Excellent first 20 minutes! We need more of that to worry the top teams, but it's a good start.
The Cowboys came back strong, with Scott eating up the meters and setting a good platform for Thurston and Bowen to do their thing, but our defence, especially on the goal line, was brilliant and the team was resilient.
Our line speed went to crap after 25 minutes, and the Cowboys were marching through our ruck almost at will for a good period of the game, keeping us on the back foot and making the boys work hard and tackle a lot with several repeat sets forced by the individual brilliance of Thursto and Mango.
The biggest difference was that we only missed 19 tackles as compared to our usual 30+, and allowed us to stay close enough on the scoreboard to allow for our own brilliance to shine through via Hodgo.
Griffin's decisions shuffling the playing deck were vindicated, particularly putting Hoffy at fullback in defence and attack in our own half, with Hodges moving in to attack in the opposition's half, to make up for the glaring deficiencies in Hoffman's playmaking ability.
Hunt has footy player written all over him, and despite disappearing after 20 minutes yesterday, I hope he gets the gig for the rest of the season no matter what, to let him grow into it, gain game rythm and gel with the players around him. More than anything I love his vision, both in defense, where he always seems to be at the right spot, and attack, despite still lacking in execution.
Thaiday to the second row was mainly good because Dodds is starting to show the goods as a front rower, so much so, that he is now my no.3 in the pecking order after Hannant and McGuire. Thaiday himself had an ordinary game, and looked out on his feet for most of the second half. Another positive about that move, was Gillett's performance on that left side. A bit more time there gelling with Hunt, Glenn and Hodgo in support, and our left side attack could become absolutely lethal!
Now for the negatives, the bench use... :001_rolleyes:
Why didn't Thaiday get a rest? That cost us the Mango try for sure!
What happened to our line speed after half an hour and why did the runs in pairs, passing at the line, etc... stop?
Although people blame Wallace for it, I think the issue has much more to do with aerobic fitness. We revert to one-outs and our line speed goes to shit, because we don't slow down the ruck in defense. Anthony Mitchell, Matt Scott, Gavin Cooper, Thurston and Mango were carving us to pieces with quick play the balls, making us work hard just to get back onside. Without energy, the attacking flow we had in the first 25 mins went to the crapper. As I said above, with Thurston and Bowen's quality earning the Cowboys repeat sets in the second half, we did very well to hold on!
Individually:
Hoffman was huge at fullback in defense and returning kicks.
Corey Oates is a superstar in the making, who despite being a centre/backrower, showed how to score a try. Does anyone believe Maranta would've scored that?
Glenn did his job pretty well and kept Tate pretty quiet.
Hodgo... I want your baby!
Maranta, solid as usual at the back, didn't get much of a chance to bomb anything in attack. I do want him to succeed though, because he gives his all on the field.
Prince, worked hard, defended strongly, albeit with 5 missed tackled to his count, wasn't dominant enough directing the plays, but earned us victory with excellent goal kicking.
Hunt, said it all above. I hope he goes on to prove his 2008 best U20's player award wasn't just a fluke.
Dodds, very good both in defense and especially with his hit-ups gaining 11 meters on average.
Macca, went very well in the time he was there, mainly those gorgeous first 20 minutes.
McGuire, the usual high energy tackle and running machine.
Gillett was the best forward on the park after Matt Scott. 17 runs for 141 mtrs, 5 offloads, 34 tackles, 6 tackle breaks, 1 missed tackle tells a tale. He is still a bit out of synch with Hunt, but it will improve I'm sure.
Thaiday was the worst forward for us. He needs a breather, especially when he is doing so much work in the middle of the park, and that showed in the second half in particular.
Parker doesn't know how to play badly. The usual workhorse, albeit with less impact than we normally see.
Wallace started well with crisp quick passing, but fell victim to the rest of the team's lack of energy. Did plenty of courageous defending in the ruck, with that one on one tackle on Scott being the highlight.
Stagg was very strong in defence as you'd expect, but was much like Wallace invisible in attacking terms.
Tasi and Lui weren't long enough on the park to warrant a review, but I do have an issue with that, because we must be the worst bench users in the NRL.
Happy with the win, and desperately wanting to see Hannant back in Newcastle. I reckon we can put another one on Benny!
P.S. Sorry for the lengthy post. I don't have a summarising gene... :blushing:
