Afternoon everyone, and what a glorious arvo it is after last night! Still buzzing, still stoked!
I have had a busy day with family so don't really have time to do a full match report like I normally do but I did make time to watch the replay and I've got to say, I'm even more impressed after a second glance.
Felt a bit frustrated watching the game live but once we had it wrapped up and upon reflection, my attitude completely changed! Of course, our attack wasn't great. Poor completion rate all up with plenty of errors, lack of execution, too much sideways play, slow movements and failures to get the ball to our edges a number of times. While that doesn't look great on face value, we need to remember a few things. Firstly, the Cowboys were 2nd coming into this game. They're the real deal in my eyes and are no doubt one of the best defensive teams this year. However, we still managed to put 20 on them with our attack not even close to clicking! And some people are unhappy about that?!! I think that's a great sign!
Secondly, it's been talked about a lot already but for me, the slow and clunky attack all comes down to having no Cook. His passing game is underrated, and we found that out last night. While I still think both Havili and Nikorima filled in well, they are not specialist hookers and they're certainly no Damien Cook. Their service was slow compared to the usual and this, along with the Cowboys rushing defence is the biggest reason our attack was off.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think anyone should be concerned about our attack coming out of that game. Since Round 16, the offence from Souths has been pretty damn incredible and that includes the game against Penrith last week where they actually really struggled to handle our slick play. That doesn't fall away in one week and it was no doubt losing Cook on the day of the game that did it. That's a lot of disruption that we wouldn't have prepared for and will be a lot better against the Roosters as the boys will be able to train for it all week.
Looking at the other side of our game, the defence is hands down the biggest positive out of this game. The match was a little dour because it was clear to see we had a defensive mindset. And boy, wasn't it great?!! North Queensland are also one of the best attacking teams in the comp this year and we contained them very, very well. They threw a lot at us, had endless chances and we just kept turning them away time after time. Yes, they made a fair few errors themselves, but I think it was our defensive intensity that forced them into that. Their only tries came of unstructured, freakish bits of play on the last tackle. While they were both disappointing, it's a good sign because they weren't able to break us down any other way.
I think that defensive performance sends a huge statement to the rest of the competition to be honest and should give us a lot of confidence heading into Finals.
Glorious win and one we so badly needed!! Extremely proud of this team!!
