To be honest, in a game where we scored plenty enough points to win it... I'd have to say the multiple tries that Mann and Ese'ese let in were more costly than anything else. Gavet also on that list as far as letting a geriatric Benji step his way through to the line. At some point you need to point a finger at the blokes missing the tackles. My thoughts on the tries that we conceded:
- The first Thompson try - Mann gets a complete bath from an angle running Garner (who gave us nightmares on that side all night, I might add). Mann didn't make enough contact to see him even break his stride. The guy ran a good line, but the read was poor and the effort poorer.
- Watching the Brooks linebreak again... Mann and Barnett have absolutely no idea what the other is doing. Mann is actually standing in front of Barney at one moment, seemingly completely unaware that Barney is sliding inside him and has the inside play covered. Mann proceeds to get an absolute bath from Brooks.
- The Benji try is just pathetic. Both Ese'ese and Gavet get caught just watching Benji and have their feet totally planted. The contact on him is embarrassing from the both of them. Benji isn't the biggest guy, but he rag dolls 2 of our middle forwards to the line. He wanted the try more than they wanted to stop him.
- The Farah try... I mean what do you even say? Terrible contact from Watson and Ese'ese, didn't hold onto him after contact. Watson caught not getting his body in position on that one too. Again, Robbie just wanted it more. The effort wasn't there.
- The Momirovski try... guess who it is rushing up out of the line and whiffing? Mann again. This one I can almost forgive to be honest... they had the numbers and moved the ball well - which I'm guessing is what prompted him to rush up and leave the outside guys screwed. At least it wasn't conceded through shit effort.
In that 5-6 game streak where Pearce was on fire - we had every person on the field aiming up in D... and if someone comes in here and tries to tell me that it was Wolfe that turned our defense from insipid to resilient between rounds 6 and 7... I dead set give up? It was an attitude thing on the back of an inspirational captain leading the charge. The moment we lost his form, the attitude dropped away and we're leaking points like a sieve again. We don't concede most of those tries I've mentioned above during that streak for the sheer fact that we were hitting and sticking hard and with real intent on every play.
I don't expect to see Ese'ese in the team next week. Gavet hopefully also gets the chop, he's added nothing that Jaifiti can't offer, but seems to have a shit attitude and is a loose cannon that we can't afford. Mann should definitely find himself in reserve grade too, because his defense has been deplorable. I would have had Lino in there for a couple of months already. He offers far more than Watson or Mann in the halves... and Mann's defense seems hard to ignore for me at this stage. To be at least somewhat fair to Mann, I do think he's having a dig... he's just shit at reading the D and has no awareness of what his inside and outside men are doing. I can't defend Ese'ese at all, and Gavet has had me sick of him for ages now.
Bring in Lino, Guerra and Jaifiti for those blokes, put the rest on notice, and at least MAYBE we'll have a team ready to dig in again. The rest of the season is not an easy road... they need to figure out how to play for each other again and hopefully not embarrass us and themselves for the rest of the regular season.
Whew... that was a lot longer than i anticipated. Been a while.
