Well very disappointing now I’ve seen it. The first 25mins was very good and we were getting a role on. Sam threw a silly pass on the attack when if he held the ball we would’ve scored next play. Forcing the pass isn’t always the best choice. Angus threw a pass then that needs to be taken yes it wasn’t easy but AJ is good enough to take that. Then the fundamentals like Tom dropping it on tackle two off the kick off at 12-0. Murray then loses it in a one on one strip. All the plays at the ball kept on giving them six again too.
AJ: Organised the defensive line well in the first half but against Abbey in the second half he didn’t even try to catch the high ball. He could not even put Campbell away for a try to go up 16-10. Then when the ball was gonna go dead he knocks it on in goal which meant a drop out instead of a 20m tap to us then zero attempt to tackle Cotric. It was a awful second half from AJ. All game he ran 65m whilst Holmes Slater and Teddy have all ran between 250-302m so if the alarm bells aren’t ringing now then they won’t wake him or Seibs up til our season is over.
Edit: My IPad currently isn’t typing properly so I’ll continue my review later
All right continuing on now my IPAD is working well again!
Campbell: A bit scratchy and knocked on when carrying the ball out of our half. Not involved in the shit work as much as I wanted. With AJ barely making metres at the back we need Campbell to lift. He saved our bacon with some great tackles and diving in the ball when we needed it. If he wasn’t there Canberra put 40 on us.
GI: Was inspirational and I hope his knee is ok. He really was hungry but barely anyone followed his lead. I like how GI floated to the right edge off a scrum as well. We have to let him roam seeing as AJ doesn’t seem currently up to it. Very good in defence GI too.
Gagai: Didn’t do as much shit work as I’d have liked. He was ok but ok isn’t good enough coming to this time of year. His defence left quite a bit to be desired as well. He must be better. I loved his effort areas on the kick chase though.
Hunt: I thought he was solid in his work but I would just like to see a bit more from him. I must say he didn’t look confident under the high ball though and we need Jennings back next week especially for the shit work as the Tigers make shitloads of metres with their backs.
Just quickly on our backs too, GI can’t do all the shif work. He needs help and our backs must do more to help out our forwards and to get fast play the balls for Cookie. We need more energy.
Cody: Did some very good things but faded in and out a bit too much for my liking. Mind you it doesn’t help when your pack doesn’t get momentum.
AR: His kicking wasn’t at his best but I dunno if it was as terrible as some are saying. Yes he needed to manage the game better but no doubt he will be working hard this week and be much better for Thursday. In defence I thought he did his best without help from Gus and Gags. I loved seeing AR run the ball more and this was a big positive.
Tom: Played 43mins I think. I thought Canberra handled him well. Wasn’t the usual venom we see from Tom. His knock on off the kick off at 12-0 really killed us and was a bad momentum changer. Gotta be better.
Cook: He made 50 tackles and was very good defensively making two try savers. Cookie isn’t big but he has a go at stopping em unlike AJ who stands there slapping at thin air and not putting his body on the line. Cookie gave his usual crisp passes. He couldn’t run quite as much due to how our forwards weren’t dominating. He looked good when he ran though.
George: Played 40mins. Was solid but not at his barnstorming best. Once again Canberra handled him quite well like Tom. Gave a silly penalty away and needs to get that out of his game.
Sutto: Looked very threatening in the first half and was playing close to his best. I think GI being back inspired him. Wasn’t as good in the second half though and we needed more from him.
Angus: Had very strong carries and offloads. I was quite happy with him but not with his defence. He got caught out quite a bit.
Sam: No doubt he’s carrying a couple of injuries. I thought he tried hard and was ball playing quite a bit. I’d like to see him get back to charging onto the ball though and getting quick play the balls for Cookie. Sam is a champion and I expect he will lift next week.
Murray: Was very good Murray apart from getting stripped one on one. I’m wondering if we need him starting the game and Georgie coming on and causing havoc around the 20min mark.
Clark: The sin bin was just unlucky. The knock on off the drop out was just unacceptable.
Tatola: Not much to say apart from he seems to have put on weight.
Fuimaono: Didn’t get on.
Overall we need to go back to basics and completing well plus limiting giving penalties away. If we hold the ball we can win games starting next week.
