LittleDavey
NRL Captain
- Mar 25, 2013
- 3,961
- 7,863
I'm gonna echo what many have already said here, but what the hell...been thinking about it all game :tongue_smilie: I'm stoked, disappointed, and pissed off.
Stoked: The EFFORT!! Everyone put in tonight, it was outstanding, it really was. Brilliant work, we took it up to them and look what happened...if that's not a confidence boost I don't know what is. I'm not going to single anyone out here except:
Hunt. MUST start, or play a hell of a lot more minutes. We picked up so much when he came on, and fell away when he left the paddock. I really made a point of watching him tonight - he showed great organisation, made the right choice 99% of the time, put in some fantastic kicks, etc etc. And he MIXED IT UP!! We became a bit unpredictable, our guys clearly loved it and you could see the Storm take half a step back. I'm at a loss to work out why Hook took him off when it was clear how much better we were playing with him on the park. We might've set him back in his career but if he gets some proper time, he might still come good. Outstanding tonight IMO.
Thaiday really stood up tonight, was very impressed. Thought he might lose it a bit after being held in the scrum but turned the cranky energy into go-forward - loved it! And Kahu showed great nous to change his defence after the early grit-your-teeth-and-hope moments; he was solid tonight, definitely impressed with him too.
And Hoffman - great energy, good lines, fantastic work. Really showed the enthusiasm and confidence he seemed to be lacking for a large part of last year, can't wait to see more - hope the injury isn't as bad as it seems.
I know everyone might not agree with me here, but I'm disappointed in Norman. Yeah he chimed into the back line a bit, but that's what he's MEANT to do. Against: he was dicking around with his kick returns; would not pass even when he had an option; and I was just disappointed with him tonight really, he just didn't seem up to the standard the others were playing at.
Other than that, it's hard. Wal and Prince made some dumb errors, but were generally pretty good. Still a bit annoyed with Wal's 5th tackle options at times. Still annoyed about the one-out running and lack of support play, but both were better for the best part of tonight.
Pissed off: Is it cliche to have a go at the refs? Thaiday was clearly held in the scrum, and Slater was offside in another. Having said that though, it didn't change the game dramatically, if at all. We still had our chances to take it, and we weren't quite good enough...I can cop that. And poor Hoffman/Stagg...they were great tonight, especially Hoffman.
Main thing for me tonight was Hunt needing more minutes, if not a couple of full games. At hooker, half, 5/8, wherever. Before Hoffman's injury, I was thinking:
1. Hoffman
2. Kahu
3. Reed
4. Hodges
5. Maranta
Norman out.
And give Hunt the #7, put Wal on the bench as interchange hooker for Macca. Or slide Wal to hooker and bring Macca off the bench. Either or, just give Hunt a few games dammit!!
All in all, TOP effort and I'm mostly stoked :laugh: Don't want to be too critical since we went so well, but there's always room for improvement. Just need to build on that next week and we'll be right!!
Stoked: The EFFORT!! Everyone put in tonight, it was outstanding, it really was. Brilliant work, we took it up to them and look what happened...if that's not a confidence boost I don't know what is. I'm not going to single anyone out here except:
Hunt. MUST start, or play a hell of a lot more minutes. We picked up so much when he came on, and fell away when he left the paddock. I really made a point of watching him tonight - he showed great organisation, made the right choice 99% of the time, put in some fantastic kicks, etc etc. And he MIXED IT UP!! We became a bit unpredictable, our guys clearly loved it and you could see the Storm take half a step back. I'm at a loss to work out why Hook took him off when it was clear how much better we were playing with him on the park. We might've set him back in his career but if he gets some proper time, he might still come good. Outstanding tonight IMO.
Thaiday really stood up tonight, was very impressed. Thought he might lose it a bit after being held in the scrum but turned the cranky energy into go-forward - loved it! And Kahu showed great nous to change his defence after the early grit-your-teeth-and-hope moments; he was solid tonight, definitely impressed with him too.
And Hoffman - great energy, good lines, fantastic work. Really showed the enthusiasm and confidence he seemed to be lacking for a large part of last year, can't wait to see more - hope the injury isn't as bad as it seems.
I know everyone might not agree with me here, but I'm disappointed in Norman. Yeah he chimed into the back line a bit, but that's what he's MEANT to do. Against: he was dicking around with his kick returns; would not pass even when he had an option; and I was just disappointed with him tonight really, he just didn't seem up to the standard the others were playing at.
Other than that, it's hard. Wal and Prince made some dumb errors, but were generally pretty good. Still a bit annoyed with Wal's 5th tackle options at times. Still annoyed about the one-out running and lack of support play, but both were better for the best part of tonight.
Pissed off: Is it cliche to have a go at the refs? Thaiday was clearly held in the scrum, and Slater was offside in another. Having said that though, it didn't change the game dramatically, if at all. We still had our chances to take it, and we weren't quite good enough...I can cop that. And poor Hoffman/Stagg...they were great tonight, especially Hoffman.
Main thing for me tonight was Hunt needing more minutes, if not a couple of full games. At hooker, half, 5/8, wherever. Before Hoffman's injury, I was thinking:
1. Hoffman
2. Kahu
3. Reed
4. Hodges
5. Maranta
Norman out.
And give Hunt the #7, put Wal on the bench as interchange hooker for Macca. Or slide Wal to hooker and bring Macca off the bench. Either or, just give Hunt a few games dammit!!
All in all, TOP effort and I'm mostly stoked :laugh: Don't want to be too critical since we went so well, but there's always room for improvement. Just need to build on that next week and we'll be right!!
