Jersey Flegg Notes:
1st Half:
o The Silktails are still finding their way.. tonnes of big hits but not much of the class needed.
o Liu & Webster both rly big athletic bodies, setting a good platform, not sure how they compare to the younger ones, but promising.
o Benny Rumble is back and a class above.. one of the beautiful facepasses for the first try.. I dont think ive ever seen a dragons player in any grade do that.. 2 of his own, 2 try assists.. just a gun.. just needs more muscle and experience.. wonder how fast he finds his way into cup.. we shall see.. that said I dunno what the issue was before this week, hopefully nothing too serious.
o Lots of other players have been good.. but again the Silktails are completely open on their edges.. no defence.. it just took our halves a while to realise it I think.
o Defence has been good.. couple of errors, 2 from Rumble, SIlktails tend to just go for 1 out burrow type plays, very physical stuff, but so far we have survived with goalline intact.
o Ok 22-6 Halftime, a pretty nice try from them, and rly off the back of our own errors.
2nd Half:
o Ward gets a nice little run after getting the ball back after more Silktrail errors.. they do heaps of dumb stuff, not finding touch etc.. physical as hell but just constantly letting the pressure relief off. 26-6 up.
o 40-20 from Ward and Rumble in again.. I have to admit Im yet to really see him challenged in defence, he maybe could have prevented their try before halftime, but certainly in attack hes beautiful to watch, has a rly long tall frame too, can kind of fend off ppl. 36-6 up. As I say that another Rumble error, hes had 2 where he thought he was running a decoy but they passed it to him anyway.. tbf its his 1st week back, tonsil surgery as Jeremy says below.
o Nice 2nd grubber there for a try to the Silktails, probably nothing Rumble could do on that one.. 36-12.
o Silktails seem to be warming up as the game goes on.. Rumble pulled off a beatuiful contested bomb take on his line there.
o Rumble breaks the line, runs 30m upfield and puts Quinn away for a try.. my man lol.. 42-12.
o Silktails went in but called back for an obstruction.. I think we were lucky, I think Watchirs was just done for speed.
o Rumble in again lmao.. jumped in to dummy half and sent it down the shortside.. beatiful offload from Watchirs.. he had a few nice runs in that set... and Benny backs up for his 4th try. 46-12.
o Hjalatason running thru some very loose defence in the middle.. had 5 players to pass too lol.. try for Wardy. *50-12. FULL-TIME.
General Player Notes: Who stays when SG comes up?
o Wing: I think both wingers will be lucky to stay, not that either did anything wrong, but Jesse Williams is a certainty and the other is a brutally tough call.. no idea who gets it.
o Centres: Lavender is a bit of a bulldozing kind of frame.. he did some nice things, but that spot is Buchanans.... Starling also had some nice runs.. a lot of carries with footwork out of his own end... but again I mean I dunno..
o Halves: Ward was the standout half today... decent boot and goalkicking better than the others ive seen in SG... maybe Ward stays with Reed or maybe its Reed + Hammoud.. given that King-Togia is injured.. dunno what theyre gonna do here.. its gonna be a huge shift for the team though if 2/3 the team changes.
o Hooker: Hjalatason is captain and has had lots of decent runs in the game.. I dont feel like ive seen enough of him to pick his potential, or how well he defends... but given the younger grade hookers arent smashing any doors down, this kid probably remains hooker and captain I reckon.
o Middles: So Liu and Webster..Liu has a very big tall frame.. if his fitness is there he will have a body very suited to NRL... Webster is a little shorter (but not short by any stretch) with a massive f/off frame.. also rly well suited to NRL.. just a question ofhow fast they can come on with the ridiculous Dragons SG Ball pack on their tail. The 13 Alhazim was rly solid too.. but I cant imagine he doesnt get trumped by Meafou or Latu etc.
o 2nd Rowers: Asanoski and Watchirs have both had strong moments in attack and defence (in a dominant game), ive been interested in Watchirs for years, he used to play ctr and was always in the try-scoring, but hes pretty damn solid so maybe this is his path now.. that said guys like Halangahu, Stanley-Traill, Treweek.. god knows what they will do..
Note: Maybe some of these kids end up on the Cup bench though.. so maybe we can squeeze a couple more in.