Oh man what a rollercoaster game!! Like wow that was wild! Stoked to get the result, that was a really crucial win and the boys did so well to hang on but jeez that was way more of a rollercoaster than it should have been. We saw a real contrast in our performance tonight, absolutely brilliant in the first thirty minutes and then fairly bog average for the rest. Really should have gone on with it but the boys seemed to get complacent to be honest and we well and true;y almost gifted them the game. We are better than that. Like I say, stoked to get the result but not happy with the performance.
I thought our attack tonight was brilliant and you could see the side was far better off after another week working with Allan at fullback. When we had momentum, we had no problem at all rolling up field and once we got up their end, put on some beautiful plays. All our tries were off blistering attack which was really great to watch. The Tigers didn't know to handle us at stages. While we were mostly able to strike at the right time, there was still a bit of poor execution, none more so then in the second half, so many chances missed. Thankfully that didn't cost us. There was still a few too many errors tonight which contributed to the Tigers game but over all, I was happy with the attack.
It was defence which really let us down tonight. Early on it was fine, we looked really strong but it was around the thirty minute mark that it was like a switch had flicked. We started to look very loose; falling off tackles, failing to wrap up the ball, missing tackles and getting very loose around the ruck. A lot of the Tigers tries were just soft and could have been stopped but the effort was really not there at times. It wasn't good enough.
Allan: I thought Corey was really good tonight, a big improvement on last week. His hands at the back were incredible with some great takes, I enjoyed his running game as he got more involved and was pushing up through the middle more which earnt him a brilliant try. But it was his passing game and the way he chimed into the backline that really impressed me. Some of his plays were just like Latrell with sublime quick hands which was great to see. Only negatives were letting a ball dangerously bounce near our line and his failure to field the ball which lead to Brooks' try.
Johnston: Mixed game. Was playing brilliantly in the first half. Rolling up his sleeves and taking the tough runs, getting involved a fair bit and then burning the Tigers right edge to set up a brilliant first try to Graham. However, I think he kind of went into his shell too much in the second stanza and he didn't have much to add. Still can't believe he dropped that ball with ten to go, that was a try for all money.
Graham: Was great. One of our best for sure. Was very strong defensively, scored two brilliant tries to top off a great game. His runs coming ut of our own end were just exceptional, ran hard and produced a good amount of meters on every run.
Marsters: He was pretty decent. His hit ups were really striong and I enjoyed his work rate. Looked dangerous attacking the line and he's already becoming a threat to teams. On the two tries we scored down the right, Marsters was the decoy and by running a nice line, he was able to draw in two defenders and allow space for Gags and then Graham. I'll have to watch the replay but I don't think his defence was too bad either. Our tries down the right were conceded because of the line as a whole, Steven had no choice but to rush in to try shut the play down.
Gagai: Pretty awesome game from Gags and you could tell he hadn't played in a while as he was full of running. Full of energy on every kick return and every hit up. Was very busy all game too, taking a run when needed and more often than not, it was a quality run. Again, I'll have to watch the replay but it didn't look like the tries we let in were Gags' fault, there wasn't a lot he could do. Great to see him get a try on return.
Walker: Mixed game. Brilliant in attack. Almost every play we put on, he was involved and it was great to watch. Seriously, the way he chimed into the bacline tonight and wove his magic to bamboosal the Tigers defence was better than early 2019 Cody. However, he did come up with a few errors and showed a really poor defensive effort to stop Garner going in. So yea, pretty good game.
Reynolds: Similart to Cody, he looked brilliant when either starting our contributing to a backline shift and it was his willingness to run and balls to take it right to the line that created a lot of space for those outside him. Forgot to mention but it was fantastic to see our halves continue to combine too, looks deadly. His kicking game was a bit off and in defence he was guilty of getting sucked into the middle however. Still not a a bad game from the Skipper.
Knight: Was impressed with Knighty, he really stood up and filled in Juniors position. Ran with plenty of gusto and just kept going all all night. No errors too which is a massive bonus.
Cook: I have a feeling some will moan about him but I thought he was pretty good. Didn't get many opportunities around the ruck so his dummy-half running was very limited. However, His service was really crisp and he was super busy in defence once more. It was his great play that set up Cody to create Graham and Allan's tries, that was great combination from the spine. Beautiful to watch. Solid game Cookie!
Burgess: Tom was brilliant all game, He charged hard and fought for every milimetrer which proved very hard for the Tigers to handle. They gave him a lot of room and he took full advantage with barnstorming runs which got as rolling. His power game was on but so was the finesse - he forced a friggin line drop out with a kick hahaha.
Su'A: Wow what a game from Jaydn! He just looked so elusive and the Tigers left edge had such a hard time stopping him. He just kept bumping off defenders all night both on the edge and through the middle. He produced some really great runs as well as a couple of big hits, just a monster all game. Was guilty of getting sucked into the middle when defending our line though.
Sironen: Very solid. Very, very solid. His running game was great with some high quality hit ups and his workrate was high. Apart from Garner's try, his defence was super impressive too, especially his cover defence.
Murray: Another ever consistent game from Murray. I honestly lost count of how many times I said "great run Cam!" He'd often poke his head through the line, bending it back, resulting in a quick play-the-ball and a real sense of momentum. This was non-stop when Cam was on the field along with his defence.
Nicholls: A good solid game where he just charged off the bench and did his job. Increased minutes was no issue for him and he gave his all out there.
Cartwright: Didn't get many minutes but had two good runs and came up with a couple of good stops in defence,. Promising signs.
Mago: Didn't play many minutes but still made his presence felt.
Koloamatangi: Keon had another off game by his standards I feel. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't dreadful though. It just seemed that he didn't take as many carries as normal and it was his poor error in the first half which cahnged the game.
So yea, stoked to get a crucial win but I don't think we can be happy with how we played. We should have carried on like we were in the first thirty minutes but man we had some real lapses and we just let them back in. It's hard to get a read on, were we exremely poor or were the Tigers just fantastic? I think it's a bit of both but there's just no denying we need to be better across the board because it wasn't good enough tonight.
I think, despite the result, we took a bit of a step back tonight so we need to learn from that and turn it into a massive step forward.
Just relieved to get the win feeewwwwwww. That's all that really matters.
