Yewww feels so friggin good to be be back in the winners circle! What a game that was too! After about twenty minutes, I was fuming and was pulling my hair out. But to the boys credit, it really was an amazing fightback to get the job done!
Sorry, this will be quite brief as I am very tired and need to sleep haha.
Attack was brilliant tonight! The forwards had no issues marching up the field and that allowed us to play off the back of that. It was a really strong game from our back. I honestly thought we were screwed when Reyno but just about everyone stepped up in his absence. As a result, we looked slick in attack and scored some beautiful tries as a result. It was so good to watch our attack finally just click. Tries through the hands, tries off kicks, tries off intercepts, it was all there! The one out, clunky stuff was gone and it was just slick attack with bodies in motion around the Footy. Another reason for this was because we actually held the ball and had a good completion rate for once which was good to see. So yea, a brilliant attacking performance!!
However, it still hasn't the perfect performance and while our defence was good enough to win, I still hasn't happy with it. The defensive effort in that first twenty minutes was terrible, pathetic in fact. We let some really soft tries in and just didn't look like we turned up. That was/is a bit concerning but as I said, to the lads credit, they sorted it out and the rest of the game was good.
Mitchell: Was good. I think his return tonight showed just how much we missed him the last two weeks. He is the link in our attack and that showed again tonight. Some beautiful passes to set players up, was safe under the high ball and scored a brilliant try in a play he started and then finished. If anything, He needs to run more but otherwise, it was a great performance.
Paulo: Was a little bit quiet as he didn't see an awful lot of ball down his side so didn't get many opportunities. His hit ups coming out of our own end were constantly outstanding though which was good to see.
Graham: Similar comments to Paulo but I will add about his defence. Cammy is usually a good defender but he was all at sea to open that game, it was awful. To his credit, he fixed it up as the game went on.
Gagai: A good, solid performance for Gags. Ran hard, made plenty of meters and was safe in defence. He must be racking up the NRL for tackle bread.
Johnston: What a game from AJ!!! His kick returns and other hit ups were solid and his defence was safe. Set up Latrell's try with some incredible play and then scored three for himself, two off intercepts. What a game from him!!
Walker: Speaking of big games, wow. Seriously, A brilliant performance from Cody, his best in a long time for sure. He really stepped up and lead because of the absense of Reyno. Man he was blistering! Brilliant! Looked so dangerous everytime he touched the ball, he demanded that ball and just steered the side around really well. He was involved in just about all of our tries though brilliant play and he scored a couple of his own, the first one being particuly special as he stepped his way through. So yea, ehatta game Cody, easily our best tonight.
Reynolds: Went off early, hope he's okay.
Tatola: Seemed to me that he played less minutes but still had a game that was just as impactful. His runs were once again very strong as we have come to expect and he did a great job to help lay that platform through the middle. A good game from Junior.
Cook: Much better. He was actually played quite well tonight. Picked his times to run well and his service was much improved from last week, especially inside the opposition's twenty meter zone. It was quick and slick which is what you want and it made a big difference to our attack, as did having less crash balls. Good game Cookie.
Burgess: Great once again. Week in, week out he just seems to keep producing barnstorming run after barnstorming run. That was no different tonight as he was great again. Fantastic runs and a high workrate, he really lead the way while he was on.
Su'A: Had less of an impact as recent weeks but was still solid. He ran hard and tackled hard all night.
Sironen: Once again thrown out of position due to an injury and he handled it brillaintly. Playing in the halves wouldn't actually have been easy for him but he was impressive. Had a hand in some great backline shifts and we was actuallu playmaking. He needed to stand up and he did so well done Bayley!
Murray: Great once again, just a typical Cam Murray performance, that's all I need to say. Even when he got shifted to the edge he still had great involvement. Big impact on the game and I think he was one of our best.
Nicholls: Nice and solid off the bench as he did his job. Fantastic try assist for Cody too!
Knight: A solid return. Did make the one error but apart from that, he was aggressive as always, went hard and did his job.
Mago: Great impact off the bench. He was huge for us!! Fantastic runs and he proved hard to handle all night.
Koloamatangi: Same goes for Keon, awesome game.
So yea, we still have a lot to work on but tonight was a big step in the right direction. Enjoy the win in Indigenous Round!!
