****AUST V N.Z post game talk. SPOLIERS****

[Jazza]

Is Luke Lewis in the squad? To me he seems like the ideal bench player when you have Smith who likes to play 80 minutes. If there aren't any injuries he can fit into the forward rotation but if there are he can fill in with little or only minor reshuffling. (eg. if Slater goes down, Hayne to fullback, Lewis/Hodges/Inglis to wing; if Smith goes down, Slater to hooker in attack and Lewis in defence; if a front rower goes down Thaiday or Gallen can push forward and Lewis to second row). Anywhere else he can slot right in. It seems like a bit of a waste struggling to accomodate Gidley just so he gets a run when it's clear that although he's versatile, he offers little to no impact.

 

[shadow]

same ref for us next week against the poms

 

[Charmamba]

how could we have the same ref? thought it would have to be a NZ ref.

 

[The Brizz]

That was the worst performance Darren Lockyer has given for Australia since his shaky debut, he didn't involve himself at all and missed a bucket of tackles. I enjoyed the speed and intensity of the match and thought our whole pack like theirs stood up pretty well, didn't like the gameplan though because outside of Inglis none of our three quarter line got any ball at all. I said it this morning and see others here have thought about it, would love to see Slater and Hayne rotate at the back if for no other reason than to mix it up and get Hayne into the game more.

 

[Alec]

Wasn't impressed with most of the team.

Hoffman. My god, worst player on the field. Useless in attack in the first half, went missing in the 2nd and made some awful reads in defense.

All other forwards except for Civo, Hannant and, ugh, White. They were all soft, and just weren't defensively up to it. We need someone like Harrison, Johnson or Hindmarsh there.

Pretty much all the backs bar Inglis. On the one hand, our mostly crap go forward and awful gameplan didn't exactly give them much room to work in, but still. They were up against some real dud defensive NZ backs.

Also Gidley. That guy is just not a rep standard utility. Can't play in the forwards, so more often than not he's just a waste of an interchange. Someone like Luke Lewis would have been better.

 

[Je$ter]

Wasn't impressed with most of the team.

Hoffman. My god, worst player on the field. Useless in attack in the first half, went missing in the 2nd and made some awful reads in defense.

All other forwards except for Civo, Hannant and, ugh, White. They were all soft, and just weren't defensively up to it. We need someone like Harrison, Johnson or Hindmarsh there.

Pretty much all the backs bar Inglis. On the one hand, our mostly crap go forward and awful gameplan didn't exactly give them much room to work in, but still. They were up against some real dud defensive NZ backs.

Hoffman went alirght imo, was maybe half a step behind a couple times or half a metre off and he would have had a couple Hoffman specials - short balls off a pivot for a try. Give him another game and he will get his timing right.

Thaiday did quite well I thought, strong playing up front.

I think Gidley will get the chop just because he isn't really needed. Lewis or a big forward to take his place, probably Lewis because the poms prefer bash to speed. Watmough played really well, can't see Hindmarsh getting a start with the backrowers in the team all capable of 80 minutes. Maybe Waterhouse dropped so we have that workhorse in the team, not sure we need it but?

Gallen wasn't a swinging arm, it would have collected Luke around the shoudlerblade if he didn't fall. Face rub was a bit much but Isaac Luke is the king of being a pest so a bit of karma. He also needs to get boxing lessons because Gallen pwned the shit out of him.

While we are talking about Isaac Luke can someone pass on the memo he doesn't intimidate anyone when doing the haka? I LOLd at him the way he was carrying on, him and Benji look absolutley ridiculous trying to be tough. Fair enough they are passionate about their country, but they look stupid.

 

[ddd]

^^

Yeah, seriously the Gallen facial - this is top flight rugby league, there needs to be some feeling out there, I'm not a fan of Gallen's, but we need some mongrel in the side, the high shot didn't connect, so who cares, the facial was no big deal, if he can't handle it, I know he'd have a place on my touch team (though it can get pretty rough out there)

 

[The Brizz]

Gallen is made for rep footy, love or hate the guy he is brilliant in these matches because he adds so much spice.

 

[Dexter]

Agree we need some mongrel in the side, but Gallen?. I would prefer to see the mongrel come from a great shot, Dallas Johnson anyone.
Too many soft C@cks in the pack for mine, fair enough we need some running backrowers but Waterhouse, Hoffman and Watmough hardly scare you in defence. Even Gallen, just doesn't hit like Luke O'Donnell or Johnson.

As good a talent as Hayne is I still haven't seen him come up when the pressure is on. What I mean by that is he can play when his team isn't expected to win but with the weight of expectation he goes missing.
It is hard to get involved when the ball isn't coming your way but he can't just stand out on the wing and wait.

 

[Professor47]

Agreed about the need for a bit of fire in the forwards... I don't think Gallen is the mongrel I'm looking for - He wouldn't be in my current 17.

Rather than huge personnel change, I think there needs to be a bit of a rev up - Need to put some fear in the opposition boys!

 

[Coxy]

Yeah I think Gymp gets confused between someone being hard and tough; and someone being a ****. Gallen is a ****. He's a liability to every team he plays in.

 

[Kimlo]

I would love Gallen in the back row for the Broncos. I can't stand him as a person but as he is certainly a good player.

 

[Nashy]

You know him as a person?

Kinda wish the Kiwis won that game. Stupid Kangaroos.

 

[mrslong]

80 minutes of my life I won't get back.

That ref was a joke...he was penalising blokes for thinking about lying in the ruck. Useless.

Our backrow was useless!!! (I thought Watmaugh was the only one who stood up...and Thaiday of course)

Only good thing was seeing Gus say if it wasn't for the maroons we would have been smashed. Lol.

 

[Coxy]

80 minutes of my life I won't get back.

That ref was a joke...he was penalising blokes for thinking about lying in the ruck. Useless.

That's going to be something to get used to. UK interpretations vs Australian interpretations. We let FAR TOO MUCH holding down shit go in Australia.

 

[ethos]

I thought it was an entertaining game, not the best standard by any means but it ebbed and flowed which is always good to watch.

Expanding on what some others have said, I also thought the Aussie pack was ordinary. However, looking at the rest of the squad, the replacement forwards don't really inspire any confidence. Hindmarsh and Shillington are the only forwards outside the 17. An explosive forward like Dave Taylor off the bench would be a massive plus.

 

[Professor47]

Smith on the whole played pretty well but bloody hell he takes the wrong option a lot in rep games. He did the same in Origin 3, when Locky or JT were screaming for the ball on either side of the ruck he went the other way. Really pisses me off!!

Bloody agreed - did it at a very crucial time in origin 1 I believe. I'm not a fan of it.