3 T-Red: 3 points tonight. He was really up in their faces, hitting holes all night, covered well for skivvy. He gets my 3 points 2 Foz - Solid running and sets up that right side, great in defense 1 Jorge - His defense was really good tonight and that was crucial.
I went Foran Symonds Snake Honourable mention to Jorge, who's anticipatory defence was backed up with urgency, speed. A good sign.
3 - MB 2 - T-Red 1 - Foz Scrappy win tonight against a team and two referees. But a win is a win and we're back as clear competition leaders after the Riff and Scumdogs both got belted.
I only heard it on the radio but Ballin was a standout in snuffing a few of the raids, Tafua made some big hits in defense at the right time near the end and DCE had just enough pure brilliance to turn the game back our way. Sounded like Choc and Buhrer spent far too much time in the way of the halves making our attack disjointed.
3 - Foz (typical Foran performance) 2 - Snake (mainly due to his presence and the ability to play it simple. A couple of times he could have been fancy but he just quickly tipped the ball onto skivvy. And it was him that the Dragons were terrified of all night) 1 - TRed (best game I've seen of him since he joined) Special mentioned to DCE's Field Goal. At 20-8 I was hoping we went for a FG, as our execution on these in tight matches has been ordinary. But tonight was a good opportunity to give it a whirl. Also Killers 1 on 1 defence was the stuff of wet dreams. No wonder he's seen as the best defensive centre in the league.
I gave Jesse a point, he played well, but I forgot all about t-Red, who also played well and is a dangerous runner - should get a few more 80 min opportunities.
I think T-Red went out there tonight determined to prove a point. I think he achieved that and put in a very good performance. I also think Skivy did well to come back on and play as well as he did when it looked like he wouldn't return (not bad for someone who apparently doesn't want to be there). Matty Ballin always puts in a good, solid performance. Tonight I thought he stepped it up a notch. If not for Scam Smith he would have played a lot more Origins and maybe even a test or two by now. Foz just continues being Foz. Tonka tough and a genius with the ball in his hands. Cherry didn't do a whole lot tonight because he didn't have to. But where Foz took over the play making, Cherry made sure of things by keeping St Merge on the back foot with his kicking game. His FG was good to see, as were his two 50+ metre drop outs late in the game. But more than anything I was impressed by our defence late in the game. Three and a half straight sets of six (with a Manly error thrown in), and three goal line dropouts, yet our line stayed intact and they only scored two or three sets later. That defence was the type we saw back in 1996.....Tooves was part of that too wasn't he.
Foz Ballin T-Red. The usual class and composure of Killer, Snake,Skivy, Choc and even Ferris now is doing all the 1%ers. Never in doubt tonight.
so hard to pick... solid performance from everyone 3. Foz 2. Matai 1. Snake with special mention for MattyB and T-Red. What utter BS T-Red's first try was obstruction - Dugan was never a chance
Voting for round 19 closed. Full results here, but the 3, 2, 1 was as follows: 3. Foran 2. Ballin 1. Symonds So this means we have a new leader, with Foz sneaking ahead of Snake by half a point. Ballin has also leap-frogged DCE, Ferris and Matai into third place. Thanks for voting!
