I'm happy with the goal line defense, I'm happy with the individual performance of most players, I'm happy with how we took advantage of our opportunities, and I'm happy with the result, but I'm far from happy with how we played to be honest...
Yes, the Eels were often offside, but we couldn't make good meters and barely made it to the Eels 20. Of course, that was in part due to the decision to go for 2 whenever we're close enough to kick a goal. Whether it gets the result or not, I hate it, unless it's to put a game beyond the opponent's reach, like going from a one score to a 2 scores lead.
I compare today's game (and Maranta's footy) to a kale shake... it's good for you and gets the result, but tastes like crap!
Milford and Reed's tries were nice footy moments (as well as the stolen Gillett one), in an otherwise dull night, where we were effectively dominated by the Eels, but were excellent in taking advantage of their ineptitude and errors.
In terms of individual performance, Milford showed how good a fullback he is and how important he is in broken/second phase play, and was my MOTM. He also showed his kicking game, which he should use more often, is not that bad.
I thought all starting forwards did a great job, but will give McGuire spot 2 for his try. It was just awesome to see him speed up in between the flabbergasted Parra players. :laugh:
Third is Oates for mine, did everything asked of him, ran the ball with purpose, and actually tried and managed to avoid being caught in goal with the ball.
Other than that, Reed didn't shame himself and scored a good try, similar to Vidot's last week. Maranta was solid and safe, and was courageous, but nothing exciting is ever gonna happen near him. Fortunately Milford was there for Kodi's offload, because Lachlan had already switched off... Copley had no chance to shine and although he shares responsibility with Thaiday in defending that side, he got caught in no mans land in the first Eels try. Hodges was ok, came better in the second half, and had that great moment to put Nikorima through, and even greater moment riling up Norman enough to earn a penalty. :rockon:
Hunt's kicking was very good and he held his own defensively, but he was otherwise pretty quiet, and those penalty goals didn't help.
Macca was quite good. I liked seeing him taking some more responsibility in the kicking department, and although both attempts for a 40/20 didn't come near, they helped with territory gain. Nikorima is very handy to bring in against tired forwards, as his line break showed. His offload didn't go to waste thanks to our awesome fullback... pardon, 5/8.
In the backrow, Thaiday was good, although that arm grab on the last Eels try, was pretty bad. But I didn't understand why he played left as opposed to right, as Gillett is in my opinion more capable on the left hand side. Maybe Wayne doesn't want to disrupt the Hunt/Gillett/Hodges partnership. Matt was also very good again, and I feel his work often goes unfairly unnoticed, like today. Parker was at his best, including his goal kicking... congrats on the 500 goals milestone Corey!
Finally the front row, where Blair did the job without too much fuss. There wasn't much use of the bench today after Dodds injury, which Wayne explained well in the presser, and I can certainly understand why he didn't give Molo or Wallace that much time on the paddock.
Again, we saw one of the best tries we scored this season be robbed from us (and the 69'ers) by the refs, while a worse forward pass was let go on the Eels try. This is getting ****ing ridiculous!
