Well I really don't know what to say about that. For the first time in a fair while, I am genuinely embarrased by the performance our team has produced. God, I am so pissed off. That was just shameful, it really, really was. Even despite the injuries, I was still expecting us to put in a good performacnce with our Origin players back but then we go and dish up that crap, I couldn't believe it to be honest. The boys as a whole just looked like they weren't up for it tonight, they were lethargic and quite simply looked liked they lacked the desire, it's the first time I've seen that this year in a game. Obviously, the injuries absolutely killed us, no team would go all too well without both their starting halves and at least four other key players but that is not an excuse. The players missing does not excuse out attitude in that game. I'm just really disappointed.
In terms of attack, we were awful. For starters, the forwards just got monstered and we didn't aim up to them which meant we really struggled for meters and couldn't gain any momentum what so ever. Our pack has been on fire this year so that was disappointing. Then when attacking from close range, we just had nothing at all. There was no spark, it looked clunky and really slow. Obviously that's because of our halves being out but that's not an excuse, Tracey and Doueihi are good enough to create chances. Then there was the friggin errors!! My god, I think we ended up with a completion rate under 60% and that is just not good enough. You're never going to win a game with that.
Defensively, we were okay, just shakey at times. We did defend our line well for most of the game but even then, the Knights still scored some easy tries where we just opened up which was really disappointing. Defnsive dicipline was really poor all night as we conceded a lot of penalties too which doesn't help.
Allan: Corey was okay. I really enjoyed his kick returns and he tried his best all night though some good runs and involvement in attack. He is safe as houses at the back which is awesome.
Hiroti: A bit mixed. He had some nice hit ups that made some meters but at the same time, he got dragged around a bit I feel. He also missed a chance early in the second half from that kick, that really should've been taken and it could've changed the whole game.
Roberts: I thought Jimmy was decent in his first game back in Red and Green. He didn't set the world on fire but did his job which is all we ask for now. He had some great touches with strong hit ups and then some touches where he looked deadly, poked his nose though and found some space. that was lovely to watch. defensively he missed some tackles and I would've liked to have seen him get more ball but otherwise he was good.
Gagai: It was always going to be tough to back up after Origin and it seemed to me that he had a bit of an Origin hangover. Gags just wasn't involved enough for mine as he had stuff all envolvement and got stuff all ball. The stuff he did dp was quality but he just went missing a bit.
Graham: I wasn't impressed by Cammy. Normally, his runs are so strong but that just wasn't the case tonight. He got dragged back for most of the night and he made some really costly errors.
Tracey: The complete oposite of his last game. Tonight he did bugger all to be honest, he hardly even saw the footy. He made stuff all kicks and the strongest part of his game, his running game was missing too. There was a real inability to create anything for us in attck which cost us in the end. Not a great game from Connar.4
Doueihi: See above. I have pretty much the same comments. I know our halves are young and they are no Reyno or Cody but I expected more tbh.
G.Burgess: George wasn't bad actually, probably his best game of the year so far. He ran very hard and was one of the only forwards who had some real intent. Some of his runs tonight were barnstorming and he was bouncing defenders off all over the place. In defence he was putting in some big hits to try and inspire the boys too. Sadly, George was let down by a couple of errors bt was otherwise good.
Cook: Cookie wasn't at his best. He obviously tried to lift to somewhat make up for the absence of Cody and Reyno but that seemed to work to the detriment of his game and the side's as a whole because he over-played his hand I believe rather then just focussing on his own role He tried to do more butjust over-played his hand a bit. was still one of our best though I thought.
T.Burgess: Tom was a bit of a mixed bag I thought. He got through a lot of work, a huge amount of work in fact but he just didn't seem to run with the same sort of vigor as George. Then there was the sin-binning which was just stupid from Tom. If that costs him a few weeks on the sideline I will not be happy.
Sutton: I thought Sutto was our best tonight. Sound defensively and just really upped his work rate compared to other games. He was busy as on that left edge just constantly taking solid hit ups which was good to see. Sutto put in some class kicks to build pressure which were very polished too.
S.Burgess: Also a bit of a mixed bag. He was hardly in the game early on but as time wore on, he warmed into it and ending up putting in a corageous, inspirational performance which was rewarded with a try. Obvioulsy Sam got binned too which put a downer on it but I'm still not really sure what that was for as I didn't see a headbut on the replay, just head rubbing so that pissed me off.
Murray: Was good. Played limited minutes but played just like his normal self with plenty of quality hit ups and trextbook defence. No one can chop a ball runner in half quite like Murray.
Tatola: I was a little disappointed in Tatola because he just didn't provide as much impact as normal. Still had some good runs, just didn't seem as impactful.
Brittain: Not really much to say as he wasn't out there for long. His pass is shocking though, I really looked our for it when he came on and every pass was really floaty which is no good.
Lowe: Was okay, didn't have many runs but he did his job I guess.
Knight: Didn't have a great night as he was quite poor. Had some fantastic runs and was looking good in defence but then he came up with plenty of errors which really hurt us.
So yea, injuries are killing us at the moment but I am not happy at all, like i say it was pathetic. Hopefully it;s just a bump in the road as we have the team to win it this year, I really believe that.
