Anyway, onto the actual review.
What an awesome performance from us!! To come over to New Zealand and perform well is no mean feat and the boys tured up switched on and full of intent. It certainly showed on the field. I wouldn's say we were perfect by any means but I was certainly very happy with the result. The Warriors were on and put up a real fight in that first half, and apart from that five minutes before halftime, we outclassed them for much of the game and that is because we were swtiched on too and put in a great game as a result.
When looking at the attack live, my initial reaction was that we kinda struggled on the attack and should have put on more points. However, after watching the replay and thinking about it in context, we really weren't able to get much flow or momentum when attacking close to the line because the Warriors kept giving away penalties. That probably contributed to the plays being clunky at times as there was a lack of flow every so often. In saying that, the boys did really well to overcome that and as a result we put on some lovely plays and scored some beautiful tries. I was very happy with the completion rate (only three errors I think), that was very pleasing and despite the Warriors matching it with us in the middle early, we simply blue them away and got a great roll on as the game progressed. So yea, I see this as a positive attacking performance as it was pretty slick at times.
In terms of defence, I was overall pretty happy with it. There was that really disappointing five minute period before halftime where we clocked off and that was down to poor defensive dicipline and then poor reads which simply were not good enough. However, apart from that, we were very good. The kick chase to shut down Tuivasa-Sheck was on point and the goal line defence was solid too as we turned them away on most occasions they got down our end no matter what they threw at us which was pleasing. It will have to improve against the Roosters next week obviously but in terms of last night, I was quite happy with the defensive performance.
Doueihi: Adam was good at fullback. It was especially cool to watch him live and see just how good his positional play is, this saw him field a lot of the Warriors kicks on the full which gave us a bit of momentum. His kick returns were really strong off the back of that as were a lot of the other hit ups he made throughout the night. Although I'd still like to see him more involved, I feel he chimed in better with the attack and it was him that provided the final pass for AJ's lovely try.
Johnston: After a ten week lay off, it was a very solid return for AJ. Just like Doueihi, his positional play was on point too, he read the game beautifully in that regard. Early on he was getting ragdolled by the Warriors forwards but once he got into the swing of things and found his groove, he started running into the gaps instead of running straight at a player and he had some nice runs as a result. A great finish in the corner for that try on return.
Gagai: Gags was actually a bit quiet last night, he hardly saw the ball in that first half and he didn't really seem to go looking for it as much. That did improve in the second half where he was solid and he was rewarded with a try. I was having a chat with him after the game and asked him how he's finding it out on the left. It was by his own admission that he wasn't involved enough. At least he was solid in defence and I still think it was an okay game from him overall.
Graham: What a great frist game in the centres! he made a poor defensive effort on Nikorima in the lead up to their second try where he got caught out shuffling backwards and sliding out the the right but other than that he was great. His running game was very strong and he was heavily involved. How about that full field run at the end of the game?!! That was amaxing the way he was able to bust tackles like that. Defensively he was pretty solid (apart from what I mentioned before).
Allan: Wasn't bad. He didn't do too much wrong. His defence was outsanding as he came up with a try saver on Maumalo early before pushing him out over the sideline later in the game in a real show of strength. So yea, he didn't do too much wrong but I'd just like to see him get a bit more involved with hit ups to assist the forwards.
Walker: I thought Cody was really good. His kicking game early on was particularly impressive as he was doing those little kicks over the top into the corner away from Tuivasa-Sheck which built up a lot of pressure on the Warriors. He looked pretty dangerous in attack too as he asked a fair few questions of their defence and put on a brilliant play in combination with Reyno for Murray's second. So yea, not the most explosive game from him but it was a good, consistent performance.
Reynolds: Speaking of consistent performances, that's what reyno produced last night. On a dewy surface, the kicking game was always going to be super important and I thought he did well in that area. Despite a couple of miss-kicks most of them were pretty spot on. He was also well on song with the goal kicking as in the end, I think he scored fifteen points through his goal kicking. He controlled things in attack too and didn't panic when we started to take a few hits, has inside ball for Cody that lead to Cam's second try was so slick! A good performance from Reyno.
S.Burgess: A good return for Sam too. He didn't seem to be hampered by it at all and I thought he was really good. It wasn't an explosive game probably because it was his first back but I still thought he was very good. All his runs were quite strong where he was able to get a quick play-the-ball to get us some momentum and he was busy on both attack and D during both his sets.
Cook: Cookie was solid without being exceptional yesterday. The Warriors did do a good job to limit him but when there was an opportunity, he was off which was super dangerous and there was a couple of times he threatened to break them. His service from dummy half was good in general play but when attacking the line, I just feel that maybe he's trying to do too much which results in double pumps and the halves being under greater pressure as a result so he needs to fix that.
Knight: Liam was huge for us last night, he was massive. He ran with a lot of aggression and fought hard for every meter. On top of this, he'd often go to ground and then generate a fast play-the-ball to lay a really good platform for us. I think he ran for close to 150 meters and he really led the charge. He was certainly up there with the best of our forwards.
Sutton: King Sutto was awesome yesterday. It took him a little bit ot warm into the game but once he did, he did some great work. He did a lot of work in carting the ball up for some great meters of the back of hard, assertive running in combination with that left foot step of his. On top of this, he made no errors in defence and I was just really pleased with is output. Was great to see him play like that in his last game in NZ.
Su'A: For the second week in a row, I wasn't that impressed with Jaydn as he was hardly involved. Had a couple of runs but that's about it to be honest.
Murray: Wow, wow, wow. This guy is something special! That was honestly an unbelieveable game from Cam. He hit the line at full pace on almost every run and that made him very hard to stop. The first try he scored was quite amazing to go through that many defenders, it was a show of pure strength, agaility and determination, a great individual try. Then his second was just beautiful line run off of Cody's offload and again, pure determination to get over the line. I am simply amazed by this kid, can't believe some of the stuff he is able to do! Our best player out there in that game for sure.
Tatola: Another forward that was absolutely massive for us. Junior certainly took it upon himself to really step up last night and boy did he lay the platform. I haven't had a look at the stats yet so not sure how many meters he ran for but I feel like it'd be well over 100. He ran with real intent and almost every hit up was quality as he was able to keep driving and pick up some post contact meters. Solid defence too. he seemed to play incresed minutes as well in a top display for a forward.
Turner: Not too much to say as he didn't play a lot of minutes but he had a few good runs in there. I'll also say that he is a very humble guy. Just really down to earth when I talked to him.
Lowe: After being dropped last week, I thought he'd come out all guns blasing but to be honest, he kind of didn't. I'm not saying he had a bad game because he still did his job and didn't do anything wrong but I just feel a player of his caliber should be providing a lot more impact.
Nicholls: As always, Mr Reliable played well. He didn't let anyone down as he took his hit ups and made his tackles, just like we expect from him by now.
So yea, I'm pretty happy with the performance and it was such an awesome feeling to win while I was there to experience it in person. Obviously we still have some work to do and stuff to work on but I'm pleased with where we're headed.
