Yaya, three from three to start the Season and great to get the win in our first home game of the year!! Absolutely stoked to get the win but I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm not entirely happy with that performance. We played okay but I just think we were a little complacent as a whole and showed a lack of respect for the opposition which allowed them to stay in the game. We had the Titans at a point mid way through that first half where we really could have gone on with it and put them to the sword but instead, we let the foot off the throat, showed complacency and a lack of respect, thus, we couldn't put it to bed. Still, we looked amazing at times and I am happy to pick up the third win of the Season.
Offensively we were pretty good across the board tonight. Scored a few beautiful tries on both sides through set plays which were awesome to watch but also managed to score off some real eyes up, off the cuff footy which was brilliant. Attack did look very slick at times tonight and the make-shift bacline did well once Burns had to come off. However, I think as the game wore on, we began to get more complacent and lose energy, as a result we spent a lot of that second stanza in our own half and we struggled to get out. A lot of that second half was really flat from the boys in attack if I'm honest.
Defence was a bit mixed I think. We were able to turn them away multiple times or force an error which looked very solid but at the same time, we conceded twenty points which is no doubt a concern. Some of them were quite soft too and simply shouldn't have happened. At times we had little to no line speed too and we struggled to wrap up the ball. On a positive note, that edge defence was better and I guess a lot of their tries were kind of lucky in the fact that they did't break us down by a set play or something like that, it was off errors from us or kicks where the bounce hasn't gone or way.
Anyway,
Johnston: AJ was one of our best tonight and he seems to be getting better each week. Super safe at the back and great positional play to shut down a lot of their kicks, this is a big area he has improved in. I enjoyed him chiming in attacking the line from time to time and his kick returns were pretty strong, he doesn't seem to be afraid of contact anymore. Got a nice line break and just looked dangerous across the board.
Allan: was solid without being awesome. he got through his work to help the forwards coming out of our end with some nice runs, was solid in defence and he looked confident under the high ball. Great to see him score his first try in the NRL too, first of many I hope.
Gagai: A huge step up from last week! Gags looked hungry to perform from the get-go and he sure did! Was heavily involved with a big workrate coming out of yardage and he pulled off some absolutely brilliant runs which got our sets underway nicely. This didn't let up for the whole game and he just kept going which after last week, was great to see. Defensively he was better, did get beat a couple of times by the likes of Gordon and Lee but he was able to recover each time and eventually make the tackle. No errors either, a good night for Gags and a good responce to his performance last week.
Burns: Not too much to say about Braidon as he went off injured early. I really hope that's nothing too serious as he has been electric early on and we seriously need him out there. They're reporting it was a hamstring which is better then what I frist feared when we was hobbling off.
Graham: The performance from all our backs was great tonight and Cammy is no exception. Two beautiful tries that weren't a simple catch and put down, he had some work to do for both but such is the class of this lad that he was able to pull off two brilliant finishes to get the try. It wasn't just the try scoring though, I was really impressed with Graham's hit ups which he made a lot of. He looked strong in the air too when contesting the ball.
Walker: Wasn't bad tonight as he looked really dangerous deep in our attack, Cody had a hand in most of our tries and he showed great vision by throwing that cut-out pass for Graham's first, that was poetry in motion. Then his ability to skip across the field and switch the direction of the attack in the lead up to Lowe's try was classy too. Finally, that kick for Cammy's second was just typical Cody Walker, he played what was in front of him and executed it to perfection. However, I can't help but feel that towards the end of the game, Cody sort of drifted out of the game and his impact wasn't as great which is perhaps why we looked flat. This is a work on for him.
Reynolds: Reyno wasn't bad tonight but he just wasn't quite at the level of the last couple of weeks. he was pretty good in general play, throwing some lovely passes to put those outside him in a great position and he ran the ball a few times tonight which was great to see. Lovely pass for Allan's try and he had a hand in Lowe's too. it was just his kicking game that was a bit off for me, still put in some lovely short and long range kicks to apply pressure but it just wasn't at the level of the past two weeks.
Tatola: Junior stepped up tonight and got more involved which was good to see. He ran with intent and put in two really solid stints which laid the platform.
Cook: Was solid. A couple of runs that had the Titans in all sorts and he was bringin the forwards onto the ball really well. crisp passing with only a few that missed their mark the whole game. Cookie also kept up that high defensive work rate that we have come to expect.
T.Burgess: He was okay. Came up with a couple of errors at crucial times but otherwise he did his job well. Plenty of barnstorming runs and it was great to see the amount of meters he gained with that leg drive. If anything, I think he can up the intensity of his stints though and really make an impact.
Sutton: Just a nice, steady game from Sutto. He made his hit ups when required, was involved in some great ball movement down that left edge and he ran some great lines both as a decoy and as an actuall ball runner coming back on the inside. Defensively, I thought he did well along with Turner to plug Burns' spot.
S.Burgess: One of our best again tonight no doubt. Just such strong runs and as always, he had a lot of them. I'm just loving the impact he gives on that edge and it's great that he is able to come in for a stint in the middle when the bench comes into effect. Sam was also able to generate a lot of second-phase footy tonight with some really nice offloads and in defence, he tackled anything that moved.
Murray: Cam was actually a little quiet tonight based on his lofty standards. He didn't seem to get as many minutes and wasn't as involved The runs he did have were brilliant, especially his first run of the game with that line break but he just didn't seem to make his mark on the game tonight.
Nicholls: Not an awful lot to say about Nicholls but he did his job. Doesn't gain many post contact meters but he does make a number of hit ups. it was also his offload that was the catalyst for Graham's second try.
Lowe: That was his best game in South Sydney colours for sure! Bagged his first try or the club and just put in a really nice, rugged performance. He was in everything with strong runs and great defence. I think Lowe is slowly building and hopefully he'll see him back to best form soon.
Turner: Turner did really well to plug the gap of Burns. He pulled of some great reads on Kelly to stop him in his tracks and what would have been a shakey edge defence, was actually not bad. The only critisism of him is that he wasn't very involved in attack.
Kennedy: I liked what I saw from him. Kind of similar to Knight in that he played with a lot of aggression, had a high workrate and was able to pull off a fair few offloads.
So all in all, I'm stoked to get the win but the performance was off no doubt. I think that was a good lesson in not getting complacent and to respect your opposition. it is a good sign that we can still win if we are playing a bit off but I think we got lucky tonight to be honest.
Onto next week!!
