My thoughts

[nqboy]

Another fantastic test match. Kimmorley was terrific and Lockyer was all class but I thought Webcke was best-on-ground. The number and nature of his hit-ups and his tackling was just outstanding, he really stood tall. Others to impress for the Aussies were Fitzgibbon and Wing.

For the Brits, Sculthorpe again was strangely quiet, very closely watched I think. Fielden was strong again, probably their best in the first two matches. Farrell again played well but also made errors. Other than that, most had moments but few could remain mistake free when it got tight. Newton toned down his niggle and I hardly saw him, not much of a recommendation for a player.

GB were unlucky, no doubt, but that's part of learning to harness that tremendous passion and emotion they play with. Knowing when to unleash it, and when to control it, they still have a way to go.

 

[simon says]

I thought that Oz was the best team by quite a bit.People are whinging about the refereeing,but dont forget that he allowed two tries to GB that clearly werent.Morleys(incredible)pass was a meter forward,and Radlinski was a meter offside and try again.

If you take away our first half droppsies,our 2nd best team would have won easily.IMHO GB scored a couple of tries on the run and were lucky to be in front.

Look at the stats.We dominated possesion,GB made a stack of missed tackles,and under this great pressure cracked at the end,when the game was over.

It had nothing to do with Mander,we are better than GB,simple as that.MOM for me was Webcke,he really stood up,great meters and tough up the middle.Even though the commentators were waxing on about Kimmorley Im still nott a fan.He misses tackles and wont spread the ball wide.Sing and co just dont get the ball when he plays.

Deveres defense out wide was crucial,made some great hits on Senior that saved tries.And Gower is a liabilty,missed tackles and looked nervous.

All in all you have to be happy,the poms thought they were going to win the ashes,which makes it even sweeter.Nothing better than beating whats left of GB pride.Australia is the king of all games where you pick up the ball.As it should be.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

Sculthorpe probably shouldn't have played. He's obviously not fit, and it was rumoured all week that he was ill and not training. He still a few decent things, but didn't go looking for work as he usually does.

I think the Roos stepped up big time at the start of the second half and it turned the tide. I still think it didn't help GB that they didn't get any hand-ups from the ref, which is unheard of in Rugby League. Australia were given easy yards several times due to penalties, and I find it hard to say we were any more in the wrong than Australia.

You Aussies are panning a lot of the players on the tour, but anyone good enough to pull on the green and gold of the Roos is good enough to put in a glass box in a museum for mine.

Kimmorley was fantastic again, on this evidence he is far better than most NRL players and Gower in particular looks nothing compared to him. Even the mighty Joey hasn't made this much impact on his tours.

 

[nqboy]

I neglected to mention the variety of GB's short kicking game. With the short in-goals, both sides were tremendous in the placement of their grubbers into the in-goal and GB were equally good with their chips, they really posed some questions to the Aussies, great to watch.

Gower - has looked out of sorts but is out of position two off the ruck. He likes to get his hands on the ball and dictate terms for his team. With Adrian's brother Kim at half, he hasn't been able to do that and it has unsettled him, much as it did with Langer and Stuart in '94. Would go better at half but I'm not suggesting we drop Kimmorley, I was one of his few supporters from the time the team was picked. The fact is we don't have a 5/8, maybe Wing could play there and Hegarty into the centres if fit.

Devere did go well against Senior who never-the-less still threatened plenty of times.

"Australia were given easy yards several times due to penalties" - I thought they were all pretty obvious penalties though Peacock could argue the toss with his strip. It comes down to the greater professionalism of the Aussies, more mentally tough under pressure.

"You Aussies are panning a lot of the players on the tour, but anyone good enough to pull on the green and gold of the Roos is good enough to put in a glass box in a museum for mine" - Wait until you see our full strength side with Ryles, Bailey, Barrett, Lyons, Gasnier, Anasta etc etc. A lot of the blokes over there are definite second stringers who wouldn't go within cooee of being picked in a full strength side. That said, though, it must also be said that we don't have the stars coming through that we are used to. Fittler and Tallis still rate with the best and are both retired from rep footy, Johns is suffering more and more injuries, the toll is starting to tell on Webcke. Lockyer is the shining exception to the rule, he'll be around for a while yet but good players those youngsters I mentioned earlier are, there are no Wally Lewis', Kennys, Daleys, Fittlers, Sterlos, Miles', Meninga', Lindners, Lazzos or Harragons coming through. Ryles could be great, we'll have to wait and see.

GB are getting closer. Fielden's world class, the big men are so important. Morley and Sculthorpe are as well, Senior, Peacock and the wingers go alright too so you've got a core you can build a team around. You've got to find some halves who can run the game like Johns or Kimmorley, put Connolly out to pasture and replace him with somebody with some penetration and get almost anyone instead of Newton. Someone mentioned previously he has played some outstanding footy at times in the past, we haven't seen anything in this series.

That's my rant, cheers.

 

[Rooster Lozz]

I thought GB were unlucky tonight. I think Mander did give us a few to many penalties and should have given them a few more but that wasnt what decided the game. I mean come on they had a chance at drop goal with 10 minutes to go and they just panicked. Australia for all its so called unexperience played well under pressure. When the game was there to be won in the last 10 we stood up like last week and GB didnt, that was the deciding factor!
I think Webke was as per usual solid, always making the metres. Fitzy played pretty well he was getting in there and breaking first tackles every time he had the ball. Kimmorley got mom and whilst he played well he is nowhere near the class of Johns at his best. There were a few silly mistakes that put us under some pressure but apart from that job well done.
Just on Gower i think he has been a major let down. It may be because he is playing out of position and is finding it difficult to adjust but thats no excuse for his stupid mistakes during the 1st and 2nd game. I mean just letting the ball go dead from the kick is pretty bad and the knock on last week was school boy stuff from the guy who is the premiership winning captain. I dont know maybe i am just still bitter and twisted about loosing the GF but he hasnt played well at all on this tour.

 

[Stevo_G]

great britain weren't unlucky, yeah their were a few decisions that didn't go their way but you have to play for the full 80 minuted not 40

 

[Jeffles]

Lions snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Forget the penalty count. Second half displays like that don't win Test matches. Poor marker defence and last tackle options.

Sculthorpe was a liability last night. Shame for a great player. Deacon was good. Better than Long. Carney and Senior were fantastic. And I loved GB's first half kickin options. I find the Northern hemisphere brand entertaining when it is in top gear.