cf2 is back
Reserve Grader
THE GOOD:
Is not easy being a footy coach. No doubt Des would have spent the week ramming home the fact Parra would be embarrassed and determined to right their 50 point wrong, how they'd come at us very hard, how we can't possibly afford to show any complacency, and how we must focus from the opening whistle. No doubt Des would have repeated this in capital letters in the sheds before the game. So what do we do? We go out there and play like we warmed up at the pub.
1st half:
We couldn't have looked sloppier if we tried. Loose passes, disjointed attack, no concentration, and yes the shock of shocks for us, sloppy defence. Even Foran was guilty of the latter when he failed to stop Hicks twice to let him over for their opening soft try. On top of that was a dreadful 1-5 penalty count. Lucky it was only Parra cos we would have been down 24-6 against a better team. But a HT score of 14-6 was a massive let off and it was simply a matter of how we'd react to Des' half time spray.
2nd half:
It didn't take long to see Des had issued two simple HT instructions, brutal defence and no penalties, and that's exactly what we produced. Bone crunching tackles to slam Parra on their backs, and a 2-1 penalty count turned the tide, notwithstanding the luck of possibly the two softest tries in history gifted to Matai. The first in the 44th minute when a dreadful error in front of their own posts handed Matai a loose ball that he just managed to clutch between his legs to force a try. Warren Smith and Brandy did their biased best to bring up the red light, but a try it was and at 14-12 game back on. Just 5 minutes later poor old Chris Hicks failed to retrieve a kick not once but twice to fumble in the in goal and hand Matai an even bigger gift try. 14-18 and momentum swung. A 59th minute penalty was sensibly slotted over for 14-20 and in that instant you could see the Parra heads drop like stones.
So greatly in fact that 60 seconds later DCE put on a classic dummy on our 20m line and burst through a gaping hole, straighten up and sprint 40 metres downfield before sending a perfect inside ball to Lyon who got an equally perfect ball to Brett who was flying through so fast the past nearly went behind him, but in true Brett style he tucked it into his side ribs and flew over in trademark diving style to hammer the lid on the Parra coffin. 26-14 and game over. The remaining 18 minutes should have been an opportunity to practice some more attack, but instead it became (a no doubt Des instructed) defensive drill where we simply bored Parra to sleep. A final minute grubber try to Parra made it look closer than it was for 26-20, and yes there was a ridiculously sloppy scare on full time when T Rex was left in charge of a bomb which Luke Burt so nearly grabbed to force extra time, but the game wasn't worthy of anything close to a golden point, and as Burt knocked on they all shook hands.
Individual performances. Brett still looks like he's in 3rd gear to me, but that's a positive. Lyon and Matai simply great again. Foran looks tired and understandably so after playing every game. Glenn was a rock with 44 tackles as was the equally every game machine Ballin with 47. Watmough was solid though not spectacular but did work very hard all night. Kite and George also worked hard as did Joe who damaged Parra up the middle with some strong runs. Lussick tried hard off the bench but still looks a little green. T Rex? Well he looked to be dangerously back to his old laconic slow motion self to me, but the fact was that he didn't really need to do anything much. MOM was undoubtedly DCE who worked his butt off, scored the first try, and set up the brilliant match winner.
THE BAD:
Our first half attitude and execution. Dreadful. If we do that again we might not be so lucky to turn it around against stronger opposition. And Des please, Hoppa being left on the field, what was that about? Anyone could see he was on one leg (well anyone except Jarrod Hayne who bizarrely kept kicking to Robbo).
THE UGLY:
The ugly 2 points for winning, but ugly ain't always quite so bad.
We'll take those 2 points with open arms, but we'd better be a lot mentally sharper next week.
Is not easy being a footy coach. No doubt Des would have spent the week ramming home the fact Parra would be embarrassed and determined to right their 50 point wrong, how they'd come at us very hard, how we can't possibly afford to show any complacency, and how we must focus from the opening whistle. No doubt Des would have repeated this in capital letters in the sheds before the game. So what do we do? We go out there and play like we warmed up at the pub.
1st half:
We couldn't have looked sloppier if we tried. Loose passes, disjointed attack, no concentration, and yes the shock of shocks for us, sloppy defence. Even Foran was guilty of the latter when he failed to stop Hicks twice to let him over for their opening soft try. On top of that was a dreadful 1-5 penalty count. Lucky it was only Parra cos we would have been down 24-6 against a better team. But a HT score of 14-6 was a massive let off and it was simply a matter of how we'd react to Des' half time spray.
2nd half:
It didn't take long to see Des had issued two simple HT instructions, brutal defence and no penalties, and that's exactly what we produced. Bone crunching tackles to slam Parra on their backs, and a 2-1 penalty count turned the tide, notwithstanding the luck of possibly the two softest tries in history gifted to Matai. The first in the 44th minute when a dreadful error in front of their own posts handed Matai a loose ball that he just managed to clutch between his legs to force a try. Warren Smith and Brandy did their biased best to bring up the red light, but a try it was and at 14-12 game back on. Just 5 minutes later poor old Chris Hicks failed to retrieve a kick not once but twice to fumble in the in goal and hand Matai an even bigger gift try. 14-18 and momentum swung. A 59th minute penalty was sensibly slotted over for 14-20 and in that instant you could see the Parra heads drop like stones.
So greatly in fact that 60 seconds later DCE put on a classic dummy on our 20m line and burst through a gaping hole, straighten up and sprint 40 metres downfield before sending a perfect inside ball to Lyon who got an equally perfect ball to Brett who was flying through so fast the past nearly went behind him, but in true Brett style he tucked it into his side ribs and flew over in trademark diving style to hammer the lid on the Parra coffin. 26-14 and game over. The remaining 18 minutes should have been an opportunity to practice some more attack, but instead it became (a no doubt Des instructed) defensive drill where we simply bored Parra to sleep. A final minute grubber try to Parra made it look closer than it was for 26-20, and yes there was a ridiculously sloppy scare on full time when T Rex was left in charge of a bomb which Luke Burt so nearly grabbed to force extra time, but the game wasn't worthy of anything close to a golden point, and as Burt knocked on they all shook hands.
Individual performances. Brett still looks like he's in 3rd gear to me, but that's a positive. Lyon and Matai simply great again. Foran looks tired and understandably so after playing every game. Glenn was a rock with 44 tackles as was the equally every game machine Ballin with 47. Watmough was solid though not spectacular but did work very hard all night. Kite and George also worked hard as did Joe who damaged Parra up the middle with some strong runs. Lussick tried hard off the bench but still looks a little green. T Rex? Well he looked to be dangerously back to his old laconic slow motion self to me, but the fact was that he didn't really need to do anything much. MOM was undoubtedly DCE who worked his butt off, scored the first try, and set up the brilliant match winner.
THE BAD:
Our first half attitude and execution. Dreadful. If we do that again we might not be so lucky to turn it around against stronger opposition. And Des please, Hoppa being left on the field, what was that about? Anyone could see he was on one leg (well anyone except Jarrod Hayne who bizarrely kept kicking to Robbo).
THE UGLY:
The ugly 2 points for winning, but ugly ain't always quite so bad.
We'll take those 2 points with open arms, but we'd better be a lot mentally sharper next week.