strange game, compelling and top notch in parts,
we didnt play well all game, too many missed passes, to many errors early in the count, and not enough composure at times
didnt like the ref, didnt like how he reffed the game, i dont think it benefitted either side or affected the result a whole lot but his judgement at the ptb seemed completely random,
i though smith played well, Ali too, and Ryan Hall was pretty safe imo, a few were bagging him in the alst few weeks, i thought he stood up well against a quality wing/centre partnership, in fact i would go as far as to say Senior and Hall were the better partnership over their opposite numbers,
i thought Watkins stood up well for a 17 year old lad against a top top quality centre/wing partnership, didnt do anything amazing, but wasnt completely outclassed either,
where we lost the game? well i think burrow definately hurt us when he went off, he gives us creation int he centre, and can fill in to a very high level at dummy half, JJB had to play there, and though he stood up ok, we lost speed at the ptb, and we lost his impact around the fringes
Bailey seems to have lost a lot of weight, as does Kirke, i worry we are a little light if Eastwood doest get here
Ablett was poor, i dont know about him he is a big strong lad, decent footwork, decent speed, has an offload and can break a tackle, but too often he seems off the pace a bit to me, he seems to make horrendous errors from time to time and silly decisions he is 23 now, he needs to kick on this season, he has the ability there, but it seems a little lost at the moment, maybe the positional changes he has to do every game arent helping, i think the start of the season has shown maybe Watkins is a year away from being ready for a full time 1st team berth
overall, Manly were awesome for 10 minutes, pure top quality RL, they were the best team on the night by a fair bit, i dont think we took the WCC as seriously as last year, i think had it been a GF or semi or a big game, we would have seen burrow come back on. This game for me encapsulates why we need to give the WCC a higher proirity, sunday night was a good game, those two sides, full strength, in full flow, going all out for it? it would be the stuff of legend
im a little worried, 4th game of the season, 4th poor-average performance we are nowhere near where we were this time last year in terms of quality and performance, then again 3 wins, top of the league,
i think we are down a quality centre, and 2nd row/prop at the moment, and we must have a fair amount of cap space available, i dont think we are desperate for anyone, but i think we are a couple of players away from a great great side |