I think tonight will go down as one of those games where we will be kicking ourselves that we didn't grab the chocolates. A few days ago I posted about it being important that we go back to basics and make ourselves difficult to be beat by hanging onto the ball, not playing too expansive, lots of dummy half running and one-out stuff and we did exactly that. Now a lot of people are going to say that is why we didn't win - because we didn't play expansively enough; nonsense! We lost because we CONTINUE to make STUPID mistakes at key moments in the game. Two moments cost us the game: Alex Johnston turning over possession on the first tackle when we had the Panthers on the rack, down their own end and looked like cracking them to go to a possible 8 or 10 point lead. The other game changing moment was when we failed to produce a clearing kick on the last tackle while down inside our own half. How that happened I'll never know! Surely the players heard that it was the last tackle? You can't afford to go to switch off like that in games.
While we can point to those two game changing mistakes, the best teams in the competition are able to recover from mishaps of that nature through their defence. While we did defend fairly well in general play, our goal line defence is hopeless. Cody Walker is a magnificent mover and runner of the football and the guy can tackle but his ability to read in defence is a problem. He was probably accountable for at least two tries tonight simply because he gets caught out when defending up in the line - that is another reason why I think playing at fullback is probably best for him at this stage; when playing there the same defensive questions won't be asked of him. In saying that, he was hardly the lone ranger in terms of defensive mistakes. Nathan Cleary's try came about as a result of simply not having enough defenders to cover the spaces on that side of the field. Latu's try under the posts was due to poor communication and Grevsmuhl's try was the result of a bad read. Credit to the Panthers for scoring the tries but I think we make things harder on ourselves by not moving up quickly in defence and wrapping up the ball carrier quickly; doing those things won't necessarily prevent tries but it will at least put a lot more pressure on the attacking team and may even keep them pinned down in their half of the field.
In terms of positives tonight, I thought Greg Inglis looked really good in the centres. His performance in origin suggested to me that he has still got it; his 'poor form' is more due to the way that he is being used as well as the players around him. I spoke earlier in the season about having him receive the ball close to the opposition defensive line so he can use his strength to palm off players - we did that on quite a few occasions tonight and there were other occasions in which we could have done so to our advantage. It doesn't matter whether he is at fullback, five-eight or centre, he needs to receive the ball up close to the opposition defensive line. This is how I break down his game in terms of his various positions: playing him at fullback will allow him to run at defenders, five-eight will maximise his touches of the football while giving him some opportunities to play close to the opposition line, playing him at centre will definitely see him play close to the opposition defensive line at the expense of involvement. I think having him play outside Cody Walker is a big help because he sucks in so many defenders with his elusiveness and that creates a broken field - something which Inglis really excels at running in.
The performance of Cody Walker tonight was at times dazzling. He is by far our most potent attacking weapon and everything good we did in attack seems to come from him, particularly when he runs the ball. Like Inglis, there is plenty of debate surrounding his best position. For me, the guy is a fullback but with Inglis at centre I would like to see him play up in the line as one of those five-eight-type fullbacks in order to create space for the players outside of him and assist Inglis in the manner that I mentioned above. When he plays at five-eight, I think there is too much pressure placed on him because he is forced to think more about involving other players around him, playing structured football and less about running and playing instinctively; fullback is the perfect position for that type of football.
Sam Burgess also looked really on song tonight. I noticed that he stopped with the ball playing and went back to his natural game, which is based on strength and power. I think that is a really good thing; there is no point trying to force players to play a style that is foreign to them, particularly at first grade level when it is a lot hard to experiment with new things due to the pressures applied by opposition defences. There were quite a few occasions when Sam attacked the try line himself - something I think he should be doing more of. Credit to him though, he gave everything tonight and so did his brother for that matter and the fact that he managed to keep handling errors to a minimum is admirable.
Nathan Brown also continues to impress and his aggression really lifts the team. I think the big problem for us is when he and Tom Burgess go off the field. I personally wouldn't have them both off the field at the same time, particularly when we have such a weak bench. In saying that, I think the lack of quality coming off the bench is more due to the fact that our squad have been ravaged by injuries and suspensions rather than a lack of talent. John Sutton also offers us potency on that left hand side, particularly when he runs the ball and plays direct. I thought he played well tonight and we probably should have used him more on the last tackle when it came to kicking; neither Keary nor Cody Walker are good kickers of the ball and their misjudged kicks did result in us conceding a few 7 tackle sets.
I'm not going to go on too much about the hooking role because I think everything that needs to be said about McInnes has been said already. However, I do think Luke Keary looks a far better player when he plays out of dummy half, then when he plays in the halves. In a sense, hooker is the perfect position for him because it allows him to a) run with the ball in his hands b) play off the cuff and express himself and c) simplifies his game in the sense that he is able to initiate plays, not be at the hub of them - something which he is not good at. Lastly, special mention for Joe Burgess. He looks really solid tonight, especially with his positioning. Hes barely had a chance to train with the team and the way he performed tonight was sensational considering the circumstances.
Overall, I thought the scoreline was a fair reflection of the game. The Panthers were the better team but only just. I don't think they are must chop, personally but I can accept others will disagree. The whole offloading game is too hit and miss for my liking and will often produce mixed results. Moreover, I'm sick of Matthew Johns and those other idiots on the Grill Team waxing lyrical over Bryce Cartwright. No doubt that he is a decent player but he does some crazy things on the field and there is no way that he is ready for origin. Back to tonight's performance and I was pleased with the overall effort. We have a platform to build on despite some tricky games coming up; hopefully we can get a result or two and end the season in 7th or 8th spot.
