3-2-1 vs Raiders

[SpaceMonkey]

3- RTS another captain’s knock, Huge metres, great try saving defence, in everything
2- Luke ate up the metres from dummy half, great awareness in attack and defence, a true 80 minute hooker again
1- SJ his execution was a bit off for much of the game but flawless clutch kicking right when it mattered gets the point

Hon mentions for Harris, Tevaga, Green, Afoa

 

[JJ]

3. Luke
2. RTS
1, Harris

HM - Sao, Afoa, Green - I know Johnson is getting plaudits for the death, and rightly so, but he was largely ordinary

And Blair, f**king grub merkin - that is all

 

[Fufu Andronez]

3. RTS
2. Luke
1. SJ

Spine delivered AGAIN. Blake Green is so good for this team. Loved SJ pushing him out of the way and nailing 2 clutch field goals.

And of it wasn't for Roger, we probably aren't that close, his defence has improved immensely

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

1. RTS - What a start to the season
2. Luke - See above
3. Bunty Afoa - Again, see above, and was great all game, but without him ripping in at the end we're not in position to get those last two field goals. Played more minutes than any other of our props.

Our whole bench was great.

 

[TheDMC]

1. RTS - What a start to the season
2. Luke - See above
3. Bunty Afoa - Again, see above, and was great all game, but without him ripping in at the end we're not in position to get those last two field goals. Played more minutes than any other of our props.

Our whole bench was great.

I'm going with this too. SJ was clutch, but yeah, thought he played pretty averagely, that forward pass of his should have cost us the game.

 

[ozenzud]

we were dead for all money in that game. Sensaish.

3. RTS
2. SJ - Two field goals under presssure. How can you not.
1. Luke.

Bunty Afoa has been something else this year, Hiku and Harris exciting. Do we bring Simon in when he comes good. Jazz was superb this week. So much energy. I'm getting carried away and thinking GF tickets. A win v roosters next week would see me confirming airfares to Sydney...........

 

[TheDMC]

Do we bring Simon in when he comes good.

Hell yes we do. Although scrambling exceptionally well, we are missing a dire amount of tackles. Will be top of the MT count after round 3 for sure. Need our defensive lynchpin back. Not sure how the pack should be reorganised for that though.

Loving tevaga's energy too, but he is a bit error prone and penalty magnet from the games I've watched him play. If he sorts that aspect out, then he is all good.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Bunty Afoa has been something else this year, Hiku and Harris exciting. Do we bring Simon in when he comes good. Jazz was superb this week. So much energy. I'm getting carried away and thinking GF tickets. A win v roosters next week would see me confirming airfares to Sydney...........

You can’t not play a 100% match fit Simon as DMC noted we still miss a lot of first up tackels. Simon makes nearly 50 tackles a game at something like 97% effectivenes, watch that missed tackle count drop by at least ten when he’s back. But the way they’re going I’d be giving him plenty of time and probably a warm up game in reggies to get his match fitness back, absolutely no need to rush him in. That said the Chooks are another step up next week so he might be neeeded.

Agree on Afoa, the effort has always been there for him but he just didn’t quite seem to have the power to make the effort count, he looks like a genuine weapon now. Lisone too, he’s giving us real impact off the bench and not conceding silly shit. Worth noting that it was his big charge on tackle 4 that got us into position for the winning field goal, we were still back around half way and not only does he come steaming onto the ball at full speed and make 20 metres right when we needed it but he also angled his run perfectly to bring us from a fair way out on the right edge to near the centre of the park, and just within field goal range for Shaun.

 

[Warriorsoul]

3 - Luke (his attitude this year has been huge)
2 - Harris (constant threat)
1 - Johnson ( 2 drop goals to win a game in last few minutes? Cool headed clutch play, showing maturity)

 

[ozbash]

3 RTS
2 Lisone
1 Jazz

 

[Iafeta]

3 RTS
2 SJ
1 Luke

I thought Harris was good again, Afoa excellent, Maumalo had some dominant charges, and Tevagas energy was infectious. So happy for Jazz and Bunty, because these were two massively hard workers coming through the grade who are absolutely showing they can compete at this level.

 

[Juju]

And Blair, f**king grub merkin - that is all

yeah but he's our grub merkin

 

[MKEB...]

3. Luke
2. Bunty
1. RTS

 

[hitro]

1 Sheck
2 Harris
3 Johnston

What a game? The exact sort of game they would have lost in mirror image the last five or so seasons since Ivan got unsigned
Maybe Kearney can coach and we are back?
Harris is so much better than Bodene
Green seems to be the other half we needed since Maloney
Not sure if Ken Maumalo understands the rules or anything much but thank god Green was there to physically restrain him from playing the short kick off that didn't go the distance- reckon play CNK instead of him

 

[Iafeta]

3. Luke
2. RTS
1, Harris

HM - Sao, Afoa, Green - I know Johnson is getting plaudits for the death, and rightly so, but he was largely ordinary

And Blair, f**king grub merkin - that is all

On Blair, again didn’t cart the ball up, but there was a couple of times Canberra had numbers and spread the ball well. Blair and Tevaga absolutely worked their backsides off to get across and shut it down.

I think we’ve been lucky with Gavet, Afoa and Lisone going so well in taking the ball up that it does cover Blair’s lack of work rate with the ball.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

On Blair, again didn’t cart the ball up, but there was a couple of times Canberra had numbers and spread the ball well. Blair and Tevaga absolutely worked their backsides off to get across and shut it down.

I think we’ve been lucky with Gavet, Afoa and Lisone going so well in taking the ball up that it does cover Blair’s lack of work rate with the ball.

The pack for the most part are spreading the load really well. As I observed against Souths almost the entire front/second row rotation averaged around 100m apart from Blair so if he’s contributing defensively instead it’s something we can comfortably carry. The other bonus is that we’re not losing go forward when key guys go off in the way we often used to when Mutts and Bull were carrying our yardage game, it’s much more effective when it’s spread across the whole pack.
And of course when Simon comes back we get 120m+ AND 45-50 tackles to add to the effort.

 

[One Warrior]

3. RTS
2. Luke
1. Johnson

Hm's: Harris, Green, really impressed by Afoa.

 

[Fufu Andronez]

yeah but he's our grub merkin

This

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Blair is probably one of the best in the game at getting "tangled" in the ruck and getting away with it. Absolute grub for sure but at times our inexperienced guys last year were being far too generous in getting off the runner.

In Blair, Harris, Gavet we have some great che....uh....gamesman all of a sudden.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Blair is probably one of the best in the game at getting "tangled" in the ruck and getting away with it. Absolute grub for sure but at times our inexperienced guys last year were being far too generous in getting off the runner.

In Blair, Harris, Gavet we have some great che....uh....gamesman all of a sudden.

Yep, grubs are useful when they're cunning grubs, not boneheads. Note to Sam Lisone, keep doing what you're doing, we've got better grubs than you in the team now