Sorry for my late match review, had a big day at work today so had to go to bed straight after the game.
Well it's almost been 24 hours since the game but I don't feel any better. I am so friggin pissed off and upset it's not even funny!! Once again another game goes by with a very average performance from our boys, last night was crap! So many errors, a lack of punch, a lack of direction in attack and a lack of hunger. The Tigers just wanted it more. Even then, we put ourselves in a winning position yet still lose in a heartbreaking way, god it hurts! I just don't know what is going on to be honest. Obviously Origin has impacted us far more then any of us imagined it would because we are in a real hole. Keep playing like that and we can kiss the top four goodbye.
Attack was a bit all over the shop last night. I don't think we had any problem making meters with the ball, that was fine, but we just looked lost when we were attacking the line. Passes went to ground, some plays looked slow motion, some were just straight up predictable and we seemed to still insist on doing this crash ball with the forwards all the time. We also played dumb and didn't play patient footy as can be seen in some plays were we went for the 'hail Mary' play, this wasn't needed at the time and was just straight up stupidity. What;s more, it's becomming concerning how much we go left as we have some real attacking weapons there but we don't friggin use them. Then there was the ridiculous amount of errors once again, they were unforgiveable. There was the odd time where the attack looked good, most noyeably for our try (that was beautiful Rugby League) and then there were a few other moments where we looked to have them broken only for execution to be shit house and the try be bombed. But for the most part, attack wasn't great at all.
Interestingly, I thought defence was actually pretty good. In general play, for most of the game, our line speed was much better which had the Tigers struggling for meters and we showed some great desire in that area. Then the goal line defence was actually really, really good for 74 minutes. Our own crappy play on attack put us under a lot of pressure but the boys seemed to absorb that pressure and turned the Tigers away time and time again which was impressive. It was like a Red and Green brick wall. I think the Tigers had around 50 tackles in our 20 meter zone yet we still didn't concede, that was an awesome effort. But then right when it mattered and we were in a winning position, what happens? The boys got lazy, missed three simple tackles and boom the game is gone. I can't even describe how disappointed I am with the defensive effort in that play.
Allan: Was okay. He didn't really go anything spectacular and to be honest, was hardly seen in attack. In saying that, he didn't actually do anything wrong and I really liked his kick returns as he ran with purpose. Picked up a try but I would've liked to have seen him more involved and he put in a pretty weak attempt to stop Chee-Kam at the end which lost us the game.
Gagai: I am very surprised to see he hasn't been torn to shreads online because he deserves to be. That was honestly disgraceful from Gags tonight, not up to rep player standard at all. Seriously, what did he do? He did absolutely nothing!! probably only had about eight runs all game and to be honest, I forgot he was even playing. That is just not good enough for a player on that kind of money, let alone a State of Origin player. Absolute bullshit from Gags.
Burns: Braidon wasn't bad, I'd call it a successful return. His runs looked very, very dangerous and he seemed to have that X factor out there on the left. I enjoyed him running off Cody and Sutto when we rarely got it right, it looked good especially the try. That was great work from Burnsy. He was good defensively too but I'd just like to see him involved a bit more.
Roberts: A bit of a mixed game for Jimmy. I enjoyed his running game as he gave each run a lot of effort and looked to break through a couple of times but once again, he didn't get involved enough. That is partly due to poor tactics from the team and coach as we didn't seem to attck right much but he could still go in looking for the ball a bit more. In terms of defence, he was a little disappointing as he seemed to come up out of the line at a different time to everyone else all night which made me nervous and then on the game losing play, he was very lazy which was the reason Chee-Kam went through so easy. That was simply not good enough.
Graham: Cammy was awful in that game, he really was. Didn't come in for as many runs as he should have and just had so many dropped balls in him, one of which cost us a try as he had clear space in front of him but couldn't catch an easy pass that any other first grade winger would have caught. I think it's time he is dropped as he sadly hasn't been performing.
Walker: Cody had a bit of a mixed night to be fair. I've seen a lot of people absolutely slamming him for that game but I don't think that's entirely warranted. He did make some very poor plays at times with crap pass selection or the fact that he just didn't pass at all. I think there was a couple of times we could have scored last night if Cody passes. However, he did show glimpses of that brilliance we have come to know and love this year. There we a few times that he just tore the opposition to shreads with his running game and he had them at sixes and sevens which was good to see so I don't think we can be super harsh on Cody like some are. However, I do agree he is not the right choice for captain.
Reynolds: Also a bit of a mixed night. Did some really good things and put us in a position to win the game but he couldn't close it out. I thought his kicking game was a bit mixed too as he made a couple of errors that gifted the Tigers a seven-tackle set but then produced some absolute pearlers that had them back peddling and under pressure. Reyno was also good defensively but I dunno, he just wasn't 100% on song.
G.Burgess: Well, were do I start? I'm not normally this harsh on our players but George is an absolute idiot for doing that. It was easily one of the most disgraceful acts I have ever seen on a Rugby League field it was that bad. What a friggin idiot, there is no place for that in our game but the fact that he did it out in the open is just plain stipidity. I am fuming at him as he could potentially be out for a large part of the Season remaining. I'm getting well and truely sick of George, he provides nothing anymore.
Cook: Wasn't his best game to be honest. I felt that he did a great job of bringing the forwards onto the ball (as always) and had a couple of great, dangerous looking runs but I do feel that he just overplayed his hand a bit. He looked a little lost close to the line and did some really dumb shit in that area with poor passes and kicks. No doubt he's been impacted by Origin but we need him back at his best.
Knight: I thought Liam was actually pretty good. ran with a hell of a lot of vigor and gained a decent amout of meters as a result. He also had a great work ethic and was able to slip a few classy offloads away, was a real forward leader in that game.
Sutton: Wasn't great to be honest. Did have some nice runs with that cheeky little left step of his catching a few defenders out throughout the game and had a hand in the wonderful set up for our only try of the match but apart from that, he kind of went missing. I honestly can't remember him having many runs so he needs to lift.
Lowe: Not too much to say. Wasn't badand he did his job outh ther on the right edge with some solid runs that had good post-conteact meters, made no errors and he did his job in defence.
Murray: Not much to say really which is extremely disappoiting for Murray. Origin has obviously impacted him too but he just seemed to disappear for a lot of that game. The odd decent run but that was it, not good enough from Cam. I think that may be the first time this year I've properly critised him.
