On our players...
* Hayne played fullback in the U/19s and although most of his kick returns weren't magical, I was very impressed with him in both attack and defence. In defence, he rushed in shut down a 3 man overlap. Missed his try in the 1st half, but saw his 2nd try. NSW had the ball about a metre out. Hayne was off to the side, but ran in to pick up the ball in front of the dummy half and barge over.
* Hindy was very impressive, even going by the high standards we expect of him
* Guru was also impressive. Possibly his best game of the year.
* Tahu was a bit disappointing. Hodges terrorised him all night and I'd hate to see Tahu's missed tackle count. He didn't get much room in attack, and unfortunately got taken over the sideline when he was given the chance.
* I believe that part of the reason that Tahu and Grothe didn't get much room was that their inside men ended up too wide, but another reason was that they were so flat in attack. Tahu was staying directly in line with the man inside him, while Grothe was actually in front of Tahu and generally in line with the play the ball. I'm not sure if they always do this or if it is just something Murray has coached them to do.
On the ref...
Perhaps a better standard than what we see week in and week out, but that's not saying much. If you think Hampstead had a good game, then I think your expectations have been beaten down to a pulp. It's pretty sad if that's the best we can get these days. Just a small sample of examples include: penalising Mason for opening his big mouth during the week about not expecting too many penalties for borderline high shots; allowing plenty of holding down; Thurston running back through the ruck and literally pushing Hodgson (waiting at dummy half) out of the way.
