My thoughts-
Edwards- 9.5/10- no trial games... just straight into it and he pumps out almost 350m. About 20m short of the all time record snd it was only rd 1!!! You combine those meters with the meters he covers off the ball in defence and it is actually insane the workload he gets through. Ive been one of his biggest fans and have always maintained he was the best #1 at thd club when others wanted critta or staines there. I thought hes ball playing was really good last night too! You can see hes really turned into a leader and someone the boys respect. After every try it was him and yeo barking orders.
Charlie- 7.5/10- very good game from him. Was happy for him to get first shot there butvalso wouldnt have been upset to see tmay there. But he really got involved and looked keen to work. Was good in defence too. Still think he looks aprehensive about hitting top speed when he has the ball. Theres times last night when i thought he had small oppurtunities around tired manly players and he just doesnt quite seem to really explode using all his pace. But overall he was very good and im happy to see hes work rate so high. The challenge for him now is to replicate that work rate in an arm wrestle game! Keep it up charlie!!
Tago- 7.5/10- another really strong performance, especially given it was his first nrl gane at centre..have always thought hes gunna have a break out year and last night showed a glimpse imo. Strong defender and very dangerous with ball in hand..
Critta- 8/10- bombed a few chances but overall was very good in attack and defence. We need that from everyweek. Hes too good to have games like last year where he goes missing..i want to see that footy from him weekly.
Too-7/10- kept extremly quiet by his standards. Manly kicked the otherside all night so he didnt see much ball or come looking for it like his usual self. Shouldve had a try tho. God that was a joke call. Still good yardage and strong carries but not superhuman levels like we are used to.
Luai-8/10- said all last year that we shouldve played falls when nath was out. Think we saw last night the benefit of having a proper organising 7 out there instead of a makeshift..he was very good but he was good because of the work from SOS and kikau helped too.. he really is a strong good defender. Up there in terms of best defensive halfs in the comp.
Sos- 8/10- wow he really suprised me. Im a bit stumped for words on how impressed i am. Was an easy game for a half to look good because we dominated so heavily but he still made the right options and choices. He was strong in defence to for a small bloke. Test will be when we are on the back foot.
Leota- 6.5/10- offered good punch and was strong in defence. Hopefully hes arms ok. He was looking the fittest ive seen him to start a season.
Api- 9/10- i said he needed to run it more without cleary and boy did he deliver. It really offers are attack soo much more space when hes threatening and running out of dummy half.. he was brilliant in attack and d. He leads our line speed in defence and the boys go with him. You know hes in for a big year after that performance.
Fish- 9/10- Typical fish. Just come to expect these performances from him. He really is the best front rower in the game.
11. Kiks- 8/10- almost an 8.5. Was very very good and im just soo happy to see him playing the way he did. If he plays like that every week we will be very very good this year. He hit the line hard every time and whilst he didnt have any real breaks he was an absolute handful and it took it out of dce and the others on that side trying to control him. He looked threatening every touch he had. Loses half a point because he is way to slow or sometimes just lays down in the ruck and doesnt get to marker. It was fine last night but in a tight game against a team with a good hooker he cant be doing that.
12. Martin- 8/10- very very good game..brutal defence. Brutal running game and nice line for his try. Needs to build of that now and deliver that constantly week in week out. Especially in defence. He was very good last night helping out Sos.
13. Yeo- 10/10- i dont just think hes the best lock in the game. After his last 12 months and last night, i truly think hes probably the 4th best player in the game. Nathan, teddy, turbo, yeo. He was at a whole another level last night. Running game, offloading, playmaking, defence. Itbwas all flawless and first class.
14. Kenny- 5/10- as always. Tries hard and tackles his heart out when he gets on. Not much oppurtunity last night.
15. Lenui- 6/10- strong carries. Really would likw to see him run more back towards behind the markers. He seems to run sideways away from the ruck..he has extremley good leg speed and power for his size and i really think hed cause a lot of trouble attacking back behind the ruck.
16. Sorensen- 7.5/10- very good. Hes been a brilliant buy for us. Hes similar to spencer in that he has quite good speed and whilst nowhere near as big he is very powerful for his size..seems to get quick play the balls all the time and is ultra reliable in defence.
17. Salmon- 5/10- similar to kenny. Limited oppurtunities. Tried hard in the time he had but didnt offer anything. Hes really not a 2md rower so he really is just on the bench as a mister fix it. Cant help but feel chris smith is the better option as the 2nd row rotation. If ivan is desperate for a mr fix it on the bench than kenny eventually might be the unlucky one.
Overall the team was brilliant and the most impressive thing for me was the attitude in defence. For 79mins and 45 secs we were a wall. We belted them every time they had the ball and they just looked defeated.
It was nice to see our attack so polished too but i think it was easy to look soo good when it was all one way traffic for 80mins. Granted it was one way traffic because we earnt it thru belting defence but ill reserve my judgement of our attack until we getting into an arm wrestle match.
What a start to the season. Other than moses it was perfect. Really hope hes ok.
