Sorry for my late match review, couldn't do it last night as I had work early today. But here you go,
Wow, wow, wow!! Honestly what a game last night, that was brutal! It was almost like a State of Origin game, it was that physical. I guess the oldest rivalry in the game never fails to disappoint. It was a big test for our boys but they just proved where we're at. What an incredible performcance. We started the game really well but then seemed to fall away and it looked like the Roosters were all over us up until half time, we just didn't seem to have the energy. However, the switch flicked and boy did we turn it on in the second stanza, our best half of footy this year! Just amazing, there is no team I like beating more than the Roosters and to do it in that fashion to secure a top four spot and re-announce ourselves as contenders was brilliant. I'm so proud of the boys.
Attack was a bit mixed tonight. Overall, the forwards laid a great platform, especially in that second half. They dominated the Roosters forwards and as a result, we were able to roll up field quite well which was just fantastic! The thing that let us down last night and could have actually cost the game was errors. There were simply too many, there were times there where it was like we wanted them to score with the amount of times we were turning it over. But to the boys credit, they overcame this. Our goal line attack still needs work as we struggled to crack them most of the time we were down there. Too many crash balls and when we went wide, the execution just wasn't there. However, we did score two fantastic tries, especially Cody's which was just beautiful Rugby League.
Defence was also mixed in the first half. We did well initially with our line speed and the intensity there was really good. However, that seemed to drop away after about twenty minutes which saw the Roosters begin to gain the upper hand. Not sure why that happened but it needs to be addressed. because of this, they were able to have a lot of sets down our end and I must say, the defence looked a bit shakey. The left edge especially as we conceded two relatively soft tries there. We got lucky a few times too as they created a few chances but couldn't finish it thankfully.
Doueihi: Was great. After last night's performance, I'm convinced he should remain at fullback. He was safe under the high ball, had pretty decent positional play and his kick returns were outstanding. I can't remember the exact moment in the game but there was the moment he had that kick return from a grubber kick ino the in goal and he made a break straight away, that was brilliant.
Johnston: Pretty solid for his second game back. AJ didn't let anyone down last night. He was involved and took quite a decent amount of hit ups coming out of our own end to help the forwards, a lot of these hit ups he ran hard and as a result, didn't get driven back as much. Great support play through the middle and a wonderful ball to set up Cody for his try. AJ did have a few tries conceded on his wing but that was more due to Gags.
Graham: A great game from Campbell. he seemed to be in enverything as he was highly involved and really ripped in on every run he took. His strong hit ups saw him bend the line and gain a lot of post contact meters. He helped start our sets well which was huge. Add that to the fact that he was good defensively, kept Latrell quiet and scored a try through some beautiful work and he had a great game. Probably the only blight was a poor pass to Allan in that corner which could have resulted in a try.
Gagai: Wasn't bad. In hindsight, he was crearly hampered by that hamstring but still tried his best which is a credit to him. He had some strong runs coming out of our half. It was just his defence which was an issue as he simply couldn't hold Manu. He came up with two poor defensive reads/efforts in that early part of the first half but to be honest, he did find his groove for the rest of the game and he contained Manu before he fell victim to his injury.
Allan: Corey was good. I want to talk about his defence first because that was outstanding. He saved tries against Tupou and Latrell with brilliant defensive reads. I've been really impressed by his defence lately and last night was no different. Had some decent runs and kick returns.
Walker: Wasn't bad, I thought it was a nice, consistent performance from him. He didn't actually pull off any big plays so to speak but he always looked threatening and it seemed that the Roosters found it hard to control him at times. He did make a couple of errors but that wasn't through a lack of trying. His kicking game was pretty good and he held his own defensively too. Plus of course, scoring that beautiful try off the back of some nice support play.
Reynolds: Like Cody, it was a nice and consistent performance from Reyno. His kicking game the whole match was pretty spot on with him being able to roll it through into the in goal for us to get a repeat set a few times and also placing his long range kicks well to ensure their back three caught the ball as close to their try line as possible. In general play, I thought he looked a bit slow in that first half back turned it on in the second and played well in attack, especially in the lead up to graham's try.
S.Burgess: A really great performance from Sam I thought. It looked as though the quad injury was much better and it showed in his game. Big Sammy was so fired up and he went out there with a lot of fire to really let some aggression loose on the Roosters. And boy did he do that!! Almost all of his runs were done at 100% which bent the line and gave us some good momentum throughout the game. There was a lot of aggression and urgency there in both attack and defence. A good game from Sam.
Cook: Cookie was really great once again. To the Roosters credit, they didn't let him run too much but it was still good to see him have a few great runs to put the defence in two minds. He was busy in defence, brought the forwards onto the bench really well and set up the lovely play for Tatola that lead to Cody's try. That was spectacular! The only thing I don't like about Cookies game at the moment is his passing game attacking the line. I just feel he tries to do too much and he should scale it back a bit.
Knight: A fantastic game from Knight, he was great. Gave that game absolutely everything and he seemed to take it to a new level. By that I mean that he seemed more aggressive because every run he had he was literally running at almost full pace once he hit the line and this made a big impact as it drove the Chooks back. On top of that, he was able to generate quick play-the-balls or a bit of second phase footy with an offload which was good. I also thought he was quite dominant in defence and was always busy there. Just a shame to see a good night for him come to an end the way it did.
Sutton: I have to be tough here but I was actually a little disappointed in Sutto. He started the game full of energy but that faded and I just don't feel like he went after the ball as much after that because he didn't have as many runs as normal. Some of the runs he had were good but he just wasn't involved enough for me. Made a couple of errors too. I wasn't a fan of his defence either. If you watch the first two we conceded down the left, they are caused/contributed to by Sutto.
Su'A: After a quiet few weeks, he stepped it up last night, it almost was Ben Te'o like! He just simplified his game and it was clear he was only focussed on running hard, mking as many meters as possible on each one and then stopping their left, particularly Mitchell. Su'A did a good job of that yesterday.
Murray: Another absolutely classic Cam Murray game, he was amazing!! He was in everything, taking quality runs and almost always ending up on his knees to then snap a really fast play - the-ball, I just don't know how he does it. Poked his head through the line for almost every run too. Then there was his move to centre with Gags' injury. Having never played there and playing the way he did was something to behold honestly. He kept those high intensity levels up in attack but his defence outwide was amazing! He pretty much killed all impact that manu had on the game which was awesome!
Lowe: Not too much to say about Lowe as he didn't play big minutes and didn't make a massive impact but still, he didn't let anyone down, it was more just the way the game went.
Amone: Again, didn't play huge minutes but the big lad came on and I really enjoyed his impact.
Tatola: Similar to Knight, Junior seemed to really rank things up to another level last night and it was great. He ran so hard and didn't stop fighting for meters until he was down. This saw him cover a lot of ground. He was also solid in defence and did some great work for Cody's try.
Nicholls: He wasn't great I have to be honest. Made two really crucial errors that could have cost us, missed the tackle on Collins whick gave them one last shot at us and he just didn't make much impact.
