Wow, wow, wow!! I don't even know where to begin to start explaining that oh my god. What a win!! That was a rollercoaster, a yo-yo, a washine machine of a game and to be honest, I can't believe we won!! it wasn't the greatest performance from us by any means and for most of the game I had this feeling of dread that Manly would overcome us in the end. But to the boys credit, it was us that overcame them. I honestly don't know how we did it as we looked down and out with fifteen to go, it was looking dire. Add to that the fact that we only had one player left on the bench and the reshuffle we had to do, that is a gutsy win, a seriously gutsy win. The boys just never gave up and just always believed!!
Attack was okay tonight I thought. We really struggled for meters early on in the game coming out of our own end but the attack certainly looked slick when we did end up getting down their end. Geez we scored two lovely tries there early. AJ's one was paticularly impressive, that was a brilliant move. Cody's try was also great to watch, as was Murray's. Like I said though, the forwards seemed to really struggle for meters in that first half due to Manly being so aggressive and we made errors at crucial times during sets after points. You simply can't afford to do that and we paid for it as almost all their tries was off the back of an error from us which isn't good enough. However, the boys seemed to be better in the second half and they sort of found their groove as the forwards seemed to find another gear. This saw us roll up the field much easier than before in a really good sign. There was still a few errors but they weren't at that crucial spot. Then, despite all the disruptions we had to the backline, we were still able to make inroads and score two wonderful tries to seal the match. So yea, attack could certainly be better but it wasn't bad.
On the other hand, defence was absolutlely shocking. I'll start with talikng about general play because that was where we were losing out. In the first half especially, the boys just seemed a little flat and weren't physical enough at all. For some reason, the lads just struggled to put their bodies in from of the ball runner and we failed to wrap up the ball many times. This hurt us as they had a real roll on for much of that first half due to our poor ruck defence but thankfully, we were able to fix it in the second half but the conrol of the ruck in the first half was simply not good enough. Then there was the defence on the line which was just as horrendus. Honestly, just about every try Manly scored tonight was due to our poor defence and some of those conceded tries were simply way too easy. Defence both on the line and around the ruck has to improve a whole lot for next week or we'll get rolled.
Doueihi: I thought Adam was brilliant tonight, he was really good. He ran the ball hard on hit ups/kick returns and he had pretty good field position, particularly defending Cherry-Evans' grubber kicks. He read them beautifully and I love the way he was bursting onto the ball which saw him get a couple of brilliant line breaks. The only negative I could see in his game was when he let that ball go for a 40/20. A real shame that he had to go off for an HIA but hopefully he'll be okay.
Johnston: AJ wasn't bad, he did a solid job. Had a fair few runs and they were all good, he didn't get dragged back and ran nice and hard. I used to feel that he was afraid of contact but i don't have that feel now. He also had decent positional play and it was a beautiful finish for his try, he still had a fair bit of work to do but found the line which was awesome.
Gagai: I'm going to be harsh but I think we can all agree he deserves it bacause that was hands down the worst I've ever seen him play. Plenty of errors and he didn't get involved enough for mine. Then there was his defence which was just shocking. He couldn't contain Suli at all as he came up with arm grabs for most of the day which was just so friggin weak. His defence let them back into the game. That's simply not good enough for a rep centre, honestly it was a shocking game from him.
Roberts: Pretty quiet to be fair. He had some decent runs and was able to generate a quick play-the-ball more often than not but I just feel that he was just not involved enough. I really don't understand why we don't use him more.
Graham: A solid game from him and I don't think he did too much wrong. Was safe under the high ball, good defensively and the hit ups he took were strong with often a wave of Sea Eagles coming at him. Got shuffled around and still held his own.
Walker: A mixed game for Cody I feel. He showed some great signs and did some lovely things like the lead up play for AJ's try and the beautiful whole he ran for his try. Then there were a few nice touches along the way too as well as a good short kicking game into that left corner. However, I feel that his game was mixed because I reckon he still drifted in and out of it. There were twenty minute periods throughout the game where he was barely involved and we need more than that from him.
Reynolds: Had a very off night you don't need me to tell you that. He just didn't seem to be all there for one reason or another. He looked a little slow in attack and on set piece shifts but it was his defence that was most concerning and it almost lost us the game to be honest. He just one was a poor read in defence which was still very poor but the other miss was probably worse because he just wouldn't get his body in front and it was all arm grabbing. There were a few instances where the Sea Eagles went straight through off his left or right shoulder. Normally he is a good defender and really puts his body on the line but that just wasn't there tonight. I must say though, his kicking game was insanely good, That last kick he did at the end to force a line drop out and win us the game was outstanding.
T.Burgess: Tom was pretty solid tonight. His match fitness is improving and it showed in this game. I thought he went through the motions a bit in his first stint but even then he was solid, however, his second stint really lifted the intensity and he was immense with some really barnstorming runs which bent the line each time.
Cook: Limited opportunities in this game but still did pretty well. Did a nice job of bringing the forwards onto the ball, particularly in that second half, was busy in defence as always and set up Cam's first try perfectly. Manly did a pretty good job of shutting him down. I still feel we need more from Cook.
Knight: Was good, probably one of our best forwards. He played big minutes and had a very high work rate. All his runs were aggressive and he just kept putting his hand up all night. Pretty good defensively too.
Sutton: A nice, solid game from Sutto. He was a little quiet early on but warmed to the task and became more prominant. He then went on to make a good contribution with his strong running game and his footy smarts. That try he scored was incredible, I loved every moment of it!!
S.Burgess: Made a successful return I reckon. You could see he was a bit angry as there was just that extra little bit of 'oompf' to his game. He did everything in that game at 100 miles an hour in both attack and defence. His runs were all very powerful and I quite like him running off Reyno back on that angle towards the centre of the field. Sam was putting in some good shots in defence too. A successful return.
Murray: Wow, what a game yet again from Cam! He was honestly in everything! Was doing a fantastic job through the middle with very strong runs and fast play-the-balls which built a little momentum. He just didn't stop all game, he was into everything and that didn't stop on. Murray's first try was a brilliant hole run by him and hen it was amazing to see him get another in what turned out to be the match winner, that was special. What a game from him.
G.Burgess: I actually though George looked good in his stint. He came out with a bit of a fire in his belly as his first few hit ups were done at full speed and they certainly rocked Manly's defensive line. Plus, he was hitting and sticking in defence. However, he obviously can't play long minutes which lessons his impact.
Nicholls: I feel like I say the same thing about Mark every week but there's not too much to talk about, he did his job.
Tatola: Was good off the bench, he came on and provided some real impact. The pack was looking a bit flat befor he came on and Junior certainly lifted them with his aggressive running.
Lowe: Same as Nicholls, he just did his job.
So all in all, I'm buzzing right now!!! We're into the Prelim!!! How good is that?! Anything is possible from here but we gonna have to be A LOT better than we were tonight.
