I'm in Auckland for the tournament, and man it's exciting! Atmosphere is electric (especially when the Warriors play), and there are lots of young fans soaking it up in union territory.
How about some of the Warriors tries? I couldn't believe what Tomkins and Johnson were doing. If the NRL team could get another star forward and their heads screwed on right, League is a sleeping giant in NZ.
For us though, I saw some real positives and negatives.
Seeing Barba add a bit of speed in the first game (before Griffin cotton-wooled him in the 2nd) was exciting, Thaiday shows what he'll add this year with a bit more space when he plays wider from the ruck and Macca was in top form. He looked enthused, his service was solid and those few runs he made up the middle set up tries later on. I hope he finds some consistency because I think he's the difference between our best and our worst.
It was disappointing though to see Hunt fade in and out of the contest again. We looked rudderless in attack at times (particularly in that 2nd game) which reflected the worst moments of 2013 for mine. It seems Hunt has trouble leading the team around (it seemed Prince did the majority of the organising when the two paired up last year). I hope he finds his voice and takes a bigger role come round 1.
In saying that though, it's only 9s: we chopped and changed players and combinations around him all the time when they were on the field so it's hard to judge how applicable any of this will be come footy season. Thoughts?
Anyways, how good is it to have some footy?!?!?!? Looking forward to us bouncing back against the Eels (probably not) and seeing the Warriors smash it tomorrow again,
How about some of the Warriors tries? I couldn't believe what Tomkins and Johnson were doing. If the NRL team could get another star forward and their heads screwed on right, League is a sleeping giant in NZ.
For us though, I saw some real positives and negatives.
Seeing Barba add a bit of speed in the first game (before Griffin cotton-wooled him in the 2nd) was exciting, Thaiday shows what he'll add this year with a bit more space when he plays wider from the ruck and Macca was in top form. He looked enthused, his service was solid and those few runs he made up the middle set up tries later on. I hope he finds some consistency because I think he's the difference between our best and our worst.
It was disappointing though to see Hunt fade in and out of the contest again. We looked rudderless in attack at times (particularly in that 2nd game) which reflected the worst moments of 2013 for mine. It seems Hunt has trouble leading the team around (it seemed Prince did the majority of the organising when the two paired up last year). I hope he finds his voice and takes a bigger role come round 1.
In saying that though, it's only 9s: we chopped and changed players and combinations around him all the time when they were on the field so it's hard to judge how applicable any of this will be come footy season. Thoughts?
Anyways, how good is it to have some footy?!?!?!? Looking forward to us bouncing back against the Eels (probably not) and seeing the Warriors smash it tomorrow again,
