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Round 10 - Warriors vs Rabbitohs: Saturday 14th May 3pm @Suncorp Stadium

Rabbits20

Immortal
Messages
41,607
I’m just happy to win. I think people need to lower their expectations we aren’t gonna win games as well as we did last year without what we have. We already lost quality players and now have no Murray, Host, Nicholls, Sele, Chee Kam and Latrell too. Arrow copped lots of knocks yesterday he was so tired the last 15mins he could barely walk. Junior played himself to exhaustion and struggled to move the last 10mins. Tom still wouldn’t be over the back spasms I’m certain Keaon is carrying an injury which is affecting him. Winning ugly too will keep the boys grounded knowing we have plenty to work on. It is round 10 and I will take 5 and 5. JD said a heavy flu has been going through the camp too and add to that losing Hosty early he knew we would tire greatly. Completions were only around 65percent in second half so that’s a big work on.

Also I thought the reffing was poor Warriors had 3 knock ons in the second half and none of them were called they also won the penalties 7-3 and six agains 4-3. I thought Tohu on Ilias was very late contact too and we have seen those sin binned in recent weeks.

Positives were Taaffe had a better game, AJ best game I’ve seen from him in quite a while, Jaxson was solid with the shit work as was Milne, Cody and Lachy had good games despite a couple of poor errors in the second half, Cookie was good I thought. Off the bench Havili kept doing what he’s been doing I’m proud of him and Moale went well.

My concern is Liam Knight again was poor with his discipline and makes stupid errors. Now with us low on troops he may have to start next week and that’s not ideal at all. With 6 forwards out now we might have to get an exemption for Peoples to play I think or upgrade him to top 30 as we need Peoples to come onto the bench and play that 55-60mins role so Arrow can move to middle.
 

callmack1

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,611
After watching the replay, here's my full report,

Taaffe: Not a bad all round performance. His first half was brilliant!! He was pushing up around the ball and really sniffing around for opportunities, as well as chiming into the backline really well for that first half. This is the first time I've really seen him do all of that and put it together consistently in a game. Provided the try assist for Taane's second try through some unselfish play and some silky hands, and then almost broke through a little later off the scrum. What a great show of acceleration that was! Got a well deserved try off a grubber from Cody in the first half and that was great vision from Taaffey to identify the space and call the play, great stuff. His performance did fall away a bit in the second half though it must be said. He made a few errors and didn't do well in all the areas he was excelling in the opening stanza. I also want to say that his last line of defence was pretty bad again, missed a number of tackles in those situations and also allowed Tevaga to slip through for a try. So good signs from him in the first half, probably the best 40 minutes of his career but really fell away in the second.

Johnston: AJ was really fantastic yesterday. One of our best I reckon. While he didn't make a lot of hit ups, the runs and kick returns he did have were super solid and he was breaking tackles all over the place all game through footwork and strength. Super safe at the back, covering kicks and man what an effort that was to get out of the in-goal in the first half!! Hid defence was also pretty on-song. Looked very slippery in good ball attack and his combo with Cody seemed to return. He found himself with room to move many times and looked super dangerous, scored a try, provided a great kick back inside for Lachie's no try (was a real shame we didn't get that because it was amazing), and finally got his try assist in the second half as he made a break, stepped inside a few before finally sending Ilias over. Awesome stuff from AJ!

Graham: I was a bit dubious about him switching over to the right but I must say, it worked a treat as Stretch didn't miss a beat!! He was fantastic as always. Constantly putting in the hard yards coming out of our own end and this all added up to a very good 113 meters from 12 runs. Did his job beautifully in attack as he provided some nice tip-ons, executed his play as a decoy really well and also asked a few questions himself with the ball. It was clear to see how much more comfortable Cody looked with Campbell there on that side and things finally clicked as a result. The lethal left edge returned!! The milestone man also did his job well in defence as always, making a number of great tackles. Well done Campbell and congrats on 100 games!

Paulo: Credit where credit is due, Jaxson was pretty good and his first game back at center can be considered a success I think. There was nothing particularly special from him with the ball but he certainly didn't do anything wrong. Good hit ups to get us out of trouble and he got through plenty of work which all added up to a big 155 meters from him which was the most of the outside backs! Also provided a nice offload in the build up to Cookie's try. I want to commend his work as a decoy as well though as on both our early tries to the right, Jaxson executed his role perfectly and played a part in sucking Montoya in so well done there. His defence was pretty good, some nice stops however, I do think he could have done more to stop the Warriors second try off the kick. He kind of read it wrong I think because when Montoya catches that ball, he's going nowhere but Jaxson still throws himself at him which left Pompey open. Easy to say in hindsight I guess. I know there were two more tries conceded down our right side but I don't think they were Jaxson's fault. Significantly, he has copped a lot on here from many (myself included) but he needs to be commended for his game yesterday.

Milne: A little bit of a mixed game for mine. With the ball, he was really good. Obviously, two really good finishes for his early tries and His carries were strong as he made 124 meters. However, his defensive effort let him down I feel. While Taane did stop a few plays, I think he was responsible for letting two tries in. The first one right on halftime should never have happened! The Warriors didn't really break us down, Taane was just stupidly standing way too tight to Jaxson and he got beat on the outside. There was no need for that at all and it showed a real inability to read the play. His other lapse came right at the end with the Warriors final try as he came rushing in and came up with nothing. No issues with Milne in attack, it's defence which he really needs to work on.

Walker: I'll talk about the first half right now because that was just magnificent!! Cody was back baby!! Back with a smile on his face, back in form and back to his old self. Almost everything he touched turned to gold and everything finally clicked! Firstly, that pass for our opening try was just beautiful to watch. Awesome timing, vision and execution, it had it all. He was then at it again a little later, this time putting it on a platter for AJ with a lovely cut out pass. That play from Cody particularly pleased me as we have seen that play fail so many times this year so it was great to see Cody stand up, pull the trigger, not think and just execute. His third try assist of the afternoon came with that pinpoint grubber to Taaffe. Aside from those try scoring plays, he created plenty more chances and I thought his kicking game was outstanding. Maybe having the captaincy lifted him, I don't know but whatever it was, it was just great to see our man shine again! However, I think Cody would be the first to admit that he deserves to cop some for that second half as it was not up to standard, especially considering what had just happened in the 40 minutes before. That second half was set up for Cody to rip the Warriors a new one but he failed to step up. Made errors, hesitated, went back into his shell and failed to manage the game. Looked much like he has for most of this Season again. Within that time, there was still a few flashes, most notably his hand in Lachie's legit try but it wasn't enough really. A bit disappointing but I think we should certainly take note of his first half and I hope that shows Cody and everyone else he's still got it, it's just a matter of doing it consistently.

Ilias: Lachie's performance kind of mirrored his halves partner as he was brilliant in the opening 40. In fact, I'm going to say that half was the best he's played all year. Had a brilliant hand in both of Taane's try's with some great ball playing as he squared up the defence, created the space and executed the pass. He also played a role in a few of the line breaks down the left by doing the same thing. Was bloody great to see him and Cody combine more and we look so dangerous when that happens. A real shame he just lost that ball for that try late in the opening half because he deserved it but he thankfully jagged one later which was great support play and he showed his strength to get the ball down. His kicking game in that first half was very good as well, controlled things beautifully, constantly turned them around to put them under pressure and he also came up with a few threatening bombs. was a shame to see his performance drop away a little in the second 40 because just like Cody, he failed to control the game and this will serve as a great lesson for the young bloke. Some of his kicks here were really poor and he took the wrong options. Him and Cody also barely combined here which was mentioned in the press conference. So some good, some bad for Lachie but certainly a good learning experience.
 

callmack1

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,611
Tatola: What an amazing game for Junior!!! His best of the year by a mile!! I'd even say it was up there with the best of his career! he played 64 minutes which is a huge effort for him compared to what he'd be used to but he didn't look fatigued at all. In fact, it was kind of the opposite and he seemed to thrive on it. Constantly hitting it up with aggression and desire on his way to a huge, huge 200 meters off 19 runs! This topped the count of any player for the whole game. His leg drive and refusal to go to ground was insanely good as can be seen in the stats when you read that he made 93 post contact meters!! On top of this, he put in a lot of defensive work with 42 tackles. Did make one error but I won't hold that against him as he is man of the match for me. A real credit to him after what happened last week.

Cook: Pretty good, very solid performance. His defensive work rate, as always, was top notch with 43 tackles and this set the platform for a good afternoon from him. His service from dummy half was great, not too many crash balls this game thankfully and he picked his times to run really well. A few of those runs up the middle really threatened. The highlight of his game was clearly the try though, honestly one of the best tries of his career. Amazing effort to go from dummy half about 20 meters out and beat 5 defenders on your way to the line! A truly incredible show of strength and agility from Cookie! He did get sin-binned which was the only real negative of his night but I did think he was a bit hard done by with that.

Burgess: A really nice, typical Burgess performance. I wouldn't say it was anything super special, but he just quietly went about his work and chipped away at the big Warriors pack. I think Tom was a big reason why we gained the upper hand through the middle for a lot of that game. Some barnstorming runs in there for 158 meters and most importantly, no errors. His defence was solid for the most part but I do have to say, I'm disappointed in his weak effort on Tevaga when he scored.

Koloamatangi: His stats read pretty well. Played 80, cracked the 100 meter mark, 29 tackles with only a couple missed and no errors. However, I feel like he was a little quiet and didn't make a huge impact on the game. Maybe I shouldn't say quiet, but just didn't have his usual impact on the game.

Host: Obviously nothing to talk about here as he only lasted a minute with that shoulder. So friggin gutted for him to put in the work, get back and then have it go again just like that. Truly heartbreaking and that's probably him gone for the Season now which is a real loss.

Arrow: Had to stand up in the absence of Murray and I think he can hold his head high and say he certainly did that. His game was thrown into disarray a little with the injury to Hosty as it meant he had to play the full game on the edge which wouldn't have been planned this week but he handled it well. Really well actually, couldn't ask for much better. Jai left nothing in the tank at all, ran and tackled himself to a stand still in a real tradesman-like performance. He was buggered at full time. 130 meters, 43 tackles, no errors. Hats off to you Jai!

Nikorima: Came on in a bit of a confused role and didn't offer anything really in his club debut. I don't blame the coach as that's how I would have brought him on too to be fair. I think we want him to play a similar role to Benji last year but he just didn't provide. Benefit of the doubt to him as he's been with us for less than a week and it will take him a bit to get up to speed.

Moale: Not too bad in the time that he was on. Pretty good actually. Had 9 high quality carries there for 90 meters. He gave it everything and proved hard to handle. I just can't understand why he's being made to play such small minutes!!

Havili: Did make a crucial error towards the end of the game but aside from that was really good. 12 runs for 114 meters is good impact off the bench!

Knight: 13 runs, 107 meters so his stats don't read bad but he was just let down by some really dumb stuff. Both errors and penalties that he gave away. He has to be one of the dumbest players in the comp at the moment and it's not good enough, really needs to sort it out.

Watching the replay made me feel better. We certainly dropped a level straight after halftime but we still went okay for 20 minutes there in the second half. it wasn't until the final quarter that we really lost the plot. Still that's not an excuse because it's still simply not good enough. We should have put 40 points on them and whacked them but we weren't ruthless, we went back to our old selves and thought it was just going to happen. Very disappointing and simply shouldn't happen. Thankfully, it didn't cost us the result but it very nearly could have and it will in the future if we do that again.

Still, we can't disregard that first half. What a performance from the boys. Just great to see things click and we should take big confidence from that because that is how good we can be if we hold the ball and get things right.

Above all else, The win is what matters but we still have so much to work on.
 

Rabbits20

Immortal
Messages
41,607
Junior, Ilias, Moale and Milne at the casino at 4am last night they had an all nighter my mate is up there his mate had a photo with them.
 

handyman2190

Bench
Messages
3,386
I’m just happy to win. I think people need to lower their expectations we aren’t gonna win games as well as we did last year without what we have. We already lost quality players and now have no Murray, Host, Nicholls, Sele, Chee Kam and Latrell too. Arrow copped lots of knocks yesterday he was so tired the last 15mins he could barely walk. Junior played himself to exhaustion and struggled to move the last 10mins. Tom still wouldn’t be over the back spasms I’m certain Keaon is carrying an injury which is affecting him. Winning ugly too will keep the boys grounded knowing we have plenty to work on. It is round 10 and I will take 5 and 5. JD said a heavy flu has been going through the camp too and add to that losing Hosty early he knew we would tire greatly. Completions were only around 65percent in second half so that’s a big work on.

Also I thought the reffing was poor Warriors had 3 knock ons in the second half and none of them were called they also won the penalties 7-3 and six agains 4-3. I thought Tohu on Ilias was very late contact too and we have seen those sin binned in recent weeks.

Positives were Taaffe had a better game, AJ best game I’ve seen from him in quite a while, Jaxson was solid with the shit work as was Milne, Cody and Lachy had good games despite a couple of poor errors in the second half, Cookie was good I thought. Off the bench Havili kept doing what he’s been doing I’m proud of him and Moale went well.

My concern is Liam Knight again was poor with his discipline and makes stupid errors. Now with us low on troops he may have to start next week and that’s not ideal at all. With 6 forwards out now we might have to get an exemption for Peoples to play I think or upgrade him to top 30 as we need Peoples to come onto the bench and play that 55-60mins role so Arrow can move to middle.
From round 10 you dont need permission to bring players from out of the top 30, so id slot peoples in.
Knight should be shown the door his penaltys mistakes are a disaster and he is on big money, sele is injured 85% of the time,muscle strains etc no matter how much talent a player has if he is off more than on he is a liability,we also have cartwright who is totally useless.
We need to shift the dead wood,we need to recruit,something we are useless with. On the plus side havili has been great, i honestly wish we could poach burton he would be great in the centres for us
 

truthslayer

Juniors
Messages
331
Tatola: What an amazing game for Junior!!! His best of the year by a mile!! I'd even say it was up there with the best of his career! he played 64 minutes which is a huge effort for him compared to what he'd be used to but he didn't look fatigued at all. In fact, it was kind of the opposite and he seemed to thrive on it. Constantly hitting it up with aggression and desire on his way to a huge, huge 200 meters off 19 runs! This topped the count of any player for the whole game. His leg drive and refusal to go to ground was insanely good as can be seen in the stats when you read that he made 93 post contact meters!! On top of this, he put in a lot of defensive work with 42 tackles. Did make one error but I won't hold that against him as he is man of the match for me. A real credit to him after what happened last week.

Cook: Pretty good, very solid performance. His defensive work rate, as always, was top notch with 43 tackles and this set the platform for a good afternoon from him. His service from dummy half was great, not too many crash balls this game thankfully and he picked his times to run really well. A few of those runs up the middle really threatened. The highlight of his game was clearly the try though, honestly one of the best tries of his career. Amazing effort to go from dummy half about 20 meters out and beat 5 defenders on your way to the line! A truly incredible show of strength and agility from Cookie! He did get sin-binned which was the only real negative of his night but I did think he was a bit hard done by with that.

Burgess: A really nice, typical Burgess performance. I wouldn't say it was anything super special, but he just quietly went about his work and chipped away at the big Warriors pack. I think Tom was a big reason why we gained the upper hand through the middle for a lot of that game. Some barnstorming runs in there for 158 meters and most importantly, no errors. His defence was solid for the most part but I do have to say, I'm disappointed in his weak effort on Tevaga when he scored.

Koloamatangi: His stats read pretty well. Played 80, cracked the 100 meter mark, 29 tackles with only a couple missed and no errors. However, I feel like he was a little quiet and didn't make a huge impact on the game. Maybe I shouldn't say quiet, but just didn't have his usual impact on the game.

Host: Obviously nothing to talk about here as he only lasted a minute with that shoulder. So friggin gutted for him to put in the work, get back and then have it go again just like that. Truly heartbreaking and that's probably him gone for the Season now which is a real loss.

Arrow: Had to stand up in the absence of Murray and I think he can hold his head high and say he certainly did that. His game was thrown into disarray a little with the injury to Hosty as it meant he had to play the full game on the edge which wouldn't have been planned this week but he handled it well. Really well actually, couldn't ask for much better. Jai left nothing in the tank at all, ran and tackled himself to a stand still in a real tradesman-like performance. He was buggered at full time. 130 meters, 43 tackles, no errors. Hats off to you Jai!

Nikorima: Came on in a bit of a confused role and didn't offer anything really in his club debut. I don't blame the coach as that's how I would have brought him on too to be fair. I think we want him to play a similar role to Benji last year but he just didn't provide. Benefit of the doubt to him as he's been with us for less than a week and it will take him a bit to get up to speed.

Moale: Not too bad in the time that he was on. Pretty good actually. Had 9 high quality carries there for 90 meters. He gave it everything and proved hard to handle. I just can't understand why he's being made to play such small minutes!!

Havili: Did make a crucial error towards the end of the game but aside from that was really good. 12 runs for 114 meters is good impact off the bench!

Knight: 13 runs, 107 meters so his stats don't read bad but he was just let down by some really dumb stuff. Both errors and penalties that he gave away. He has to be one of the dumbest players in the comp at the moment and it's not good enough, really needs to sort it out.

Watching the replay made me feel better. We certainly dropped a level straight after halftime but we still went okay for 20 minutes there in the second half. it wasn't until the final quarter that we really lost the plot. Still that's not an excuse because it's still simply not good enough. We should have put 40 points on them and whacked them but we weren't ruthless, we went back to our old selves and thought it was just going to happen. Very disappointing and simply shouldn't happen. Thankfully, it didn't cost us the result but it very nearly could have and it will in the future if we do that again.

Still, we can't disregard that first half. What a performance from the boys. Just great to see things click and we should take big confidence from that because that is how good we can be if we hold the ball and get things right.

Above all else, The win is what matters but we still have so much to work on.
Totally disagree with you about Cody N , he’s not in the same breath as a benji Marshall. Totally momentum was lost when he came on, the coach thought the game was won…far from it as we found out. Which player if they are not injured will he replace. Time will tell but I am not in the least impressed with his first game. JD is no Bennett in the smarts department and 10 games in, he has to do better.
 
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