Now that I've watched the replay, here's my full report,
Mitchell: A quiet game by his standards but me saying that is a testiment to how well he's playing because he still had a pretty good game. Was still getting involved regularly in attack as well as taking a few tough runs. Put on two big tackles on Meany, one to force him back in goal and the other was a rib cruncher where Trell smashed him. Ended up with a try assist, that was great hand to the Sauce and a try himself where he showed awesome awareness to react to Benji. Not everything he did came off, a few passes went astray but you can't expect every single thing he touches to turn to gold.
Johnston: Was solid. Nothing special but made no errors and just did his job. Took the tough hit ups when he needed to and looked elusive when he had a big of space attacking the line and on kick returns. Really enjoyed his defensive effort, nothing was getting past him and he made some really good reads. Great chance and take for his try off Cody's kick, fantastic awareness.
Gagai: Gags was really good again. As always, he tried his hard out and did a he did of a lot of the grunt work coming out of our end. Broke plenty of tackles which is always a good sign. Impressive in defence too, great combination with AJ there.
Graham: A good, tough game for Cammy. Some of his runs were really strong when we were trying to work it out of our end and him and jaydn looked a pretty dangerous combo out there as they threatened a few times. Defence was top notch as he made some awesome reads to jam in and take his man. Did come up with an error where he held the ball and spiulled it instead of a catch-pass to put Mansour into space which was disappointing. This is a part of Stretch's game that needs improvement.
Mansour: Brilliant game from the Sauce!! One of our best out there for sure! Caught/cleaned up absolutely everything that came his way, didn't matter if it was a grubber, a bomb, a bad pass, or a loose ball, Josh was all over it with great handline. Not only that but what he did with the ball was very impressive too. Was heavily involved, wanting to help out the forwards and get his hands dirty; and he looked colossal in some of those runs. Scored a great try that he kind of set up a few plays before with a bumping run and then he was good enough to finish it off in the corner.
Walker: Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant game from Cody, was up there with our best for the afternoon. Just a scintilating performance as almost everything he touched turned to gold. Was fired up from the start of the game and had the eyes on, you could see it. Looked really sharp whenever he got the ball, creating plenty of chances. Many plays to edges didn't come off but Cody played a crucial role in getting the movement started and creating that chance. Two brilliant pieces of support play running off Cookie that lead to two tries for Cody. Not only is that awesome vision from Cook, but it's great vision from Walker too to recognise that Cookie is about to scoot and stay with him. Than he capped it all off with that pin-point cross-field chip to put it on a platter for AJ, that was so classy, so good to watch. On the negative side, I'm pissed off with a few of the grubby things he did. That's not Cody and there's just no need for it.
Reynolds: Not a bad game but I wouldn't say he had a great game if that makes sense. Did plenty of good things, more good than bad, but did have a few poor moments with his kicking game. His long kicking and goal kicking was brilliant as usual but his short kicking game, apart from one kick where he forced a line drop out, left a lot to be desired for me as many of his kicks didn't come off. Apart from that, he was really good as he directed the boys around really well and had a hand in some nice plays down that right edge, most noteably that try for Mansour. It was a strong defensive effort from Reyno and then he capped it all off with that amazing charge down runaway on fulltime, I loved that!
Burgess: Another good, consisitent game from Tommy. Ran hard all the time and fought for the quick play-the-ball everytime. He made plenty of meters as a result. Weathered the early storm from the Bulldogs pack as they started really well but Tom eventually came well over the top of them. Exactly the kind of performance we want from Tom.
Cook: Wow, what a game from Cookie!! he was easily our best. He had the flashy plays that I'll discuss shortly but it was all his work that went un noticed that were super impressive. These include things like his defence which was on song as per usual and he got through so much work there as per usual, his service was on point and he was bringing the boys onto the ball well. But it was the strongest and most lethal part of his game that was really on fire. Yep, that's his running game. We all saw the big moments where he showed great vision and blistering speed to just back himself, completely split the Dogs pack, race away and put Cody over from long range not once, but TWICE!! Jeez it was awesome to watch, that's why he's the best hooker in the game and we need a running game from Cookie like that on a regular basis if possible.
Tatola: A solid performance from Junior too as he continued his form from last week. Didn't play a huge amount of minutes as he has that hamstring injury to manage but the time he did have on the field was effective with barging runs that put the Bulldogs on the back foot. I think he even made a half break at one stage in the second half! What's more, he was very busy in defence, putting a lot of effort in there and it was him that technically saved a try that went to the Bunker early in the game. Junior still has improvement in him but he's going okay currently.
Koloamatangi: Really enjoyed his game the other night. It seemed like every run he had was a big one as he makes contact and keeps those legs pumping which often leads to him carry blokes off him for another few meters. Great strength. He's starting to build up a combination with the halves as he threatened to go through off a pass from Cody or Benji a few times. I was most impressed with his defence though. I don't think there was a tackle he missed, he was dominant in every one. Even if he came into a tackle as second or third man, he was making really good contact and allowing us to drive the player with the ball back. Didn't like his crusher tackle though, that wasn't smart and it'll cost him a couple of weeks.
Su'A: Jaydn has slowing been building since Round 1 and I think this is the best he's played in 2021. He was awesome. All his hit ups were quality but he also had a bit of room to move many times in good field position so he showed a bit of flair and almost created stuff in combination with Graham. Jaydn put on some really nice plays down that right edge. Strong defence as always and he put a good hit on one of the Dogs players (can't remember who it was). Keep improving Jaydn!
Murray: Another awesome game from Cam, he just keeps turning out good performances again and again. Just his workrate and effort blows me away every week and that was on show again on Friday night as he was in everything while he was on. Tried his guts out and had plenty of those textbook Cam Murray runs which almost always put us on the front foot. Speaking of textbook, his defence was just that too. It was a shame he didn't play as many minutes due to that crusher but it didn't damper my thoughts on his output at all.
Marshall: Came on and played a role as that link man and did it really well. When he came on we looked super dangerous and the points flowed after that as the Bulldogs tired. He pushes ou halves one pass wider which opens up endless possibilities as we say on Good Friday the other day. Fantastic example of vision, finesse, skill and combination with the grubber he put in for Mitchell's try, that was magic.
Nicholls: While he didn't quite reach the lofty heights of last week, he was still very good off the bench. Came on and played that no fuss, rugged style of play that works so well for him. He got through plenty of work and plenty of meters. Made a real impact.
Mago: Didn't play many minutes but he was good when he came on. Great impact of the bench putting his massive frame to good use. I'm loving Pati's work this year!! Short stints are perfect for him.
Arrow: Jai Arrow is an absolute machine!! What a signing!! Again on Friday he was just everywhere and kept going and going and going. Just the hunger, the effort and the motor he shows, it's incredible. Every run he had was strong and he just kept racking up the yardage in a great performance once again. Did make the one error but I won't hold that against him too much.
So yea, a really good performance where we played well within ourselves but still put a score on. One happy Bunny once again!!
