We threw the game away IMO. Four things
1. Kidleys kicking game is bloody awful, get Witt to do the majority kicks, his first six kicks(Kidleys were nothing kicks capped off with one out on the full)
2. The Blooper of the game, Matt Gidleys pass on our line after all the hard work we'd done to absorb the Goosters attack and hit the lead, he throws THAT pass on our goal line, Bloody disgraceful, he has got to get these brain snaps out of his game, he does it all the time, nothing kicks, speculator passes at crucial times in games, but that one yesterday takes the cake. I hope Hages kicked him up the arse at half time for it.
3. Russell Richardson, ball control non existant, drops it playing the ball 10 meters out from our line 2nd tackle, they score, sure he made some tackles but all in all I'm sorry to say there are others in premmy league that deserve his spot.
4. Finally Tim Mander, that was the worst game I've seen him ref, those decissions at the end certainly putthe kybosh on any hope we had of winning a game we were right in up until the Witt tackled without the ball one, followed by the non-existant strip, not one penalty for us in the second half, and he gives them that one, if Witt got the penalty we should have got then we had them on the back foot and we were on a roll, thanks for nothing Mander.
On positive notes, O'Davis had a blinder I thought, Price showed some good agresive running, Lowrie was great, that bust for Carmonts try showed he has some evasive skills and a turn of speed, he improves every week. Abraham stood up when BK went off, Buderus was again our best, Perry and Wooly didn't take a backward step. Witt stepped up again from last week and will continue to get better he showed some deft touches with the ball, and has a good passing game. Kidley apart from a poor kicking game again showed class, made some top tackles (Joey woul've been proud off) and showed determination to score that try.I thought the ground improvements were great, the crowd though was very quiet for a lot of the game.
Saw Spiteri in premmy league, he went off injured (Shoulder I think) but he looks to have the goods to step into first grade (By By Richo) and Fitzgerald looked ok in a beaten team. Jersey Flegg got a walloping, never in the game. All in all we again showed we can match it with the top teams without Joey, so all isn't lost, we should have won yesterday, we didn't because of some stupid options, poor ref decissions, but it was a cracker of a game.
Footnote, Forgot to mention Newton, I thought he continued to show he's really turned his game around since his injury and just prior to it. He was very solid, and very strong, and that's great to see, not easyu to come back from an injury like the one he had and show such commitment, that takes courage and he's got plenty I think.