Not really sure how to describe that game, frustrating and disappointing are probably my main thoughts. I expected we'd be a little rusty but I thought we'd be better than that. Just a really inconsistent game where we played really well for periods and then absolutely terrible in others. Over all though, I'm pretty disappointed. Don't get me wrong, we did have some really good periods but over all it just wasn't good enough.
Attack was pretty average tonight I'm not gonna lie. There was that twenty minute period there where we started to come back that we looked great and we did put on a number of super slick plays but for the most part it just wasn't up to standard. We looked slow and clunky compared to the Roosters. We completed pretty well and had the better share of possession but just couldn't do anything with it. The biggest area of concern for me, and this is perhaps why we struggled to score points, is the ruck. From an attacking point of view, it appeared in that game that the boys would charge into the line and have a good run but then they'd go to ground and there's no fight in the play-the-ball. More often than not, they'd just lay there and movbe around a little, waiting for the defence to get off them. This, in my opinion, is the biggest reason why our attack was poosr as we weren't able to generate much consistent momentum. I will say though, that period arounf the time Tom scored was great! We looked awesome in attack because the anti was up. Play like that all game and we probably could have won.
Defence was extremely inconsistant and a mixed bag too. I thought for most of the first half, we defended brilliantly! The boys turned them away and overcame sustained pressure on multiple occasions and our scramble to stop tries was great. If I'm being honest, we should have been down by more going into half time but our defensive resiliance kept us in it which was great to see. But then, come out in the second half and the defence is pathetic, we concede two soft tries and then boom, the game is gone. Very inconsistent. We also really struggled to slow down the ruck in defence too which is why the Roosters looked so much faster than us. One thing we did do well defensively was our line speed, I thought that was good but jeez we have a lot to work on both attack and defence.
Mitchell: Latrell was a lot better improved tonight. He seemed fitter and was a lot more involved, taking some great runs and having some silky touches. He put on that beauty of a play for Murray's try and throughout the whole game he was just more involved which was great to see. Pulled of some great bits of defence too. The only blights were an error and being caught out of position a few times but that comes with learning. This is a performance he can build on.
Gagai: I actually thought Gags was pretty good, he was probably the most busy out of all the backline. Did come up with that one error but otherwise had countless carries coming out of our own end and a lot of them were quality too. Defensively he was pretty solid (I know the right edge got caught out a few times but I don't think that was due to Gags). He did get out-jumped by Tupou early for that try but otherwise it was a decent performance.
Graham: Wasn't bad but a bit 50/50. His first half was great as he looked dangerous almost everytime he touched the ball, got through plenty of work and had some very strong carries. However, the second half was a lot more quiet and apart from the odd good run, he didn't do a lot.
Burns: I wasn't all that impressed with Burns tonight. He just wasn't involved enough and wasn't doing enough coming out of our end. He also made a few silly passes on the attack and there was a few times he looked at sea in defence. God I hope he can recapture some form soon!
Johnston: AJ was good tonight. He's obviously not a big guy but he took his kick returns at full pace and certainly wasn't scared of contact. I thought his work rate was quite high too.
Dargan: He didn't set the world on fire but he certainly didn't do a bad job on debut. Seemed to be the dominant half and showed off a decent kicking game as well as a nice and direct attacking style. He almost created a number of opportunities tonight but sadly, they didn't eventuate.
Reynolds: I love Reyno but he deserves to be slammed after that. I'm pissed at him to be honest. Seriously, what did he do all game? I never thought I'd say this but I think we would've almost been better off without him in this game because he was just so damn quiet. He wasn't injured. In a time where he needed to step up, he was nowhere to be seen. This is his team now and he has to own it. He's talked about leading from the front, well taking a back seat like that and pushing all the duties onto a young half ON DEBUT is not leadership. We could have really used his kicking game tonight and apart from a few forced drop outs, it was nowhere to be seen. Reyno was so, so poor and it was a real shame. He's the key for us so he better make up for it next week!
Tatola: A very quiet night for Tatola and despite having a few good runs, he wasn't able to contribute much. That was probably due to the head knock.
Cook: Once again was fairly average. As always, he got through a lot of quality defensive work but I just feel his attacking game wasn't at it's best again. He often didn't pick the right times to run yet when he did, we was looking around for a pass instead of just pinning the ears back and going for it. I feel like in a way, he's a big issue with our attack close to the line because he doesn't seem to pick up the ball staright off the deck and pass it, he hesitates a bit before passing which just kills the attack. That was evident tonight. Man, we need Cookie to find his best form again.
Burgess: Tom had a good game, one of our best I thought. Was a workhorse through the middle when he was on and he ran hard all night. Got through plenty of meters and tackles with no errors and he scored a great try.
Su'a: Jaydn actually impressed me tonight. I wasn't happy with his work rate as he could have been more involved however, every touch he did have, he looked incredibly dangerous. Was running great lines nice and hard, and was breaking tackles. He held his own in defence. I'd like to see more, more consistantly throughout the game from him.
Murray: He tried so hard tonight which was great to see, scored that great try where he still had some work to do when he got the ball and also set Tom up for his. However, his involvement and this his meters and impact were down again. I feel that we just need him back in the middle, he's that valuable to us there.
Knight: Same comments as Tatola
Nicholls: I didn't notice Nicholls a lot tonight to be honest apart from him being very busy in defence.
Lowe: He was kind of the same as Nicholls in that I didn't really notice him a lot.
Sironen: Unfortunately, another bench player who didn't offer a lot tonight.
Amone: Now Tommy is someone I noticed. He was great!! Ran hard all night while he was on and the Roosters certainly struggled to get him down once he got those legs pumping. Jee wiz, he was whacking guys in defence too! Great game from Amone!
So all in all, there are some positives to take away but it was a pretty disappointing night. We need to be a lot better and we can be a lot better, there's plenty to work on.
Of course it's only early but we want to get off to a solid start and play some good Footy so we're not chasing later in the year. Like I say, plenty to work on.
