An 80 minute player is a luxury which allows a team so much more flexibility for its bench, as well as, in Smith's and Farah's case, it provides continuity in the team's direction. Mind you, Hook's use of the bench negates any advantage that would give us.
I would love Macca to play 80. His contribution last night for mine was special, not just individually, but the way he focused the team. Fortunately, Wallace didn't derail things when he came on.
Having said that, I now concede that Macca just isn't blessed with Smith or Farah's level of fitness, so we just hope that when he has a rest, Wally doesn't blow the momentum. Last night he didn't do too badly at all.
As for Hayne, looking at THAT pass, for mine, it was just desperation. His winger should have been more switched on and he was standing too far back: he didn't read the play, and the FB who was coming up, also read it badly. He left his run too late. In any case, I reckon we had that play covered.
More worrying for me was the way we let Hayne dictate play on 3 occasions. The above one, which might have been more of a problem if they had an extra man up, and they were all in position as we were when Gillett set up Reed; the play where we just let Hayne run to set up their first try - that was dreadful. We know what Hayne can do and we just let him have all the time in the world to do his stuff which was all class.
Third, and this does really concern me, was when we let Hayne get outside Kahu, and it was good play by Hoff (and good luck Hayne had no support) or it would have been a certain try.
If those 3 lapses happen again against better sides , it will cost us dearly. Our defensive line structures need serious work.
