After watching the replay, here's my report. It won't be a usual full report this time around sorry, I'm away on holiday so don't fully have time to do a proper one.
Attack
This is all kind of gonna be similar to what I said last week, in that our attack was great but our defence was a bit mixed. In fact, our attack was absolutely brilliant, probably the best it's looked all year to be honest. I know it was against the Titans, the worst defensive team in the comp, but you can only play what's in front of you.
Firstly, the boys had no issue getting us field position. Almost every set, we were just rolling through the middle with ease and the Gold Coast really struggled to handle it. I lost count of the number of times we finished a set over the halfway, or went 60, 70, 80 meters off the back of points. It was pretty incredible to be honest, especially in that second half.
Because of this roll on through the middle, we found ourselves on the front foot more often than not, and the attack flourished off the back of that. Jeez we looked slick. The backline movements, the direct attack through the middle, changing angles, the kicking game, it was all there and looked bloody brilliant. I was very impressed with it to be honest, just like last week. Except the difference this time, is that it was on both sides of the field. last week was mostly left but last week, we looked incredible on both sides. Extremely potent. Some of the tries we scored were just awesome, especially on the left edge.
Loved the completion rate too, while it wasn't perfect, it was pretty damn good. It was one of the best attacking performances for us all year and we are the best attacking team in the comp when we're on, I truly believe that.
Defence
Pretty obvious this one, it was extremely mixed. The first half was probably our worst defensive half of the year. I know the Gold Coast are a pretty good attacking team, but some of the efforts the boys were coming up with to try and stop them was nothing short of abysmal. I quite simply couldn't believe it.
Just talked about the roll on we were getting, but for the Titans, the story was pretty similar in the first half. Easy meters due to our boys lack of effort, starch and desire. There was no line speed, we struggled to contain offloads again, lots of post contact meters, our first contact was very poor and some of the reads the boys were coming up with just lacked focus and attention to detail.
I was shocked at how easily we just folded almost every time they were on our line, a few really soft tries in there. And I mean really soft. It was incredibly poor. I was so filthy on the boys at halftime, so angry. After spending all week talking about defence, nothing had changed.
However, to the boys' credit, and to JD's credit, the second half defensively was a completely different story. Couldn't be more different. They must have got one hell of a rev up at halftime and it showed because we were back to defending like the opening 11 weeks. All the effort areas picked up, we raised the intensity, had some line speed, our first contact was ferocious and generally, the boys just looked like they 'wanted' it in defence again. It was great. That second half IS us, that IS South Sydney defensively.
Still disappointed to concede that last try and not happy to concede 26 points but that second half was a hell of a lot better and that has to be the standard moving forward.
Player by Player
Not going to do my usual 'player by player' stuff, as I don't have as much time so I'll just do the players of note.
Tass: Brilliant game from Tassy!!! One of our best, there's no doubt about that. He's really turning into a good center. His carries were great as he clocked up 119 meters, he didn't really make any individual errors defensively either which was awesome. Then, in attack, he was brilliant!!! Starting to develop there massively. Does super well to set up AJ for his first try with those quick hands, and he stayed square while doing it which made all the difference. Probably his biggest highlight was AJ's second though as Cody got him in a one-on-one initially. He stepped inside Schopp and almost got through himself which forced Fifita to come in, before keeping his arm free and finding a brilliant offload to gift AJ what is probably the easiest try of his career. Awesome stuff man.
Kennar: We copped a lot during the week, and probably rightly so. However, he delivered in spades. I thought he was really, really good! His carries especially coming out of our own end were enormous. Possibly even better than Taane's. It was literally big carry after big carry from him. Proved really hard to stop. 13 carries for 140 for him. You can't ask for much more than that. he also saved our asses twice under kicks with a couple of crucial takes which was very good. He's been heavily critcised for his defence last night, but I don't agree. While he wasn't perfect there, he was nowhere near as bad as some are making out. He's copped it for that third try the Titans score but if you're going to blame him for that, you simply don't understand Rugby League. Go and watch it again, Keaon gets caught at marker, Cooky is not aggressive enough and basically marks no one which means Lachy and Stretch are both forced to jam in. Richie, as all wingers should, follows his center and jams but unfortunately, the Titans were too good. Not sure what else he's supposed to do there, if he stays on his wing, Campbell probably goes straight through. Other than this, his defence was fine.
Ilias: Very proud of him. He's been average the last two weeks but bounced back in a big way for this one. His defence was a lot better, as was his kicking game which was near perfect. In the second half in particular, he was landing his kicks right in the opposition 10-meter zone which constantly trapped them down there. Very good. His ball playing was exceptional again too, as it has been pretty much all year. Lachy simply doesn't get enough praise for this area of his game but without him last night, Cody isn't able to do what he did, AJ doesn't get his three tries etc. While his pass to Keaon for our first wasn't anything special, it was good to see him not overplay his hand and just give Keaon early ball. He's involved in AJ's third try as he takes it right to the line, squares up two defenders so they can't slide off, then delivers a peach of a pass to Cody. But his highlight was certainly Richie's try. That's one of his best plays of the Season. The work he does when he gets the ball is incredible as he sort of skips to the outside across the face of two defenders, while also taking it right to the line at the same time. This, along with the lead run from Graham, completely removes three defender's ability to slide. Brilliant stuff.
Walker: Speaking of brilliant, wow. Honestly, just wow. For the second week in a row, I'm just completely in awe of Cody and what he did out there. Easily our man of the match, easily. If he didn't pick up six Dally M points in that one, I'll be amazed. While he was only contributed with one try assist, he set up what feels like a tone of others. Amazing ball playing for AJ's first as he holds the ball up just long enough to confuse Boyd and Schopp which is what creates the overlap. he looked like he had so much time in that play, incredible. AJ's second try, again, Cody is there heavily involved. Again, he holds the ball up just long enough to get Tassy the space to do what he did. But it was AJ's third try which really had me going wow. What about those quick hands?!!!! So friggin good, to not only get it on that quickly, but it wasn't just a quick pass, it was a quick CUT OUT pass, that was crazy. Awesome try for him too, a typical Cody try as he just sensed the opportunity and went for it. LOVED the fend on the young fullback, a real 'get out of my way young fulla!' Haha. Easily man of the match, easily the form 5/8 in the comp right now.
Koloamatangi: Our best forward for mine. That try was just incredible, beat FIVE defenders all on his own, wow, what a beast!!! After that he was massive, absolutely massive. 15 runs, 146 meters, played really well when he went to the middle with his ball playing. Loved that try assist for Hame, a great no-look slight of hand.
I also thought Shaq was great, as was Cooky!
Upon reflection after watching, it again, I'd say it was a 'good enough' win. Can't really complain with that at this time of year but it certainly could have been better. If we play like we did in the second half for the full 80, we probably put 60 on. In a way, that's promising because it shows what we can do, but at the same time, it makes the first half all the more disappointing.
So much to work on, especially defensively, but we just need to win next week and then go into that bye in a good position.
Glory, Glory.
