodges on Morris and Burgess on Joe-O was that Joe dived on a loose ball after a knock-on, whereas with Morris the ball was very much still in play. Both were pretty grubby acts, and while probably not deserving of a penalty under the letter of the law, were definitely unnecessary heavy contact that isn't really needed in the game.
Hunt has really stepped up the past few weeks and I guess a few easy games against some lesser teams is restoring his confidence. Good news for us, because to go one better than last year we need both he and Milford firing. Them both playing to their full potential at the same time would be a scary thought for any team bar maybe the Cowboys.
I was really impressed with our pack. We've been honest but lacking a bit of fire in the past few years, and to belt Souths in return when they were trying to dish it up to us was very satisfying to see. Wallace and Ofahengaue had their best games as pro-footballers, for different reasons. Wallace carted it up all night and has excellent leg-drive after contact in the tackle, making a ton of metres as a result, and Joe-O didn't take a backwards step all night in defence. Burgess and Co. won't forget him.
I think they're going left to Reed and Oates (particularly Oates), only then to open up the sucker punch with Roberts in the second half and it's been working. I'd like to see Roberts get more early ball in the first half though. His speed is simply astonishing. I don't know how many players could have got through after being checked twice to toe that ball through for Kahu's try.
The only thing I was concerned about this game, as with other games this year apart from last week, is that we're just staying with teams during games instead of kicking ahead, although after 2 months of the comp it's not a huge problem. If we're still doing it in August however we're going to have problems.
