My thoughts from NZ
The thing i see coming thru strongly is all the younger and fringe players are stepping up and saying to Fitz that he needs them in his 17 , making for great depth and competition . Going forward this is what will stand for us come finals . Also having a fair few players who can play across multiple positions .
Kennedy - excellent game , this needs to be his benchmark from now on , strong in every department .
Katoa - strong game , back to his best .
Ikavalu - very impressive , making a statement .
Ramien - strong game , if he can just get the rocks out of his game he could be a major part of any success the club achieves . Would still like to see us bring in a proven centre .
Tracey - huge heart , tries so hard and plays above his size , didn't really think he was a centre but he is proving me wrong .
Moylan - showing why Fitz wants him there , might not be the player he was going to be but him being on the park gives Hynes confidence to just do what he does .
Hynes - improving each week as he gains confidence about his job , can see him being a SOO and Australian player in the next couple of seasons , has a great all round game , his kicking which had a lot of people doubting is great , has the full bag of tricks , obviously working very hard on kicking at training .
Finucane - what can i say , he is fulfilling everything that we thought he would bring to the club , you can see the younger forwards are really stepping up and i have no doubt he is a large part of that improvement .
Talakai - Boom , fricken scary , has improved his all round game , cut out a lot of silly errors , one of those players that is saying to Fitz that he needs him in his 17 , long may it last .
Nikora - solid game , no brain farts , so that is an improvement , still think there is more and sure that Fitz can find it , if he stays .
Brailey - i think everybody can see the improvement with a more solid structure around him , can only see him getting better , seems to be getting better in his judgement around certain situations , another i can see making representative teams in the future .
Rudolph and BHU - they have both lifted their games markedly , both trying to make an impression to both the coach and the new senior players that have come in , very strong in both defence and attack . much more to come from both as their confidence gets stronger .
Fifita - needs to keep his game simple , crabbing a bit last night , but i do believe his strength lies in what he brings to the team off the park .
McInnes - still rusty but will get better every week , trying hard and once he's back to 100% we will be better again .
Tolman - had another solid game , proving his worth , i am no great fan but i will give him his due , he is not weakening us , a good value player for us at present , does he make the 17 when we are fully fit , ??? .
Trindell - i don't want to be too hard but i don't see it , there are glimpses of ability but boy he has some poor touches , maybe trying too hard , maybe finding the step up to FG too big , not the first to find that , but while Moylan is fit there is no way this guy gets a run . I would prefer that we give Metcalfe a crack at 14 and then try and get him to flip , has way more upside for me , JMO .
Overall very impressive in the conditions , loved our transitions from attack to defence and vice versa , we are going to get games where it just doesn't work as we are still a work in progress but i think there are a few teams looking over their shoulders at us now . The competition for positions is seriously good and looking forward to how we keep progressing , might not be top 4 this season but i can see us a serious contender next season , i hope they prove me wrong this year tho .
Cheers Bob
