After watching the replay, here's my full report,
Attack
Not an awful lot to write home about here as it was very different attacking wise in this game. I'm still not sure if it was by design (I'm leaning towards thinking it was), or it just happened, but we certainly didn't play that one with the same energy as we have been. I wouldn't say we were flat, no one was poor, there just wasn't the same 'zip' and 'ompf' we've seen in recent weeks. There's no doubt about it, the boys simply didn't get out of second gear in this one at all. The cruised, went through the motions a little and just did what they had to do. It was a very conservative style from us yesterday, played well within themselves. So, to still put on 20 points is very impressive.
The forwards probably weren't as dominant through the middle as they have been against better packs than the Tigers. That's not to say our pack was bad, they clearly just pegged it back a bit. We also really missed Tom.
When we did genuinely attack, the shape looked pretty good, the boys just weren't able to land the killer blow until late. That's probably a bit of a credit to the Tigers defence as they covered our shape well.
I'm not saying the way we played is a negative either, it's probably exactly what we needed after the opening ten Rounds to be honest.
Defence
No doubt the most impressive part of yesterday's game. It was brilliant. To keep any team to nil in the NRL is a great feat so we did very well there. I know the Tigers aren't the best attacking team, they didn't throw a hell of a lot at us, but you can only play what's in front of you and our boys gave them NOTHING. Nothing at all. They barely looked like scoring. We just kept turning them away time and time again and in general play, we did our best to negate their meters. When the Tigers did look like scoring, our scramble was simply amazing to deny them.
Clearly defence was the big focus this week and we get a massive tick in the box for that.
My Standouts
Not going to do a player-by-player review for this one. That's because the way we played; I'd end up saying the same for just about everyone. 'Played well, nothing special, did his job,' for example. Therefore, I'll just go through my standouts for the game.
Mitchell: Certainly, wasn't his best game for the year, certainly wasn't his busiest or his flashiest but I thought he was still one of our better players out there. Cleaned up everything that came his way out the back, including some testing kicks. His defence was pretty good when it was needed, he was involved in that big try saving tackle in the second half. Looked pretty dangerous in attack and he was chiming into our movements pretty well. Was unlucky to not have a few big moments come off as often he went for the killer blow, but the Tigers would cover it up or knock the ball down. However, he was pretty brilliant in all our tries as he had a hand in all three. The first, he wasn't involved directly, but just his presence helped create it. Talau got drawn in on Trell which created the space for Cody to get the ball to Stretch to set it up for Taane. Trell picked up a try assist with a great pass for Taane's second, and then the third try was all him. Taking a nice ball from Cooky close to the line, there was no way he was going to be stopped. He shrugged straight past two defenders in a show of strength to crash over. Awesome stuff. Pretty good performance from Trell.
Graham: Was a little quiet individually last week but roared back to life yesterday. Stretch was enormous for us! Mostly with the tough stuff. His carries out of our own end were great and there were a lot of them. I feel like he touched the ball just about every set where we were coming out of our end. There were also a few times where he showed great strength, skill and agility, to either break though or slice through for a nice break or half break. he just looked so dangerous, and the Tigers were clearly struggling to contain him. he ended up with a brilliant 194 meters. That's huge. Great play from Campbell for our first try as he took a pass that wasn't quite perfect so had to check his run, yet he somehow still manages to find the hands to draw and pass to set up Taane. Brilliant! He helped set up the second try for Taane too. This time, he goes into contact on two defenders but shrugs them off, frees his arms and gets the offload away. Trell and Taane do the rest. Brilliant again! His defence was top shelf too, constantly shutting downplays that started to look dangerous, nothing got past him.
Milne: Stand and applaud. Easily a career-best game for Taane, easily man of the match. He was just incredible all afternoon. Firstly, two awesome finishes for his tries but that wasn't the bit that impressed me the most, that was just his reward. What impressed me the most was everything else he did but especially his carries. I can't believe his work rate!! 25 runs, yes, 25, for 271 meters, yes, 271. That is just out of this world for any player, let alone a winger. Blown away by those stats, surely it would be the most meters anyone has run in our side this year. Every carry he had was top notch. Ran hard, didn't give in and proved very hard to put down. He just kept going and going and going. So friggin good! Well done, Taane, I am in awe. His defence was good, as was his kick defence too. Just awesome, I am very proud of him.
Murray: The final guy I want to highlight is our skipper. A huge effort once again. 129 meters off 19 carries. 52 tackles with NONE missed and NONE ineffective. Just insane, so good. he worked himself to a standstill a number of times throughout that game. Seriously, hats off to him. Doesn't get the praise he probably deserves as this is kind of just what we've come to expect from him.
Any players that didn't get a mention, I'm not saying they didn't go well. There was not a bad player out there for us at all yesterday arvo, these were just my stand outs. Everyone else did their jobs well.
Very happy with the win, exactly what we needed. Certainly not one to get too excited about or get carried away with it but we'll bank it and carry on.
We are now first on the ladder (which is something to get excited about) but we have a huge challenge ahead of us to stay there. It's only Round 11, long way to go. I'm sure the boys are up for it.
Glory, Glory.
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