Who from the Kangaroos can hold their head up high???

[The_MaFeeLi_Tiger]

Here was me thinking Minichello was pretty damn average last night....

I say Gower, he was great last night.

 

[League Freak™]

I think Minichello put in alot of effort last night. The game didnt open up for him, but that had a lot to do with the Kiwi's defense not falling apart as say GB's has in the past.

I dont think you could asked any more of Mini and I dont think another fullback would have come up with a better game.

 

[AshMang]

johns was hopeless, compared to what we normally expect from him.. maybe its the esl rubbing off but he was ordinary.

get rid of the oldies and we will undoubtedly win the series

 

[thommo4pm]

Barrett may have finished the NRL season fairly strongly but to name the bloke as the aussie 5/8 is getting a bit silly now! Barretts form at the start of the season was terrible. Barrett gets confussed around the ruck and makes poors decissions! Although johns and locky both had bad games last night, they are still both so far ahead of Barrett!

If Barrett had such a good game last night why did they get there ass smashed??? If he is as good as you are saying he should have bought the whole team home on his back!!

Silly comment really. One player can not get the rest of the side home by himself.
Fact is there were 5 other Kanagroo squad members in the side, and the rest were Jnr Roos.
The NZ A side were full of former Kiwi first team players.
Barrett was very good in a badly beaten team, he was playing 5/8 how on earth is he going to be able to stop all of their forwards by himself. It's a 17 man game.

As mentioned to you previously, it's not Barrett's job or any 5/8 for that matter to work around the ruck, the 5/8 should be two clear of the ruck and in some opne field. Why would a 5/8 or a playmaker be in around where the most traffic is. I have never seen him get confused around the rucks anyway.
Majority of Barretts decision making has been good to excellent this year.
And as stated by me already his form warrants selection ahead of Lockyer.
He has outplayed Lockyer all year on form.

 

[weasel]

Barrett may have finished the NRL season fairly strongly but to name the bloke as the aussie 5/8 is getting a bit silly now! Barretts form at the start of the season was terrible.

Yeah, you're right, he was so bad in the first few rounds it was almost as if he wasn't playing. Oh wait, he wasn't.

His first game was Round 4. He was probably one of our best in our loss to the raiders, not bad since he hadn't played a match for six months! Played well the following week in our big win over the Sea Eagles and kept improving from there. Starred in the City Country match prior to round nine, had a good first origin match. Sure, he peaked in the last two months of the year but he's been above average from his first game this season onwards, with an off game here and there, but no one doesn't haven't those.

 

[Iafeta]

Barrett may have finished the NRL season fairly strongly but to name the bloke as the aussie 5/8 is getting a bit silly now! Barretts form at the start of the season was terrible. Barrett gets confussed around the ruck and makes poors decissions! Although johns and locky both had bad games last night, they are still both so far ahead of Barrett!

If Barrett had such a good game last night why did they get there ass smashed??? If he is as good as you are saying he should have bought the whole team home on his back!!

Barrett was used as a defensive speed hump by New Zealand A last night.

It got to the point where they swapped him to the other side with Scott Prince. It worked for 10 minutes, then the New Zealand A boys realised and refocussed on Barrett and reopened the floodgates.

 

[thommo4pm]

Barrett was used as a defensive speed hump by New Zealand A last night.

It got to the point where they swapped him to the other side with Scott Prince. It worked for 10 minutes, then the New Zealand A boys realised and refocussed on Barrett and reopened the floodgates.

:roll: :roll:

We must have been watching different games.

 

[aqua_duck]

Barrett was used as a defensive speed hump by New Zealand A last night.

It got to the point where they swapped him to the other side with Scott Prince. It worked for 10 minutes, then the New Zealand A boys realised and refocussed on Barrett and reopened the floodgates.

that's because the likes of mason, o'meley, Yileen gordon and Mickey Paea couldn't tackle to save their lives.

 

[gaterooze]

The NZ A side were full of former Kiwi first team players.

Oh, really?

Care to point out which of these are former Kiwi Test stars?

Kris Inu
Tame Tupou
George Carmont
Wairangi Koopu
Luke Covell
Motu Tony
Jeremy Smith
Kylie Leuluai
Billy Ngawini
Iafeta Paleaaesina
Joe Galuvao
Tony Puletua
Awen Guttenbeil (c)

Interchange:

Steve Matai
Peter Lewis
Bronson Harrison
Frank Puletua
Phil Leuluai
Greg Eastwood
(two to be ommitted)


I count five who have ever been Kiwis before, compared to 6 current Kangaroos in the Invitational side.

I'd say the teams were pretty much even on paper, maybe even slightly in the Kangaroos favour.

 

[Humphrey]

Australia's best and why:

Buderus: Tackled his bum off in the first half.

.

I would have said Buderus put in a poor performance. Afterall theres two halves no use tackling your bum off in only one half. Dont rate Tate but give him a lot of credit for the game. Thought Joey played well especially after he gave Lockyer the first 20 to show leadership and when he didnt Joey kicked in. Thought Minichiello was good.
Kiwis just played better as a unit. You guys seemed to have them and us in your side. Didnt gel.
Was wondering is there a Joey versus Lockyer thing going on in camp where your players are tacking sides. Looked like it on screen.

 

[Misty Bee]

Australia's best:

Price - did his job well.

Tate gets a mention for the try -

O'Donnell - good one debut.

The rest should go without feeding.

Joey looks tired. He and Lokyer combined well for 10minutes.Lockyer is inefective - noone falls for his look straight ahead while pass to the right trick anymore.

Australia lacked the ruck defence of Hindmarsh, the authority of O'Meley and the kicking game of Prince, or, dare I say it, Kimmorley. They seem obsessed with playing the game as fast as possible - Now they play it too fast for themselves. They expecfted to win with flair. Better to graft away and win by 10 points than to try and score 50 and hope for the best.

Bennets placing of Trent Waterhouse was the most inspired coaching decision since Brian smith put Corey Pearson at halfback. Watch for Brad Thorn to partner Waterouse in the centres for the return game!

Mini - how couldany fullback say their job was done when 38 points wre conceded?

As I was the lone voice last week - I stand firm. Wests would have beaten Australia.

 

[skeepe]

Jason Ryles must never play for Australia again. He proved on Saturday night why he is one of the worst props in the game.

 

[The Colonel]

Bennet deserves accolades for his loyalty over form and fitness selection policy.....

 

[panthersballboy]

Players who were good in the losing team:

- Tate, his try was special and was always sniffing around for a run.
- Mini, I've seen people bagging him here but his kick returns were good and was always positioned well to take the ball.
- Gower, the aussies played a lot better when he was in the hooking role. Seemed to spark as soon as he came on.
- Waterhouse, come on he was playing in the center's. I thought he was pretty good out there and made an impact with big runs.

There were others who had good moments such as Gas, Petero and Price. But the rest were ordinary. BK played the worst game I have ever seen from him.

 

[thommo4pm]

Jason Ryles must never play for Australia again. He proved on Saturday night why he is one of the worst props in the game.

What exactly did Ryles do that was so poor?
I have argued about how good he was in other posts I have done, but tell me what he did that was so bad?
He was better then Price by a long way and would also say he was better then Petero.

And who would you have in the team ahead of him?

You people who keep bagging out Ryles need to have a closer look at the game and watch the work the bloke does.

 

[skeepe]

Ryles was soft, just didn't have an impact - so much like his usual game really. I can't understand the fuss about him to be honest. He can't hold on to the ball, never hits hard in his tackles and doesn't make the metres that other props do.