Yeww we start the year off on a winning note!! Great way to get our Season underway!! How good is it to have the Footy back?!! Absolutely stoked to get the win but we do have a lot to work on as that was a very mixed game for us and we were a bit lucky to win in the end. The first half wasn't perfect but it was pretty damn good for a Round 1 game, as good as we could hope for really and I was quite impressed. That saw the score blow out and we stretched to a 22-8 lead with about 20 minutes to go. However, it was at this point things started to go a little pear shaped. At 22-8, it looked like we put the cue in the rack and kind of said 'job done.' Wayne pulled Latrell off and the boys went into their shells as the effort dropped away. We sort of clocked off if you will. This allowed the Sharks to get back into the game and it was only a few good tackles and a bit of luck that saved us in the end. It isn't good enough to let the foot off the throat like that and we need to be better. But it's Round 1 so we can't expect to be perfect I guess.
Attack overall was good without being great. As I alluded to earlier, it was especially that first half that we looked good. The timing was out and it did look pretty clunky at times but we can expect that for the early Rounds, overall it wasn't bad at all. We weathered an early Cronulla surge and then after that we had no problems making ground. In fact, we were pouring through the middle off the back of great efforts from Tatola, Knight and Burgess. We scored some nice tries off the back of that and stretched them at times through some pretty good play. In addition to this, the boys were able to apply pressure and spend some extended time down there through forcing repeat sets. A few ppor errors in there of course but that was evidence of it being Round 1 and I was pretty happy with the completion rate. However, there isn't much to talk about in attack for that second half because as I said, we got complacent.
Similarly, I'd say the defence was good without being great. Didn't do a lot of defence in the first stanza but what we did do was quality. Holding them out, restricting their meters and even bundling them into touch in a strong showing at one stage. The boys didn't look too loose around the ruck and I thought the line speed was solid. But once again, this all fell away in that second 40. I think it all started with some poor defensive dicipline as we gave away some piggy back penalties which created opportunities for them. What's more, for some reason the line speed dropped away and instead of advancing as a line towards the ball carrier, our boys would take a few steps and then wait for the attacking player to come to them which in my opinion, helped change the momentum of the game. I wouldn't say we got lazy, but there was signs of laziness as players were clocking off in defence a little. As we all saw, the left edge defence got shaky and we conceded two quick tries. Staying focussed defensively for 80 minutes is a big work on.
Just as a little side note before I get into the player-by-player analysis, I wasn't a big fan of Wayne's interchange stratergy and it left me a little confused. Not sure why he brought all three of Tatola, Knight and Burgess off at the same time when they were going so well and were puring through the middle. With no disrespect to Sele, Lowe and Nicholls, we just didn't have that same punch in the middle once those starting forwards came off and you could sense the Sharks warming to the contest in this period. In my opinion, the timing of bringing those three guys off should be staggered so we don't lose so much 'umpff' all at once.
Anyway,
Mitchell: I'm going to be harsh here but it's no disrespect to Latrell as I still think he will be a star for us, it's just a matter of easing him into it hopefully. But he wasn't great tonight. Had a couple of good touches and good runs but that was about it. I think he ended up with only four runs. Made an error too. Like I say, hopefully it's a matter of easing him into it and I think Latrell will be brilliant in time but you need more from your fullback in the modern game than that. A lot more. A fullback can't just chime in on set plays and do kick returns, they have to be constantly on the ball and sniffing around the ruck as well as being able to quickly get into position out wide. We didn't see that at all from Latrell tonight so hopefully it's something he builds into. I have a lot of faith in him because the early signs are there!!
Gagai: Pretty solid tonight. He had some really good runs coming out of our own end and when he had the ball, Gags gave it his all. Pretty solid in defence too apart from the one mis-read that lead to Wade Graham's try. So not a bad night for Gags, he just needs to get more involved.
Roberts: Was good. Strong runs tonight and he certainly showed us glimpses of what he could potentially do this year. When Reyno gave him early ball (seemed to happen a lot more than it did last year which is a good sign) he looked very threatening, like he could break the line at any moment. And he did on that one run late in the game where we had a fantastic run and offloaded it to Cookie in a great position. So yea, the signs are there.
Burns: Burnsy was okay. Had a few strong runs to get us out of trouble, especially from dummy half. He almost scored that try in a great show of strength but ended up losing it instead. His work on 'd' wasn't super impressive and he did struggle in that regard a bit in the second half. To me, it seemed like him and Campbell didn't quite have that defensive cohesion. That'll take time.
Graham: Like Burns, he was okay. Did well to finish a great play from Lowe for his try and took some pretty solid runs but as I mentioned earlier, he didn't work the best with Burns on defence.
Walker: A bit quiet tonight from Cody, that's not to say he was bad, just quiet. Didn't have a huge impact in attack, didn't look like his illusive best and he seemed to get caught with the ball a little too much. I must say I was really, really impressed with his kicking game though, that was outstanding.
Reynolds: I thought Reyno was mostly good. In fact, he was brilliant in that first half. Directed the boys around well and it was so awesome to see him running the ball a few times. It looked incredibly dangerous. Scored that brilliant try as a result of his crafty running. What's more, he had the ball on a string close to the line, putting in some brilliant short kicks which helped build pressure. But like a few others, he didn't look as good in the second stanza. Hopefully his back injury from last year isn't flairing up again.
