Sorry this is late, I've had a busy weekend. After watching the replay, here's my full report,
Mitchell: Absolutely awesome once again! Against his old club no less! He was once again in everything and looked super dangerous everytime he touched the ball. That flick pass for Cody was sublime skill and understanding between the two, brilliant. He then put Gags over with those quick hands of his, that was a beautiful pass. Aside from those two moments, as I said, he looked very dangerous attacking their line. He got it wrong a couple of times but that can be forgiven. Trell was safe under the high ball, had good positional play at the back and his kick returns were very strong. Only negative was the two short drop outs that lead to two tries right at the end, they were not needed. Another great game Latrell, well and truely outplayed Tedesco. Loving how he’s developing this year!!!
Johnston: Didn't do anything outstanding but he was still very solid. Some of the runs he had were just about the strongest I've ever seen him, he made great meters in some of those runs! Only issue was that he didin’t do enough work for mine, needs to go looking for the ball more. Also a massive effort to get across from the other side of the field, clean up a kicked ball and save a try in the second half, that was amazing. Did get beaten by Morris in the air for their second try but that's not a big deal.
Gagai: Special performance from Gags last night, one of the best he's ever played for us. honestly, he was incredible. He brought it out of our own end very well with bustling runs and he constantly went looking for the ball in a mammoth effort attacking wise. Scored that wonderful try and then showed exceptional skill later to put Cody over for his second off an awesome offload as he fell. That was great skill. It was probably his defence I was most pleased with though, just shut down everything that came his way, he was all over it!! Up there with our best.
Graham: Like AJ, he didn't do anything super spectacular but he was really safe and solid. Had plenty of tough runs for plenty of meters and didin't make any errors at all. Great slight of hand to draw and pass on the fly to put the Sauce over for a try. Strong in defence as well, he combined really well with those aroung him in defence and as a result, the Roosters really lost their way in attack down that edge.
Mansour: A huge improvement on Round 1! Had a chance to secure his spot and I think he did enough to secure that spot. Ran with a lot more intent and was much busier. He did great coming out of our end with no silly brain explosions this time around!! Scored an awesome try too. On top of this, his defensive game was brutal, jamming in a few times and just cutting Roosters down with brilliant tackles. Great stuff Sauce.
Walker: Wow, wow, wow. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Needed Cody to step up in a big game and boy did he do that?!! It was his freakish vision and talent that got us off to such a great start as he identified the space inside Latrell so cut inside him and then showed some incredible footwork on his run to the line, jeez that was awesome! Probed down that left edge all night and created a lot of chances, the Roosters defence didn't quite know how to handle him. Also really enjoyed him popping up on the right a few times too. Had a hand in the lead up work in the shift for Gagai's try and then scored his second through some nice support work. In defence, he certainly had a personal battle with Keary and won that battle easily. He was up in Keary's face at every opportunity and he shut down so much of their attack down our left. It was just so damn good to see Cody tear up the arch rivals!!!
Reynolds: Well, if there's anyone out there that thinks Reyno shouldn't be retained, all you gotta do is just watch that game. Look at how important he is to our side. Everything good that we did started with him. Right from the start, his kicking game was setting the tone. We pinned them down their end so often off his brilliant kicks to the corners and were able to build pressure off the back of that. It was clear Tupou was a target as a lot of the kicks went to him and they were all pin point, allowing our defence to get down there and put the pressure on. His calming influence on attack was clear too as he often started a lot of our shifts by digging right into the line and delivering a perfect pass. The pass over the top to Graham to create the space for Mansour to slide in was great vision. A great knock from the skipper.
Burgess: Tom has slowly built on that average performance in Round 1 but this was such a big game aginst one of the best packs in the comp, that we really needed him to stand up and deliver. Well, he delivered in spades! A much improved performance from Tommy and he actually ended up having a huge game. Was part of that front rotation so had to set the tone really early and from those early moments, it was clear he was in for a good one as he emerged as a dominant force in the game. Trampled over the Roosters pack multiple times with barnstorming run after barnstorming run. Did a great got of laying a platform for our dominance and it was good to see him return to form.
Cook: Backed up a big game last week, with another good one this week. It perhaps wasn't as explosive since he didn't have a hell of a lot of opportunities to run but he was still very good. His service from dummy half was exceptional and he brought the forwards onto the ball really well. As I said, he didn't run as much as last week but the runs he did have were pretty damn good. And as always, he was a colossal in defence. Channel Nine gave him man of the match and while I don't quite know if he was that good, it was certainly a happy night for our skipper.
Tatola: I said during the week that Junior was in danger of being dropped if he didn't step up in this one. Thankfully, he got his act together and had a pretty good game. Along with Tom at the start of the game, he was instrumental in bashing the big Roosters pack into submission and laying the platform. Everything he did just seemed to have more purpose and effort to it which was awesome to see.
Koloamatangi: Another big game from Keaon in his second match starting. He was a menace out on that left edge. Got involved in plenty of work and did everything at one million miles an hour. Every run he had was menacing as he charged into the line hard and kept those big legs pumping after contact to fight for as many meters as possible. I thought he executed his role perfectly attacking their line, he was often a decoy runner but the lines he was running were perfect, he's starting to get a good grip on that part of his game. Then there was his defence. I said his game with the ball was menacing, how about without it?!! Wow, that shot he put on Collins to force an error in the second half was huge! Only negatives for Keaon the other night were the two errors he came up with. Both of these were after we'd scored a try which is a big sin but thankfully it didn't cost us.
Su'A: While I don't quite think he's back to full fitness and back to his best, Jaydn certainly had a much better game than the previous two. Was a lot more aggressive in everything he did and that showed as he was able to make some really good meters each run. Faultless in defence too. There's still improvement there for Jaydn this year but he's certainly getting there.
Murray: What a fantastic performance from Cam!! He was brilliant!! Has probably ball played a little too much the past two weeks but last night he just decided to run and run and run. That is when Cam is at his best, he has one of the best running games in the comp and that was evident once again the other night. He got through so much work, it was tireless!! But it's not on the amount of work he got through, but it's the quality of his work too. With Cam the other night we got both quantitiy and quality. Along with his densive game being just as good as ever, he just didn't stop all night. One of our best for sure!
Marshall: Only played ten minutes so didn't really get a chance to do a lot, not too much to say there but I'm sure he enjoed being involved in his first Rabbitohs, Roosters game.
Nicholls: Amazing stuff from Nicho, he just seems to keep getting better and better! Came out with his no frills, hard work attitude and brought great impact off the bench. He has developed some late footwork right at the line and I think it's this that's making him harder to handle, he was even threatening to score a couple of times in this game!! By the end of his stint, he was in the top three for run meters of all players on the field so that's one hell of an effort!!
Mago: Again, he was really good. Loved his impact off the bench too. Didn't do anything special but he just put his head down and went hard for his entire stint. Someone like Sele, Knight or Host will have a very hard time trying to take Pati's spot of he keeps this form up.
Arrow: In his first ever Rabbitohs vs Roosters derby, he certainly found out what our rivalry is all about! The Roosters went after him big time but Jai took it all in his stride and actually came out on top. He was very strong and stood up to all of them with great hit ups that earnt him well over 100 meters off the bench, that's impressive. I loved him waving Suluka-Fifita off, that was priceless!!! If any Souths fans don't love him by now then you're not a Souths fan haha.
So yea, huge performance from our boys against the arch rivals, I'm one happy Bunny!!
