Round 1 vs Warriors

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

Just a few comments

Lawrie and Ramsey have clearly improved

Saints attack was predictable because virtually all the possession went through Hunt. Hook needs to get Amone more involved.

Sua is a beast. Sloane and Ramsey need to hover off him.

Suli too, is a tremendously powerful runner.

Rava was a beast today. Amazing display of power.

The 3rd Warriors try resembled an NFL pass. How it wasn’t called forward is a mystery.

Mbye provided the necessary spark at 9 today.

By mid season, I can’t see Macca retaining his spot.

Many solid performances.

Wasn’t pretty, but there was no shortage of effort.

Accurate.

 

[Dragon David]

I havent been this excited about a season for over a decade. We look fit and ready. There’s a good balance in the squad and we’ve got a coach who I can believe in.

Dragons by 14.

Also, how good was it to see Cluney running the knights around today, I’m so glad he got the gig up there. It’s a shame we had to let him go. Necessary as it was.

Clune will be good for the Knights. Too bad he had to go but we can't keep everyone.

 

[Willow]

Great win, Ben Hunt POTM for mine.

He might be the best Club captain we've had in a long long time.

Plenty of self belief. Coming back after a lapse. NZ a quality side that never threw in the towel.

But...
I have an issue with Andrew McCullogh. WTF was he thinking just before half time when from dummy half he passed to a stack-defended blindside on the last? Hunt was set on the open side for a grubber and repeat set. Warriors scored soon afterwards.

 

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

Clune will be good for the Knights. Too bad he had to go but we can't keep everyone.

Clune had a great game. That line break at the end. Was so happy for him. I wish he stayed.

 

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

Great win, Ben Hunt POTM for mine.

He might be the best Club captain we've had in a long long time.

Plenty of self belief. Coming back after a lapse. NZ a quality side that never threw in the towel.

But...
I have an issue with Andrew McCullogh. WTF was he thinking just before half time when from dummy half he passed to a stack-defended blindside on the last? Hunt was set on the open side for a grubber and repeat set. Warriors scored soon afterwards.

Ben Hunt nowhere near POTM. He was ordinary.
Agree about McCullough though. He was terrible.

 

[BLM01]

Ben Hunt nowhere near POTM. He was ordinary.
Agree about McCullough though. He was terrible.

People should not judge anyone just yet at Round 1, similar to judging trial form
It is too fricken early to be singleing anyone out, good or bad.
Everyone and everything has rust on it...all teams
I dont wont be firing on all cylinders at this point anyway
Yes some players looked to improve on last year which is a positive.

But I will put Rav out on a pedestal for his tri-peat today. In a rusty side he deserves MOM even though he had a couple of not so good moments. Bird, Hunt, Zac, JDB & Lawrie close behind him but my opinion only.
And after 60 odd..I was about to bag Frances Molo as being underwhelming again but his last stint was good and about time, need more of that..
Kerr was good when he got on in the middle, a step forward today I thought
In fact most stood up 1st and last 20, the mid 40...yuk

 

[Old Timer]

Ben Hunt nowhere near POTM. He was ordinary.
Agree about McCullough though. He was terrible.

I agree
With some of the go forward we had I expected a lot more from Hunt

He tended to be flat footed and just shovel the ball off to others.

He had one good crack and almost scored and that was about it in attack

Did make some critical tackles

 

[mickeylane]

Ben Hunt nowhere near POTM. He was ordinary.
Agree about McCullough though. He was terrible.

Hunt was off tonite not from lack of trying, just took wrong options all night…Amone needs to ask for more ball and take pressure off Hunt …McCullough is a slug!

 

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

People should not judge anyone just yet at Round 1,,as we should not after trials
It is too fricken early to be singleing anyone out, good or bad.
Everyone and everything has rust on it.
I dont wont be firing on all cylinders at this point anyway
Yes some players looked to improve on last year which is a positive..

But I will put Rav out on a pedestal for his tri-peat today. In a rusty side he deserves MOM even though he had a couple of not so good moments. Bird, Zac, JDB & Lawrie close behind him but my opinion only.
And after 60 odd..I was about to bag Frances Molo as being underwhelming again but his last stint was good and about time, need more of that..in fact most stood up last 20

Yes Molo was very good. He’ll be in our starting side before too long.

 

[Willow]

Ben Hunt nowhere near POTM. He was ordinary.
Agree about McCullough though. He was terrible.

He captained us beautifully. If you disagree I'll fight you in an alley in Cronulla.

Seriously, he had a lot of special moments. Led by example.

 

[qld redvee]

Our play the balls were the biggest concern for mine. Sloth like. If that is to be a characteristic of this team then we will be up against it.

Two times Zac tried a quick play the ball he was halted and aside from that I saw one quick ptb from Kerr when he entered the game. McCulloch needs a spell. His service doesn't help the situation despite the fact he can tackle. Horrible miss on Curran.

The usual combos and individuals were the difference. Rava all on his own and with Zac, Sloan near the line has got an A-game and of course Ben scheming looks dangerous. Halves bit clunky but will get better. Thought the new recruits all did well. Someone needs to back up Su'a as he can produce an offload on the fringes.

I've lowered my expectations this year to just make the eight. Happy camper so far.

big red
I was amazed at how the ref allowed the warriors to continually hold onto our players so they couldnt get a quick play the ball and we were "chastised " for pushing the warriors off . was even amazed how at one stage shaun johnstone whilst laying on the ground managed to roll over into the ruck so our dummy hals couldnt pick the ball up cleanly .. And we do need runners off sua to take advantage of his running game I think amone needs to get his hands on the ball more so its just not all hunt calling the plays Ill be happy with a top eight finish

 

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

He captained us beautifully. If you disagree I'll fight you in an alley in Cronulla.

Seriously, he had a lot of special moments.

Threats of violence aren’t tolerated in these parts.

He had some good moments yes. Had some shockers too.
Again. Nowhere near POTM but without him we’re cooked.
But we won. That’s what counts.

 

[kit66]

Ben Hunt nowhere near POTM. He was ordinary.
Agree about McCullough though. He was terrible.

Hunt has a lot on his shoulders, apart from being captain he's virtually carrying the spine until the young blokes settle in and McC either improves or is replaced. He's also had to take on most of the kicking responsibilities. Norman was a dud but Hunt will miss his kicking game. I hope the coaches are working hard with Bud and Amone on developing their kicking real fast because it was one of the areas we could have done better in today.
McC was very disappointing today but I think it may have been just an off game, his tackle count was way down and his awareness was down too, maybe he got a knock early. One run for 1 metre ? Something was off. Mbye ( or later Bud ) coming on to give McC a break will become the norm. Logically though you need an 80 minute hooker, save the bench spots for others.

 

[BLM01]

Impressed by S'ua, Mbye, Suli and Woods looked good before the hammy

Woods..yeh OK today, that poor soft shoulder on AFB to let him stroll through did not look good

 

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

Hunt has a lot on his shoulders, apart from being captain he's virtually carrying the spine until the young blokes settle in and McC either improves or is replaced. He's also had to take on most of the kicking responsibilities. Norman was a dud but Hunt will miss his kicking game. I hope the coaches are working hard with Bud and Amone on developing their kicking real fast because it was one of the areas we could have done better in today.
McC was very disappointing today but I think it may have been just an off game, his tackle count was way down and his awareness was down too, maybe he got a knock early. One run for 1 metre ? Something was off. Mbye ( or later Bud ) coming on to give McC a break will become the norm. Logically though you need an 80 minute hooker, save the bench spots for others.

McC didn’t show anything today that suggests he’s our best choice at 9.
Nor did he in any game last year. Bad signing.

 

[Willow]

Threats of violence aren’t tolerated in these parts.

He had some good moments yes. Had some shockers too.
Again. Nowhere near POTM but without him we’re cooked.
But we won. That’s what counts.

OK. Name the alley. I bet you don't show up. I know I where I'll be.

Hunt gets involved in almost every play. That's his job. Glass half empty folk only notice the mistakes.
I saw him shut down at least two attacking raids when our goal line defence was in trouble.
Without him, we would've lost.
Ben Hunt. POTM.

 

[Evil Emperor Zurg]

OK. Name the alley. I bet you don't show up. I know I where I'll be.

Hunt gets involved in almost every play. That's his job. Glass half empty folk only notice the mistakes.
I saw him shut down at least two attacking raids when our goal line defence was in trouble.
Without him, we would've lost.
Ben Hunt. POTM.

Hunt gets involved in almost every play because that’s his job. He just didn’t do it particularly well today.
Without him we struggle. Yep.
But once Bud steps up it’s Hunty to 9.

Also. Without Rav we lose by 20.

 

[thebigredv]

big red
I was amazed at how the ref allowed the warriors to continually hold onto our players so they couldnt get a quick play the ball and we were "chastised " for pushing the warriors off . was even amazed how at one stage shaun johnstone whilst laying on the ground managed to roll over into the ruck so our dummy hals couldnt pick the ball up cleanly .. And we do need runners off sua to take advantage of his running game I think amone needs to get his hands on the ball more so its just not all hunt calling the plays Ill be happy with a top eight finish

Thought the same. Don't feel we got the rub of the green with general ruck penalties and referee flow at all. That indiscretion on Sloan near the line was bordering on professional foul but no reaction from man with the whistle.

The wrestle did impact our play the balls greatly but it also just felt like our tempo was down. The warriors were faster, but watching other games we are well behind in urgency in getting to feet. With a relatively ineffective hooker, takes a whole facet of attack out of our game and exacerbated the clunkiness of attack at times.

Priority number one at training if I'm coach.

 

[Willow]

Hunt gets involved in almost every play because that’s his job. He just didn’t do it particularly well today.
Without him we struggle. Yep.
But once Bud steps up it’s Hunty to 9.

Also. Without Rav we lose by 20.

Hunt 3
Ravalawa 2
Rugby League 1

 

[Sloth]

There were only a few times I noticed the ref/video ref in the game. The first was the no penalty to Lawrie for the shoulder to the face after the video review. The second was the charge down with Curran in front of the bloke who charged it down. The third was the video ref finally remembering the rules about contact to the head and awarding a penalty against Sloan for a try saving tackle. Probably a fourth but he never blew a penalty for Jazz being offside at every play the ball.