Well, I thought I had posted this last night but it appears I didn't click 'post reply!' I guess late nights will do that to ya haha, sorry guys but here it is.
Wow, wow, wow, wow!! That's all I can think right now is 'wow' after that! That was crazy, an absolute miracle win oh my god. One of the most crazy finishes I've ever seen!! I really thought we were headed for a loss, two points down and a minute to go. Even when we got the ball back and were attacking their line we didn't look like scoring. I was so friggin angry at that point as I was just in disbelief that we were gonna lose to the Dragons. But...... Then the boys pulled off one of the most clutch, most miracle plays I've ever seen to win it with not a second to score. It was absolutely incredible, I couldn't believe it. Not happy with that second half though, we showed real complacency and a lack of effort which is simply not good enough. The boys tried their absolute best to throw that game in the second half up until the last minute. We never should have even been in that position. A team that wants to challenge for a Premiership should have shut them away and closed the gate but we couldn't do that through bad attitude which is quite concerning. So I was disappointed and pissed with that but that feeling all changed pretty quick! Not at our best tonight but got it done, the boys never gave up and in the end, showed some incredible fighting spirit for a famous win!
Attacking wise, the performance was quite mixed tonight. I thought attacking the line at times looked really clunky and slow motion because the execution just wasn't quite there. The boys seemed to get frustrated by it. First half wasn't too bad but after about the fifty minute mark, we started to take the foot off the gas (as I alluded to earlier) and obviously thought we'd win easy. This saw the attack suffer as that extra 'umpfff' seemed to disappear. The sharpness of our plays disappeared and we lacked punch. However, there were other times, when the boys focussed and turned it on, where we got the execution right and scored some beautiful tries off the back of lovely set plays, that was great to watch, the right side in paticular was on fire! In terms of making meters, I think the boys did a good job as we were able to really get a roll on at times and in the end our completion rate was okay. I was just so pissed at how we let them off the hook and let the foot off the throat in our attack during that last twenty minutes, it wasn't goot enough.
Defensively, I'm quite happy with tonight. We conceded sixteen which isn't bad and seemed to repel the Dragons attacking raids time and time again. The boys really worked as a unit on the line for much of that game and it wasn't until the last twenty, when complacency set in, that I thought we were looking shakey. The energy just dropped and that was disappointing as we never should have put ourselves in that position. I still feel that the line speed could be a bit better too as there were plenty of times in that game were the Dragons would make it to halfway when we should have been more agressive and pinned them.
Doueihi: A great performance. He really impressed me tonight. Obviously came up with a couple of errors but was otherside safe as at the back with great positional play too. I loved his kick returns and the bravery and commitment he showed in a couple of plays to get the ball was amazing play. His scramble for the ball saved us a few times. He chimed into the backline well, that pass for Gagai's second try was brilliant and he looked dangerous as well as coming up with a fe lovely second option kicks to earn repeat sets. I'm gonna come out and say it, that is one of the best games of his career and he is really warming to the fullback role.
Gagai: Gags was alright when you consider he's been sick the past few days. His impact on the game was a little down compared to the past couple of weeks but that is understandable. He still went looking for the ball a lot and that really helped the forwards with his strong runs coming out of yardage. Obviously wasn't at his best but he did have a virus. Two tries from nice finishes in the corner were awesome.
Roberts: Jimmy was soild too. Again, not as explosive as previous weeks as the Dragons did well to contain him but he did his best to get involved as much as possible through some really great, explosive runs which were good to watch. He looked dangerous in a bit of space tonight, sadly, he couldn't fully take advantage of it but gee, he asked a lot of questions of the Dragons defence. Alongside Gags he was defensively sound too as they eventually shut down everything that came their way. Decent performance.
Burns: Braidon was solid tonight. He had a high work rate with the amount of runs he was taking just to help the forwards and every single one of those runs had some real intent there. I especially love his work from dummy half, he really puts in there coming out of our own end similar to what Goodwin used to for us. Burnsy was decent defensively too I thought, got found out a couple of times, paticularly their second try where the left edge was caught napping, so that is a work on but he was otherwise solid. That flick pass to win us the game was honestly something special, incredible!! I still can't believe he pulled it off!!
Graham: Cammy wasn't bad as he took his runs when required and shut the majority of their attacking raids down whether that be through a nice defensive read or a take in the air form a bomb. The hit ups he took were very solid and he had good kick returns but I just feel he could have got more involved in attack like our other outside backs did and he could've come in looking for work more often. What a try on the buzzer though, just wow!!
Walker: Cody was pretty good tonight, the first game where I'd genuinely say he's starting to hopefully get back to his best. He had a bit of an indifferent start to the game with a few errors but even then, he was asking a heap of questions in attack and we was absolutely terrorising that right side St George Illawarra defence. As the game went on, he appeared to look more comfortable and he didn't fade in and out of the game like last week. he was always present and continued to ask questions. Had some beautiful work in the lead up to two of our tries, I loved how he swept round to the right for Gags' first and the hands he showed to provide the final pass was brilliant. Then with the game on the line, the big moment, he steps up and provides the ice pass to give Burns early all to get on the outside of his opposite number. What's more, Cody scored that awesome solo try through some great, elusive play. I was disappointed in his chase of McInnes' charge down though, he won that race but didn't dive on the ball and it almost cost us the game. Hopefully we're seeing him return to form though as he was good.
Reynolds: Reyno was very good once again tonight I thought, he really lead the way. Geez, he looked sharp on attack at first or second receiver and his lead up work in some of our plays was outstanding. He looked so elusive there and the players outside him gave him plenty of options which kept the defence guessing. His entire kicking game was outstanding as he continually pinned the Dragons in a corner but it was his short kicking game in paticular that was great. He put in some clutch kicks to earn repeat sets there. I remeber there was that one late in the game that went dead and that was a real sliding door moment as the Dragons lifted after that but I think that was also due to a lack of chase from his outside men. Still, Reyno needs to be better in those big moments. His goal kicking was also off but overall, a nice performance.
Tatola: Didn't seem to get as many minutes tonight but he was very solid while he was on. Got stuck in, got his hands dirty and did plaenty of work with some nice hit ups where he was able to really get those big liegs pumping for a fair chunk of post contact meters. Not sure how many meters he ended up with in the end but it was a very consistent performance from Junior and you can't ask for too much more then that.
Cook: Cookie was great in this game. You can see he has once again re-adjusted to week in, week out footy after Origin because it is starting to show in his performances. He brought the forwards onto the ball brilliantly and picked his time to run well. Cook had more opportunites to run tonight and he took them for some very dangerous runs, one of which almost resulted in a try. It was good to see that running game back. He came up with some nice kicks throughout the game and as always, was good defensively and he pulled off a couple of text book tackles.
T.Burgess: A very successful return for Tom, it's so good to have him back! Played limited minutes probably due to being a bit underdone but while he was on, he really put in. he just menaced the Dragons pack with very, very strong runs that would constantly bend the defensive line. Tommy had a solid workrate and I was happy with his defence. A solid return to build on in the next few weeks.
