Sele: Cool to see him start and he played well. Did play less minutes in this one as JD gave more to Davvy but Hame put in a great performance with the time he had on the field. 10 really strong carries on his way to 130 meters. I remember one in particular when he kept charging for something like 15 meters! Didn't put a foot wrong in defence either.
Cook: Not bad at all. I'd describe his game as being solid. His service was a bit slow attacking the line in the first half but I was glad to see he sharpened that up in the second. A couple of good darts from dummy half and I thought he was pretty hard done by to not get a six-again on some of them. And as always, a big defensive game from Cookie as he made 45 tackles.
Burgess: Tommy was great again! Credit to him to be honest. We've all been a bit critical of him in the starting role throughout his career, but I think he's been great there this year, particularly in recent weeks. Still prefer him off the bench when we're at full strength because of his impact but that will come. For now, he's doing a great job starting. Again, the other night, he did everything he possibly could with plenty of barnstorming runs on his way to 124 meters. Got close to scoring on one of his runs in the second half as he took an offload from Lachy. I certainly think he's one of the best props in the game and doesn't get enough credit from people outside Souths.
Koloamatangi: A shame his game was cut short with that injury because he was going well and looking like a real threat. Some big carries in there and there was a couple of times he fully skittled the Dolphins defence as he knocked a defender over and ran straight over them. Hopefully his injury is not too bad.
Host: Impressive! Hosty has just continued to build since his return and he's in great form right now. A really nice game from him again on Thursday night. Nothing super special but he executed his role really well. Took his carries, made a very good 138 meters which we certainly can't complain about, defended really well and he seems to be building that combination with Cody. But I think for me, it was his work as a decoy that I really liked. Being a decoy and getting it right is such an underrated part of a Rugby League game but Hosty did it well.
Murray: Man, just another huge performance from Cam!! He was up there with our best I thought. Just like last week, his ball playing through the middle was outstanding. His carries were immense and there was about three or four times there where he made a little half-break. It's a shame no one was right there on his shoulder for a few of them because he had his arms free to offload. He made 159 meters which was the third most in our pack and a great 34 tackles with none missed. I like seeing him make less tackles at it means others around him are doing their job and Cam is not under as much pressure. Well done skipper! Great game as always.
Cartwright: Not a lot of minutes for Carty but he was okay. A couple of solid runs, happy with his defence, and a nice decoy run when Trell scored. Most importantly, no errors or silly penalties from him!
Suluka-Fifita: Probably not as impactful as last week but I was still happy with his efforts with the ball. Played pretty limited minutes, it was a short stint, but he was good. What wasn't so good was his effort when Marshall-King scored. He was in a position to stop that. He should have stopped it no doubt. But Daniel was lazy and not fully focused, he wasn't even looking at Marshall-King. As a result, we concede a really soft try. Gotta be better there DSF.
Moale: Blown away by this performance from Davvy! He's been a little soft this year and I've been critical of him (maybe unfairly so because he's so young), but the past few weeks he's been building. Well, last night he friggin exploded!!! Easily a career-best game. He was enormous, one of our best forwards. Ran with real aggression and I noticed he was less upright in his carries, this meant he was a bit more planted and able to drive through more. Made a real difference when he came on and did his bit to flip the game on its head. Every run he had, he wasn't folded, he won each collision and got through and found his front. Really impressive. 54 minutes played (surely his longest stint), and he made 177 meters which is just great to see! Well done, Davvy! Proud of ya.
Arrow: Speaking of being proud of someone, I'm equally as proud of Jai in his return game. He showed us exactly why he's probably been our biggest loss this year. Came straight back in and didn't miss a beat at all. he ripped in right from the start and was colossal. Every run he had was direct and impactful and he topped the run meter count for us with 181. That is simply huge!! In defence especially, you can just see how much pressure he takes off Cam too. However, he did play a part in Marshall-King's soft try because he fell for the dummy. But still, you can't argue that he wasn't one of our best. A very welcome return!
Ahhhhh just relived and stoked to get the win the way we did. Dominant in the end. It really wasn't looking likely at halftime, but I have to give credit to the boys and the coaching staff for turning it around and playing the way we know we can.
This game just proves what I've been saying all Season so far. When we turn up with the right attitude and intensity, and we get our game right, we're one of the toughest sides in the comp to stop. But we've been inconsistent in games and still fade in and out. Put it together for 80 minutes and we could do anything, even against Penrith. This game just proves that.
That is the challenge. It's a big challenge and there is a lot to work on but I'm looking forward to the boys chasing that challenge.
Glory, Glory!!
