Matabele
Journey Man
Matabele's thoughts on trial
If you looked at my ten commandments for 2006, it mentions that Ballin will be our starting hooker by year's end. This is now amended to starting hooker for Round One. Ballin was a stand-out last night. He had lots of options, gave exceedingly quick service from dummy half and was tough in defence. An outstanding prospect for us.
Cuthbertson is another that should not have to wait to be in the side. He is more than capable of taking the spot vacated by Harris and will do a far better job from what I saw last night. He had presence, size and speed and hit hard in defense.
Jason Wells reminds me of Ronny Gibbs. Very sturdy in defense and a good lateral mover. Shows promise.
Kite looked awesome and seems to have his zest back. Like a wind up toy he slowed down a lot last year. Last night he was destructive and dangerous. Looks set for a big year.
Orford showed us what we’ve been missing these past few years – a touch of class every time he had the ball. Bell also has presence and looks dangerous whenever play goes his way.
I’m not too concerned about the 14-44 scoreline, mainly because we only had something close to our best team on the paddock for 20 minutes and in that time we were competitive.
I presume the lesser lights were given game time to show up who is ready for First Grade and who is not. The ones above took their opportunities with both hands. The ones below were the reason for the shellacking and should spend this week getting very friendly with Geoff Toovey:
Matai was disgraceful. A 1/10 effort. He bombed two tries, missed tackles and didn’t look as though he understood the fundamentals of attacking play. Surely he cannot be considered a member of our first string backline. What makes it worse is that he’s a gurgling hot head always waiting to explode.
Cleal and Rose were slow around the ruck and looked like they could leak points at any moment. We can play one of them, but the two of them together is too great a liability.
Maybe he was trying to hard but Travis Burns was guilty of a few clangers and was very poor in defence. He costs us several tries with missed tackles.
Monaghan spent most of the first half reminding us why we signed Orford. Stuttering play, ridiculous kicks and hospital passes were regular features of his game. On the positive side of the ledger, his defense was outstanding and he saved several tries. It looks as though he might make a five eighth providing he stays out of Orford’s way and doesn’t cramp him. At least he will make his tackles and clean up mistakes well.
Witt was very ordinary in Premier League and looks to have come out last in the battle for the vacant number 6 jumper (assuming Ballin gets number 9).
Let’s hope more of the quality players see more minutes against the Tigers.
If you looked at my ten commandments for 2006, it mentions that Ballin will be our starting hooker by year's end. This is now amended to starting hooker for Round One. Ballin was a stand-out last night. He had lots of options, gave exceedingly quick service from dummy half and was tough in defence. An outstanding prospect for us.
Cuthbertson is another that should not have to wait to be in the side. He is more than capable of taking the spot vacated by Harris and will do a far better job from what I saw last night. He had presence, size and speed and hit hard in defense.
Jason Wells reminds me of Ronny Gibbs. Very sturdy in defense and a good lateral mover. Shows promise.
Kite looked awesome and seems to have his zest back. Like a wind up toy he slowed down a lot last year. Last night he was destructive and dangerous. Looks set for a big year.
Orford showed us what we’ve been missing these past few years – a touch of class every time he had the ball. Bell also has presence and looks dangerous whenever play goes his way.
I’m not too concerned about the 14-44 scoreline, mainly because we only had something close to our best team on the paddock for 20 minutes and in that time we were competitive.
I presume the lesser lights were given game time to show up who is ready for First Grade and who is not. The ones above took their opportunities with both hands. The ones below were the reason for the shellacking and should spend this week getting very friendly with Geoff Toovey:
Matai was disgraceful. A 1/10 effort. He bombed two tries, missed tackles and didn’t look as though he understood the fundamentals of attacking play. Surely he cannot be considered a member of our first string backline. What makes it worse is that he’s a gurgling hot head always waiting to explode.
Cleal and Rose were slow around the ruck and looked like they could leak points at any moment. We can play one of them, but the two of them together is too great a liability.
Maybe he was trying to hard but Travis Burns was guilty of a few clangers and was very poor in defence. He costs us several tries with missed tackles.
Monaghan spent most of the first half reminding us why we signed Orford. Stuttering play, ridiculous kicks and hospital passes were regular features of his game. On the positive side of the ledger, his defense was outstanding and he saved several tries. It looks as though he might make a five eighth providing he stays out of Orford’s way and doesn’t cramp him. At least he will make his tackles and clean up mistakes well.
Witt was very ordinary in Premier League and looks to have come out last in the battle for the vacant number 6 jumper (assuming Ballin gets number 9).
Let’s hope more of the quality players see more minutes against the Tigers.
