Tatola: His best game of the Season so far I reckon. Certainly a big improvement on recent outings. In past games, he's seemed to slow down just before hitting the line but I didn't see any of that yesterday as he ran hard and with aggression. 15 runs for 139 meters along with 33 tackles is a very good effort. Time to build on that Junior!
Cook: Wow, what a game from Cookie!! Almost back to his best!! He was dynamite all game. Didn't have a lot of runs and didn't actually run for a huge amount of meters but it was the timing of his runs and the output of his runs that was just quality. Picked his moments beautifully. Scored a well deserved hat-trick, the first of his career which was awesome to see! His first was a play we've really seen from Cookie as it was a barge over the line from close range. Had a lot of work to do there to beat two defenders and get the ball down. Minutes later he was over again as he showed some great effort support play to back up Campbell Graham and put himself in a position to score. The try to complete his hat-trick was all him though as he identified that the defenders were sliding off him after the scrum and had eyes for Lachie, he then cut back inside and went straight over. All brilliant plays from Damien, so good to see him backing himself and running again. On top of this, his defensive effort was massive too as he topped the tackle count with 34 tackles. What a performance Cookie, man of the match for sure. He's in good form now but the trick is doing it on a consistent basis.
Burgess: Honestly, in a dominant pack, I thought he was a bit underwhelming. Just didn't get through the work that he normally does and he lacked a bit of effort. Don't get me wrong, he did have some huge carries but in the end has just 9 runs for 89 meters.
Koloamatangi: Didn't particularly stand out in this game at first glance but when you go back, watch the replay and look at the stats, it was a very impressive performance. Hard, aggressive runs and plenty of them! 16 runs for 156 meters is a huge effort, and he went about it with little fuss and no errors. Threatened to break through off Lachie a couple of times. Pretty good defensively too. The only real negative of his night was the lead run he mucked up for Mansour's disallowed try.
Arrow: Was probably effected by that facial wound a little and lack of preparation because of it but Jai was a little below his standards yesterday too, especially in his first stint where he struggled to make an impact and came up with an error in our half. His second stint was better though I gotta say, he found a bit of rhythm there and made a solid contribution. Got his meters up to 130 which was awesome to see. Great defensively as always. So he probably wasn't as good as he has been but honestly, the bloke deserves a big pat on the back for just being out there after the week he's had.
Murray: Cam individually didn't seem to have as big an influence on the game as he normally does. However, the thing is, even when I say that, his slightly less impactful performances are probably still better than what a lot of forwards in the NRL could produce. Still had a big contribution to laying the platform with some huge runs for quick play-the-balls and he still made a fair amount of meters with 136, I just didn't feel like it was the super impactful performance from him we've become used to. Made a couple of poor passes which lead to errors. He was still pretty good and I guess we can't expect him to be amazing all the time.
Sele: Wow, what a return game for Hame!!! Aside from the one error he made because he wasn't looking at the ball, he was enormous! It's no coincidence that him and Knight came on and we started to get on top of them, the game started to turn in our favour. It was Hame's impact off the bench that helped trigger that. proved so hard to put down and he put everything into every run he made, constantly pumping those big legs after contact for plenty of post-contact meters. Made 128 off 11 carries. I just loved him off the bench, he has to stay in the 17!!
Host: Not as big of an impact off the bench but still did his job and was ever reliable as always. 8 runs for 70 meters and he did threaten the line a couple times. No issues in defence either which was good.
Knight: Close to man of the match for mine. Seriously, he was that good!! I haven't seen him play like that in years, it was fantastic!! came on, got straight into it and never looked back. Made a huge impact off the bench and played a massive hand in us gaining momentum. He ran so hard, so direct and just refused to stop on his way to a massive 202 meters. Well done Knighty, it was a pleasure to watch!!
Tass: Speaking of pleasures to watch, Tass' debut was very impressive! Only got about 16 minutes I know but he did really show something in that 16 minutes I thought. Went looking for the ball and had some really strong touches as a result, looked likely and looked a threat at centre which is what we've been lacking. What an effort to beat a couple of tackles and get a try on debut!!! So good for the young fulla, a special night and I'm really hoping he can nail down that left centre spot in time.
So all in all, a very good performance from the team. It was exactly what we wanted to see. Still areas we can improve of course but Good Friday was a step in the right direction. Great to see us finally dominate a game.
