I got to Campbelltown stadium at half time of the Womens game with the Tigers in front. 2nd half was ok Tigers missing a few guns with injury. Navjada George from the Tigers got sinbinned then after 4 minute back on got sent off lol
Sharks won
Tarsha Gale was horrendous
2 terrible teams seeing who could be the worst is how i would discribe it. Manly had a prop who was just smashing Wests ball runners. But not once did Wests change things up to try and test her lateral movement. Still kept running plays where she was defending and she kept folding our girls. Anyways Manly got an intercept 2 minutes from full time to win the game.
Harold Matts was next. Watching the 2 teams warm up Manly were massive. 2 big props, a massive 2nd rower and a lanky #13 were noticable straight away. Wests no real big bodiesi n the squad, a few stocky lads but no real enforcer looking player. Was speaking to 1 of the boys during the week and he said the game plan for the campaign is flat and fast. From the kickoff which Manly did, Alex Isdale Wests #7 caught it. Now usually when they catch it they turn and pass to the front rower to hit it up. But Isdale ran about 5 metres then passed it. Problem was 1 of the Manly props changed his direction to follow the ball and absolutley folded the Wests Prop hitting it up. One of the most easily predicted hospital passes ive ever seen. Anyways Manly players were pumped and jacked after that then 2 plays later Wests 2nd rower Phoenix Godinet on debut hits it up and get whacked and whiplashed and goes off with concussion. Debut lasted 39 seconds. He was ruled out of the game and 18th man was activated.
After that Wests were just in control. As i said earlier they did everything at pace. Play the balls were fast, backline movement was fast, line speed was fast. Everything was 2 gears faster than Manly. Couple of Manly tries that could of been stopped. 1 was because of complaincincy which was quickly fixed.
Captain and fullback Luke Laualilii was awesum. Hes just got a knack to be in the rite place at the rite time. He sniffs around the ruck to be a support player or has a scoot from dummy half. Pops up everywhere. Half Isdale was also good. Hes about 5ft 5 but just a handful to put down and manly struggled everytime he ran to complete his tackle. In the forwards prop Kohan lewis was mammoth. Just a work horse who fights for every metre. Not big but has a big heart. Reminds me of the Mule David hoskings from Manly in the 90s. He got whacked a few times but always got to his feet fast to play the ball so i reckon every time he got whacked he won the play the ball as the markers were still getting up.
Lock forward Denzel Schaufhausen-Mino was also strong. Played the whole game in the middle on a super hot day. Tackled everything and was busy all game. Hooker Dylan Smith was nippy out of dummyhalf. He picked his time when to run and when to pass. Great hooker for the pace that the Wests played at.
Overall a really good performance by Wests. Manly were no match in the fitness department. Wests to fast and to smart. Going to be very very hard to beat as ive heard the teams that are predicted to be strong have big forwards.
Just a side note, the Manly halfback Jackson Smith is a local district boy that plays for Narellan Jets Under 16s. He lives in Picton and goes to Westfield Sports HS. He struggled for the Tigers U16s last season and ended up being dropped. I applaud all of these kids that have a dream to make it in footy and will do what it takes to get there. He didnt sulk or anything but trained hard and played hard and got picked for Manly for the 2023 season. As i said he lives in Picton and after School for 3 days a week there is a bus that goes from the school to Manly for the West field kids that got picked up by Manly. It picks up the kids in Penrith first as well. After training the bus goes back to Westfields for the dropoffs. Doesnt go back to Penrith or anything so Jackson has to make his own way home to Penrith sometimes getting there after 10pm. Then the early rise for School the next morning. Massive massive committment to his dream,
SG Ball was another 1 way contest. 1st half was fairly even but 2nd half one way traffic with the fitness kicking in. Wests have some big forwards in this squad but they played really smart and didnt go for the bash and barge type game. They ran hard but it was always about getting a quick play the ball. They have a new signing from Qlg. He is the Australian Schoolboys front rower Chris Fagautu, he was really impressive with his carries and he defended strongly. Kit Laualilii a rock in the middle. High tackle count and got through a lot of work.
As jrtiger mentioned above centre Solomone Suakuru was a weapon on the left edge. Got 2 tries dragging defenders across the line. He will play Flegg after SG this season and possibly even Reserve grade hes that good. Left winger Ofele Lene was unreal. Normally when opposition kicks to you, you start your sets with the wingers coming in for a hitup from dummy half on tackle 1 or 2. But Lene would do a hitup on tackle 3 in the middle of the field and use his footwork to get through the line and make mini breaks. I think he had 3 try assists from these and he would of been my man of the match. He was awesum. Speedy little winger that uses his foot work on the big defenders.
One thing that i noticed though and it was blatent in both the Wests Matts and SG games is that when the centres would make breaks or half breaks, their last possible option is to pass to the winger????? They either try and run around or barge over the defenders than off load to the winger who is often open. Saukuru did that for his 2 tries but id back him every day of the week to score in those field positions but still, if a man is open you use him.
Great day at the footy, hot weather and clear skies and some great kids on display. I think Wests Matts will be hard to stop. They just flow and gel with each other. SG ball have the potential to make finals but their are some good teams in SG. Penrith and Illawarra will be tough.
Sorry for the long time it took to write this, was streaming Wests U18s at Lithgow on the computer and had Soufs v Warriors SG Ball on the telly.
Wests play Dragons next Saturday at kogorah. Ill be at that as well. Should be another good day of footy
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