@Sproj. Love your pre game match ups. Would love you to do a Post Game perfirmance actual to close that loop. Will give us some more talking points for sure
Always happy to please a list request!
1. Walsh - Phenomenal, warming into the season nicely and very Lockyer-esque
2. Milne - I thought he was really good in a beaten side and this isn’t to disparage Arthars either who was also more than solid but Milne was one of their few who can hold his head high
3. Staggs - Our centres absolutely destroyed theirs and Staggs set the tone of the night early
4. Cobbo - Best on ground and while he was absolutely destructive with the ball, looked a man among boys a lot, his defense was also fantastic
5. Mariner - He toyed with Johnston, tested his pace knew it had him and so pulled out a fantastic solo try as well as using his speed and smarts to cover everything - there’s a lot of JYY in this kid - so fast, smart, elusive and knows how to sniff out a try
6. Walker - I’ll be honest, I thought both 6s were poor but Mam just did a few more silly things than Walker did but this is probably harsh because Walker wasn’t great and is starting to look old
7. Reynolds - Even on one leg, he still ran rings around Ilias and in a game where there were a number of poor performances on both sides, Ilias still managed to stand out and in fact, even if Reynolds didn’t play and no one did, no one would have been better than Ilias
8. Jensen - Quietly did his job and to great effect and he isn’t Flegs but we don’t need him to be - really good game
9. Cook - He got binned and was pretty well contained but he is helped here by the fact that sadly, Walters was awful and if not for Ilias, would have been worst on ground or at least in conversation for it
10. Haas - Shorter stints and with a longer break and concerning injured but funnily enough, seemed to be better for it, maybe there’s something in him having a longer break - even so, he’s never not getting this spot post game
11. Piakura - He was excellent and showed just how much we missed him in going off early in round 1, he beats the first tackle every time and hits hard on the other side of the ball - that left side defense looks really promising - fantastic game
12. Murray - I actually think Murray suffered from the same mistake we did with Carrigan the round before but even so, Riki was so poor, Murray kind of gets this by default
13. Carrigan - Herculean effort by the big bloke, played 75+ mins and made them count - and all after being the victim of a cheap shot at the knee - in conversation for best on ground if not for Cobbo going next level
14. Havili - He was probably Souths best player along with Milne and scored thanks to a really bad Riki tackle
15. Smoothy - I’m cheating a bit here because all in all, both benches were awful and Smoothy makes it here simply by being solid and in a game where Walters was just awful, that really helped
16. Baker - I really like what he did, shades of Palasia last year in that he turned the tide when he came on and we needed it after Taupau and Hetherington were so bad as the first benchies
17. Duncan - Look I’ll be honest, he just gets this by default as I don’t remember him but he can’t have been as bad as Hetherington, Taupau or Burgess
10-7 to the Broncs