A really good game to watch. Plenty of intensity as we get to the business end of the year and some brilliant football, especially from South's. A couple of points:
• We bag Ivan for his use of the bench, but the results speak for themselves. We keep winning. Last night his latest bench trickery was to play the starting props Leota and Eisenhuth (37m and 23m) for less minutes than the bench props Leniu and Hopgood (33m and 41m). The starters did the tackling and the benchies did the running.
Did it work? Well, Leniu was getting 11m a run with 8 runs for 91m and 77m post contact! His play the ball speed was the fastest in the team. They had no answer to his intensity and he made 16 tackles for no misses. He can really be one of the best props in the game when he matures. Moses is just keeping his spot warm.
• I thought Salmon looked really distracted last week. The whole pathetic Stuart saga got to him. This week I thought he was indeed “God Plod” (thanks Martielang). He is no Luke Walsh. He will take the tackle and did it many times when Souths had moved up to shut out the right edge, a repeated tactic by them. He is deceptively strong because they tackle him and he manages to “plod” forward with 44m post contact out of 100m running. I thought his judgement at choosing not to pass was really good. If it was his fault the edge was found wanting, he is obviously a good listener because in the second half the breaks on the edge were restricted.
• Staines on the bench made sense to me, especially against South’s. He can play fullback five eight and wing. With Salmon already playing, there is nobody on the bench with the speed to cover injured backs. Chris Smith offers nothing that Hopgood doesn’t already have. If a winger was hurt, imagine having Smith in the centres with Walker directing traffic? Makes you break out in a sweat just thinking about it.
• We sometimes forget that this is May and Tagos first year in first grade. Once again, they were magnificent, taking the tough runs, getting the yardage and sticking their tackles. May had 5 tackle breaks as well. They are absolute guns and I agree that Tago and May are currently better than Crichton and To’o who are a bit down on form. I would like to rest them so their bodies can have a bit of respite from a massive effort this year. They don’t have the years of conditioning to help them cope with the wear and tear.
• Yeo. We are not worthy. 45 tackles 100%. 173m. He washed the coach’s car and cooked dinner for the team after the game too. Probably…..
• Liam Martin was awesome. Tackle stats don’t measure how much they hurt. He hits hard and sometimes he misses because he tries to smash people. You can see players looking out for him, hoping to avoid him. Missing the two tries was neither here nor there. He put himself in a position to score because of his desire, a desire he showed for the full 80 minutes. The try was the least he deserved.
• I thought the Kenny ploy worked perfectly. Api made a difference when he was on because he was nice and fresh. Maybe there is our template for next year with a Kenny, Luke rotation.
Finally, well done boys, an awesome effort. If you had said we could win the JJG with Cleary only playing 14 games and Luai 16 games, I would have said you were crazy and arrogant. "Nobody can win the JJG with their starting halves missing a third of the season. You are a fool" I would have said. My Schultz defence is "I know nothing".
