After watching the replay, here's my full report,
Taaffe: Has copped a little bit of critcism for a 'mixed performance' but I must have been watching a different game to everyone else. While I still think he can be better, I thought he was pretty damn good. His positional play at the back was basically faultless and he returned the Footy with a lot of intent which is good. he needs to go lower into contact though as the Dragons were able to drag him back a few times. I thought he chimed into the backline pretty well and looked dangerous a number of times. Last night proved his pasing game is good as we saw his successful quick hands a few times and it was sublime play from him to provide the final pass for Milne's try. He also forced a line drop out with that tidy little grubber. The only real negatives of his night were that one dropped bomb, which I'll forgive him for, and the poor attempt to tackle Ravalawa. I think Taaffey did enough to be our fullback going forward. He'll have the full squad around him next week and will only get better. Gonna be tested with bombs from Cleary, that's his challenge.
Milne: Pretty good game for Taane. Loved his work coming out of our end, really strong carries and plenty of them. He had a hand in creating two really big chances, the first was Burns' disallowed try (which I thought was a try) and then the pass for Burns' line break in the first half which we almost scored off. He was safe under the high ball and didn't make any errors. Rewarded with a nice try. The only negatives for him was his failure to clean up the kick for the Dragons first try, and then coming in off his wing to open the space up for St George Illawarra's final try. He didn't need to come in at all as Burns had his man. That try was caused by Taane. Still, it's really nice to know we have a solid winger to fall back on in the Finals if need be.
Burns: Has also copped a bit of critcism for his performance last night but I thought he was great personally. Right from the start, he looked really keen to be involved. That was evidenced with his running game as he got busy and got dirty with the tough carries. When he found himself in a bit of space, he looked really elusive with that left foot step and he was way on top of Bird in that first half. It's a shame that try was taken off him and it was a shame again when he didn't quite have enough pace to score off that line break. Still, he should be very proud with the 219 meters he made (which topped the run meters for us), big effort. Without the ball, I can't fault his work either. good game Burnsy.
Graham: Cammy was fantastic, certainly one of our best. Was gifted both his trys, yea, he didn't have to do a lot for them but it's the effort to get himself in the frame to score those tries which is impressive. Really lead the way for our young backline with constant strong carries and constant good meters, he was massive in this area. That shows in the stats as he picked up a massive 173 meters. gave the Dragons defenders some headaches when attacking their line with his ruinning and passing game, loved his final pass for Jaxson in that second half and it was a shame Jaxson stuffed it. Super impressed with Campbell's defence too! Nothing got passed him. They put on some dangerous shifts down our right a number of times but Graham was either able to shut it down straight away or show some great scramble to recover and eventually get his man.
Paulo: He had a mixed night. I liked his running game as his carries were pretty strong and he got through plenty of work and he didn't really put a foot wrong defending. However, he bombed two tries that could have seen us with a massive win. He scores them and it breaks the Dragons and we win big. Both times, he took it way too easy, looked way too casual and paid he price. It's not good enough and we need better, heading into the Finals especially. It's a shame he let his night down with that because he's been going really well in recent times.
Marshall: Benji had a night out! There's been some question marks from all of us over his form but Benji certainly answered our questions last night. In a very young side, he had to go out and be a leader and that's exactly what he did. Conrolled the game beautifully and directed the boys around the park well. Created plenty of opportunities down both sides in attack with his passing game as he was taking the ball right to the line and then delivering a crisp pass, similar to what reyno and Cody do. I thought his kicking game was near perfect as he constantly had the Dragons coming out of their own end, in the first half especially, and that 40/20 he kicked was just brilliant. Held his own in defence too. Well done old fella!!
Ilias: From the old fella to the young fella on debut, Lauchie really impressed me last night. It was a very solid debut. Fantastic to see him score with one of his first touches, that was a really nice kick and an even better chace. the rest of his kicking game was quite solid too. Loved his work on the attack as he was digging right into the line and putting on some good passes. It was nice playmaking. There was a couple of times his quick hands lead to a line break or a half chance. Great play by him in the move for Taane's try too. Can't criticise him in defence either. A really strong debut, great stuff. Need to see more of him but from what I saw last night, I'm actually feeling like I want him at halfback next year.