The best game of his career. Especially in defence. There's been a definite change there - a revolution almost - both in terms of technique, attitude, and tactically. In the red zone he was exclusively defending in the line (a la Darius Boyd) to give us an extra man and doing a great job of it, pulling off one or two solo try saving tackles. And in the post-match chat he immediately credited Dean Young for this improvement. Was a great start for him in an area he has struggled in. Just the one dropped bomb which was the only blemish but he was under pressure quite a lot and handled it well.
And in attack, he was magnificent. Perfect fullback play. The set play for his third try was, as the commentator described, gorgeous rugby league... his support of RFM for the first try was exactly what we want to see around our big offloading backrowers, instinctive and well-timed. But my favourite was the second try, in support of Jacob Liddle. No-one else in our team scores that, except Sloan, and that's where he needs to be. So many occasions last year we'd make a break like that and there'd be no speed in support. On this occasion when Liddle broke through, Tyrell was hovering behind the ruck, just in case, and he exploded into full throttle pace to get into a supporting position. Jacob Liddle did a fantastic job to hold off on his draw-and-pass til the right time but Sloany burned the turf to get there. After that no-one was catching him. It was, dare I say Auntie Gerald, reminiscent of a certain Reece Walsh
