After watching the replay, here's my full report,
Attack
Certainly, a game of two halves in terms of our attack. We were pretty average in the first half to be fair. I wouldn't say we were poor with the ball as such, just average. Really struggled to make meters because we looked a little flat, the intensity just wasn't quite there. It was all pretty pedestrian stuff, and we didn't look like trying much different than conservative, one-out hit ups. We were getting outplayed by an inferior pack and as a result, the Dolphins were easily able to trap us and we spent almost the whole first stanza in our own half.
We did score a nice try to Campbell Graham but aside from that, didn't get many chances and we messed up the few chances we did have.
However, things couldn't have been more different in the second half! It was like a whole different team turned up. As I said, a classic example of a game of two halves and whatever was said at halftime, certainly worked.
Suddenly, our intensity was back! Everything was being done with purpose and direction. We stopped looking pedestrian and actually started playing some great Footy. It was still a little hairy at the very start of the half but once we started coming over the top of the Dolphins, the boys honestly looked unreal. They looked unstoppable. We were able to get a roll on, easily carting it up the field and the attack got into rhythm. Once again, it just clicked, especially down the left which was great to see. Looked bloody lethal if I'm honest. 30 unanswered points tells the tale of just how good we were in that 40 minutes, bloody great to see.
What was also pleasing out of this game with the ball, was our completion rate. It's been a real problem so far in 2023 but no such issues on Thursday night as we completed at 83%. Of course, still room for improvement, but that's pretty solid.
Defence
Over all, pretty happy with the defensive effort. Obviously, we conceded two pretty poor tries, especially the second which was soft. But aside from that, the Dolphins weren't able to break us, despite having plenty of shots.
In that first half defensively, we absorbed so much pressure. Almost the entire half was played in our section of the field and the Dolphins were really coming at us, they threw a lot our way set after set. Despite this, the boys in Red and Green absorbed all of it. They kept turning up for each other and kept turning them away. It was fantastic resolve. A lot of teams would have been down by plenty at halftime with the way the game was going, but not us. The defence was pretty awesome.
That continued in the second half with a complete shutout. Just awesome!
Player by Player
L. Mitchell: One of the things I really wanted to see in this game, was Latrell back up his Good Friday performance with another good one in Round 7. And I'm happy to report that he certainly delivered. Once again, right from the start he looked pretty hungry. He was pushing up around the ball, coming in, looking for work and taking a few carries, and his kick returns were pretty strong. This continued right through the rest of the game. Then, in good ball attack, it was great to see him heavily involved. Laid on a beautiful try assist for Stretch the first time we went up there. That was great play. He took the pass, took it to the line which meant Aitken couldn't slide, but then double pumped and looked to play long to Milne. This confused Jennings for the Dolphins and meant he had to stay on his wing which created the space for Campbell to stroll through off Latrell. All this in a second, great play. Trell also had a line break assist a couple sets later when he put Taane through with a great pass. Then, throughout very stages of the game, he was involved in some very dangerous shifts. many of these shifts didn't really amount to any points but they looked great. Trell was rewarded with a powerful try of his own in the second half. An awesome show of agility and strength as he eyeballed Katoa, stepped past him and then carried through Stone to crash over. Powerful!!! On top of all this, his goal kicking was pretty on song. Another great game from Trell, he's now in form and needs to carry it through the rest of the Season.
Johnston: Very solid in his return. Some nice kick returns and carries to clock up 100 meters and nothing got past him in defence which was good to see. Didn't get a hell of a lot of chances because to their credit, the Dolphins defence covered him pretty well but he did what he could. Great offload for Walker's try. I know it was pretty lucky but you make your own luck. Great to see the left edge fire and Cody laid on a beautiful try for him, a great reward. Not a bad game AJ.
Tass: Very good in this one was Tassy. Always gets in and does the tough stuff well, this game was no different. Some really good carries. And he looked dangerous in attack. Found himself with a bit of room to move a number of times and asked some questions of the Dolphins defence. He was better in this game at setting AJ up too, delivered some well-timed passes a couple of time, one of which led to Cody's try. But his highlight was no doubt his try. Great ball playing by Cody to get Tassy on the outside of Brenko Lee and Isaiah did the rest. Showed some speed to burn Lee and then a nice little dummy pass which allowed him to sneak past Isaako and slide over. Awesome stuff. Once again, I found myself impressed with his defence too.
Graham: Another great game from our Stretch who just continues to go from strength to strength. He did look a little off defensively early on. Thought he could have pushed harder from marker on the Dolphins first try, this may have meant Taane didn't get isolated, and we could have stopped that. There were a few other times that Stretch looked a little shaky. But to his credit, he recovered, and nothing got past him for the rest of the game. His tough carries were great, as always, and he's turning into a bit of a try-scoring machine!! Two tries to make it five in two weeks! Nice hole running for his first and then showed great desire and skill to take that kick from Lachy for his second.
Milne: A very rough start as he dropped that bomb which led to a try the play after. A really poor start from Taane. I'm not going to blame him though for the actual play where to Dolphins scored for reasons stated above. But in a credit to him, he dusted himself off well and actually had a pretty good game after that. Well and truly lead the running meters in our outside backs with 147 in a testament to his work coming out of our own end. His 'D' was solid the rest of the game too. Well done in the end Taane.
Walker: Yewwwwww!!! What a performance! He was on fire!! Wasn't able to do much in the first half as we were pretty much getting dominated. Although, I was filthy at him for that chip kick after the Milne break as it killed everything. the Dolphins were all offside and we were on the front foot so why not go through the hands and run it? Anyway, Cody more than made up for it in the second half with an absolute masterclass in playmaking. back to his mesmerising best! Had a hand in the slick backline movement for our third try and then didn't give up on the play when the ball pin-balled around. Typical Cody and he scores. Again, we went down there, and he picks up his first try assist with some amazing ball playing. He took the ball right into the line which sucked in two defenders and allowed Tass to get on the outside of Brenko Lee. Very smart. We get down there a couple sets later and it's Cody again who combines with Trell which helps him crash over. His second try assist. The third try assist from Cody came on literally the next set and this was probably the most beautiful try of the game, especially because until this game, the left side attack hasn't really clicked. Again, Cody takes it right to the line and it seems like time just freezes. In a split second, he makes it look like slow motion, waits for the que from Isaako and as soon as Isaako commits in, boom. A peach of a ball is delivered over the top to AJ. Absolutely loved that. As I said, it was a masterclass from Cody. All this along with a very good defensive performance which included a try saver on the Hammer in the first half. Probably the only thing I can criticise him on after that is his kicking game as it was pretty soft and 'lollipoppy' but that's something to work on. Still man of the match for mine!
Ilias: I'll start with what he didn't do so well. His general play kicking game was really poor, I think we can all see that, and it's a big reason why we couldn't get out of our end in the first half. Lachy's kicks were what many call 'lollipops.' They had no real height and no real depth, easy catch for the back three. It wasn't good enough and it's starting to become a real concern for me because there's no variation there and this side of his game isn't developing. But anyways, aside from his general play kicking, I thought he was really good. His ball playing all game was great, executed his role perfectly as he was taking it to the line before delivering a perfect pass to create some space for his outside men. This is evidenced in all of our first, third, fourth, and sixth tries. Lachy played a part in all of those. A small part, yea, but without his work, Cody and Latrell aren't able to have the starring roles they did. Great to see him run a couple of times too, that was a real threat with his right foot step. The highlight of his game was Campbell's second though. What a perfect attacking kick! He was under pressure too but delivered a kick that is as good as it gets and Stretch scores. We need to see more of that from Lachy. On the other side of the ball, once again, his defence was top shelf.
