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Well that was a friggin frustrating game, first loss of the Season and I'm still fuming!! A game we really should have won as we had so many opportunities but just couldn't ice it. Missed goals, field goals, errors, poor options and a lack of energy at times really, really hurt us. What do I put this down to? I put it down to being complacent. I feel that the boys turned up today thinking that this was going to be an easy win and we underestimated Manly somewhat. That is why there seemed to be a real lack of energy at times. This attitude is simply not good enough. Teams will aim up to us the way Manly did today and if we can't adjust like we couldn't today, then we're going to get caught out. Even with the way we played, that game should never have gone to golden point. Mnly were out on their feet in that last 20 minutes and we just couldn't take the opportunity as we made errors at crucial times or just looked flat. it wasn't all bad as we looked pretty good when we held the ball and the energy levels were where they should be, paticularly in that first half. it's just so friggin frustrating to lose a game that we should have won.
Attack was quite mixed today I feel. Due to our complacent attitude and lack of focus at times, we really struggled for yardage coming out of our own end as Mnly were aggressive and up in our face. It wasn't like that the whole game because when we switched on, the boys were able to generate quick play-the-balls, get that yardage and get a good roll on to put manly under pressure but we just couldn't seem to do that consistantly set after set because I feel that we relaxed at times and thus, the energy levels dropped which was not good enough. As I said, we did look super slick when we got it together as we had some nice plays for both our tries which were just beautiful to watch but then we just weren't able to ice some plays like when Gagan went in which really cost us. Errors were probably the biggest killer especially in that second half. Mnly made a lot of errors too but we just game ourselves zero change with the amount of mistakes we made. The thing that was even worse was that a lot were either at crucial times (like when Fainu scored) or at times when we looked like we were building to strike a killer blow. It was simply not good enough.
Defnce wasn't actually too bad. Apart from Tommy Turbo's try, the goal line defence wasn't actually properly breached which was quite pleasing and we did well to absorb pressure at times in the game and turn them away. However, the general play defence wasn't as good at times. I am yet to watch the replay again but I think that there was a real lack of effort in the line speed tonight, paticularly in golden pint where we seemed to just gift the opposition easy meters with a lack of line speed, this was very disappointing.
Johnston: Was pretty good. He did make a poor attempt to stop manly's first try but other then that, was solid. he was safe at the back when defusing kicks, had pretty good positional play, charged hard on his kick returns and was involved in the nice sweeping plays while attacking.
Allan: Wasn't bad. safe under the high ball, pretty decent defensively and he made a couple of line breaks from some strong runs. The hit ups he did do were great but I feel like he needs to become just a little bit more involved in this regard to help the forwards.
Gagan: Was decent defensively but didn't really impress in other areas. I don't think he did enough to help the forwards coming out of yardage which is a shame because he is a strong runner of the footy but he kind of went missing at times when we needed him. He also made some fundamental errors and over ran that play for his disallowed try which is why Cody ended up throwing it forward.
Gagai: Not too bad. Had a lot of hit ups coming out of our own end and he did a lot of the shit work with some strong runs. he did look shakey defensively again though and his dicipline was poor.
Graham: A bit of a mixed night for Graham. His hit ups were strong, good kick returns and he had a decent work rate. His try was amzing, the way he was able to spin out of those tackles to carry on and score was awesome. However, he made that huge error that Fainu scored off which cost us quite a bit.
Walker: Was probably one of our best tonight. Had a little bit of a shakey start with a few dodgy passes but he came good and started to really shine. Cody was one of the only guys out there that was full of energy the whole time and as a result, he looked really dangerous. The way he skipped across the field to get the ball rolling for sam's try was awesome and it was a great example of his off the cuff style of play. That was great vision and beautiful to watch. His kicking game wasn't bad but if I do have to critisize one thing I'd say that he probably wasn't involved enough at the end of the game when we really needed some spark and he did throw that forward pass to Gagan.
Reynolds: To be honest, Reyno was very average today, one of his worst games in a while. On attack, he took the wrong option a lot with pushed passes, poor pass selection or an error and the attacking sweeps just seemed to slow down when he got the ball which is unusual for him. Although, he did throw the final pass for Sam's try which was nice. Then there was Reyno's kicking which just wasn't there today. Goal kicking was average and that really cost us but he also missed those two field goals and his general play kicking wasn't too good either. Not going to blame the loss on him but I do think that if he was on song this arvo, we would've won.
Tatola: I thought Junior was pretty good. Had two solid stinits in which he ran with great aggression, it was just hard running and getting those legs pumping. He also had a pretty high work rate in his stints and didn't make an error from memory.
Cook: Was good. Cookie's running game was more prominant this afternoon and I think it was this running game which seemed to spark us back into action when we were looking flat. He had that high work ethic in defence and his service from dummy half was great. Not a bad night for Cookie individually.
T.Burgess: A mixed night for Tom. His slippery fingers seemed to make thier return tonight as he made a couple of poor errors which really shouldn't have been made and this really cost us. A lot of his runs, he looked tired and just trotted but at the same time there were a few that were outstanding runs. Tom hasn't been playing bad but I do feel he needs to lift.
Sutton: Sutto is someone who I feel also needs to lift. He didn't really do anything wrong as such but he just wasn't as involved as he has been in the past. The runs he did have were good, he played his role in backline sweeps well and he didn't make an error defensively but I just think he needs to get more involved.
S.Burgess: Sam was pretty good. he was aggressive tonight and all his runs were at 100% which was good to see. he made plenty of hit ups, scored a nice try was able to generate a fair bit of second phase footy. he did get beaten for speed defensively at times though but nothing too major. was interesting to see him play on the left for a wee bit this arfternoon.
Murray: Improved on his quiet performance from last week and returned to his almost normal self with that high work rate we love so much. he was non-stop in his time spen on the field and he made plenty of meters through the middle. I'm just blown away at the strength of him for a reasonibly small guy and that showed again today as he was able to bust through and make a couple of nice line breaks.
Nicholls: Another solid game from Mark. I feel like he has been building since Round 1 and today was a good game from him. Just nuckled down, made a lot of runs and did his job for the team. was solid defensively, made plenty of meters and I don't think he made a lot of errors so you can't ask for much more.
Lowe: Wasn't as good as last week but did still do his job and made a bit of an impact when he came on.
G.Burgess: George looked really hungry tonight after his lay off and it was really good to watch. he came on and started just whacking blokes left, right and centre. He ran with such aggression and would've made plenty of meters to provide a great impact from the bench. The thing that let him down though was errors, he made a few at really important times which is not good enough.
Turner: Kind of similar to Lowe in that he did his job but there isn't really much to say.
Looking back on it, it's hard to pick out any individuals who were average but we just looked really complacent and flt throughout periods of that game which is really, really disappointing and I'm quite frustrated by it. You simply cannot afford to do that in this comp and we need to realise that or we will continue to be upset like we were today.
I think this is the game we kind of needed though. Since Round 1, our performances have progressively got worse and this shows that we are perhaps not travelling as well as we thought. That is okay as we still have so much to improve and you don't want to be playing your best footy right now. In saying that, the results are important and it didn't go our way which is really frustrating to suffer our first loss of the year.
There's the little speed bump, it's up to the boys to respond. I know we can do it.
Attack was quite mixed today I feel. Due to our complacent attitude and lack of focus at times, we really struggled for yardage coming out of our own end as Mnly were aggressive and up in our face. It wasn't like that the whole game because when we switched on, the boys were able to generate quick play-the-balls, get that yardage and get a good roll on to put manly under pressure but we just couldn't seem to do that consistantly set after set because I feel that we relaxed at times and thus, the energy levels dropped which was not good enough. As I said, we did look super slick when we got it together as we had some nice plays for both our tries which were just beautiful to watch but then we just weren't able to ice some plays like when Gagan went in which really cost us. Errors were probably the biggest killer especially in that second half. Mnly made a lot of errors too but we just game ourselves zero change with the amount of mistakes we made. The thing that was even worse was that a lot were either at crucial times (like when Fainu scored) or at times when we looked like we were building to strike a killer blow. It was simply not good enough.
Defnce wasn't actually too bad. Apart from Tommy Turbo's try, the goal line defence wasn't actually properly breached which was quite pleasing and we did well to absorb pressure at times in the game and turn them away. However, the general play defence wasn't as good at times. I am yet to watch the replay again but I think that there was a real lack of effort in the line speed tonight, paticularly in golden pint where we seemed to just gift the opposition easy meters with a lack of line speed, this was very disappointing.
Johnston: Was pretty good. He did make a poor attempt to stop manly's first try but other then that, was solid. he was safe at the back when defusing kicks, had pretty good positional play, charged hard on his kick returns and was involved in the nice sweeping plays while attacking.
Allan: Wasn't bad. safe under the high ball, pretty decent defensively and he made a couple of line breaks from some strong runs. The hit ups he did do were great but I feel like he needs to become just a little bit more involved in this regard to help the forwards.
Gagan: Was decent defensively but didn't really impress in other areas. I don't think he did enough to help the forwards coming out of yardage which is a shame because he is a strong runner of the footy but he kind of went missing at times when we needed him. He also made some fundamental errors and over ran that play for his disallowed try which is why Cody ended up throwing it forward.
Gagai: Not too bad. Had a lot of hit ups coming out of our own end and he did a lot of the shit work with some strong runs. he did look shakey defensively again though and his dicipline was poor.
Graham: A bit of a mixed night for Graham. His hit ups were strong, good kick returns and he had a decent work rate. His try was amzing, the way he was able to spin out of those tackles to carry on and score was awesome. However, he made that huge error that Fainu scored off which cost us quite a bit.
Walker: Was probably one of our best tonight. Had a little bit of a shakey start with a few dodgy passes but he came good and started to really shine. Cody was one of the only guys out there that was full of energy the whole time and as a result, he looked really dangerous. The way he skipped across the field to get the ball rolling for sam's try was awesome and it was a great example of his off the cuff style of play. That was great vision and beautiful to watch. His kicking game wasn't bad but if I do have to critisize one thing I'd say that he probably wasn't involved enough at the end of the game when we really needed some spark and he did throw that forward pass to Gagan.
Reynolds: To be honest, Reyno was very average today, one of his worst games in a while. On attack, he took the wrong option a lot with pushed passes, poor pass selection or an error and the attacking sweeps just seemed to slow down when he got the ball which is unusual for him. Although, he did throw the final pass for Sam's try which was nice. Then there was Reyno's kicking which just wasn't there today. Goal kicking was average and that really cost us but he also missed those two field goals and his general play kicking wasn't too good either. Not going to blame the loss on him but I do think that if he was on song this arvo, we would've won.
Tatola: I thought Junior was pretty good. Had two solid stinits in which he ran with great aggression, it was just hard running and getting those legs pumping. He also had a pretty high work rate in his stints and didn't make an error from memory.
Cook: Was good. Cookie's running game was more prominant this afternoon and I think it was this running game which seemed to spark us back into action when we were looking flat. He had that high work ethic in defence and his service from dummy half was great. Not a bad night for Cookie individually.
T.Burgess: A mixed night for Tom. His slippery fingers seemed to make thier return tonight as he made a couple of poor errors which really shouldn't have been made and this really cost us. A lot of his runs, he looked tired and just trotted but at the same time there were a few that were outstanding runs. Tom hasn't been playing bad but I do feel he needs to lift.
Sutton: Sutto is someone who I feel also needs to lift. He didn't really do anything wrong as such but he just wasn't as involved as he has been in the past. The runs he did have were good, he played his role in backline sweeps well and he didn't make an error defensively but I just think he needs to get more involved.
S.Burgess: Sam was pretty good. he was aggressive tonight and all his runs were at 100% which was good to see. he made plenty of hit ups, scored a nice try was able to generate a fair bit of second phase footy. he did get beaten for speed defensively at times though but nothing too major. was interesting to see him play on the left for a wee bit this arfternoon.
Murray: Improved on his quiet performance from last week and returned to his almost normal self with that high work rate we love so much. he was non-stop in his time spen on the field and he made plenty of meters through the middle. I'm just blown away at the strength of him for a reasonibly small guy and that showed again today as he was able to bust through and make a couple of nice line breaks.
Nicholls: Another solid game from Mark. I feel like he has been building since Round 1 and today was a good game from him. Just nuckled down, made a lot of runs and did his job for the team. was solid defensively, made plenty of meters and I don't think he made a lot of errors so you can't ask for much more.
Lowe: Wasn't as good as last week but did still do his job and made a bit of an impact when he came on.
G.Burgess: George looked really hungry tonight after his lay off and it was really good to watch. he came on and started just whacking blokes left, right and centre. He ran with such aggression and would've made plenty of meters to provide a great impact from the bench. The thing that let him down though was errors, he made a few at really important times which is not good enough.
Turner: Kind of similar to Lowe in that he did his job but there isn't really much to say.
Looking back on it, it's hard to pick out any individuals who were average but we just looked really complacent and flt throughout periods of that game which is really, really disappointing and I'm quite frustrated by it. You simply cannot afford to do that in this comp and we need to realise that or we will continue to be upset like we were today.
I think this is the game we kind of needed though. Since Round 1, our performances have progressively got worse and this shows that we are perhaps not travelling as well as we thought. That is okay as we still have so much to improve and you don't want to be playing your best footy right now. In saying that, the results are important and it didn't go our way which is really frustrating to suffer our first loss of the year.
There's the little speed bump, it's up to the boys to respond. I know we can do it.
