I think it just highlights why I believe the Roosters forward pack were outplayed on the night. Put it down to the absence of Ricketson who usually does a lot of their tackling with Flannery. Of all the halves in the game, Finch was forced to make the most tackles - and most of those on a devastating Willie Mason. I don't think the little bloke did a lot wrong in the game, he was just knocked around from making all those tackles and it probably affected his playmaking abilities. Sherwin only had to do half the tackling Finch did. The Bulldogs forward pack was miles better - I mean they have Mason and Ryan running out wide. I don't think any other forward pack in the competition has the potential to do that much damage wide of the ruck. The Roosters certainly didn't.
Another huge factor was Ricky Stuart's ineptitude when it came to using his bench. The Roosters pack were forced to do an absolute mountain of work in defense compared to the Doggies, so when they ran out wide the Roosters lads were too buggered to go out and follow them - hence little guys like Finch have to instead.
Finch is a very good defender for a half. Poor bugger blames himself for the loss but his forward pack were completely outdone and his coach didn't rotate them enough. Halves can't do the job if their forwards don't.
