Nyc

[otori]

Not sure on the meaning of 'backing up' but I daresay that Wes wouldn't be right to run with the team at training either, so yeah no wonder Pete has been playing at centre!

Yeah this had more to do with poor grammar in my post. I meant that Wes and Doogs would not be able to back up due to their injury news leaving the options slim if Sau goes down.

 

[Serc]

All good mate yeah very slim indeed, will be very interesting to see what happens should Sau not be able to back up on Sunday.

 

[roopy]

Good win, but we are sh*t in defence.
They were worse.
The halves combination of Roberts and Smith was great. Smith has improved out of sight this year.
Pete played fullback and his form was a bit better. Him and chanel combined for a good try with a run from Pete and a no look pass to Chanel that was perfect.
Harmony Hunt had a decent game at centre, and since Mitch Williams was injured during the game he will probably keep the spot.
Alex McMillian looked pretty good compared to the rest of our useless forwards.
Jake Finn went OK too.
Ailoami did a couple of great offloads to put Redman in for two tries, but he did just as many bad things as good.

All in all - we were great in attack - terrible in defence. They were terrible everywhere.

 

[Serc]

Pretty good summary there...didn't get the chance to talk about the negatives in the match thread but we are still very rough around the edges. Defence obviously, but dropping the ball and other stuff like that is still very much there.

Attack is clicking very well though as it has for most of the year.

 

[roopy]

I should say that Aloi was one of our best too (just for Mac).
I'd start him over Redman - not that there is anything wrong with Redman.

 

[Pika]

Pete has trained with NRL all year.

 

[roopy]

NYC: Sydney Roosters Vs Newcastle Knights
5.15pm Saturday 15 May 2010
Bluetongue Stadium
1. Peter Mata'utia
2. Chanel Mata'utia
3. Harmony Hunt
4. Mitch Williams
5. Nick Dwan
6. Will Smith
7. Tyrone Roberts
8. Jake Finn
9. Chad Redman
10. Josh Ailaomai
11. Zane Tetevano
12. Matt Herman
13. Ethan Cook (c)
Interchange
14. Dane Cordner
15. Carl Means
16. Cruise Wilson
17. Alai Taufa'ao
18. Alex McMillan
Coach: Garth Brennan

This side has all the attack needed - but defence is just not something they do.
Even for an NYC side, their defence is pathetic - worst in the league.

 

[Johns Magic]

A centre-wing combo of Chanel and Harmony...sounds like a women's perfume

 

[roopy]

Chanel and Harmony make sweet smelling music together.
When on song, they can sniff out a try.

 

[roopy]

Bloody good win 34-4.
Williams was out. Replaced by Herman in the centres who had a great game.
McMillian started in the second row.
No Mason.
Chris Knight was on the bench, and he transformed the side when he came on. Amazing the difference a quality hooker makes. He really did get the forwards working well with his crisp passing and little darts out of dummy half with precise offloads before the line. He also made a great break and set up a quality try.

The best part of the game was that the Roosters got a huge amount of ball in the second half and seemed camped on our line for most of the half, but they never really looked like scoring - partly because they have nothing, and partly because we defended like demons.

Nick Dwan had a magical game where he saved two or three tries, scored two very good tries and forced a heap of errors as well.

 

[roopy]

Tetevano scored two tries today and finally looks ready to step up to firstgrade if we need him.
Ailoami did some good work as well, but he is still a fair way off.

 

[perverse]

Tetevano looked super lazy when i was watching him earlier in the year, roops. something has changed since then i take it?

 

[Whats Doing]

Not that I saw the game but Herman impresses me the most in the NYC

 

[roopy]

Tetevano looked super lazy when i was watching him earlier in the year, roops. something has changed since then i take it?

All i can put it down to is the change in coach meant Tetevano didn't have someone on his back as much and slacked off.
He really was lazy, especially in defence, a few years ago, and the coaches did good work in motivating him to improve his workrate, but this year he just bludged in the early rounds.
I think he has been our best forward for the last two games and is certainly bigger and stronger than almost everyone in this grade.
If we had a second row vacancy in firstgrade, i'd be really keen to see him play.

 

[Serc]

I'm not sure of how good he has been in defence this year, but in the number of NYC games I've watched - Tetevano has been difficult to handle on the (right) side i think. Bends the line and often makes some half breaks.

 

[Adsy]

Didn't get to see Toyota Cup yesterday. How did the 'A-Lister' Will Smith go?

 

[The_Joey_Show]

Didn't get to see Toyota Cup yesterday. How did the 'A-Lister' Will Smith go?

Not bad. He and Tyrone have got a really nice combination, forged through years of schoolboy footy. We look better with the Smith/Tyrone combination than we did with either the Tyrone/Davis or Tyrone/Taufa'ao combination, despite the fact that I would rate Taufa'ao a better player than Smith, at least at this stage in their careers.

 

[Adsy]

Cheers TJS. Hope they stick with that combo.

 

[roopy]

No offense to Redman, who has been fantastic in his 3 month long career as a hooker, but the halves and the forwards really sparked to life when Chris Knight came on. He is a fantastic hooker who finds the forwards in motion and makes great runs from dummy half, as well as getting clean and crisp passes to the halves.
Redman is our hardest working defender and a decent part time hooker, but Knight is the real deal, even if he is the smallest player i've ever seen.

 

[roopy]

Just in case no one noticed - not one of the off season imports started this week.
Taufaao was named but was replaced by a local kid (Chris Knight).
Neenan Simpson, Brendan Simpson, Jarrod Tua, Aloi Taufaao, Adrian Davis - all replaced with local kids = our best game for the year.