Wow, wow, wow!! What other words can I use but wow?! What an absolutely incredible performance from the lads! In such a massive game that could have a huge bearing on the Season, we turned up, massively fired up and just blew Manly off the park. We were on from the opening minute and we were ruthless right til the end. Man, what a game from us, that is a huge win!!
The attack was just brilliant tonight. I mean, to score 56 points in any first grade game is a massive effort but to do it against a side like Manly is amazing. It all startred through the middle. After an arm wrestle for the first ten minutes or so, our pack got on top and stayed on top. We smashed them through the middle and that didn't let up the whole game. The forwards really laid the platform for that big win. We rolled through easily and the rest was history. The second fantastic part of our attack was the completion rate. I think we finished up with 92% completions which is just outstanding. Errors have been our archilles heel this year so to see the boys hold the ball like that was huge. Thus, we dominated possession and put the Sea Eagles to the sword. Then there was our actual attacking plays, yes, a lot went our way but some of the tries we scored were fantastic. Silky backline moves and great team tries. We were just on fire tonight and were able to maintain it right until the very end. That's the most pleasing thing.
We didn't have to do a lot of it tonight but I thought the defence was pretty solid. Not perfect but solid. We managed to keep them in their own half for most of the game and then the tries they scored weren't soft. There wasn't a lot we could do to stop two of their tries off kicks. Their first try was a bit of a lapse by our left edge though.
Mitchell: Latrell was magnificent tonight and really rebounded from an average game last week. Two tries, two try assists, two line break assists and a fair few meters shows the kind of game he had. He was just so involved and it was really great to see. He ran more tonight which looked super dangerous and he seemed to be pushing up around the ball a lot more. His two try assists were all class, great vision and execution to throw those passes. Brillant read for his first try and then awesome fullback play for his second. Great work Latrell!
Johnston: A shame that he had to go off early with the HIA but was having an awesome game prior to that. Two fantastic finishes in the corner for tries.
Graham: I'm going to call it, that was the best game of his career. Man, he was good! Two tries, two try assists, two line breaks, two line break assists, 163 meters. Need I say more? What a game!
Marsters: On debut he had a stormer. Did a great job. He had some really nice runs coming out of our end and had some great touches in attack. He looked really dangerous. Was so awesome to see him pick up a try on debut in a night he'll never forget. My only criticism is that he did miss a fair few tackles I noticed, that's a work on.
Paulo: Didn't do anything outstanding tonight but he did his job. Solid runs coming out of yardage, defused all the kicks sent his way and had no issues in defence. Solid game.
Walker: Cody was well and truely on song in this one. He directed the attack really well and just looked super dangerous all night. He probed, and probed and probed, and we almost always found some kind of result around him. He was the focal point of the attack tonight as it was often Cody starting the movement and setting up those around him. His kick for Cam's try was the highlight. Nice game.
Reynolds: Speaking of nice games, Reyno was on fire tonight. Synced in well with the rest of the spine and he played brilliantly. He controlled the game super well and was able to created lots of chances for those around him. His short and long kicking games were awesome and that goal kicking performance was as good as you'll ever see. Great captains knock Reyno!
Tatola: Another fantastic game from Junior there. He really took it to the Manly forwards tonight and outplayed all of them. Charging through the middle full of energy, they found it really hard to contain him. He was his ever consistent self and really led the way in the forwards in both attack and defence tonight. Loved his try, a great front rowers try.
Cook: Easily Cookie's best game of the year so far, he was fantastic. Simplified his game as we've all been saying he should and it paid off big time. There was no overplaying his hand tonight, it was either pass or run and that saw him really click with the rest of the spine. They all jumped on the back of Cookie. Having lots of possession and our forwards dominating saw him get plenty of opportunites to run from dummy half and he did that superbly, lots of runs for good meters which kept the Sea Eagles on their toes and created a lot of chances. His service was great, much better pass selection and as I say, he didn't try to do too much. That try assist for Junior was great play. Of course, he was great in defence too.
Burgess: Wasn't a stand out game for Tom but that's not to say it was below par, he was still very good. Charged through that middle with every carry and he was busy in both of his stints. A good, solid game from Tom, he did his job to perfection.
Su'A: Jaydn looked in a mood tonight and he delivered. Was a wrecking ball on that left edge and Manly found it quite hard to contain him. He had some great runs on some really nice lines and his aggressive game saw him make plenty of meters too. He even brought out a few extravagant flick passes to really spark our attack.
Sironen: Went up against his brother and he certainly gets the bragging rights! Bayley did a great job at containing that right edge of Manly's for most of the game (his brother included) While also ensuring he got one up over them in attack. It wasn't a super outstanding game from him but he had some great runs, did his job and I can't really fault his performance.
Murray: Was really good once again. Some awesome carries through that middle third and it was a great effort from Cam that he was able to poke his nose through the line on many of those occassions and of course, produce a quick play-the-ball. He handled that move to centre mid way through the first half really well and he did a great job there. Even managed to pick up a meat pie!!
Nicholls: As always, a reliable, consistent performance from Nico. Certainly didn't let anyone down and he did his job very well. Even picked up another try assist! That was great play.
Koloamatangi: Another colossal effort from Keon. Man, he was good! Provided great impact off the bench and had some really barnstorming runs there, charging into them and more often than not, the defenders weren't able to get him to ground in a real show of strength from Keon. That happened a lot tonight and he just kept going and going, working hard for every meter.
Mago: Like Keon, Pati also proved hard to put down in another strong showing. Awesome charges through the middle all night. The only blight on his game was the error but he was great apart from that.
Dillon: Not bad for his Red and Green debut. he did have a cold drop for one of our errors but other than that, was pretty good.
Man, that was just such an amazing game from our lads and I am so friggin proud of them! Probably the best I've seen a us play in a couple of years, I really can't fault it to be honest. Feels good to potential end a rivals Season. Don't want to get too carried away but I'll certainly enjoy the win in such a crucial game. Well done boys!!
