Where's skeepe? The silence is deafening :crazy:
They lose, and he's on here in a flash, then when they win we're up to six hours after the completion of the game and counting, and still no sign :lol:
:lol:
I apologise that my plans for the evening did not involve sitting in front of a computer, although I'm touched that I have affected so many people.
An absolutely fantastic performance by the green machine. Where has it been all year? Everything just seemed to click, and even though there were a couple of lapses in concentration, it was the most complete performance of the season for us.
The most pleasing aspect is that, when the Storm got close, we didn't roll over and submit to the inevitable, as has been the case in previous years (and even as recent as two weeks ago).
Monaghan, Campese, Harrison (why did the Tigers let him go? Buy of the season after Bryson Goodwin), Learoyd-Lahrs, Tilse, Shillington, Dugan, Carney, Tongue... all played brilliantly. In fact I could probably mention the whole squad of 17 and you wouldn't find a poor performer among them. Tilse is really building up into a very good prop. Awesome metres today, and some really good offloads. He has really stepped up this year. Shillington had his best game in green, and the battle between him and Blair/Manu was great to watch.
Typical Storm thuggery was the only blight on the game... Slater diving in with the knees on Justin Carney as Jaycar touched down for the opening try was absolutely disgraceful, as was Manu attempting to crush Learoyd-Lahrs' skull with his knee. Should have been sent off for that. Add to that Cross grabbing Campese round the head and pulling him down by it as well as constant contact with the head of the tackled player and let's be honest - the Storm could have been penalised at least another 10-15 times. Extremely ill-disciplined but that's what we expect from the thugs down south.
Billy Slater is as weak as piss... disgraceful dive mate, you're fooling nobody. What a f**king cat.
I thought the refereeing was fantastic today. Gavin Badger is right up there with Archer as the best referee in the comp. Whilst I mentioned above that the Storm could have been penalised many times over, I'm glad they weren't. The referees took the sensible option to let the game flow, and it was a lot better as a result. Whilst I still hate the fact that Melbourne are allowed to slow the play the ball down more than any other team, it's something I've come to accept is always going to happen. The Raiders need to get a bit smarter and, when one team is being allowed to fall asleep in the ruck, have the courage to do the same.
Now, to back this up against the Titans.
