Well that was definitely a very committed performance and the first time we've played for the full 80 all season, at no point did our intensity drop which was great to see. There are a lot of teams that we would have beaten today, and to stay with a top 2 team until the final siren was good to see. If the boys can play at that level for the rest of the year at least it gives us fans something to be proud of.
A few points worth mentioning from my opinion:
- I'm not surprised that our best game of the year came with Mullen on the field. We look so much better with him in the side.
- Mamo had his best game in the NRL imo. Not perfect by any means but he was extremely committed and made a few crucial plays that kept us in the game. His run out of the in-goal towards the end of the first half was much needed and the try he scored near the end gave us a shot at winning it in the dying minutes. I've defended Gagai a lot this year but if Mamo brings that every week I'd rather him at FB at least in the short term (gags back to centre). I still think that for Mamo to be our long term option there he has to develop a passing game, I have yet to see him throw a convincing pass in either direction. Also I really liked how involved he was, he took heaps of runs and was looking dangerous especially in the second half when the Melbourne forwards were struggling to keep pace. If we can get Mamo running onto a few of those offloads he'll cause a lot of headaches for the opposition.
- We didn't make too many errors but the ones we did make came at crucial stages, I.e. Dropping the ball after scoring on all three occasions! We have got to get better at this part of the game.
- Barnett is really starting to grow on me, the guy has a high work rate and is always looking to get an offload away, he will continue to grow his game over time and I think will turn out to be a very decent first grader.
- Sione has backed up last week's effort with another excellent performance. Loving the move to 2nd row! With a full offseason there he will push for a NSW spot next year imo.
- This ability to offload that we have developed all of a sudden is great to watch! We still need better support play around it but it's starting to cause a lot of problems for teams we play.
- Our right edge still needs heaps of work as I don't think either Pat or Elliot are the answer. Elliot was solid with his kick defence yesterday but he gets rag-dolled with every carry and his yardage game is terrible. I would rather we bring Chanel in when he's fit. Also I'd rather have Dane at centre for Pat, although Dane's defensive issues are obvious he has a strong combo with Mullen and is at least quick enough to break the line and put his winger away.
Anyway, if we keep playing this way for the rest of the year I'm sure a couple more wins will come.
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