After watching the replay, here's my full report,
Mitchell: A night out once again, this time against much tougher opposition. He was incolved in everything with strong kick returns and some tough hit ups at various times throughout the game. Had a couple runs in the second half where he made a half break and threatened to go straight through with his power. His work out the back on our shifts was the highlight of his performance though, it was absolutely beautiful to watch. Constantly throwing perfect passes out to the left and they were spot on everytime which created chances. The best was obviously the freakish no-look try assist for Mansour's second. was doing it on the right too with a couple of peaches to Paulo, one of which saw him pick up a try. Aside from that was safe under the high ball and his positional play was spot on. Well done Trell!
Mansour: The best game he's played in a Red and Green jumper so far. He was brilliant!! Coming into the game, many of us had question marks over his catches in the back field and apart from letting a couple bounce (which I was disappointed with, not good enough), he did pretty well in this area and he managed to defuse the rest. He also didn't put a foot wrong in defence which was another question mark. In fact, he had a few great reads to shut down a couple of their dangerous plays down our left. Aside from that, his running game was extremely strong, running for a HUGE 254 meters (the top in our side) and scored two awesome tries. Sauce was one of our best last night.
Gagai: A very strong game for Gags. As he always does, he got through plenty of the tough stuff. Constantly making runs out of our own end, constantly looking for work. It was this tough stuff that saw him gain just on 140 meters which is a big effort. Looked dangerous when he had a bit of room to move, even made a line break off one of Mansour's offloads. Speaking of Sauce, Gags put him over for our first try and that was great hands from him. he then scored one of his own of that Cody grubber which was great work to slip in behind his opposite, take the kick and then put on a great show of strength to get over. Finally, no complaints with his work without the ball, he was awesome there too. I particularly enjoyed his efforts on the kick chase.
Milne: With the ball he was very good. Plenty of strong carries to get us up over the advantage line and he looked a real threat with a bit of space. He started the movement for Paulo's first try in the second half with that awesome offload. However, he didn't impress me in defence. It's hard to critcise players after such a great win and Taane has been awesome for us this year but he deserves a bit of critcism for his defensive performance last night. Looked all at sea few times and the Eels found a bit of joy down that side. He was constantly jamming in when he didn't really need too which created space, at one time leading to their first try, and when he did come in and actually make contact, it was a high tackle. So not a good night for him on defence.
Paulo: Jaxson has copped plenty of flack from myself and others on forums however, he deserves a lot of praise for his efforts in this one as he really stepped up. Against a fellow top four side, he finally had a great game and finally looked like a genuine first grader. No issues at all under the high ball which we were all worried about. In fact, he had some really good takes on a few tough Moses bombs. Didn't do anything wrong in defence as a lot of the space Parra found down our right was due to Taane and there wasn't much Jaxson could do. Finally really rolled his sleeves up and got dirty running the ball too. i was happy with how involved he was and all his runs were quality. Rewarded with two great tries. This is now the benchmark for Jaxson and hopefully he can continue to play like that.
Walker: His sublime run of form continues!! Once again he was brilliant last night. Constantly scheming, constantly coming up with the right option, constantly puting other into space and constantly looking dangerous himself. That first try was all him as it was fantastic vision to realise where the space was, step back off his right and go down the short side for a try. Was involved in basically every play we put on wide and executed his role to perfection. Came up with another try assist with that beautiful short grubber to put Gags in, you don't see tiny kicks like that very often and once again, I was just in awe of some of the touches he had. All class. Strong defence too, nothing got past him and I particularly loved the try he saved mid way through the second half where he scrambled back to get his hand to a ball that Ryan matterson was nearly certain to score off. Another good night for Cody.
Reynolds: We had so many good performers last night but Reyno was 'the man' in my eyes. A masterclass in playmaking as he created so much space for us all night, digging into the line and delivering a perfect pass as he has become so good at. Found himself getting a couple of line breaks too as he was pushing up to take a couple of offloads as all good halfbacks should. His offload in the lead up to Paulo's first try was amazing, I still have no idea how he got that ball away with a couple of much bigger men wrapping him up. A really classy kicking game all night as he just stangled the Eels and had them coming out of their own end a lot and then his goal kicking was almost faultless. A massive occasion for both him personally and the club as he broke that record. that is a special moment that will stick in my mind forever. What a night for our skipper!!