Well how good was that?!! What a night, what a celebration for the club!! In GI's farewell game, we go out and put on a performance like that in front of a healthy home crowd, just such a great celebration!! The boys were fired up tonight it was clear to see. They would've wanted to do it for GI no doubt but also all the massive amounts of hype during the week would've played it's part. I just loved how spirited the boys looked out there! And then seeing all the Goannas in tribute to GI, it was wonderful. This is a game I simply didn't want to lose and to get that over Seibold is brilliant!
Attacking wise, we weren't bad tonight. Yes, we scored some very lucky tries early on - a bounce of the ball and it may not have gone our way. However, I'm a firm believer that in this game, you make your own luck and that's exactly what the boys did by playing nice, controlled footy and building pressure. The attack looked really slick at times, punching a hole up the middle and then there were a few really classy backline sweeps. However, there were other times where we really struggled coming out of our own end and we were struggling to make meters. There was aalso a couple of times we just looked a little lost attacking their line or a soft error would bring us undone. the way I see it, attack is still a work in progress but I am atill overally happy with it.
Defensively, we were very good once again. Defending our line pretty well (especially on that right side) and being aggressive which made it hard for them to gain any sort of meters or momentum. We defended as a unit tonight and to hold a team to just six points is a good effort.
Johnston: Was very good tonight. Incredibly safe at the back, helped Allan out, strong kick returns and he chimed into the attacking structure pretty well. A good night for AJ.
Allan: Probably one of his best games for the year so far. It was clear that the Broncos were out to target him with bombs but Corey held is own and managed to defuse every single one. Was more involved tonight too and actually went searching for the ball more which saw him pull off some nice runs. Great defensive efforts too.
Turner: Another great performance from Kyle. He just kept going and going all game. Did a really nice job of containing Roberts and took some great lines for some great runs. Was rewarded with a lovely try toeards the end of the game. Loved Kyle's work out there.
Gagai: Wasn't bad. Pretty solid game from Gags. There was a few times his run would be a bit too dancy (if that makes sense) and I would've preferred him to just charge but other then that he was fine. Chipped in with plenty of hit ups to help the forwards and Gags has improved defensively.
Graham: A little quiet to be honest as he didn't he didn't get an awful lot of ball ball headed his way. He only really came in for hit ups (and did a great job) so I'd like to see more him. Still wasn't a bad game for Cammy.
Walker: Was wow once again. I honestly don't know how he does it, I really don't. Constantly putting himself in a great position around the ball and that paid off for the two tries he scored, they were brilliant! Cody created so much tonight too for those around him. Most notably throwing that beauty of a pass for Kyle's try. Admittedly, he wasn't as involved in the second half however.
Reynolds: Great game from Reyno. He controlled things beautifully and just slowly strangled the Broncos. He certainly brought his kicking boots tonight as his kicking game was outstanding, bringing back those towering, spiral bombs, it was great!! Goal kicking much improved too!! Ran a few times tonight as well and it was a great read for him to take that intercept and score that try.
Tatola: Was soldid. Put in some very powerful runs in his two stunts and I'd say he would've picked up a lot plenty of post contact meters. He did his job and laid a good platform.
Cook: Was great. Brisbane obviously tried to wear him out through sending a lot of traffic his way but Cookie rose to the challenge. His service was crisp, he picked good times to run and some of the kicks he put in were all class. A good balanced game from Cookie.
T.Burgess: Tom really stepped up tonight and I actually thought he was one of our best tonight. He was barnstorming, running hard, racking up a lot of meters with aggressive runs and he seemed to put on a few big shots in defence. We needed Tom to step up and he did that.
Sutton: Really impressed by Sutto tonight. Great running with the ball, did a really nice job in defence and that lovely kicking game during the game was a fantastic option.
S.Burgess: The typical Sam Burgess performance, he was once again amazing. Ran for well over 100 meters and was in everything as always. Every run he took was done at 100% and it was great to see him go over for a try agagin too.
Murray: Cam was pretty solid tonight. It wasn't his most outstanding game but even his not so outstanding game is great. As I seem to say every week, he had such a high work rate out there and really halped to lay the platform with that leg speed of his. Was everywhere too it seemed. He is certaibly putting his hand up.
G.Burgess: George came on for a nice little stint after half time and he looked alright. He was bumping defenders out of the way everywhere and was making some really good, strong agressive runs.
Nicholls: Mark was good tonight. Not too much to say, just that he did his job really which is all you need from him. He had some good runs though and was able to generate a bit of second-phase footy.
Lowe: See above
Knight: I am honestly loving his work!! He was exceptional today!! Knight is just so aggressive that he doesn't hold back in his runs at all. As a result, he ended up with so many post-contact meters. He made a huge impact when he was on.
All up, I'm stoked!!! Stoked that we could do it for GI!!
Still a work in progress but tonight was bloody good!
